November 09, 2025
They Keep Taking Our Money and Ignoring Our Priorities (scampydog)
Taxes Not the freshest topic - many justified complainers, nobody shuts up about them, and nearly every politician insists this time it’ll be different. We all know the cycle: Promise big…Collect small, Over report….Deliver little…Blame others…Repeat.
Politicians treat taxes the way linguists treat grammar: obsessively, creatively, and with a hammer of righteous. A new noun appears? They’ll find a way to tax it. A new verb? There’s a fee for that too. The left, in particular, gets excited about conjugating taxes - a new tense, a new bracket, a new license. If it exists in language or life, it exists in their desire to tax it.Posted by: Open Blogger at 12:00 PM | Comments (208) | Trackbacks (Suck)
Sunday Morning Book Thread - 11-09-2025 ["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 (shut it all down!). 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...(Jolly Green Giant was unavailable for comment.)
So relax, find yourself a warm kitty (or warm puppy--I won't judge) to curl up in your lap, and dive into a new book. What are YOU reading this fine morning?
Posted by: Open Blogger at 09:00 AM | Comments (309) | Trackbacks (Suck)
Daily Tech News 9 November 2025
Top Story
- The latest US Mars mission will launch from Cape Canaveral today at around 2:45 PM EST. (Space)
The mission - dubbed ESCAPADE - involves two orbiters that will map the magnetic fields and upper atmosphere of the planet, providing data essential to human landings and settlement.
The two orbiters, named Blue and Gold respectively, were built by Rocket Labs and will be operated by the University of California. They will launch on Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket - only the second flight for that design.
They'll fly out to the Earth-Sun L2 point around a million miles away to make observations there and say hello to the James Webb telescope, before heading back to Earth for a gravity slingshot this time next year and finally arriving in Mars rendezvous September of 2027.
New Glenn is designed to have a reusable booster and they'll be attempting to land it on a ship at sea, so that will also be fun to watch for.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:00 AM | Comments (258) | Trackbacks (Suck)
November 08, 2025
Saturday Night "Club ONT" November 8, 2025 [The 3 Ds]
Posted by: Open Blogger at 10:00 PM | Comments (348) | Trackbacks (Suck)
Music Thread: The Longer The Better? Maybe Not!
[Garrett's cartoon rock phase] Rock And Roll started out with short, snappy songs, but then meandered into new territory as it absorbed different styles and began to dabble in all sorts of new stuff. Folk and grunge and R&B and metal and new wave and progressive and yacht rock and ska punk and you name it, somebody did it. One of the reasons I was amused by punk rock is that even if the songs sucked, they were only two minutes long! But a lot of other genres specialized in long...sometimes ridiculously long...songs. I know what I like, but what about you? Anyone have any strong feelings about the length of songs and how they fit into Rock And Roll? Rock-n-roll? Rock & Roll? Hell! We can't even agree on how to spell it!
[Garrett's cartoon rock phase] Rock And Roll started out with short, snappy songs, but then meandered into new territory as it absorbed different styles and began to dabble in all sorts of new stuff. Folk and grunge and R&B and metal and new wave and progressive and yacht rock and ska punk and you name it, somebody did it. One of the reasons I was amused by punk rock is that even if the songs sucked, they were only two minutes long! But a lot of other genres specialized in long...sometimes ridiculously long...songs. I know what I like, but what about you? Anyone have any strong feelings about the length of songs and how they fit into Rock And Roll? Rock-n-roll? Rock & Roll? Hell! We can't even agree on how to spell it!
Posted by: CBD at 07:30 PM | Comments (278) | Trackbacks (Suck)
Hobby Thread - November 8, 2025 [TRex]
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 fall food traditions.
Are you thinking "I don't have any fall food traditions but I do like a sammich from time to time. I'm eager to learn more. I can't wait to get into the content!" I knew it. Enjoy. [Top photo: "Colors of Fall" from polynikes]Posted by: Open Blogger at 05:30 PM | Comments (179) | Trackbacks (Suck)
Ace of Spades Pet Thread, November 8
* * *
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 03:46 PM | Comments (67) | Trackbacks (Suck)
Gardening, Home and Nature Thread, Nov. 8
Happy Fall! From The Famous Pat*:
Our 'Autumn Blaze' maple, "Eric the Red", in all his fall glory. Our northside neighbor's house is in the background.
Posted by: K.T. at 01:44 PM | Comments (65) | Trackbacks (Suck)
The Blaze Publishes Name of Person It Claims Matches the J5 Pipe Bomber, Based on Gait Analysis
In my Expert opinion -- and I say I'm an Expert because I'm an Internet Researcher (and all leftwing internet nobodies claim this is accreditation, so I'm claiming it too), this is all somewhat suggestive but not nearly conclusive. Not even close. There's a problem I see in "internet detective work." It's the Light Under the Street Lamp bias. You know the old joke about the drunk searching for his car keys? He's searching for them under a street lamp. A passer-by asks him what he's doing, and he says "I'm looking for my car keys." The passer-by asks, "Oh, did you lose them under the street lamp?" The man says "No, I don't think so." "So why," the passer-by asks, "are you searching under the street-lamp?" "Because the light's better here," the drunk man says. So not to explain the joke and kill it*, but the point is that people search where they can see. They don't search where they can't see... and on a dark night, that means they're not searching most of the world where the car keys might have fallen. Internet-based research can only include people for whom there is profile on the internet, and pictures, and videos. (This woman's gait was compared to her gait seen in videos of her playing "professional" soccer.) So internet-based research is always looking "where the light is," and the light here means "people with a presence on the internet and easily-accessed public pictures and video." (This is why Candace Owens' search for The Real Killers of Charlie Kirk focuses exclusively on public video -- it's where the light is better.) Yes, more and more people have some internet presence, but this technique always assumes the suspect must be one of (admittedly large-ish) group of people who have a photographic/video profile on the internet. Where the light is better, don't you know. When the Blaze teased this, they said they had both gait analysis and human intelligence to supplement it. I thought the "human intelligence" would be something like, "and this woman is a disgruntled federal employee who has made threats against the government." But no, the "human intelligence" just means they had humans look at the gait footage and add a human evaluation to the computer analysis. It's all gait analysis, then. So... I'm unimpressed. Definitely take a look, but I don't think I'd start clearing out a jail cell just yet. * Also, why is a drunk man searching for car keys? He should call an uber and retrieve his car when sober. This joke sends a terrible message about driving while drunk, suggesting that it's okay. Well it's not okay, and I DENOUNCE this joke.
Eh.
Update: "Eh" is becoming "nahh."Original post below: It's based on gait analysis, which I do believe is a valid kind of forensic analysis, but... They say a computer program says that this woman's gait matches the J5 Pipe Bomber's gate at 94%, and they say that adding human analysis to that makes it more like 98%. Okay, but: How many other people would also match this gait? Compare a DNA match to a ballistics marking match. A DNA match means that the DNA either came from this person or a a close family member. Only one, or maybe 3 or 4 or 5, people in the would match the DNA profile collected from the scene. On the other hand, while the markings on a spent bullet may be "consistent with" the gun a suspect owns, a lot of other guns would fire bullets that would be "consistent with" the bullet from the crime scene. You can say it's a "match," and yes, the bullets have markings that match, but that match does not mean that the bullet was fired from the gun. It means it was fired from that gun, or the hundreds or even thousands of guns with the same rifling pattern in the barrel. "Match" has some very different meanings based not just on which suspects are included by the match but which ones are excluded. With a DNA match, nearly the entire world is excluded. With a ballistics markings match, many guns are excluded, but a lot of guns are still included. So which is a gait analysis more like? I am imagining it is much more like a ballistics marking match than a DNA or fingerprint match. Does that mean this article is wrong? No, but I don't think this is conclusive. They say the gait of the woman they name is like the gait of the J5 bomber. Okay, but how many other 5'7" women of the same age and build would have the same gait? Probably a lot. So those are my reservations and doubts, and they're substantial. Should this person be investigated? Certainly, especially if we pretend to believe the left's claim that the events of January 6th, and the 5th therefore, constituted the greatest attack on America since the War of 1812. Every suspect must be considered when attempting to solve the Greatest Attack on America Since the War of 1812. But... this isn't close to conclusive. Steve Baker for The Blaze:
Breanna Morello
@BreannaMorello 🚨UPDATE🚨 Another federal employee with knowledge on the J6 pipebomb investigation tells me they DO NOT believe Shauni Kerkhoff had a role in the pipebomb. This source tells me they know where she was at the time and they do not believe it's her. The FBI may have another suspect they're focused on in their investigation.
A computer program that compared the bomb suspect's gait to that of Shauni Kerkhoff produced a 94% match. A forensic analysis of a female former U.S. Capitol Police officer's gait is a 94%-98% match to the unique stride of the long-sought Jan. 6 pipe-bomb suspect, according to a Blaze News investigation confirmed by several intelligence sources. A source close to a congressional investigation of Jan. 6 additionally told Blaze News evidence has emerged recently that pointed toward law enforcement possibly being involved in the planting of the pipe bombs.This indicates she is being given a look by "law enforcement:"
A software algorithm that analyzes walking parameters including flexion (knee bend), hip extension, speed, step length, cadence, and variance rated Shauni Rae Kerkhoff, 31, of Alexandria, Va., as a 94% match to the bomb suspect shown on video from Jan. 5, 2021. The veteran analyst who ran the analysis for Blaze News said that based on visual observations the program can struggle with, he personally pegged the match at closer to 98%. Kerkhoff, who was a Capitol Police officer for four and a half years, left the department in mid-2021 for a security detail at the Central Intelligence Agency, sources told Blaze News.
CIA spokeswoman Liz Lyons stated that the subject worked in campus security.
In fairness to this woman: The police might have been posted to protect her, as one can just imagine that a person named in this investigation would face a substantial threat. If I were named as a suspect, you better believe I'd like a cop posted outside my door.
Kerkhoff's residence in Alexandria, Va., appeared to be under the watch of law enforcement officers on Friday night. Blaze News editor in chief Christopher Bedford was pulled over by local police after stopping to observe the home. He was then allowed to leave.
I don't know what to make of that. They were surveilling someone next to this woman's house, and were pulled off that investigation, so we should consider this woman a suspect? Eh, that's a stretch. Possible but by no means the most likely explanation. (Plus, over the years, I have grown wary of Kyle Seraphim.)
The FBI, which failed to solve the case in nearly five years of investigation but indicated that it was closing in after Blaze News brought its investigation to intelligence sources, was feet from the Falls Church address of the pipe bomb suspect days after Jan. 6, according to the Blaze News investigation. Former FBI Special Agent Kyle Seraphin realized Friday that he was doing surveillance next door to the woman now suspected of being the Jan. 6 pipe bomber. "The FBI put us one door away from the pipe bomber within days of January 6, and we were deliberately pulled away for no logical or logically investigative reason," Seraphin told Blaze News Friday. "And everything about that tells me that they were involved in a cover-up and have been since day one.
"They were f**king in on it," Seraphin said. Seraphin proposed doing a "knock and talk" at the door of an Air Force civilian employee whose address was tied to a vehicle that picked up the bomb suspect in Falls Church, Va., on Jan. 5, 2021. Seraphin's team spent two days watching the man, but Seraphin's request to go face-to-face with the person of interest was denied. The team was pulled off the case the same night, he said. Seraphin said he has given the same details publicly since 2021. "There's a personal reaction to it, which is the complete vindication that the things I've been saying and my recollection of being briefed on this stuff has been accurate for years and I've never changed my tune," he said.The bomber used a smart metro card purchased by an Air Force civilian employee but an investigation has shown that that man is not the J5 bomber. So, the J5 bomber must have gotten this man's metro card, somehow. This doesn't seem to clear, or convict, this new suspect. It seems like a red herring no matter who the real suspect turns out to be. (Unless they can show that a suspect could have easily have taken this man's card, or that he gave it to her.)
... Kerkhoff was a Capitol Police officer from 2018 until mid-2021. She was a member of the department's Civil Disturbance Unit and a training officer on the use of "less-lethal" crowd-control weapons that were extensively used on the Jan. 6 crowds.Interesting, but... doesn't really indicate much.
Using lethal force Jan. 6
... Blaze News approached numerous intelligence officials two weeks ago with questions about findings from its investigation, which suggested that Kerkhoff matched the description and behavior of the suspected bomber, based on her distinctive walk, slight limp, 5'7" frame, and other factors. ... Former Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund told Blaze News he is eager to learn the results of the pipe-bomb investigation. But he said he had no awareness of any Capitol Police officer involvement in the pipe-bomb planting.
In my Expert opinion -- and I say I'm an Expert because I'm an Internet Researcher (and all leftwing internet nobodies claim this is accreditation, so I'm claiming it too), this is all somewhat suggestive but not nearly conclusive. Not even close. There's a problem I see in "internet detective work." It's the Light Under the Street Lamp bias. You know the old joke about the drunk searching for his car keys? He's searching for them under a street lamp. A passer-by asks him what he's doing, and he says "I'm looking for my car keys." The passer-by asks, "Oh, did you lose them under the street lamp?" The man says "No, I don't think so." "So why," the passer-by asks, "are you searching under the street-lamp?" "Because the light's better here," the drunk man says. So not to explain the joke and kill it*, but the point is that people search where they can see. They don't search where they can't see... and on a dark night, that means they're not searching most of the world where the car keys might have fallen. Internet-based research can only include people for whom there is profile on the internet, and pictures, and videos. (This woman's gait was compared to her gait seen in videos of her playing "professional" soccer.) So internet-based research is always looking "where the light is," and the light here means "people with a presence on the internet and easily-accessed public pictures and video." (This is why Candace Owens' search for The Real Killers of Charlie Kirk focuses exclusively on public video -- it's where the light is better.) Yes, more and more people have some internet presence, but this technique always assumes the suspect must be one of (admittedly large-ish) group of people who have a photographic/video profile on the internet. Where the light is better, don't you know. When the Blaze teased this, they said they had both gait analysis and human intelligence to supplement it. I thought the "human intelligence" would be something like, "and this woman is a disgruntled federal employee who has made threats against the government." But no, the "human intelligence" just means they had humans look at the gait footage and add a human evaluation to the computer analysis. It's all gait analysis, then. So... I'm unimpressed. Definitely take a look, but I don't think I'd start clearing out a jail cell just yet. * Also, why is a drunk man searching for car keys? He should call an uber and retrieve his car when sober. This joke sends a terrible message about driving while drunk, suggesting that it's okay. Well it's not okay, and I DENOUNCE this joke.
Posted by: Ace at 12:50 PM | Comments (294) | Trackbacks (Suck)
Dreams of the Left - for the Left and the Right
The Left is pretty excited about Mamdani becoming mayor in NYC
“Every socialist needs to read this book. Every abolitionist, every Marxist, every anarchist, every revolutionary needs to read this book. Every person who has ever wondered how the world will function after the final retirement of the market, the commodity form, money, wages, rent, coercive gender roles, prisons, police, class, nation states, borders, profit, and in general the dominating power of any humans over any others.”—Spectre JournalMore information on the book, its authors, supporters, price and advanced praise here. Take a peek. Trust me. Does not include the enthusiastic commentary by Walter Kirn (or commentary by others who follow him) for some reason:
This is going to be so awesome that I wish it could happen right away. I'm amazed no one ever thought of it before!
Make sure to keep in the guillotines part! That's my favorite.Yes, indeed! It promises to be great!
Posted by: K.T. at 11:14 AM | Comments (217) | Trackbacks (Suck)
The Classical Saturday Morning Coffee Break & Prayer Revival
“God grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change;
Courage to change the things I can;
And wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
As it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
If I surrender to His Will;
So that I may be reasonably happy in this life
And supremely happy with Him
Forever and ever in the next. Amen.”
To accept the things I cannot change;
Courage to change the things I can;
And wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
As it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
If I surrender to His Will;
So that I may be reasonably happy in this life
And supremely happy with Him
Forever and ever in the next. Amen.”
Posted by: Misanthropic Humanitarian at 08:00 AM | Comments (370) | Trackbacks (Suck)
Daily Tech News 8 November 2025
Top Story
- Sam Altman's pants are totally on fire. (Marcus on AI)
So, Sam Altman recently said that OpenAI was not asking for government loan guarantees to bail the company out when things blew up in their faces, after Trump Administration AI Czar David Sacks said point-blank that no such guarantees would be forthcoming after OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar said that the company was in fact seeking government guarantees for its several septillion dollars in loans, currently backed only by its annual revenues of $3.18.
With me so far?
Well, slight problem. The author of this piece did a little digging and found that Sam Altman went on a podcast just recently to say that the company was seeking such loan guarantees, and documents still on OpenAI's own web site confirm this.
There's a reason I call him Sam Altman-Fried.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:00 AM | Comments (149) | Trackbacks (Suck)
November 07, 2025
Madman Across The ONT
Welcome to the Friday ONT! How's your week going?
Posted by: WeirdDave at 10:00 PM | Comments (291) | Trackbacks (Suck)
Finally Friday Cafe
Traces of TexasHuh, I think I bought "Texas West of the Pecos" but never read it. Cat rolls around like a real goof. He understands the principle but the timing is a bitch. Dog is a great cowboy. The prized Pompadour Cow. A 3-D model of an Escher work. I got you guys something. Hope you like it.
@TracesofTexas The Texas Quote of the Day is just awesome: "The Rio Grande is an ancient family of rivers that join as they cross the continent, and each member has its own distinct history and appearance. Spanish sailors who first saw the river named it Rio de las Palmas for the groves of native palm trees that once filled its lower delta. Then the Rio Pecos was discovered on the dry Texas plains, wandering along the edge of the Despoblado. Later, conquistadores charted what they called the Rio Brave del Norte as it flowed from Colorado through the long valley of New Mexico. Finally, traders crossing Chihuahua found the river that they named the Rio Conchos, "river of shells," for the fossils in its bed. When, during the last one hundred years, people began to realize that it was all one great system, the name was enlarged to Rio Grande, great river of destiny." ---- Jim Bones, "Rio Grande: Mountains to the Sea," 1985. Y'all should really read this book and every book by Jim Bones that you can find. His texts mix a geologist's knowledge with the soul of a poet. And his book "Texas West of the Pecos" is really the seed that sprouted and eventually resulted in this page and Traces of Texas. The photographs are stunning, and I realized when I first read it in 1982 that there was a whole visual world out there in West Texas that was so unlike what I grew up in in Central Texas. And it was right after I read it that I went out to the Guadalupes for the first time and hiked into The Bowl and that experience percolated and eventually resulted in Traces.
Posted by: Ace at 07:25 PM | Comments (262) | Trackbacks (Suck)
The Week in Woke
She must be fun:
That Thing That Never Happens somehow -- get this -- happened again.
'Latinx' leader who served as Oregon policy advisor was illegal immigrant convicted of sex crimesBTW, this is an American outlet, the Washington Examiner. Are we now adopting the British punctuation standard of using single quotation marks -- ' ' -- for quotes, instead of the double quotation marks -- " " -- America has used for a long time? Just let me know. I don't care either way, I just want to know what we're doing here.
Now we're back to the double quotes. What is even going on.
An illegal immigrant convicted of sex crimes in Oregon, a sanctuary state for unlawful immigration, held various advisory positions on state policymaking committees as a so-called "Latinx" community leader.
Juan Pablo Villalobos Garcia, a criminally convicted Venezuelan national who had overstayed his visa, according to U.S. immigration authorities, served in several committee roles advising the state of Oregon on policy areas such as behavioral health, "health equity," and healthcare for all, regardless of immigration status. Before the U.S. Department of Homeland Security nabbed Garcia, a Portland-area activist and "educator," he was on Oregon's Community Engagement and Communications Committee to the Universal Health Plan Governance Board, which is tasked with creating a comprehensive plan for financing and administering a single-payer healthcare system that covers all Oregonians, no matter their immigration status. ... On the Oregon government website, the board's community engagement committee describes Garcia as the executive director of LatinX Recovery Center, who is "currently in recovery from substance abuse with a criminal justice history."Outstanding. Give yourselves all a big raise. The "British Man" who stabbed 10 people on a train slashed a man's face to ribbons months before and the police said "ah you rascal, get out of here you scamp."
... Garcia, whose record reportedly includes sexual abuse and bestiality, was also an active member of the Behavioral Health Crisis System Advisory Committee, which advises the Oregon Health Authority, the state's health department, on overseeing the statewide crisis response system. ... Garcia's membership bio says he uses "they/them" pronouns and represents "indigenous populations in South America from a culturally humble level, as well as Spanish-speaking BIPOC communities in Central America."
Police are to reopen a case in which a taxi passenger's face was slashed by a knife-wielding stranger - after witnesses said they were convinced the attacker was the same man held for the Huntingdon train rampage. Ricky Butcher needed 15 stitches to a slash wound to his face after being attacked at random in September by a man he now believes could have been accused train attacker Anthony Williams. If confirmed, this would increase growing speculation that last weekend's train rampage might have been prevented. The attack happened just over a month before the train attack on Saturday night in which ten people were stabbed, some critically. Mr Butcher was set upon seemingly at random as he waited for a minicab home after a night out in Peterborough on September 27. But to Mr Butcher's astonishment it was just two days after the terrifying attack that he received an SMS from Cambridgeshire Police - the same force now holding Williams - saying they were closing the case as there was insufficient evidence to make an arrest likely.They were too busy arresting people for mean but accurate tweets about migrant rape to investigate this run-of-the-mill Diversity Knife Attack.
JaimeJessop
@Janine511484078 I'm losing count of the number of serious knife incidents Williams was involved in prior to Huntingdon, where police failed to act on each occasion. Taken together, involving the same suspect, who police must have been aware of, this is VERY SUSPICIOUS. They ignored EVERY warning
Alert the police. I've found two terrorists, commenting on the news. The Best and the Brightest continue to impress:
Ollyp3
@ollyp3 I've lost count. Armed with a knife in a barber shop twice. In a town once (at least), stabbed on the DLR. Stabbed on this reported occasion. So many chances to avoid what happened. Practically rubbing his knife with intent to use it under police noses! Zero arrest. Bonkers
Princeton University is launching a new anthropology course on "Gender, Reproduction, and Genocide" in Gaza, a class whose description puts the Israel-Hamas war on par with the Holocaust. The for-credit, graded course is being taught by a "noted Palestinian feminist" who has made provably false claims that Hamas did not kill babies or rape women on Oct. 7, and also called for an end to the Jewish state. "Drawing on decolonial, Indigenous, and feminist thought, we examine how genocidal projects target reproductive life, sexual and familial structures, and community survival," the course description reads. "Students will engage reproductive justice frameworks, survivor testimony, and Palestinian feminist critiques of colonial violence, while situating Gaza within comparative histories of the Armenian genocide, the Holocaust, and genocide against Black and Indigenous populations."
She must be fun:
alKetanji Brown-Jackson, the low-IQ underprepared Mean Girl of the Supreme Court.
@ceaseium sex with a man under the hetero-patriarchy will always be disgusting and humiliating for a woman. we're socially programmed to romanticize sex, to worship the phallus, but none of that romance stands to any meaning when men, your husbands and boyfriends, see you as a sex object
To negotiate in good faith or go scorched earth? That appears to be the key question plaguing the U.S. Supreme Court's liberal justices as they strategize on how best to lose in key cases that come before the bench, according to a new report. Published Friday by New York Times lacky Jodi Kantor, the extensive exposé features claims from anonymous confidants and associates of the justices about an alleged ongoing dispute among the court's Democrat appointees. This friction, according to these unnamed individuals, centers on the justices' differing views on how to effectively navigate the court's current makeup and dominating originalist jurisprudence. In one camp are Associate Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, both of whom have sought to establish cordial relationships with their Republican-appointed colleagues. The article specifically homes in on Kagan, and how she has strategically sought to find areas of compromise with her conservative colleagues -- namely, Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett -- to try and narrow the scope of a ruling (or, on rare occasions, produce a left-wing "victory") in any given case. In the other camp is the Supreme Court's newest justice, Ketanji Brown Jackson. According to the sources who spoke with the Times, it is Jackson's public remarks and penchant for using antagonistic language in her dissents that are purportedly irking Kagan. "Admirers of Justice Kagan say she is prudent to show restraint, displaying her frustration only in flashes. Justice Jackson's outspokenness could risk those votes, or further erode faith in a court that may yet stand up to Mr. Trump, they say," the report reads. Since joining the high court, Jackson has regularly employed aggressive (and quite frankly, embarrassing) rhetoric to trash her conservative-leaning colleagues. In one particular case involving the Trump administration before the court's emergency docket earlier this year, for example, the Biden appointee authored a lone dissenting opinion all but accusing the Republican appointees of abandoning all proper jurisprudence in order to bend over backward for the government. "This is Calvinball jurisprudence with a twist," Jackson wrote. "Calvinball has only one rule: There are no fixed rules. We seem to have two: that one, and this Administration always wins." The hostile opinion seemingly demonstrates the failures of Sotomayor and Kagan to avoid causing any unneeded friction between the conservative and liberal factions. According to the Times, the two Obama appointees attempted to "advise and coordinate with Justice Jackson" on the tone of her opinions at the outset of her SCOTUS career, in an apparent effort to help sustain their bid to court Barrett, "whose vote they desperately needed." Although Jackson "sometimes deferred, softening or withdrawing opinions," the Times reported, "she also felt compelled to express frank disagreement even if it caused friction."
... What's become glaringly apparent, as further indicated by the Times' story, is that Jackson has completely forgone (assuming she considered it at all) the Kagan approach of building bridges instead of burning them. Rather than forge professional, working relationships and write to convince her colleagues to come around to her side of the argument, she's opted to pen left-wing "girl boss" fiction for her legacy media fanbase.
That Thing That Never Happens somehow -- get this -- happened again.
Reelected Kansas Mayor Faces Charges Of Voting As Noncitizen When registering to vote, the only proof of citizenship is checkmark on a postcard, indicating yes or no, "Are you a U.S. citizen?"I know what you're thinking, Racists, and you're wrong. Actually I don't know what your Racist minds are thinking, but I'm sure, whatever it is, it's wrong. The Sierra Club has destroyed itself, claims the Daily Mail. It abandoned its foundational mission of agitating about the environment in favor of DEI, DEI, DEI.
The day after Coldwater, Kansas, Mayor Joe Ceballos was reelected to a second four-year term this week, Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach filed election fraud charges against him. Ceballos, 54, is not a U.S. citizen, but he is not in the country illegally; "he is a legal permanent resident of the United States and a citizen of Mexico," Kobach said. "In Kansas, it is against the law to vote if you are not a U.S. citizen. We allege that Mr. Ceballos did it multiple times," Kobach said in a statement. Ceballos faces three counts of voting without being qualified and three counts of election perjury. The charges are "nonperson felonies" that could cost Ceballos more than five years in prison. He is alleged to have voted at least in the 2022 and 2023 general elections and the 2024 primary election, although he has apparently been registered to vote since 1990. He was not charged for holding office, although it is a problem. "Kansas law at KSA 15-209 requires a city officer to be a qualified elector. And being a qualified elector requires that person to be a United States citizen," Kobach said during a press conference. "It is not a criminal offense to be in violation of that law, but it is worth noting."
Longtime members of the iconic Sierra Club warn the environmental group is imploding after woke infighting destroyed its focus on nature, driving away members and donors. The once-powerful group, founded in 1892, had long been a giant of American environmentalism, making its name through causes including establishing Earth Day. But in the last six years the club has lost 60 percent of its membership and is reportedly facing a $40 million projected budget deficit despite several rounds of staff layoffs. Insiders said issues began during Donald Trump's first term in office a decade ago as the as the group positioned itself in opposition to his rollbacks on environmental laws. The position attracted a flurry of new members and saw the organization flush with $2 million in donations in just two weeks. However problems reportedly arose as leaders looked to capitalize on its influence by expanding the club into an umbrella activist group, crusading on progressive issues ranging from racial justice, gay rights and immigration. Insiders told the New York Times that they were issued an 'equity language guide' and found themselves being scolded for not prioritizing equity and diversity. 'One of the staff said, "That's fine, Delia. But what do wolves have to do with equity, justice and inclusion?"' she recalled. Earlier this year the Sierra Club fired its first black executive director, Ben Jealous, the former president of the NAACP, after the group hired him in 2022 to reverse its declining membership and donations. According to the Times, his tenure was marked by 'accusations of sexual harassment, bullying, and overspending', and insiders said the organization spread itself too thin across an array of woke causes. Jealous told Politico after he was fired that he felt he was subjected to discrimination and a 'campaign' against him, and before he was ousted he said he 'raised concerns about racial discrimination and retaliation I saw in the Sierra Club.'The censors went quickly to work at Sierra Club, banning words:
Posted by: Ace at 06:15 PM | Comments (362) | Trackbacks (Suck)
Tesla Stockholders Okay a Big Pay Package for Elon Musk -- One Trillion (Yes that's a "Tr") Dollars
One trilly. As a Bonus. Must be nice. Must. Be. Nice. It's not a giveaway, though. To collect that big of a bonus, Musk would have to take the value of his company from its current valuation of around $1.4 trilly to $8.5 trilly. But I wouldn't bet against him.
The deal was announced by Dr. Evil.
One trilly. As a Bonus. Must be nice. Must. Be. Nice. It's not a giveaway, though. To collect that big of a bonus, Musk would have to take the value of his company from its current valuation of around $1.4 trilly to $8.5 trilly. But I wouldn't bet against him.
What would you do with one trilly dollars? Me, I know what I'd do: I'd get myself a PS5 Pro. With four (4) controllers. So I could play a friend and have a couple of controllers charging in case we play for a long time. Unrelated: Megyn Kelly has defended Candace Owens, and claimed that she is "brilliant." Now Ben Shapiro asks Megyn Kelly why she says nothing about Candace Owens alleging that members of TPUSA and Babylon Bee publisher Seth Tillman were in a conspiracy to kill Charlie Kirk, and that the transgender-loving gay furry who confessed to the murder, Tyler Robinson, is innocent, or just a patsy. Shapiro also says that Owens is implicating Erika Kirk. Megyn Kelly says it's "none of my business."
Mario Nawfal
@MarioNawfal 🇺🇸 TESLA'S $1 TRILLION GAMBLE: ELON'S FINAL FORM Tesla shareholders vote today on a $1 trillion pay package - a number so big it makes Bezos look middle-class. The deal would crown Elon the world's first trillionaire if he can grow Tesla to $8.5 trillion by 2035. That's Meta + Microsoft + Google money - combined. But it's not just about stock price to cash in, Elon has to deliver: 20 million cars,
10 million self-driving subs,
1 million humanoid robots, and a fleet of robo-taxis that actually work. It's the most ambitious (and least humble) to-do list in corporate history - part science fiction, part cult of personality. Big investors like Norway's sovereign wealth fund are voting no, warning about "key person risk" - which is code for if Elon implodes, so does everything. But the board's playing chicken with destiny, hinting Elon might walk if he doesn't get the bag. Source: The Guardian
Posted by: Ace at 05:20 PM | Comments (340) | Trackbacks (Suck)
Four Woke Conde Nast Staffers Fired For Attempting to Bully the Boss
The loudest of the bunch is, get this, a woke entitled hyperpolitical transgender.
From Brad Slager at RedState, Conde Nast has been laying off some workers and folding some useless departments into others. For example -- and this seems to have set these lisping imbeciles off -- "Teen Vogue" fired its "politics" staff. Or at least they were removed from Teen Vogue and "folded into" other Conde Nast departments. This displeased the communists "working" for the media conglomerate, who believe they have an ownership stake in the billion-dollar corporation because they collect checks from it for sitting at their desks posting on Reddit political threads all fucking day long. They sashayed down to the head of HR's office and demanded he "answer questions." When the head of HR told them, politely, to go back to work, they hissed "We work here," I guess meaning "We work right outside your office and our job is to harass you until you give us what we demand."For reasons possibly related to making a case for their defense, a video of this confrontation in the Condé Nast offices has emerged, and it displays all of the dysfunction we have heard about over the years. We see these staffers behaving like insufferable, entitled scolds who disregard the directives from their boss, behaving like they are owed some sort of audience. It is bewildering. What is most surprising is that Duncan did not coddle these cranks, something that has been seen far too often in these media maelstroms. He directed them properly to get back to work, and after a time, he took the appropriate steps and let go of these demanding brats.
Posted by: Ace at 04:15 PM | Comments (305) | Trackbacks (Suck)
DC Mayor Muriel Bowser Under Investigation for Bribery From Qatar
Ah, Qatar. The country that has bribed a quarter of our politicians, half of our comedians, and three-quarters of our social media influencers.
But at least they're not Jews!Washington, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser is reportedly the target of a federal corruption investigation over a trip she took with members of staff that was paid for by Qatar. People familiar with the matter told the New York Times that the inquiry is based on potential bribery or campaign finance law violations. The investigation has reportedly been underway for months, and is being handled by the US Attorney's Office in Washington. Bowser's office said in a written statement, "This was a business trip. DC representatives regularly travel to promote Washington as a destination for investment and growth." The office said that those efforts have brought business to the city. "All proper paperwork for this standard donation is on file."I know this might be shocking, but Bowser's "paperwork" lied about who paid for the junket. First she claimed a mayor's group paid, then, when that was proven false, she claimed the trip was paid for by the US Chamber of Commerce. In fact, the bulk of the trip was paid for by Qatar. And the expenses were significant.
Must have just been an accounting error. That's not enough for a post. This will top it off nicely: Grand jury issues subpoenas in John Brennan obstruction/perjury case.
It was revealed that the mayors' group only paid a portion of the cost. The Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust filed an ethics complaint, which stated that Qatari officials in March sent a letter to the mayor's office showing that the country had paid over $61,000 for Bowser and her staff to come to Doha just before the UN conference.
Justice Department officials in Miami and Washington, D.C., are actively preparing to issue several grand jury subpoenas relating to an investigation into former CIA Director John Brennan, Fox News has learned.
Posted by: Ace at 03:20 PM | Comments (340) | Trackbacks (Suck)
Second Circuit Court of Repeals Rebukes and Reverses Lowly District Court Judge, Instructing the Judge to Consider Trump's Motion to Remove the Alvin Bragg "34 Felonies" Case to Federal Court
What does it mean if the case is removed to a federal court? It could mean that the conviction just vanishes. It could mean the conviction never happened. And then they can try this whole bullshit case again, and see how they do with a jury that isn't packed with Trump-deranged, Zohran-Mamdani-voting, George-Soros-selected jurors. In related news, Republican Senators have written a letter to Chief Justice Cuck Roberts demanding that he actually enforce the canons of judicial ethics on his rogue partisan judges. Specifically, they're complaining that judges violated the rules about respecting higher courts by anonymously complaining to New York Times "journalists" that the Supreme Court is a deranged authoritarian catspaw of Trump.
Yes, the rigged, illegal "conviction" that the left never stops gassing us about.
Trump had moved to remove the entire case to federal court. This motion was denied. The Supreme Court's subsequent opinion on presidential immunity suggested that Trump's original motion had more merit than it was credited for, so Trump refiled the motion, asking again to move the entire case out of Alvin Bragg's Soros-Sponsored Kangaroo Court to a federal court. The lowly district court judge -- once again assigned completely randomly, I'm certain -- again blew off Trump's argument. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the judge to reconsider and this time actually consider Trump's argument instead of automatically rejecting it like a corrupt hack. Okay, they didn't say that. I see that in the Penumbras and Emanations, however. I think that Trump now has a good basis to insist that only a federal court can hear this case, given the federal questions involved, so the state case should be removed to federal court. The opinion reads:We cannot be confident that in doing so [dismissing Trump's renewed motion as untimely (late)], the District Court adequately considered issues relevant to the good cause inquiry so as to enable meaningful appellate review. Those issues include but are not limited to the impact of Trump v. United States on the removability of the underlying state prosecution. For example, the District Court did not consider whether certain evidence admitted during the state court trial relates to immunized official acts or, if so, whether evidentiary immunity transformed the State's case into one that relates to acts under color of the Presidency. Nor did the District Court consider whether any notice of removal of a criminal prosecution under sec. 1455(b)(1) must be filed before trial even if new grounds for removal arise during or after trial. We therefore VACATE the District Court's order denying Trump's motion for leave to file a second notice of removal and REMAND for reconsideration of the motion consistent with this opinion. DO YOUR FUCKING JOB THIS TIME, FAGGOT.Whoa, that last sentence seems extremely injudicious. I mean, just waaayyy over-of-line. Why not try constructive criticism? Use words that help, not words that hurt.
What does it mean if the case is removed to a federal court? It could mean that the conviction just vanishes. It could mean the conviction never happened. And then they can try this whole bullshit case again, and see how they do with a jury that isn't packed with Trump-deranged, Zohran-Mamdani-voting, George-Soros-selected jurors. In related news, Republican Senators have written a letter to Chief Justice Cuck Roberts demanding that he actually enforce the canons of judicial ethics on his rogue partisan judges. Specifically, they're complaining that judges violated the rules about respecting higher courts by anonymously complaining to New York Times "journalists" that the Supreme Court is a deranged authoritarian catspaw of Trump.
In interviews, federal judges called the Supreme Court's emergency orders "mystical," "overly blunt," "incredibly demoralizing and troubling" and "a slap in the face to the district courts." One judge compared their district's current relationship with the Supreme Court to "a war zone." Another said the courts were in the midst of a "judicial crisis." The Times explained that "the judges responded to the questionnaire and spoke in interviews on the condition of anonymity so they could share their views candidly, as lower court judges are governed by a complex set of rules that include limitations on their public statements." The Times went on to characterize these responses and interviews as "overwhelmingly critical of the Supreme Court" and reflective of "extraordinary tensions within the judiciary."Why do leftwing judges hate the emergency docket? (A docket of cases granted speedy review?) Well, because it stops their unhinged partisan decisions from standing as the law of the land for more than a year until they're overturned. RedState's streiff:
Without the SCOTUS emergency docket, lower court decisions could remain in effect for years before getting to the Supreme Court. For instance, it took the Supreme Court 15 months to hear the "Muslim Travel Ban" case during Trump's first term; see The Trump Travel Ban Probably Survived the Supreme Court -- RedState. It took them an additional two months to finally announce the decision. SCOTUS ruled in Trump's favor, but a frivolous lawsuit had delayed his policy by nearly a year and a half.Correction: I initially asserted, WITHOUT EVIDENCE, that the 2nd Circuit (a Northeastern circuit including NY and Connecticut and Vermont) was "another left-leaning court." Elric the Blade says that my information is out of date:
Ace, the second circuit is about 50-50 now, with maybe one extra Dumocrap appointment. Trump added 5 or 6 judges to the 2d Circuit in his first term. It was then fairly conservative, but then Biden added a bunch DEI retards. So now it's close to 50-50. Of course depends on which panel you get. You could get three raving Biden lunatics. It's the district courts in the 2d circuit that are dominated by leftist retards.Thanks for the update. (District courts are federal trial courts, the Circuit Courts of Appeal are just appeal courts where judges review rulings from the trial courts, and of course the Supreme Court is the court of final appeal.)
Posted by: Ace at 02:20 PM | Comments (317) | Trackbacks (Suck)
Surprise! A Virologist Warned the "Intel" Community That Covid-19 Did Not Look Natural and Likely Came From a Lab.
Then Fauci Had a Chat With Him.
And Then He Started Telling the Public and Congress It Must Be a Natural Virus.
They are above suspicion. Unlike non-experts, they all have sterling characters and possess no human flaws that can be exploited. They are never motivated by money or self-interest. Did you know that being accredited makes you an actual angel created directly by the hand of God Himself? It's true, Racists. Read a fucking book once in a while. Ever hear of "the Bible"? It's in there, somewhere.
Then Fauci Had a Chat With Him.
And Then He Started Telling the Public and Congress It Must Be a Natural Virus.
Huh. You don't say.
Prominent Virologist Warned Intelligence Community COVID-19 Could Have Leaked From Wuhan Lab. Then He Met With Fauci and Changed His Tune. The researcher, UNC professor Ralph Baric, also privately downplayed the wet market theory but publicly lent it credit A prominent U.S. virologist who collaborated with the Wuhan Institute of Virology before the COVID-19 pandemic privately informed the U.S. intelligence community in January 2020 that the Chinese lab may be responsible for the outbreak. But in his public remarks to congressional staffers one month later--and after meeting with former White House health adviser Anthony Fauci--the researcher stayed mum about the Wuhan lab and lent credence to the discredited wet market theory. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill virologist Dr. Ralph Baric warned the Office of the Director of National Intelligence during a closed-door presentation with the agency's Biological Sciences Experts Group on or around Jan. 29, 2020, that the Wuhan lab, which was conducting risky gain-of-function experiments on bat viruses similar to the one that causes COVID-19, may have accidentally released the virus into the human population. Baric's presentation, which the Washington Free Beacon obtained from a whistleblower, went beyond mere speculation: Considered one of the world's foremost experts on coronaviruses, Baric experimented with coronaviruses in 2015 with the Wuhan Institute of Virology's top researcher, Shi Zhengli. Later, in early 2024, he testified to House investigators that he had privately warned Shi that her lab lacked sufficient biosafety protections and that he always believed a lab leak origin was possible. But Baric had nothing to say about the Wuhan lab in his public remarks during the early days of the pandemic as the press cast Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) and other proponents of the lab leak theory as unhinged conspiracy theorists.
Trust the experts, peons.
Baric's private presentation to the intelligence community in January 2020, which was first disclosed Friday by Sen. Rand Paul (R., Ky.), was almost identical to a public briefing he delivered to the Congressional Biomedical Research Caucus the following month on Feb. 26, 2020. For the public presentation, however, Baric removed the slides referencing the possibility that the virus could have leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology. ... Rutgers University professor of chemical biology Richard Ebright, one of the most prominent academic proponents of the lab leak theory, said it was no coincidence that Baric omitted his references to the Wuhan Institute of Virology in his public presentation. Ebright said Baric held a "highly unusual one-on-one meeting" with Fauci on Feb. 11, 2020, an appointment reflected in a copy of Fauci's schedule obtained through a Freedom of Information Act Request. At the time, Fauci was quietly coordinating efforts to cast the lab leak theory as a baseless conspiracy. Fauci and former National Institutes of Health director Francis Collins were also warned about the Wuhan lab's potential role in the outbreak during a Feb. 1, 2020, conference call. But instead of heeding those warnings, Collins and Fauci, who led the federal agencies that funded gain-of-function research with the Wuhan Institute of Virology, set out to cast discussions of lab origin of COVID-19 as a baseless conspiracy theory. Collins lamented in an email exchange with Fauci the next day that discussion of a lab origin of COVID-19 "would do great potential harm to science and international harmony."
They are above suspicion. Unlike non-experts, they all have sterling characters and possess no human flaws that can be exploited. They are never motivated by money or self-interest. Did you know that being accredited makes you an actual angel created directly by the hand of God Himself? It's true, Racists. Read a fucking book once in a while. Ever hear of "the Bible"? It's in there, somewhere.
Posted by: Ace at 01:16 PM | Comments (373) | Trackbacks (Suck)
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