THE MORNING RANT: The Conservative Milestone of Canceling Your Wall Street Journal Subscription

Most of the legacy media had a terrible left-wing bias my entire adult life, with one very prominent exception – the Wall Street Journal. Upon my graduation from college in the 1980s, I subscribed to the WSJ. It was not only a valuable resource on all matters related to business and economics, but it also reported politics and other news with a commitment to journalistic impartiality. And most importantly, its editorial page was an oasis of conservative thought.

As we rolled into the 21st Century, the journalistic controls lapsed, and the reporting started to mirror the left-wing propaganda you could find in the New York Times. When the Trump era rolled around, the editorial page announced its obsolescence by becoming an unhinged haven for NeverTrumpism. Whether it was shilling for overseas wars, or acting as a leading voice for the uniparty, every page of the WSJ was now aligned with the Washington morass.

When I canceled my Wall Street Journal subscription in 2016 it carried an emotional punch. It was like terminating a long-time friendship with a person who had once been so important in your life.

The substack of former commodities trader Jeffrey Carter (@pointsnfigures1 on Twitter) is a must read for me, as he is always informative and educational. Last month he wrote about his decision to cancel his Wall Street Journal subscription.

I started reading WSJ in college (1980s) & I finally cancelled my subscription in 2016. For me, it too was a sad milestone, reflective of not only bias, but how the opinion page was stuck in an era that had passed & and its journalists were no longer investigative, or very smart. https://t.co/8W81UBo7cb

— Buck Throckmorton (@BuckThrockmort) February 6, 2025

In his substack, Mr. Carter writes not only of the WSJ’s wokeness and anti-Trump bias…

I have been reading the WSJ daily since I entered college in 1980. That’s 45 years of reading one paper. The WSJ used to be very good. It still has some good writers. However, much of the paper has lost its objectivity. It’s either gone woke, or the Trump Derangement Syndrome of the writer is so bad it is impossible to get decent information.

…but also about how it is incapable of even engaging in traditional journalism on non-political subjects.

I don’t want to know the stuff about Palantir that I can find using a simple web search. I want to know why Palantir does what it does, what kind of people it hires, and what kind of corporate culture it has. I want insights I can’t get from numbers. The same goes for any other company.

Most disturbing, the Wall Street Journal has become a propaganda outfit staffed by politically indoctrinated zealots.

The younger writers weren’t taught journalism in Journalism School. They were taught indoctrination, which is how they write. They are also kind of dumb when it comes to understanding how businesses operate.

There was one other publication in the ‘80s and ‘90s that I valued as much as the Wall Street Journal, and my act of canceling that subscription also felt like breaking up with an old friend. That magazine was Forbes. Under editor James Michaels, its journalists could condense so much “what, why, and how” into less than 1,000 words, and it had a right-of-center leaning. I was such a fan that I supported Steve Forbes in the 1996 presidential primaries. After Mr. Michaels retired in 1999 and the magazine went primarily digital, it became an unfocused mess that leaned hard to the left.

Forbes is now dead to me, as is The Wall Street Journal. The digital publications now carrying their names are a disgrace to those once-great journalistic institutions.

[buck.throckmorton at protonmail dot com]

Posted by: Buck Throckmorton at 11:00 AM | Comments (314) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Mid-Morning Art Thread

South Carolina Morning
Edward Hopper

Posted by: CBD at 09:30 AM | Comments (445) | Trackbacks (Suck)

The Morning Report — 3/ 17 /25

Good morning kids. Hope you all had a nice restful weekend, I suppose the title for today's report is Houthi and the Blowhards. First up, Trump ordered the military to hit the terrorists operating out of Yemen hard.

The strike came two days before Trump ordered “decisive and powerful Military action against the [Iran-backed] Houthi terrorists in Yemen” on Saturday for their “unrelenting campaign of piracy, violence, and terrorism against American, and other” assets. Trump warned the Houthis their time was up and warned Iran to stop supporting the Houthis or else “America will hold you fully accountable and, we won’t be nice about it!”

And you'll be shocked, shocked I say to learn that he dared do this on UN Islamophobia Day! Oh the humidity! At least it wasn't during transexual goat bestiality pride month. The optics would've been terrible.

And speaking of unhinged, thuggish, revolting terrorists, we have the Democrat Party and leftism right here. Esteemed lurker extraordinaire and Ace cruelty fan-boi Victor Davis Hanson posits the question:

What Are the Left’s Solutions for the Problems They Created?

The U.S. faces mounting trade deficits, immigration crises, and endless foreign wars, while critics of Trump's policies offer no viable alternatives to Biden-era failures.

Well, as I assume he and I know we all know, it's not just Biden-era, but Wislon-era, FDR-era, JFK/LBJ-era, Carter and Clinton, and unless the leopard changes tts spots, whoever God-forbid may be the future Democrat occupants of the Oval Office. And the answer is, the solution is always to exacerbate the problem by borrowing, spending and regulating more and more of our wealth and freedoms away from us as the means for them to destroy whatever is left of our Republic as founded that yet still has a pulse and seize absolute power. All the while blaming those who oppose them for causing the problems and seeking the destruction of "our precious democracy" (Vomit!).

Democracy?  They rig it! Don’t fall for their “save democracy” tears.  The Journal of Democracy reported that 20% of Democrats supported violence in 2021 — less than the GOP’s 30%, but still despicable.  They cheered the riots of 2020.  Harris tweeted support for bail funds — then cried when Trump defeated them in 2024.  Now Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) proposes his Electoral College “reform” bill in 2025, a blatant power-grab aimed at eliminating red states like Texas.  Trump won big; they can’t stand it. . . The 2024 election proved one thing: Trump flipped Nevada, according to Newsweek, as voters nationwide turned away from Harris’s woke rhetoric.  Pew Research reported Democrats at 31% approval in 2023 — lower than a snake’s belly.  From Schumer’s amnesty to AOC’s disdain for law enforcement, their actions reflect contempt for America. Texas feels the strain at the border, but this is a battle for every patriot — our kids, our flag, our future.  Trump is draining the swamp again; Republicans must leave these traitors behind.  No mercy, no retreat.

The fly in the ointment is while the Democrat Left lives by the mantra "By Any Means Necessary," what are we who desperately want to restore and preserve our nation, society and heritage willing to do, and can do to stop them. And voting harder as we all know is not the answer. Somehow, Donald Trump prevailed last November, and if you can believe the polls, The Democrat Party is at historic lows in popularity while, despite the constant propaganda barrage, Trump and what he is delivering is skyrocketing.

Considering what the courts have done to Trump, anti-abortion protesters, vocal parents at school board meetings and the J-6 victims of the Garland Archipelago, and now what the courts are doing to Trump's legitimate actions in deporting criminal illegal aliens and firing goldbrick federal bureaucrats, the options in fighting and winning the counter-counter-American revolution are whittled down to that which we do not want to contemplate, but that the other side have eagerly embraced, from molotov cocktails, to pre-positioned pallets of bricks to bullets and Swatting. To name but a few.

Meanwhile, as the Democrat Party seems to be tearing itself apart from within as the Left hand battles it out with the Far Left hand to see which one comes out on top, as we have seen most recently with the battle over voting in favor of the continuing resolution. The epicenter of that shitstorm was Chuck Schumer:

Fresh off defending a Hamas supporter, Sen. Chuck Schumer spoke to the New York Times to promote his book about antisemitism. Topping that howler, Schumer claimed that the Democrats are authentic. “We are the party of working people. We feel that very, very strongly. That’s who we have always been.”

Sen. Schumer is a millionaire Harvard grad. After graduating from Harvard, he went into politics. His party’s last presidential graduate spent her entire life in politics. Pretty much the case for the party’s past nominees who spent their entire lives in politics. That’s one definition of “working people”, but not one that actual working people have.

Schumer blathers about billionaires, but that’s who funds his party. The Democrats are a party of political ideologues who work for billionaires and then claim to be ‘working class’. And that’s politics for you.

Sadly, anti-Semitism has been around for millennia. But if Martians landed on earth and the first person they encountered was Chuck Schumer, they'd be waving Swastikas and Korans all the way back to the red planet. Ugh.

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.

Have a great day.

ABOVE THE FOLD, BREAKING, NOTEWORTHY
• The Democrat party is not simply irrelevant. Rather, it is America’s greatest adversary.
  The Democrat Party: The Enemy Within?
  
• Victor Davis Hanson: The U.S. faces mounting trade deficits, immigration crises, and endless foreign wars, while critics of Trump's policies offer no viable alternatives to Biden-era failures. (and Wilson/FDR/LBJ/Carter/Clinton - jjs)
  What Are the Left’s Solutions for the Problems They Created?
  
• Roger Kimball: Trump’s DOJ speech called out corruption, promised justice reform, and sent the media into a frenzy over his bold rebuke of the establishment.
  Trump’s DOJ Speech: A Reckoning for the Deep State and a Media Meltdown

Posted by: J.J. Sefton at 06:31 AM | Comments (480) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Daily Tech News 17 March 2025

Top Story

• The LibreWolf developers are insane. (Reddit)
  
  So is Reddit, but leave that for the moment.
  
  There's this guy named Bryan Lunduke. He's a Linux journalist and YouTuber who comments extensively on the fallout of wokeness in open-source software projects - like the Godot game engine, which woked itself to death last year.
  
  He has spoken out against software codes of conduct - what I call codes of cancer. His name is one of the handful that ChatGPT would sooner die than speak aloud.
  
  And his name has been banned from the LibreWolf forum. (LibreWolf is a fork of the Firefox browser.)
  
  And if you ask why, you will be banned.
  
  Ask why someone was banned, and you will be banned.
  
  They haven't gone full Mullenweg yet, but the clock is ticking.
  
  "Libre" does not here mean "Congress shall make no law"; it means "Join the glorious revolution or die, and we don't care which".

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:00 AM | Comments (168) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Sunday Overnight Open Thread - March 16, 2025 [Doof]

Cliffs of Moher - Among the 10 most beautiful views in Ireland

Howdy Hordelings! A happy St. Patty's Day eve to all ye lads and lassies. Is your green beer ready? Have you already started partying? However you are spending your Sunday evening, thanks for making time to visit the ONT. Step on in and tell everyone what's on yer mind!

Posted by: Open Blogger at 10:00 PM | Comments (455) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Gun Thread: Third March 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 Third March Edition? Seems like just last week was the second Gun Thread of March edition, and now it's the third Gun Thread of March edition! I sense a pattern emerging here. Do you?

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 (252) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Food Thread: Fatty Bones From Six Time Zones (Away)!

Yes... that is indeed two roasted bones, filled with delectable, fatty, unctuous marrow! As a first course for dinner, that is hard to beat. I have seen this in American restaurants, though presented differently: cut along the long axis.

Anyway, it's delicious, and something that I should be able to make easily. But I have tried a few times, and for whatever reason they turned out okay, but not delicious.

Any suggestions?

Posted by: CBD at 04:00 PM | Comments (213) | Trackbacks (Suck)

First World Problems...

They fixed it!

I know I sound like a lunatic, but it is these sorts of lazy problems, caused no doubt by warped priorities (DEI anyone?) and an obvious lack of a work ethic, that is the dividing line between the First World and everyone else.

Even MAGA is going to have a tough time fixing this sort of stuff, even though it is absolutely the correct way to approach the problem.

But this is a lighthearted post, so... who has the best screw-up story? Clerks who can't ring up a box of cereal... auto mechanics who forgot to replace the oil they drained... Landscapers who mowed down all of the freshly planted flowers... political parties that chose a mean, molesting, senile fool, and then replaced him with a drunken retard... bank tellers who can't count... etc!

Posted by: CBD at 02:00 PM | Comments (263) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Government Spending? No! Government Borrowing... or Government Stealing

Government Spending. Except that is a misnomer. We should be calling it Government Borrowing, because that is exactly what it is. On the other hand... maybe it should be called "government stealing," because they are stealing our grandchildren's livelihood! It is impossible to become wealthier by borrowing every year for generations, and yet the central bank and our brilliant bar-tending, foul-mouthed elites in Congress seem to be convinced of the positive effects of government borrowing, or more accurately, government creation of inflated dollars. I don't think that even John Maynard Keynes imagined never-ending deficit spending, yet here we are!

American families that become wealthy spend less than they earn, and save what they don't spend. Yet the prevailing argument is that government is immune from those basic tenets because it can create demand with monetary policy, and that will grow the economy. Obviously government can't run out of money, but that pesky little thing called inflation is the unavoidable and economy-destroying result of running the printing presses or, nowadays, simply creating more digital funds.

Secretary Bessent on 'Reprivatization' of Economy: 'We Are Laser-Focused on Getting this Deficit Under Control'

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Breitbart News exclusively that President Donald Trump’s administration is “laser-focused” on cutting the deficit and getting spending “under control,” part of his larger vision of “reprivatization” of the U.S. economy so economic growth is no longer dependent on government spending but instead on private sector growth. Bessent said he joined Trump on the campaign trail last year and later joined his cabinet because he was “so alarmed” by the “high level of government spending” that had taken hold in recent years.

This is why President Trump and his team are disruptors. They are not content simply to slow the rate of increase of government spending/borrowing. They understand two things.

First: the size of the government budget requires borrowing...forever! That is ultimately untenable, and will destroy our economy. The budget must be cut. There is no other option.

Second: Government spending is inherently less efficient at growing economies. In fact, based on our experience over the last two generations, it is obvious that government spending retards organic economic growth, by crowding out investment and inserting a chaotically inefficient system that rewards rent seeking and outright fraud. Government must shrink, and be removed from competition for investment dollars.

Getting control of the budget will yield immediate results, as the financial markets recognize that more private investment funds will be available. Will there be short-term shocks? Of course. Those financial markets are dependent on a constant stream of government dollars created to fund the deficit and pay bond interest. And there will be uncertainty as the Trump administration formalizes its tariff plans. But when future government spending and borrowing is better understood, and the tariffs are set, business will be able to plan for the future with much more certainty.

But the biggest change will be that government will not be competing as much for investment dollars, and will not be crowding out innovation and entrepreneurialism. Simply unleashing Americans from the tethers of a huge and all-encompassing government will go a long way toward correcting the imbalance of government vs. the private sector.

Posted by: CBD at 12:00 PM | Comments (275) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Sunday Morning Book Thread - 3-16-2025 ["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...

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

NOTE: Today's Sunday Morning Book Thread will be somewhat abbreviated. A massive storm rolled through here Friday night, knocking out power to most of the town. My side of town has been completely without power since Friday night and I don't know when it will come back. Parts of my neighborhood are just devastated.

Prayers up for any other Morons in the path of this brutal storm.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 09:00 AM | Comments (358) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Daily Tech News 16 March 2025

Top Story

• Amazon has announced Alexa+, which updates the existing voice assistant to... Something something generative AI something. (Liliputing)
  
  What's the catch?
  
  
  
• The option to have your smart devices not transmit everything you say straight to Amazon HQ will be removed on March 28. (Ars Technica)
  
  George Orwell did not dream of this.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:00 AM | Comments (225) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Saturday Night "Club ONT" March 15, 2025 [The 3 D's]

Welcome to the grand reopening of Club ONT! A collaboration of your Sunday through Wednesday ONT Crew - The Disco, The Doggo, and The Dino. Doesn't the place look real purty after its deep cleaning and fumigation that was done while Mis Hum shut us down temporarily last week?

Keep in mind -- Wearing a cape doesn’t make you a superhero, but if paired with Aqua Net and a fake I.D., you’ll get the password and immediate entry.

This --- is Club ONT!

Posted by: Open Blogger at 10:00 PM | Comments (500) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Saturday Evening Movie Thread - 3/15/2025

Sergei Eisenstein

I've gone through the work of one other Russian filmmaker, Andrei Tarkovsky, who was more of a religious dissident than a loyal propagandist for the Soviet regime. However, there's one Soviet filmmaker that stands above them all: Sergei Eisenstein.

Born in Tsarist Russia in 1898 (technically, the Governorate of Livonia), Eisenstein entered film through the theater. Working experimentally on stage, he had the perfect mindset for a nascent Soviet film industry looking for ways to break from Western traditions in art but also to keep costs low. His first film, Strike made in 1925, told the story of a workers' strike in 1905, part of an ambitious plan to make six films detailing the workers' revolution from 1905, the first Russian Revolution (which failed), through 1917 and the October Revolution that saw the Bolsheviks overthrow the Provisional Government. Strike wasn't a huge success, but the second film Eisenstein made, came out less than a year later.

Battleship Potemkin is one of the most influential movies ever made. It goes well beyond the well-known Odessa Steps sequence (directly inspiring things like The Untouchables) and into how to create coherent sequences through non-linear editing. The dominant mode of editing in film had been much more influenced by Melies and, mostly, D.W. Griffith: editing shots in sequence that logically cut together to convey a string of events. Eisenstein, instead, built sequences, in particular the final sequence of two naval vessels steaming towards each other, out of disparate parts (engine pistons moving, earnest looks from sailors, deck guns with flags waving above them) which put the effects that he had first attempted in Strike in a much more popular film.

And yet, both those two first films, and the next five completed films, are 100%, unquestionably propaganda for the Soviet Union. Eisenstein's career lasted from 1925 to 1945 with the screening for Ivan the Terrible Part II: The Boyar's Plot for Joseph Stalin (Stalin hated the film, refused to allow its release, Eisenstein never completed a film again and died three years later). That creates two main themes to me when discussing his work: the revolutionary aspect of his approach to storytelling and the changing needs of propaganda.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison at 07:45 PM | Comments (223) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Hobby Thread - March 15, 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 officially sanctioned Ace of Spades Hobby Thread.

We gave the Ace of Spades Wheel of Hobbies(TM) a spin. Turns out, the Wheel is fond of fabric. It said QUILTING. It wasn't done though. It also said that quilting skills often get shared and passed down from others, so we should honor those who taught us hobbying or skills (not just quilting).

[Photo: Fabric of the Air Force Quilt, National Museum of the US Air Force, Dayton, Ohio]

Posted by: Open Blogger at 05:30 PM | Comments (150) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Ace of Spades Pet Thread, March 15

* * *

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 03:18 PM | Comments (77) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Gardening, Puttering and Adventure Thread, March 15

From Don in Kansas:

A few weeks ago it was -10℉. Yesterday it was 80℉. Perhaps it’s now spring, but I don’t quite trust the weather.

Anybody else have that kind of a weather swing?

*

Posted by: K.T. at 01:15 PM | Comments (35) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Why don't they change? You know, in a more positive direction?

As I have noted before, there are some activist lefties on my social media feed. And boy, are they in attack mode lately. It's mostly memes and mostly generalizations. Nothing that might get a conversation going, even for a couple who used to make attempts at conversations in the past. I think the rapid actions of the new administration are overwhelming them.

Instapundit posted a link to Bravo Blue: Democrats: Trying to Change Their Image but They Can't Help Themselves.

It is now conventional wisdom that the Democratic party has “lost its way.” It is said to be leaderless, lacking a “message,” and out of touch with mainstream voters. They and their ancien régime troops in the media solemnly pronounce that they must “reshape their image,” come up with “better messaging,” or something similar. Often these suggest poll-tested memes and issues rather than a fundamental core belief. So, can they change?

Remember when Joy Reid was perplexed that Harris could lose with her "perfect" campaign when she had all the celebrities? Somehow, my intellectual lefties on social media failed to comment on Joy Reid getting fired, though they had looked forward to her reports during campaign season with great anticipation.

Odd that they would express no sympathy or attacks against corporate power.

Remember the frog and the scorpion and read on.

What will they do?

The Dems are floundering; they are failing. So, what are they going to do? We know a few things. They are going to “Fight, fight, fight!” After all, it worked for Trump.

I can just hear Hakeem Jeffries now: If it worked for Trump, it will work for us, right? Here we go. Woo hoo!

Posted by: K.T. at 11:01 AM | Comments (287) | Trackbacks (Suck)

The Classical Saturday Morning Coffee Break & Prayer Revival

[Classical? Perhaps!]

*****

Although I gave up sympathy and empathy for Lent. You are still blessed to have yours truly here today.

Before we enter the Prayer Revival there are just a few housekeeping matters to take care of. (Rulz for those of you in Eagle River)

1. This is an Open Thread. Feel free to lurk, opine and/or bloviate.
2. Be Kind, Be Nice! And no jumping from the furniture onto an unsuspecting creature.
3. If you are running with sharp objects, I have several trees which need to be felled.
D. Have a great weekend!!!

Posted by: Misanthropic Humanitarian (ONT Cob Emeritus) at 07:30 AM | Comments (314) | Trackbacks (Suck)

Daily Tech News 15 March 2025

Top Story

• SpaceX has launched the latest crew mission to the International Space Station, with four astronauts onboard to take over operations and relieve Butch and Sundance who have been stranded there ever since the trouble-stricken Boeing Starliner test seventeen years ago. (AP News)
  
  The mission was delayed a little because the latest new Crew Dragon module needed a new battery, so SpaceX chose to re-use an existing module.
  
  
  
• CNN wants you to know that the stranded astronauts were not stranded and the decision by the Biden administration to leave them there never actually happened. (CNN)
  
  Thanks, CNN. Where would we be without you?

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:00 AM | Comments (127) | Trackbacks (Suck)

A Night At The ONT

Hello Horde. Welcome to the wild and the wacky...Meme night!

Posted by: WeirdDave at 10:00 PM | Comments (430) | Trackbacks (Suck)