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Chavez the Hugo 2020
Ibguy 2020
Rickl 2019
Joffen 2014
AoSHQ Writers Group
A site for members of the Horde to post their stories seeking beta readers, editing help, brainstorming, and story ideas. Also to share links to potential publishing outlets, writing help sites, and videos posting tips to get published.
Contact OrangeEnt for info: maildrop62 at proton dot me
Two U.S. Army soldiers and a civilian interpreter were killed, and three others were injured in an ambush by an ISIS gunman in Syria on Dec. 13, according to the Pentagon and U.S. Central Command.
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement on social media that the attack occurred in the central Syrian town of Palmyra as U.S. forces were conducting a key leader engagement in support of ongoing counter-ISIS and counterterrorism operations.
The new president of Syria, Ahmed al-Sharaa, is supposedly against ISIS, but that is a tactical disagreement. Their overall goals are the same, so this attack, which will be condemned by Syria, is in furtherance of their shared goals of the creation of a worldwide caliphate and the destruction of the West.
And "influencers", apparently. More on that below, along with some other examples of "influencers". Culture and politics have always involved influencing people. Why, today, do we think in terms of "influencers"?
A new report from @ncri_io shows that Nick Fuentes's sudden mainstream visibility reflects a coordinated illusion instead of a grassroots surge.
According to NCRI, Fuentes's rise was driven by synchronized amplification networks, anonymous booster accounts, foreign engagement farms, and a media ecosystem that mistook manufactured noise for genuine political momentum.
🚨BREAKING: A new report from @ncri_io shows that Nick Fuentes's sudden mainstream visibility reflects a coordinated illusion instead of a grassroots surge.
According to NCRI, Fuentes's rise was driven by synchronized amplification networks, anonymous booster accounts, foreign… pic.twitter.com/eLCff8y1hG
Interesting conversation centered on little Moldova, a country of fewer than two and a half million people (according to Britannica), blessed with good soils and rivers (one named after a drowned hunting dog). Agriculture and a lot of other things were messed up during the Soviet era.
My first instinct when I see a politically-motivated arrest in a country is to see if USAID has set up a "Rule of Law" program there to capture its judges and prosecutors, and so far my instinct has never been wrong https://t.co/ut24inPfv5pic.twitter.com/ZnjReysynO
A newly translated volume in Solzhenitsyn's Red Wheel series illustrates how revolutionaries seized control of Russia.
April 1917, Book 1, the seventh of eight novels in Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s story of the Russian Revolution, entitled The Red Wheel, portrays three crucial weeks that show why Lenin, with only a handful of followers, triumphed over his rivals. As the novel opens, Tsar Nicholas II has abdicated, and a Provisional Government appointed by the Duma has assumed nominal power. Everything it does must be approved by the Executive Committee (EC) of the Petrograd Soviet (or Council), a group of self-appointed intellectual representatives of the lower classes who can summon intimidating mobs.
Meanwhile, the Russian army, still at war with Imperial Germany, is disintegrating, in part because the Soviet has issued orders eliminating all discipline. Notwithstanding the impossibility of doing so, the Provisional Government, to honor Russia’s alliance with France and Britain, has promised an offensive. Solzhenitsyn portrays the Provisional Government ministers as hopelessly impractical poseurs, who rely on stirring words and dramatic gestures. He quotes a Russian proverb: “A fine gait won’t help a lame chicken.”
Why is the Provisional Government so helpless? . . .
Well, there is not one simple reason, but:
Reasoning that free people don’t require force, the Provisional Government, believe it or not, abolished the police! It also released criminals on condition that they promise to behave, and so initiated a wave of murders and robberies. “Some ask: How do you govern the country?, You don’t even have any police,” Minister of Justice Aleksandr Kerensky paraphrases the obvious question. “But, comrades, we have no need of police, because the people are with us!”
With no means of enforcement, the Provisional Government had to implore people to pay their taxes. Nobody did. Solzhenitsyn quoted one appeal after another—soldiers, don’t desert! sailors, refrain from killing your officers! peasants, please do not seize land!—but the utter failure of rule by uplifting speeches and empty reports only leads to more speeches and more reports. “We have decided to take the most stringent measures,” one minister explains. “I shall appoint a committee of inquiry.”
When the patriotic general Lavr Kornilov at last offers to put his loyal soldiers at the government’s disposal, it reacts with horror. Even while a mob was besieging the unprotected ministers, one of them proudly declares: “No! Even if armed men were to find their way into this room, we should not apply military force to defend ourselves!” Another finds still finer words: “We’d rather sacrifice our own lives than spill a single drop of others’ blood!”
Most pathetic of all is the kindly Prime Minister, Prince Georgi Lvov, who attributes the prevailing chaos “to a single cause. The impossibility of meeting everyone personally, meeting their eyes with a kindly smile.” Using “the quietest of voices … and with one of his most bewitching smiles,” he asks: “Why the drama? Why make relations worse? … Everything will come right in the end.” When it becomes apparent that Lenin’s followers, who have already shot unarmed soldiers, plan to seize power by force, Lvov explains in “dulcet tones” to Minister of Defense Aleksandr Guchkov: “Where Lenin was concerned, the government should not precipitate events, for that might give rise to conflict.”
Anybody find anything in the short segments above that reminds you of anything recent? There's much more at the link that might make some people feel uncomfortable if they were sensible.
How modern progressivism caters to the worst in human behavior by cultivating outrage, infantilization, and permanent reliance.
Republicans need to recognize that they will always start any election, contest or debate from behind the sticks. It will always be first and fifteen because Democrats have a built-in advantage in elections.
Their policies cater to the worst in human nature. They reward the short term, punish the prudent, and erode the cultural preconditions of a functioning republic: responsibility, restraint, and reciprocity. Policies that indulge negative traits may feel humane in the moment but generate long-term civic fragility—and while the consequences may not be immediate, they are unavoidable.
We can debate whether it is fair or foul to have a federal income tax—and one so steeply progressive that 47 percent of income-earning Americans carry no income-tax liability. But the consequences of such a system are no longer theoretical. When nearly half the population contributes nothing to the cost of federal activity, the incentives shift in ways economists have long understood. People behave differently when they bear no financial stake in the outcomes they support. This is moral hazard dressed up as compassionate governance. . . .
Progressive policy design increasingly caters to four deeply rooted but negative human tendencies: dependency, risk displacement, infantilization, and grievance incentives. These traits are not partisan inventions—they are part of human nature. The divide exists because one side has learned to weaponize them.
Consider the latest fights over health-care subsidies. During COVID, Democrats enacted temporarily enhanced Obamacare subsidies, sold as emergency measures. But once installed, they immediately triggered predictable behavioral dynamics. What critics call “government generosity,” the public experiences as an upgrade in lifestyle. When the pre-COVID baseline was about to be restored, the reaction was not gratitude for the windfall but outrage at its removal.
This is the cycle of hedonic adaptation—people normalize benefits almost instantly—and loss aversion, the principle that losses loom larger than equivalent gains. Withdraw something that was never permanent, and the emotional response is sharper than the pleasure felt when it arrived. These tendencies feed entitlement, the belief that a conditional benefit has become an irrevocable right. The envy that follows—resentment toward anyone perceived to have “more”—becomes political jet fuel.
Of course, during the period of subsidies, health care costs also creep up, making the loss of subsidies scary for lots of folks.
But subsidies are only the surface expression of a deeper architecture of dependency. When government benefits become the central organizing principle of economic life, personal agency contracts. Systems designed to help people end up trapping them, not through malice but through structure: welfare cliffs that punish earnings, housing programs that penalize marriage, college-aid formulas that reward borrowing rather than saving. A constituency stabilized by reliance reliably votes to preserve the system that sustains it.
Layered atop dependency is risk displacement. As the state assumes responsibility for ever more dimensions of life—health care, debt burdens, housing, childcare—individuals rationally outsource decision-making to government. . .
The Classical Saturday Coffee Break & Prayer Revival
—Misanthropic Humanitarian
[H/T Thomas Paine, as in give me caffeine or give me death fame.]
Good morning boys and girls and everything in between. Before we enter the Prayer Revival just a few housekeeping matters to go over. (Rulz for those of you in Medford)
1) This is an open thread. Feel free to lurk, opine and/or bloviate.
2) Be kind, be nice. See if you are on somebody's list.
3) No. You may not run with sharp objects until the Food Thread comes around tomorrow.
4) Have a wonderful weekend.
Please submit any prayer requests to me, “Annie’s Stew” at apaslo at-sign hotmail dot com. Prayer requests are generally removed after four weeks unless we receive an update.
Prayer Requests:
11/6 - D sent an update on his wife Susan, and her battle with cancer. He sent his thanks to everyone for the prayers. They are helping and much appreciated. Susan had an infection which is being treated, but her sodium levels are bad again. She will be sent home soon, but is on restrictive fluids until this is cleared up. The good news is that she has gained some weight back and her voice is much stronger now. Thank you, and please keep up the prayers. They appreciate everyone!
11/20 Update – Susan is out of the hospital, after 2 weeks. For the first time in months, she doesn’t have any drainage tubes. Chemo is on hold for the next 2 weeks, to give her time to rest, recover, and gain some weight back. Thank you, everyone, for your prayers – please continue them!
11/15 – Smell the Glove asked for prayers for an 81 year-old aunt who has colon cancer. She is stopping chemo, since it’s not working and it’s tiring her out. Doctors will determine if any other treatment is proper.
11/29 Update – Thank you all for the prayers. The good Lord had another plan and the aunt passed away. She had taught at a Catholic school for over 20 years, raised 3 daughters and had 8 grandchildren. She also babysat Smell the Glove the first couple of years of life.
11/15 – Sponge posted an update on the “First lady”. She is doing OK from the surgery pain-wise, however it appears her compromised immune system from chemo is susceptible to viruses. She has been spiking a fever all weekend.
11/20 - Bluebell sent an update on grammie winger - good news! At her appointment, the doctor said her bloodwork is nearly perfect and her cancer cell count is dropping. She is in minimal pain. The chemo is working, thanks be to God! She will go back in 3 weeks for another round of chemo and then they will do a CT scan to see if she can have surgery to clean out the rest of the tumors. She is convinced – CONVINCED – that this is due in no small part to the treasured prayers of friends and family! They gave her weeks, and now she is looking at possible remission.
11/22 – Duke Lowell posted an update. He said that he is gradually starting to feel normal again, two months after his surgery. The main problem is that the effects of anesthesia are still suppressing his appetite.
11/22 – Commissar Hrothgar posted prayers for President Trump, to keep him safe from harm and may the many forces of evil arrayed against him and our country be made ineffective and come to naught.
11/22 – Oddbob requested prayers. He found out that his job is going away the end of December. They are a one-income family. He also requested prayers for another co-worker, who is in the same situation.
11/22 – Cosda sent an update on his wife’s condition. She started a year of immunotherapy in June for cancer. She is doing well with her treatments every three weeks, but her follow up dermatology scan found another mole with melanoma and 2 other abnormal and suspicious spots. She will be having more tissue removed from those areas for lab tests. Prayers are appreciated.
11/22 – The Walking Dude sent an update. We prayed for his mom in August, when she fell and broke her hip. She is 90 years old. She is still in the hospital but has been transferred to a better rehab run by the Masons. They are unsure if she will ever get out. Please pray for her recovery and return home.
11/24 – Bulg requested prayers for a neighbor who has cancer, and also prayers for his son and two of his friends, who are moving into a rental house in Arlington, VA on 11/28. Prayers for the 3 of them, that they may live together contentedly, and prayers for Bulg and his wife as they adjust to their son’s absence.
11/26 Update – The neighbor passed away on 11/24. Prayers are needed for the neighbor’s husband, Steve, as he grieves. They had no children.
11/29 – From about That Time asked for prayers after a lymphoma diagnosis. From about That Time has already begun chemo, and the kids and granddaughter had fun cutting off a ponytail and shaving hair in preparation.
12/1 – P received news that her 24 year old daughter has changed her name to a male name and had “top surgery”. P needs wisdom as to how to speak to her, and also how to speak with P’s other children, in a loving but honest way. Also, that God will use this to turn all their hearts back to Him.
12/3 – Teresa in Fort Worth posted an update. She had an MRI on 12/3, and will meet with the oncologist on 12/4, the surgeon on 12/8, and the surgery on 12/11. This is a good thing, because it looks like more tumors are starting to crop up in her liver. It doesn’t appear to have spread beyond there yet, thank goodness.
12/8 Update – The surgery is still planned for 12/11. Teresa will be in the hospital for 5-7 days. With doctor’s approval, they plan to travel to see family on 12/20. Thanks to everyone for their prayers!
12/11 Update – Today’s surgery to remove part of her liver is scheduled to begin at 2:30 pm (Central) and take about 3 hours. The surgeon will also be using heat ablation on the remnants of the other small tumors.
12/4 – E asked for prayers as she will be having surgery in two weeks. She is nervous, but everyone she has spoken with has nothing but good things to say about the surgeon, and she is looking forward to being on the other side of it. Please pray that all will go according to God’s will and that His name will be glorified.
12/6 – M requested prayers for Ron and Sherri. Ron has late stage Parkinson’s/dementia, and he recently fell and shattered his hip. He also requested prayers for Al, who fell through a railing and then down 12 feet, and broke seven ribs. He also punctured his lung. He is home now, recovering.
12/6 – Comrade Flounder asked for prayers for his FIL, who went to the hospital for AFIB, congestive heart, and received two stents. FIL is home now, still short of breath, and has a long road ahead. He is a kind-hearted man and a loving father. Comrade Flounder’s wife lost her mother a few years back to brain cancer, so having this go on is even more difficult during the holidays.
12/6 – neverenoughcaffeine asked for prayers for Tim, an acquaintance through church. He has prostate cancer and begins 28 days straight of radiation.
12/6 – pawn asked for prayes for a dear friend named Julia, who was told by her doctors that she has very little time to live. Julia has an incredible mind and drive. She was a Naval officer, a college professor, a competitive sailor, and a mother. She went to the hospital with pneumonia a couple of weeks ago and left with a terminal illness diagnosis. Please pray to God to give her the strength she needs in these last few days, and the peace that comes from acceptance.
For submission guidelines and other relevant info, please contact Annie's Stew, who is managing the prayer list. You can contact her at apaslo at-sign hotmail dot com. If you see a prayer request posted in a thread comment, feel free to copy and paste it and e-mail it to Annie's Stew. She tries to keep up with the requests in the threads, but she's not here all of the time, so she may not see it unless you e-mail it to her. Please note: Prayer requests are generally removed after four weeks or so unless we receive an update.
2 Corinthians 4:8-9
We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair, persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed.
The Steam Machine isn't out yet, but the specs are public and they're very close to an existing AMD CPU and GPU so it is possible to build an equivalent system and test performance right now.
On indie titles like Hollow Knight: Silksong it delivers 4k at 120Hz, or close to it. That's not a particularly demanding title so it's not a huge surprise.
On big-budget titles like Baldur's Gate 3, Cyberpunk 2077, Elden Ring, and Monster Hunter Wilds you can expect 60Hz at 1440p, but at 4k only two of these titles achieved a consistent 60Hz.
And this is with graphical settings and upscaling tweaked appropriately, not with everything simply set to maximum quality. But this is not a high-end system, and isn't expected to have a high-end price. It's supposed to just work.
Will I buy one when it comes out? Maybe. Depends on the price. I just picked up that mini-PC with a faster CPU (though a slower GPU) and a lot more memory for around $600, so it would have to compare well with that.
Edit: Now that I compare those benchmark scores, the Steam Deck Machine doesn't offer me that much. The processor on my new mini-PC is 39% faster and the graphics 36% slower than the Steam Machine, and it has 64GB of shared memory rather than 16GB plus 8GB of DRAM. Since I also have a full desktop system and an Xbox (gathering dust) I think I'm good.
That doesn't seem too bad given that retail prices have increased by around 300% in the past couple of months.
Pre-built laptops and the Framework Desktop which comes with up to 128GB of RAM have not increased in price, nor have prices changed for existing pre-orders.
Needed to wait for it to rain to break up the ground where I planned this - it had been dry for a while and the soil was rock hard - and then wait for it to stop raining to get some supplies delivered. Then it rained again and that ground got covered in weeds.
So today I pulled out all those weeds, dug out some regular grass which I didn't want growing into this area, dug out some patches of native tussock-grass which is not technically a weed but which I also didn't want there, dug in some gypsum to help break up the soil and some potting mix tailored for native plants to improve it, and then dug eleven holes (hitting rocks several times and on two occasions large metal staples left behind by the builders), filled those holes with more potting mix, and planted everything but those kangaroo paws, which will go in another part of the garden.
Which will all look great in a year or so as it grows in but right now, ouch.
Need to go back and cover it with bark chips, but that will definitely be another day.
Apple Bacon Interlude
Turns out that bacon-flavoured apples taste bad. Who knew?
Musical Interlude
Song is King by Kanaria, covered by Hololive's Mori Calliope and Gawr Gura. Gura wasn't the most technically skilled vocalist in Hololive (she now streams independently but still as a fish, having found her niche there) but she has a way of putting her emotions into a song that makes her stand out.
The first two clips of motorcycle mayhem are worth the watch, because the iniquitous get some rough justice. But most of the other clips are just guys wiping out, and I can't really get into that. Attempting stunts may be stupid, but it's not immoral. I don't want to see guys get wiped just for being dopey guys. Do watch the first couple, though.
Pro wrestling heel disrespects the wrong dad's kid.
Ratchet bitch starts a fight with a woman while she has a confederate film it for TikTok. Unfortunately, she brought a nothing to a fist fight.
Surprise! Maryland Governor and Candidate for Democrat Nominee for President Wes Moore Has Long History of Lying About His War Record and Academic Record
Maryland governor Wes Moore, now considered a serious prospect for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination, got his big break in 2006. Fresh off a one-year deployment to Afghanistan, President George W. Bush awarded Moore, then 27, a White House fellowship, a prestigious, year-long internship during which he served as a special assistant to then-secretary of state Condoleezza Rice. It put Moore on the path to ultimately becoming Maryland's governor, and he won the fellowship--in the turbulent years after 9/11--claiming to be a "foremost expert" on radical Islam thanks to his academic work at Oxford University.
"As a Rhodes Scholar, I took advantage of the opportunity and examined radical Islam in the Western Hemisphere," Moore wrote in his application to serve as a White House fellow, indicating that he had graduated from Oxford in 2003 with a Master of Letters, or MLitt, in international relations. "I completed my degree with honors and my research has led me to be touted as one of the foremost experts on the threat." The White House parroted the claim in a press release announcing the 2006 fellowship class, borrowing from Moore's application to note that his Oxford thesis, which it said was titled The Rise and Ramifications of Radical Islam in the Western Hemisphere, had "earned him praise as one of the foremost experts on the topic."
That a 27-year-old could claim to be a "foremost expert" on the Islamic threat based on a year at an American military base in Afghanistan and two years at Oxford could be excused away as an ambitious young man's puffery. But on close examination, Moore's claims of expertise and of being a serious scholar completely unravel, as do his claims, also on his White House fellowship application, that he was working toward an Oxford doctorate.
The problems start with confusion--which neither Moore's staff nor Oxford's registrars were willing or able to clear up--about when Moore completed his studies, when he received his degree, whether he submitted his thesis, and what the title of the work was.
In his White House fellowship application--which is public record--Moore wrote that he graduated from Oxford in 2003. But in the résumé attached to that application, Moore reported a different graduation date: June 2004.
Asked to reconcile the two dates, a spokesman for the governor didn't provide a photograph of Moore's degree, but rather, a "degree confirmation," generated last week by Oxford's registrar's office, indicating Moore completed his graduate studies as a full-time student and "has been awarded the degree," but has not yet been issued a formal certificate. The "degree confirmation" generated by Oxford gives another contradictory date, showing that Moore completed his full-time graduate studies in November of 2005, a full four years after he began his Oxford studies, though a master's degree typically takes two years to earn.
According to Moore, by November 2005, the month when Oxford now says Moore completed his master's studies, he was serving in the 82nd Airborne Division in Afghanistan. He also says he began working as an investment banker at Deutsche Bank in London in March 2004.
...
The story does fit a narrative, Moussa is right about that. But it is one that is likely to be problematic for Moore, just as it was for Minnesota governor Tim Walz (D.) when he stepped onto the national stage. The narrative, backed now by well-established matters of fact, is that when you scratch the surface of many of Moore's braggadocious claims, there is something off, something a little untruthful about them. Moore claims to have been a doctoral candidate after he received his master's degree, for example, but he and Oxford declined to provide the name of his academic adviser or any evidence he was enrolled as such.
...
The mystery surrounding the title of and content of Moore's thesis could be resolved with a cursory review of the document. But that, too, poses a problem for Moore. His office could not produce a copy of the document since we began requesting it in early November.
And good luck finding it at Oxford's legendary Bodleian Library, which archives all MLitt theses from the university's graduate students. A senior librarian told the Free Beacon she couldn't find "any trace" of Moore's paper, because he never submitted it.
....
The confusion about when and where Moore was when he was doing his graduate studies--along with the convenient change in the title and subject matter of his missing thesis--is part of a pattern of self-serving, self-aggrandizing, and not entirely true claims that have persistently dogged, yet heretofore not tripped up, the ambitious Democrat.
Moore has a long history of Biden-like and "Danang Dick" like embellishment of his academic record and war record.
>b?Moore claimed on his 2006 White House fellowship application, for example, to have been inducted into the Maryland College Football Hall of Fame, an organization that doesn't exist; that he received a Bronze Star for his service in Afghanistan, which he had not; and that he was born in Baltimore, which he was not.
And of course he claims to be from the 'hood but he's really the son of a comfortable middle class family.
If this Black Walter Mitty is a world-renowned expert on Islamic terrorism, why have no other terrorism experts ever heard of him?
The questions and discrepancies surrounding Moore's missing graduate thesis notwithstanding, his claim to be a "foremost expert" on the threat of radical Islam is ridiculous.
"I have never come across Gov. Moore's name in the course of my academic life," said the French political scientist Gilles Kepel, described by the New York Times as "France's most famous scholar of Islam."
Several other prominent academics in the field, including Lorenzo Vidino, the director of the Program of Extremism at George Washington University, said they've never heard of Moore in the context of any scholarly work.
"I have been studying political Islam in the West for the last 25 years and Moore's name has never popped up on my radar," Vidino told the Free Beacon. "It's a small, niche field, I'd know."
Former CIA case officer Reuel Marc Gerecht, now a scholar of Islamic terrorism at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said he's never heard of Moore in the context of his expertise in Islamic terrorism.
"If there was an up-and-coming scholar in radical Islam, if he had written something novel, then yes, I would certainly have heard of it," Gerecht said. "This is news to me."
Remember, you are the ones engaging in "racial grievance" when you say you're sick to death of being endlessly scapegoated for black failure.
Joy Reid is spending December amplifying a claim that "Jingle Bells" is racist, reposting a video to her 1.3 million followers that tries -- and fails -- to turn one of America's most familiar Christmas songs into a racial flashpoint. The clip she chose to boost offers no proof, only speculation and academic flair that collapse the moment you examine the song's history or even read the lyrics.
The video leans on the fact that composer James Lord Pierpont served in the Confederacy and had written minstrel tunes earlier in his life. But none of that makes "Jingle Bells" itself racist, and the video never demonstrates otherwise. Background isn't evidence, and Reid's repost doesn't provide any. It also highlights a Boston plaque claiming Pierpont wrote the song "to make fun of black people," and cites an assertion that its first public performance -- then titled "The One Horse Open Sleigh" -- may have taken place in blackface in 1857. Even if that performance involved blackface, that reflects the entertainers, not the content of the song.
And the content is indisputable. The original lyrics -- widely available -- aren't about race, caricature, or anything remotely tied to minstrelsy. They're about sleigh rides, winter spills, young flirtation, and the carefree joy of youth.
A new report finds that injecting people with superphysiological levels of artificial hormones increases their all-cause mortality.
Wow, I did not see that coming. I mean, yes I knew this would kill people, I just didn't think that anyone in "The Science (TM)" would dare to do any actual science about trans mutilations.
Biology in Medicine
@biologyinmed
It is not only the HHS report warning of the irreversible long term risks of Oestrogen used as a cross sex hormone.. A new study reports:
Known risks
- cardiovascular disease
-infertility
-pulmonary embolism
-stroke
Emerging 'warning signals' of increased risk
-early mortality
- pancreatitis
-testicular, thyroid and breast cancer
-autoimmune disease
Prescribing of cross sex hormones in children and young adults must be stopped.
Remember that alleged study that proves we need DEI? The one cited by Justice Ketangi D-EI when arguing for DEI forever?
The study claimed that white doctors kill black babies.
That turns out to be bunk -- fake science -- but what is even more interesting is that the same study found that the death rates of white babies increased when attended by black doctors. In other words, following the logic of the "study" -- we need black doctors for black patients, but also, white patients must also not have black doctors. White patients need white doctors.
You might be thinking, Wow, I never heard anyone cite that part of the study.
The August 2020 study in the prestigious Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) concluded that the gap in mortality rates between black newborns and white newborns declines by 58% if the black newborns are under the care of black physicians. A possible driver of the phenomenon could include a "spontaneous bias" by white physicians toward the babies, the researchers wrote.
The paper's most high-profile booster was Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, who cited it as evidence for the benefits of affirmative action in her dissent in the 2023 Supreme Court ruling Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, which found that universities that considered the race of college applicants had violated the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
"For high-risk Black newborns, having a Black physician is tantamount to a miracle drug: it more than doubles the likelihood that the baby will live," reads an amicus brief filed by the Association of American Medical Colleges. "Yet due to the enduring and significant underrepresentation of minorities in the health professions, many minority patients will not receive care from a racially diverse team or from providers who were trained in a diverse environment."
CNN
@CNN
Black newborn babies in the US are more likely to survive childbirth if they are cared for by Black doctors, but three times more likely to die when looked after by White doctors, a study finds. https://cnn.it/347NlE1
Aug 18, 2020
But the study's methods have been called into question. A September 2024 replication effort concluded that the original study authors did not statistically control for very low birth weight newborns at the highest risk of dying. Applying that control zeroed out any statistically significant effect of racial concordance on infant mortality.
Now, evidence has emerged that the paper's lead author buried information in order to tell a tidier story than the one his methods and data originally illustrated.
A key data point was edited out of the body of the paper, apparently because it muddled the downstream policy implications of the study, according to documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act by the nonprofit Do No Harm, which opposes identity politics in medical research and clinical practice.
The study originally asserted that white babies died less frequently with white doctors.
"White newborns experience 80 deaths per 100,000 births more with a black physician than a white physician, implying a 22% fatality reduction from racial concordance," an unpublished draft reads.
But the study's lead author Brad N. Greenwood wrote in the margin: "I'd rather not focus on this. If we're telling the story from the perspective of saving black infants this undermines the narrative."
"That's not how scientists speak," Ian Kingsbury, director of research at Do No Harm, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. "It's not a smoking gun, but it's certainly suggestive they were pushing one narrative or another."
The data point was axed.
"Concordance appears to bring little benefit for White newborns," the paper reads.
While omitted in the paper's body, the data point can be found in the appendix as part of a logistic model. Unlike the linear regression highlighted in the paper, a logistic model is more appropriate for binary questions like whether a newborn survives or dies, according to Ted Frank, a senior attorney with the Hamilton Lincoln Law Institute, which filed an amicus brief in favor of Students for Fair Admissions.
Greenwood, the Maximus Corporate Partner Professor of Business at George Mason University, wrote another note to his coauthors that may indicate he had a predetermined desired conclusion, a strong correlation between physician race and clinical outcomes, the FOIA documents suggest.
...
The study has been cited 507 times in the scientific literature. But the study has made a big impact outside of academia too.
Published in August 2020 amid the Black Lives Matter protests, the study has generated more public discussion in the laypress and on social media than 99% of scientific studies published in the last five years, according to Altmetric. The study has received coverage in 340 outlets including CNN, USA Today, and the Washington Post.
Hank Johnson, the forefather of the field of Buoyant Tectonic Plate Theory -- that Guam may "tip over" if too many people immigrate there --- declares that America is, just as radical Iranian hate-mullahs say, "the Great Satan."
There it is: Democrat Georgia Rep Hank Johnson parrots Arab talking point saying America is “The Great Satan”
"America is indeed...the great hand of Satan — The Great Satan."
This phrase is widely used in Islamic theology. Our Government is infiltrated
SICK: Rep. Julie Johnson says National Guard members were shot in the head in a terror attack "because people are frustrated and they are channeling that frustration." pic.twitter.com/ayw1K3R9tf
Guys, if we end DEI then it will be white men who suffer the most.
The Washington Post says so.
“Actually, DEI was designed to benefit white men” is a headline that would never make it through the editorial process at any halfway-honest paper. Embarrassing. pic.twitter.com/dmN0aSVOUy
Macron under fire after green lighting a $3 million project to replace the famous stained glass windows at Notre Dame in Paris with windows depicting people of non-European decent pic.twitter.com/Zy8g5Hie15
Four Years Too Late, The New York Times Admits That Biden Pursued a Reckless Policy of Unlimited Illegal Immigration -- But Only In Service of New Narrative That Only Biden Favored Open Borders While the Rest of the Democrat Party Opposed It
Big Brother is rewriting history and deleting old files and airbrushing old photos as we watch them do it.
Kind of a pattern with the propaganda media, isn't it? Admitting the Democrats were wrong -- lied, actually -- about covid and Biden's cognitive fitness and now open borders.
And then creating a new narrative absolving all Democrats of those lies going forward.
How Biden Ignored Warnings and Lost Americans' Faith in Immigration
The Democratic president and his top advisers rejected recommendations that could have eased the border crisis that helped return Donald Trump to the White House.
See, his "top advisors" -- who can be taken to represent the real Democrat Party -- warned him not to throw open the borders and plunge the country into "chaos," but Biden -- and only Biden -- was determined to impose an open borders policy on the Democrats who heroically resisted this folly.
In the weeks after Joseph R. Biden Jr. was elected president, advisers delivered a warning: His approach to immigration could prove disastrous.
Mr. Biden had pledged to treat unauthorized immigrants more humanely than President Donald J. Trump, who generated widespread backlash by separating migrant children from their parents.
But Mr. Biden was now president-elect, and his positions threatened to drastically increase border crossings, experts advising his transition team warned in a Zoom briefing in the final weeks of 2020, according to people with direct knowledge of that briefing. That jump, they said, could provoke a political crisis.
"Chaos" was the word the advisers had used in a memo during the campaign.
They offered a range of options to avert that crisis, by better deterring migrants. Mr. Biden seemed to grasp the risk. But he and his top aides failed to act on those recommendations.
The warnings came true, and then some. After Mr. Biden became president, migrant encounters at the southern border quickly doubled, then kept rising. New arrivals overwhelmed border stations, then border towns, and eventually major cities like New York and Denver.
Anger over illegal migration helped return Mr. Trump to the presidency, and he has enacted even more aggressive policies than those Mr. Biden first campaigned against. Mr. Trump has drawn outrage from Democrats by sending masked agents to target immigrants, often aided by National Guard soldiers.
Biden did All the Bad Things, you guys, single-handedly. Biden was the only thing wrong with the Democrat Party. Now that he's out, the Democrat Party is Perfect Again (TM).
Walter Kirn summed this effort up as the Democrats "trying to establish a new encyclopedia entry" on this chapter of political history so that future voters will only be able to read this version of events.
...
But a New York Times examination of Mr. Biden's record found that he and his closest advisers repeatedly rebuffed recommendations that could have addressed the border crisis faster, and eased what became a potent issue for Mr. Trump as he sought to return to the White House and justify the aggressive tactics roiling American cities today.
Former Biden administration officials told The Times that Mr. Biden and his circle of close confidants -- including Ron Klain, who was chief of staff during the president's first two years, Mike Donilon, Jennifer O'Malley Dillon and Anita Dunn -- made two crucial errors.
First, they underestimated the scale of migration that was coming. Second, they failed to appreciate the political reaction to that migration -- believing that stronger enforcement would alienate Latino and progressive voters, and also that a border surge would not be an important issue to most voters. Those calculations would later prove to be mistaken, with many voters, including Latinos, citing immigration as a reason for supporting Mr. Trump in 2024.
"Everybody was reacting to the excesses of the Trump administration," said Cecilia Muñoz, who helped shape immigration policy in the Obama administration and oversaw domestic and economic policy for the Biden transition team.
Of course -- it wasn't the Democrats' fault, it was Trump's.
Biden only embraced open borders Because Trump. This wasn't the Democrat Party position or anything.
Except... that in the Democrat primary presidential debate of 2016, scheduled by Hillary Clinton for Christmas Eve so that no one could see it, both Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders (formerly in favor of border control) vowed that no illegal aliens -- not one -- would be deported under their would-be presidencies.
I remember attempting to bring this attention to NeverTrumpers claiming Hillary Clinton was the Real Conservative Choice in 2016. They, get this, pretended she never said that.
And now the New York Times debases itself by imitating the behavior of vile NeverTrumpers in pretending that open borders was just something Biden came up with alone as a reaction to the Beast of the Apocalypse Donald Trump.
They fiddle as Rome burns and call themselves just for doing so.
The Republican-controlled Indiana state Senate voted Thursday to reject the redrawn redistricting map that could have potentially meant an increase of two GOP U.S. House members in the 2026 midterm elections.
The defeat of the map represents a setback to President Donald Trump who had strongly advocated for its passage by the state Senate. Also, there have been multiple visits from Vice President JD Vance and calls from Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (La.), attempting to persuade enough members of the Senate to pass the redrawn map.
Though the GOP-controlled state House had approved the map last week, according to NBC News, it failed in the state Senate by a vote of 31-19.
Republicans have a majority in the state senate, but only a minority of them voted in favor of the map. They weren't betrayed by a few rogue members -- the majority of them joined the Democrats to get Trump impeached in January 2026.
The House voted on Thursday to table a motion to impeach President Donald Trump. The so-called privileged motion to force the House to act was introduced by Texas Democratic Rep. Al Green, according to The Hill.
A Republican motion to table the resolution passed by a vote of 237-140, with 47 Democrats voting present and 23 voting with the Republicans to table it. Tabling means to set it aside indefinitely without further debate.
Green has repeatedly introduced resolutions to impeach President Trump, both during his first term in office and now three times this year, since Trump's return to office.
His latest resolution has two impeachment articles. The first article is for "Abuse of Presidential Power by Calling for the Execution of Members of Congress." That was in reference to Trump's response last month to the video made by six Democrats telling members of the military that they don't have to follow unlawful orders.
Many Democrats voted for the impeachment. Some voted present and some voted to table it. But the latter Democrats only ducked the impeachment vote because they don't want the public thinking they are revenge-minded crazies before they're in a position to actually achieve their revenge-crazy impeachment.
See, they are doing what they do every two or four years, tamping down on their more extreme elements to make themselves look good for a critical election.
They want to win. We don't. Our own "representatives" are scheming with the Democrats to bring Trump down.
A federal grand jury in Oklahoma City has delivered sweeping charges against a longtime Black Lives Matter figure, accusing her of siphoning donor money into a personal slush fund that allegedly financed Caribbean vacations, luxury shopping, and a string of real-estate purchases. According to reporting from Breitbart News, prosecutors say the case exposes how parts of the BLM movement operated far from the charitable mission donors were led to believe they were supporting.
Federal prosecutors announced Thursday that 52-year-old Tashella Sheri Amore Dickerson -- the executive director of Black Lives Matter Oklahoma City since 2016 -- now faces 25 felony counts, including twenty charges of wire fraud and five more of money laundering. U.S. Attorney Robert J. Troester confirmed the indictment, which carries maximum penalties adding up to 450 years in prison and millions in fines.
Senior Justice Department officials, speaking exclusively to Breitbart, framed the case as a test of their commitment to rooting out corruption inside organizations that have raised enormous sums under the banner of racial justice. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said the prosecution shows "how some in the group's leadership allegedly used donor money to bankroll their own lifestyles," adding that the department has "zero tolerance for any kind of fraud perpetrated against the American people." FBI Director Kash Patel echoed that message, telling Breitbart his agents are "following the money" wherever it leads.
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Between June 2020 and October 2025, she allegedly deposited more than $2.35 million in returned bail checks directly into her own accounts. The DOJ says that money then financed:
Trips to Jamaica and the Dominican Republic for Dickerson and associates
"Tens of thousands" in retail shopping
Over $50,000 in food and grocery deliveries
A personal vehicle
Six Oklahoma City properties, purchased either in her name or through an entity she controlled
Prosecutors also accuse Dickerson of filing falsified annual reports with AFGJ that concealed the personal spending and claimed all funds were used for permissible charitable purposes.
...
If convicted on all counts, Dickerson could face one of the most severe fraud-related sentences in recent memory -- a dramatic fall for a figure who helped lead one of the state's most visible activist organizations during the peak of the Black Lives Matter movement.
In totally, completely, 100% unrelated news: "Tax the Rich" Socialist Socialite Alexandria Donkey-Chompers dropped $50,000 of donor money on luxury hotels and restaurants during her "vacations" from her "job."
All over a three month period!
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) dropped almost $50,000 on hotels and meals in Puerto Rico in the third quarter of this year -- as well as renting a San Juan venue where she was caught on tape grooving at an August Bad Bunny concert.
AOC's principal campaign committee shelled out $680.52 on July 28 to stay at the lavish Hotel Palacio Provincial, along with another $1,507.26 on Aug. 29 and a whopping $9,440,79 on Sept. 29, according to third quarter federal campaign finance filings -- even as the "Squad" rep on her social media accounts denounced gentrification that was taking place on the island.
The "first-class," "adults only" Palacio Provincial boasts of being "situated within an historic early 19th century building" with "transcendent hints of the structure's grand colonial past."
On Aug. 25, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for Congress also paid $3,861.20 to Hotel El Convento, another 19th century property touting its "old world charm and elegance," the Federal Election Commission filings show.
In all, the campaign forked over $15,489.77 for lodging in Puerto Rico between July 1 and Sept. 30.
At least $10,743.13 was spent on meals and catering services on Aug. 25 and Sept. 29, per the FEC filings for that period.
...
Ocasio-Cortez's campaign spent more than $23,000 on "venue rental" at the same location, the Coliseo De Puerto Rico, on June 24 and Aug. 25. It's unclear whether the expenses were related to the Bad Bunny shows.
...
Fox News first reported on the filings, and a campaign manager for the congresswoman, Oliver Hidalgo-Wohlleben, responded in a statement to the outlet that Ocasio-Cortez "regularly travels to Puerto Rico to support local causes and host events that require both staff and security."
"She is deeply proud of her investment in grassroots organizing and will continue to be active in advocating for both people on the island and the millions of Puerto Ricans in the diaspora," Hidalgo-Wohlleben added.
Throughout the third quarter, the Ocasio-Cortez campaign spent thousands of dollars more on various "boutique" hotel stays and expensive food vendors on the US mainland -- including as part of her "Fighting Oligarchy" tour with socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).
Those outlays included $6,600 for stays at the Hotel Vermont in Burlington.
Ocasio-Cortez's campaign coffers also were used for $2,000 lodging at the Thompson Central Park Hotel in Manhattan -- and a $3,000 stay at the Arlo Williamsburg in Brooklyn.
Other expenses included $6,300 for a meal at Italian restaurant Ama in the capitol's Navy Yard neighborhood.
Another $11,500 was shelled out for dining in DC, Vermont, the Bronx and Latham, NY, ice cream company Mr. Ding-a-ling.
🚨 An executive director with Black Lives Matter allegedly used her position to steal donor money and enrich herself. She has now been charged with wire fraud and money laundering. Thanks to @FBIOklahomaCity@TheJusticeDept and local partners for their work on this case. pic.twitter.com/sEtR5QZ7d7
CHAMPAGNE SOCIALIST: Campaign filings show Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez spent tens of thousands of dollars in Puerto Rico over the summer, forking over checks to cover:
—luxury hotel costs —pricey meals and catering services —a "venue rental" where music superstar Bad Bunny… pic.twitter.com/Mrd9wuC52q
Tyler Robinson, accused in Charlie Kirk killing, smirks and chuckles during first in-person court appearance, with family in tow
...
Thursday's hearing was the first time Robinson was physically present and seen in court. Prior hearings were virtual.
Robinson looked unfazed by the grim charges he faces -- which accused him of brutally shooting the 31-year-old Kirk on Sept. 10 during a Turning Point USA talk at Utah Valley University in front of a crowd of thousands.
Why is this man smiling?
Because he knows he won't be convicted. He has leftist supporters who want to reward him for murdering Charlie Kirk, and he has members of the pseudoright -- Candace Owens acolytes -- who think he was framed by the Deep State to cover up Erika Kirk's murder of her husband.
So get ready for the acquittal. It's coming, and Tyler Robinson knows it.
And don't think "At least the acquittal will finally convince Candace Owens to stop with her insane grifting practices." No, it won't. She's smile, she'll laugh, and she'll say, "You see, I was right! The acquittal proves it was Israel and Egyptian Planes who killed Charlie Kirk!"
🚨: JUST IN: Charlie Kirk’s assassin Tyler Robinson strolls into court SMIRKING like a man who didn’t just destroy a family, steal a father from precious children, and attack an entire movement.
First time seeing him in person… and he’s proud of it.
For months, Candace Owens has been claiming that officials at TPUSA were covering up the assassination-- because they were in on it from the start. Owens claims they're hiding video tape that only they have which would prove that the lethal shot wasn't taken by Tyler Robinson, but from someone much closer to Kirk, both in terms of physical proximity and close personal relationship. Her "mommysleuths" are obsessed with the idea that a 30-06 bullet should have been seen visibly impacting the wall behind Kirk, therefore, he wasn't killed by a rifle bullet. Must have been a pocket pistol carried in, who knows, maybe a.... purse?!
Owens has pretended she was not accusing Erika Kirk as being part of the assassination plot, even as she accused Erika of covering up the murder. But of course, only someone directly involved in her husband's murder would have any interest in covering it up.
After showing the patience of a saint and letting this diseased toxic lunatic smear her as a husband-murderer for three months, Erika Kirk has finally had enough and told Candace Owens to STOP.
The cruelty that has been heaped on Charlie Kirk's widow, Erika, since his assassination three months ago has been unrelenting.
First it was leftist ghouls cheering on his cold-blooded murder, in front of a crowd of 3,000 people at the first stop of his Turning Point USA "American Comeback Tour" outdoors on the campus of Utah Valley University on Sept. 10.
The ghouls gloried in the death of the young father of two, mimicked the instant the bullet hit his throat, created T-shirts with his image and gushes of blood to celebrate the moment his voice was silenced.
...
But what has been far worse than the leftist haters are right-wing-adjacent grifters and nuts pushing wicked conspiracy theories about Charlie's murder, pointing the finger at his colleagues, friends and even Erika herself.
These fantasies have been peddled primarily by former prominent TPUSA luminary Candace Owens on her hit podcast, which gets more than 40 million views for her wildest rants.
She has claimed Israeli Mossad agents, men in maroon shirts, the US military, Egyptian planes, Jewish donors and the French government are somehow complicit.
She also claimed some kind of Mormon cult centered around... bee worship might have had a hand in it.
She endlessly plays videos of that awful day and theorizes about the "exit wound" or lack thereof.
See, if there's no exit wound, that means that one of Charlie Kirk's own staffers must have shot him from the stage using a lower-powered pistol bullet.
Just asking questions?
Worst of all, she torments Charlie's widow by suggesting in a disingenuous "just asking questions" way that Charlie was "betrayed" by the people who loved him most.
Do you know this next part? Her "proof" that Charlie Kirk was "betrayed" by those closest to him is... a dream.
She claims that Charlie Kirk cane to her in a dream and told her to smear her friends and wife as conspiracists in his murder.
Her proof?
A dream.
"I had a very vivid dream whereupon Charlie told me that he had been betrayed."
She has thrown suspicion on Charlie's pastor, his chief of staff, his chief operating officer, his spokesman, the camera guy, you name it.
She plays clips of their reactions the moment Charlie was shot and claims they looked guilty.
She is suspicious that TPUSA supposedly won't give her their footage of Charlie's murder that she laughably claims she needs so she can "debunk all these internet conspiracies."
"Everything about this is wrong," she said.
"I helped to build that organization, so I am almost the perfect person to discern what is normal and what is abnormal."
She also claims: "I've chosen to be on the side of goodness and truth no matter what the cost is."
Her daily tantalizing drip feed of absurdities cashing in on her former friend's death has made her millions of dollars.
Finally, Erika Kirk broke her self-imposed silence -- trying to let Candace Owens' hatred, jealousy, and narcissism just burn itself out naturally, only to realize it would never burn out because the money is too good -- to tell Owens to stop.
She didn't name Owens, but it's clear who she's talking about. (Owens herself says it's clear that Erika is calling Owens out.)
Finally, on Wednesday, Erika Kirk erupted in a controlled demolition of Owens and all who amplify her toxicity.
"This is righteous anger, because this is not OK. It's not healthy. This is a mind virus," she told Harris Faulkner on Fox News' "Outnumbered" program in an appearance to promote the publication of her husband's final book, "Stop, in the Name of God."
"I want justice for my husband, for myself, for my family, more than anyone else out there. But here's my breaking point on that. Come after me, call me names, I don't care.
"Call me what you want, go down that rabbit hole, whatever."
"But when you go after ... the people that I love, and you're making hundreds and thousands of dollars, every single episode going after the people that I love [saying] because somehow they're in on this? No."
With courage and graceful intensity, she explained why she so far has remained silent in the face of ever more cruel clickbait: "My silence does not mean that somehow, Turning Point USA, and all of the handpicked staff that loved my husband -- and my husband loved them -- is somehow in on it."
Remember, she patiently allowed Candace Owens to defame her for months to let her burn it out of her, and now that silence is taken as an admission she was in on it.
At one point, Erika turned to the camera and pointedly addressed the conspiracy theorists:
"Just know that your words are very powerful, and we are human. My team are not machines, and they're not robots. We have more death threats on our team and our side than I have ever seen ... What are we supposed to do? Relive that trauma all over again?"
The best part was that Erika never mentioned the name of the woman who TPUSA insiders say is afflicted by "first wife" syndrome.
They say Owens is consumed by jealousy that Erika has been appointed CEO of TPUSA, following Charlie's express wishes to the board and colleagues and captured on video.
"She is a woman scorned," one TPUSA insider said of Owens.
"She was iced out of TPUSA ... She was not close to Charlie -- he kept her at arm's length. He knew the best tack on her was to keep her on ice ... She was not invited to Charlie's wedding."
Owens has repeatedly claimed she wants to meet with TPUSA staffers to get to the "truth" and claimed she would go anywhere and debate anyone to prove her dream of Charlie Kirk is accurate.
TPUSA agreed to a public debate -- and then Owens made excuses and said that date wouldn't work for her. And nor would any other date.
...
At first, Charlie's family and colleagues decided to ignore the bile.
But last week, his inner team, who have been running his podcast since he died, finally invited Owens to come on the show and clear the air.
They have spent all week negotiating with her but say she keeps making excuses for why she can't go to their studio in Phoenix, including that there is a local "cartel" that wants to assassinate her.
She has also claimed that French President Emmanuel Macron -- who is suing her for defamation over her prolonged claims that his wife, Brigitte, is really a man -- has ordered her assassination.
Of course, she claims there's an Israeli in the assassin squad.
You might think that Erika Kirk telling her to stop might make her stop.
Why would you think that?
Well, because Candace Owens said she would stop if and when Erika Kirk told her to stop.
You see, for months, when people told Candace Owens that it was rotten to smear a widow as culpable in her husband's murder, she claimed that only two people could make her stop spinning her conspiracy theories about Erika Kirk -- her husband (or "husband," as other conspiracy theories posit), or Erika Kirk herself.
So... because Candace Owens is truthful and honorable and not motivated by insane levels of narcissism, entitlement, and belief that Erika Kirk should have put Candace Owens in charge of Charlie Kirk's organization, she immediately honored her promise and agreed to no longer spread conspiracy theories about Erika Kirk being an accomplice in her husband's murder.
Just kidding!
Erika Kirk did not say “please stop lying” in this clip. She said “please STOP” as in, shut the fuck up Candace. You’re literally beating on a widow because you can’t fucking STOP.
Often-incoherent podcaster Candace Owens fired back at Erika Kirk as the widow finally addressed the conspiracy theories surrounding Charlie Kirk's death and Turning Point USA, claiming the widow "missed the mark" and accused her of using "the exact same emotional strategy deployed by BLM."
"It is a positively ABSURD notion that you cannot critique a 150 million dollar organization because the CEO says they are like a family, and are grieving," Owens railed on X.
"It is the exact same emotional strategy deployed by BLM in the wake of George Floyd's death, when I called out their shady financial dealings."
Erika Kirk has been publicly pushing back for the first time on rampant conspiracy theories flying around the internet by conservative activists about her husband's assassination -- among them Owens, a once close friend of Charlie's.
...
She's repeatedly gone after Erika, who was named CEO of Turning Point USA -- the massive conservative activist organization founded by Charlie.
Owens later attacked Erika on her podcast for not addressing the rumors publicly as the new CEO of the company, but as a mourning widow.
"It completely missed the mark for me. I am sorry. It just has. But the good news is that she is now un-murking the water in terms of her intentions with this massive political organization," Owens said on her podcast after Kirk's TV appearance.
What she means is that Erika Kirk, by telling Owens to stop defaming her, has confirmed that TPUSA was in on the murder plot all along.
This is why I have been so vitriolic about conspiracy theorists and their maniacal belief that anyone pushing back against the conspiracy theory is just further proof of the conspiracy theory being right. Every time I've railed against conspiracy theorists lately, I have been thinking of this ugly Low-IQ grifter whore.
I guess i should have said so.
When confronted by one of her own lunatic supporters about her promise to "stop" if Erika asked her to, Candace Owens, get this, prevaricates. She claims that Erika didn't tell her to stop, but to stop lying, and because she's not lying (she claims), she'll keep on doing what she does.
Except she lied right there, didn't she?
Not only is Candace Owens refusing to "stop" as she promised she would do if asked, but she's doubling down and attacking Erika Kirk more, accusing her of showing "no passion" in talking about the murder of her husband -- wink, wink -- and giving "ChatGPT answers" when accused of murder.
She says she is building a beautiful memorial for Charlie Kirk, which will be public. But she seems to, understandably I think, want to keep the location of his actual grave private.
Erika Kirk says she is in fact scared that the jury has been "tainted" by both left-wing support of left-wing killers and conspiracy theorists claiming that she is the Real Killer of her husband.
Erika Kirk and TPUSA haven't sued Candace Owens for defamation and intentional infliction of extreme emotional distress... yet. Owens should remember that when Alex Jones accused parents of children killed in a school shooting of pretending their kids had been killed, a jury absolutely destroyed him with a multi-billion dollar judgment. That is way too much, but Owens should keep in mind that when you accuse people who are the victims of a tragedy of being complicit in that tragedy, a jury can decide that your lies are worth billions of dollars.
Candace commented on my Instagram post saying I only disagree with her baselessly implicating Charlie's friends in his murder because my great-grandfather whom I never met was Jewish. Okay.
Also, apparently, she was Charlie's only true friend.
I have been extremely, explicitly clear that Charlie and I had a strong friendship that was completely professional. I'm grateful to be one of many that he shared stages and wisdom with over the years.
Charlie's inner circle -- his friends, his coworkers, his WIFE -- are the only ones who loved and knew him best and they are the ones we can trust to seek true justice on their behalf.
This woman had a great grandfather she never met who was Jewish so Candace Owens -- not antisemitic, mind you, just "anti-Zionist" -- accuses her of being "tribal."
Tucker Carlson decided to weigh in on the Jews Killed Charlie Kirk Conspiracy Theory, of course. The grifting potential is just too tempting.
He does his usual cowardly signalling that he likes the conspiracy theory without having the guts to sign his name to it. He says he supports Candace Owens in her search for "truth," and says that she is acting in good faith when she accuses Erika Kirk of arranging her husband's murder. Then he says he does not trust the FBI, thereby discarding the evidence against Tyler Robinson.
Tucker here doesn’t mention anything about the fact that Tyler Robinson was seen at the crime scene, left his DNA on the towel covering the rifle and the trigger, CONFESSED to the murder and outlined his motive to his trans lover, and was IDENTIFIED BY HIS OWN FAMILY.
I used to say "No, Tucker isn't just doing this for the money, he's a Nepo Baby and heiress (yes, I said heiress) to the Swanson frozen food fortune. He doesn't need the money."
Now I'm not so sure. It can't be a coincidence that Tucker Carlson always goes where the clicks are.
And it can't be a coincidence that the guests he keeps having on to spread propaganda just happen to be paid foreign agents.
Tucker's anti-Christian and pro-Islamist positions are becoming more and more apparent. https://t.co/lJhBDDo3p1
Gavin Newsom Admits That California Pays for Free Healthcare for Illegal Aliens
—Ace
We already knew this, but Gavin Newsom admits it. As you know, in the propaganda media, no amount of evidence is ever enough to disprove a left-wing talking point. A point is only settled against a leftist if he admits it.
What is even more astounding is Regime Apologist Ezra Klein's reaction to this admission.
Newsom's admission doesn't cause Klein to say, "Well, it turns out Trump wasright when he said Democrat states pay for health care for illegals."
No, it causes him to re-assert that Trump "lies" about this, followed by praising Newsom for having the guts to make Trump's "lies" a reality.
This is a work of art. This is their magic trick: Once they label something Trump said “a lie,”no amount of proof, no towering mountain of evidence, will force them to rethink https://t.co/23Jktsv7eb
It's just totally a "lie" that all Democrats plan to provide free health care to illegals.
For the left, the concept of lying is not dependent on whether or not someone tells the truth. It's not based on actions. It's based on status -- if you're an enemy of the left, you're a "liar" even when you're telling the truth. The truths you say "mislead" the public away from a Greater Truth -- race-based socialism managed by carefully-selected leftwing credentialed priests -- and are therefore "lies," in a deeper sense.
The “Affordability Crisis” - Home Prices and Apartment Rents Are Decreasing as Deportations Increase
—Buck Throckmorton
Let’s talk some more about the “affordability crisis” that the media and President Trump’s critics are hammering him about. As I keep mentioning, it is a ridiculously unfair argument that because overall prices haven’t deflated from the runaway inflation of the Biden-era, Trump is to blame.
But some prices are actually coming down. As Ace and I have been discussing, gasoline prices are historically low thanks to Trump’s drill-baby-drill energy policy.
But the largest item in most household budgets is the mortgage or rent. So how are those prices doing? They’re coming down too.
This piece mentions that inventory of homes has expanded, which would certainly impact the supply/demand equation, and that prices are returning “back down to earth” following the “frenzy” of the Covid-era.
But it also mentions that some of these metropolitan areas simply have “lighter demand” now than in recent years. Interesting. It’s almost as if there is some other force affecting supply and demand of housing units if there is suddenly lighter demand for housing.
Rental housing is also seeing rents drop and vacancies rise:
Per this article, the median national rent payment is declining, including 1% in just the past month alone. In some places the decrease is quite significant. For instance, in Austin the median rent has decreased by 6.8% in the past year. Meanwhile, the national vacancy rate for multi-family properties (e.g. apartments) just hit a record high in November, with 7.2% of units unleased.
This article offers some explanations for the decline in rents and the glut of unleased apartments, including a cooling labor market, and hundreds of thousands of new housing units coming online in the past year.
Yes, new units becoming available for lease certainly is an input into the supply/demand equation, but even in a cooling labor market, people need a place to live.
Again, it just seems that there might be another force at work here that is not being discussed.
The Department of Homeland Security announced on Wednesday that an estimated 2.5 million illegal aliens have left the country since the start of President Donald Trump’s second term.
Over 600,000 aliens have been deported and another 1.9 million have self-deported. Those 2.5 million people were occupying a lot of housing that is now competing for new tenants.
The “affordability crisis” is a term being thrown around by those who want to sabotage the Trump presidency and help Democrats defeat Republicans in the mid-terms next November. But by causing millions of illegal aliens to depart the country, the Trump administration is actually taking powerful action to reduce the cost of housing and shelter. Coincidentally, most of the NeverTrump critics trying to kneecap the Trump agenda with the “affordability” issue are hell-bent on stopping deportations and throwing the border back open to illegal labor.
Those people parroting the “affordability crisis” talking points need to be challenged to admit that Donald Trump’s deportations and closed border are bringing down the cost of housing.
Reducing the cost of housing is the highest priority when talking about “affordability,” and President Trump’s policies are making it happen.
Is this great art? No, but it is competently executed, the artist has obvious skill, and there is no obvious political bent to the work. And the scene is sufficiently complex that it suggests questions. What is going on? Who is the woman ascending the stairs? Why didn't John Moses Browning design a .50ACP?
Good morning kids. In its nearly 200-year rampage to attain absolute power, the Left and its political epicenter have worked feverishly via the Communist playbook to tear down every pillar of our society, history and heritage that undergirds the American experiment that had made us the exception to every other one that has come before us and since in human history, hence the term "American exceptionalism." We are or were the exception to all other forms of government that degraded, demeaned and relegated the individual as mere servants, serfs and slaves to all powerful rulers, kings and dictators. One of the key pillars of our society, and a source of pride and inspiration has been our military, especially those who serve and have served honorably and most especially to those who gave their lives to keep us free and preserve the bastion and beacon and shining example of freedom for the world (which sadly has decided that the opposite is preferable so that for the most part, we have 200 or so Cubas and Somalias all over the globe).
Coming back from that tangent and to our military, one of the greatest achievements that President Trump and his outstanding Secretary of War Pete Hegseth have done is to restore our military to razor-sharp readiness and effectiveness in the defense of this nation and its interests. That which had deteriorated to such an extent in the wake of 9/11 and the muddled insanity of the so-called insane Global War on Terror which in point of fact under Dubya, Cheney and various and sundry others became the eternal state of War on Terra and the equally mad nation-building scam that did nothing but demoralize Americans at home as their sons and daughters came home in flag-draped caskets while inspiring foreigners whose nations we pulverized while alienating them to hate us even more than before we arrived to "liberate" them from that which they did not want to be liberated, primarily ISLAM.
Because this President is putting an end to all that nonsense, he has earned some of the bitterest of enemies within the global militarist (not military) and corrupted failed diplomatic circles that have created much of the Post World War 2 mess that we find ourselves in. In rejiggering our military and foreign policy to one that is America-centric, he has put himself and his allies like Hegseth firmly in the crosshairs of some very pissed off individuals who do not appreciate their decades long power and influence taken away from them. And given the attempts on Trump crosshairs is for sure appropriate. And now, with first the strikes on Iran's nuclear capabilities and now the interdiction and elimination of narco-terrorist smuggling boats, some if not all aided and abetted by central and South American nation states along with Red CHina, the chattering classes are yammering away endlessly about war crimes.
In the 1990s, Captain Michael Cronin, a Navy pilot who had been captured and tortured in Vietnam, began to lobby for a bill that would hold his Vietnamese torturers accountable.
The ‘War Crimes Act’ was passed and Cronin died in 2020 without his torturers facing justice.
The bill, originally sold as a way to hold torturers of Americans accountable, did nothing to stop abuses of American prisoners, either by Communist or Islamist foes. Its criminalization of Geneva Conviction violations was never going to matter to our enemies, instead it became a weapon used by them, and their radical allies in the United States, against our troops.
Republican House and Senate majorities allowed the ‘War Crimes Act’ to sail through even though it had been loaded with the biggest poison pill of all, applying its provisions to American soldiers, and President Bill Clinton, a former anti-war protester, gleefully signed it into law.
The ‘War Crimes Act of 1996’ was the fever dream wishlist of every anti-Vietnam War protester, threatening to prosecute American soldiers for international law violations, and would probably never have become law if it hadn’t been smuggled through using a Vietnam War POW as an unwitting human shield. Once the bill had been passed, it was weaponized against Americans.
In a not necessarily unrelated story from a few weeks ago, Zohran Mamdani the mayor-elect of NYC announced his intention to arrest Bibi Netanyahu and hand him over to the International Criminal Court for the unspeakable crime of defending Jews from Islamic genocide. Mamdani's election is I fear not merely a one-off but given the embrace of socialism by the younger generations of voters and sadly older ones as well, and the vicissitudes of American electoral politics, sadly one day we will once again have a Democrat in the White House, will he/she/It be merely a typical liberal schmuck or a full-on Maoist like Mamdani and his ilk?!
Regardless, America as founded, what remains of it and what had been restored and please God is yet to be restored by the second half of Trump 2.0 and perhaps two terms of a President Vance, will once again be ripped apart by the next incarnation of Obama on radioactive steroids.
I predict that if/when (ugh!) that nightmare becomes a reality, Donald Trump, Pete Hegseth and perhaps most of the flag officer corps involved in the sinking of the Venezuelan drug boats as well as the bombing of Iran will be charged with war crimes. Given the nature of the lawsuits and shampeachments that Trump has gone through, as well as the persecution via prosecution of the J-6 protesters, you can guess the rest.
And with that, will be the final nail in the coffin of the United States armed forces. It will be transmogrified into something akin to the Red Guards or Iran's IRGC.
The Indiana State Senate rejected a plan to redraw the Hoosier State’s congressional map before the 2026 midterm elections. President Donald J. Trump and Governor Mike Braun (R-IN) pushed Republican lawmakers in the legislature to back the plan, but Republican defections scuttled the bill that would have redrawn the map on Thursday.Under the failed proposal, the congressional districts for Representatives Frank Mrvan (D-IN) and Andre Carson (D-IN) would have essentially been eliminated and replaced with two Republican-leaning seats, making the entire state’s delegation in the U.S. House of Representatives a Republican one. Currently, Republicans hold seven of the state’s nine U.S. House seats.The setback in Indiana follows a recent Supreme Court decision allowing Texas to use its newly redrawn map, which creates five additional GOP-favorable districts. Indiana had become a focal point in Trump’s nationwide effort to reshape congressional districts ahead of the 2026 midterms, a strategy aimed at maintaining the narrow Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representatives.
CIVIL WAR 2.0, LEFTIST PERSECUTIONS, DEMOCRAT PUTSCH, AMERICAN DISSOLUTION
“The Department of Justice is committed to unraveling and prosecuting fraud in the Black Lives Matter organization, and this case illustrates how some in the group’s leadership allegedly used donor money to bankroll their own lifestyles,” Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement provided exclusively to Breitbart News. “We have zero tolerance for any kind of fraud perpetrated against the American people and will continue bringing fraudsters to justice as cases arise.” (I care more about their terrorism than scamming clueless liberal stooges - jjs) Exclusive — BLM Official in Oklahoma City Charged with Wire Fraud and Money Laundering
Americans are seeing relief in the housing market, with rents decreasing and housing availability improving due to the significant drop in illegal immigrants. DHS Claims Record 2.5 Million Illegal Immigrants Have Left U.S. (about 40 million more to go - jjs)
The affordability crisis will likely worsen if current trends continue and political leaders refuse to address the root causes. Five Solutions to the Affordability Crisis
The hearing focused on transparency and how much information should be shared to the public in order to ensure a fair trial. While this issue is being considered, Utah Fourth District Judge Tony Graf closed the first part of the hearing while they discussed what should and should not be made public. (Suddenly the name Jack Ruby popped into my head - jjs) Charlie Kirk’s Alleged Assassin Smirks During First In-Person Hearing
FIRST AMENDMENT ISSUES, CENSORSHIP, FAKE NEWS, MEDIA, BIG BROTHER TECH
Leavitt didn’t just answer questions—she schooled the press, hit media narratives with facts, and defended the administration with precision and force. It’s so nice to have someone honest and competent behind the podium again. Karoline Leavitt Torches the Media in Epic Fashion
It is incredibly difficult to find points of agreement with our political foes when they prefer to scream in our faces and call us “fascists.” Leftists Choose Censorship Over Debate
The Right can’t win a fair media fight while Washington keeps conservative broadcasters capped at 39%—scrap the 1940s rule and let real competition decide. Big Brother Is Holding Conservative Media Back
RED-GREENS, CLIMATE CHANGE HOAX, DEMOCRAT-LEFT WAR ON FOSSIL FUELS,
Our children's futures—and America's. These homeschooled trailblazers are the assets of national security: Think Jefferson's diplomats negotiating peace, Lincoln's strategists holding the line, Roosevelt's visionaries expanding horizons. Homeschoolers built this country—It’s time the law recognized their diplomas
Trump may have garbled the specifics, but he got the upshot of the story right. Omar’s family brought Elmi over from London in 2009 to try to extract him from a gay lifestyle, and that is the context in which the congresswoman tied the knot with him. Yes, Bro-Fo Omar Married Her Brother
With the 2026 midterms fast approaching, seven intense Democratic primary contests are taking shape across the country and highlighting divisions regarding the future of the party. Seven Primaries That Could Tear Democrats Apart In 2026
“On the far left, there’s a growing bloc of disaffected activists who see politicians that alarm conservatives, like Mamdani, as not nearly radical enough simply because they operate inside electoral politics. For them, politics itself — and the Democrat Party in particular — looks like counter-insurgency.” Some Of Mamdani’s Radical Base ‘Already Seething’ At His Decisions
He’ll be remembered either way. But there’s a huge difference between a Julius and an Augustus. (I prefer Augustus Pinochet to an Orange-man Julius - jjs) What Kind of Caesar Will Trump Be?
The unidentified ship was reportedly flying the flag of E-Swatini and was part of what Iran alleges is a massive trafficking scheme to steal Iranian oil and sell it abroad. The IRGC revealed the news on the same day that the Iranian government condemned the United States for staging a similar seizure of a ship accused of carrying illicit oil in the Caribbean following an appropriate warrant process. The U.S. government accused the seized ship in question of carrying sanctioned oil being used to profit the narco-regime governing Venezuela and its allies in Tehran. Iran’s Terrorist IRGC Seizes Oil Tanker Day After U.S. Captures Alleged Oil Smuggling Vessel
Reuters is reporting — via anonymous sources — that the Trump administration says that this may be the first oil tanker it seizes, but it won't be the last: "Further direct interventions by the U.S. are expected in the coming weeks targeting ships carrying Venezuelan oil that may also have transported oil from other countries targeted by U.S. sanctions, such as Iran, according to the sources familiar with the matter who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue." The U.S. Seized an Oil Tanker Off the Coast of Venezuela. So, What's Next?
The MAS Party ruled Bolivia for two decades, first under its original leader Evo Morales and later under Arce. The brief period between Morales and Arce in 2020 was marked by Morales attempting to unconstitutionally retain the presidency, allegedly committing widespread electoral fraud and being forced to flee the country. As his top MAS officials fled the country at the time as well, the highest-ranking person left in the chain of command was conservative Senator Jeanine Áñez, whom Arce later had imprisoned on dubious “coup” charges. Bolivia Arrests Socialist Ex-President Luis Arce, Accused in $52 Million Corruption Scheme
Trump’s foreign-policy edge lies in blunt moral clarity, reshaping global power dynamics while warning adversaries that America is once again willing to defend its interests. Trump’s America First Foreign Policy Gives Moral Clarity
DEFENSE, MILITARY, SECURITY AFFAIRS
A UN tribunal has been embedded within the DOJ. It threatens our troops. (one day when we God forbid ultimately will have a Democrat president, you can bet your ass that Hegseth and Trump will be indicted - jjs) Abolish the War Crimes Act of 1996
HEALTH AND HEALTH CARE
Four Republicans: Sens. Susan Collins, Josh Hawley, Lisa Murkowski, and Dan Sullivan voted with the Democrats, but the legislation needed 60 votes to proceed, as did the Republican bill, which was also blocked on a 51-48 vote. Senate Rejects Extending Obamacare Subsidies
This strain appears to be a combination of Clade Ib (which causes more severe infections and is more readily spread) and Clade IIb (the one responsible for the “Pride Summer” global outbreak in 2022). A New Monkeypox Strain Identified in England
ACTUAL SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY
Using multiple solar observatories in space, scientists have now been able to map the approximate location of the outside edge of the Sun’s atmosphere, the point “where the speed of the outward solar wind becomes faster than the speed of magnetic waves.” Scientists map the outside edge of the Sun’s atmosphere
Scientists doing new computer modeling of the known data now posit that Neptune and Uranus might not be as icy as previously believed and instead could be more like the inner terrestrial planets like Earth, much rockier in their interior. Scientists posit that Neptune and Uranus might be rockier than previously theorized (But still no detectable Klingons on Uranus - jjs)
FEMINAZISM, TRANSGENDER PSYCHOSIS, HOMOSEXUALIZATION, WAR ON MASCULINITY/NORMALCY
The lawsuit is specifically filed against the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), the Endocrine Society, and the American Academy of Pediatrics and accuses the organizations of pushing mutilating sex changes for minors without proper evidence proving safety and efficacy, in violation of consumer protection and racketeering laws. Florida Sues Medical Organizations Pushing Sex Changes for Minors
CULTURE WARS, NATIONAL SUICIDE
“Your statement is extremely inappropriate and disrespectful. Such malicious remarks are unacceptable.” Kids Toys Can Be Spying for China
ALSO: The Morning Report cross-posts at CutJibNewsletter.com usually within an hour or so of posting here, if you want to continue the conversation all day.
It's a 5k model which is good enough for almost anything, and runs at 180Hz which is also good enough for almost anything. But if you drop the resolution to 2560x1440 you can boost the refresh rate to 330Hz, which is more than enough.
HDR 600 and 97% of DCI-P3 colour. One small catch: It doesn't work at its full resolution and refresh rate on an Nvidia 4000-series card, because those only support an older version of DisplayPort. Previous generation Radeon 7000 series cards do work, as do all current-generation cards.
Thursday Overnight Open Thread - December 11, 2025 [scampydog]
—Open Blogger
Welcome to the Thursday night ONT. Thank you for braving the traffic and holiday crowds to be here - the best place on the internet to spend your Thursday evening.
Been about a year since my first ONT post (with CBD patiently doing all the back end work - I figured it out eventually).
Your regular host, Doof, is in parts unknown - not saying he is on a secret mission, he will be back soon with a proper alibi.
Before we get started, please grab a snack and a second look at your therapy pamphlet.
Undergrounds - plenty of interesting and historical visits out there. Have you roamed any?
Dixia Cheng, Beijing, China. The whole communist, totalitarian side of this is fascinating. Build, deny, reveal, conceal, deny (again), obfuscate.
Built 1969 - 1979 as a bomb shelter - they were worried about the Soviets (how things change). It is beneath Beijing and has somewhere between 33 to 53 square miles of tunnels - near Tiananmen Square (Walz was not there). A decade or so of black market living quarters, eventually squashed by the government. Much of the system/network of tunnels is now sealed off and closed to the public.
The subterranean world of Dixia Cheng consists of a network of tunnels and chambers under Beijing that stretches across 33 square miles of underground catacombs. Also named the “Underground Great Wall” for its vastness and military purpose, the tunnel complex was dug by hand by local citizens throughout the 1970s to serve as a shelter during invasions, air raids, or nuclear attacks. At the height of its readiness, there were more than 90 entrances to the underground corridors which were hidden in the backs of homes and businesses.
Civilians seeking shelter from Soviet bombardments in the underground complex would have been safe from boredom as well as bombs. Classrooms were constructed for the children living in the underground city, and recreational amenities like a movie theater, barber shops, restaurants, and a roller skating rink were all awaiting a potential flood of refugees. Chambers in auxiliary tunnels held grain, weapons, and other supplies. The underground city also held sites for growing sunless crops like mushrooms and areas prepared for well drilling.
Pendleton, OR. Way back days Pendleton boasted a lot of bars, 18 brothels, and what is now an underground (sounds Moron worthy).
Pendleton used to be known as the entertainment capital of Eastern Oregon, and with thirty two bars and eighteen brothels, it's easy to see why this was a hot spot of the old west.
Blame the distractingly attractive person you sat next to in Biology for your forgetfulness.
For anyone whose little(s) brought homework home expecting your help / decades old brilliance: which subjects betrayed you? Logarithms perhaps? Prompting a response of, "I'll drop you off early tomorrow. Go meet with your teacher."
Plyler v. Doe. A lot of left leaning articles out there.
Send this decision back up the ladder.
At least one state is currently proposing action to limit undocumented students’ access to a free, public education. Recent efforts to challenge Plyler in five other states have been paused or failed, according to an Education Week analysis. At least one state has enacted protections of this right.
Across a large swath of academe, teaching is perceived as a burden to be endured. Faculty bemoan heavy teaching loads. Prized faculty teach light loads, with courses “bought out” by research grants or fellowships. (Deans and department chairs similarly negotiate for reduced teaching loads.) In short, a lighter teaching load is a badge of professional success.
*****
This administration continues to savage the legacy media. What's not to love about that?
The White House page of Media Offender of the Week. Scroll to the bottom of the page. From there you can click the various page numbers. They're calling out: The Claim, publication, reporter, and category.
THE OFFENSE
The Washington Post’s Alex Horton and Ellen Nakashima published an article from two unnamed sources claiming Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered a Joint Special Operations commander to “kill everybody” during an anti-terrorist operation in the Caribbean Sea.
THE TRUTH
The Department of War killed 11 narco-terrorists in a coordinated strike designed to “kill the narco-terrorists who are poisoning the American people.” This attack was the first in a series of lethal kinetic strikes against Designated Terrorist Organizations. The Washington Post published this unsubstantiated claim in an attempt to discredit the United States’ warfighters and inflame anti-American sentiment.
*****
Spent entirely too much time on this section. What a rabbit hole.
A four act musical tour. So many songs are written around love and relationships - could link a hundred for each act. Let's take a tour through the highs, lows, and the magic of it. Use link shortener if pasting songs in comments - don't blow out the margins!
Sparks Fly. Music and new love? The first few weeks were always exciting. Pure dopamine, everything electric.
Wilhelm Friedrich Füchtner (1844-1923), hailing from the quaint town of Seiffen in the Ore Mountains of Germany, is known worldwide as the “Father of the Nutcracker.” For good reason, as he created the world’s first mass-produced nutcracker around 1870 with a water-powered lathe, revolutionizing the craft and saving himself from the laborious task of carving each statue by hand.
*****
Christmas traditions. Plenty in the scampyhouse. Favorite: Kids can get after their stocking whenever they awake. The presents wait until the cinny rolls are baked and mom has a cup of coffee. What are your traditions, Horde?
Track Santa
Come Christmas Eve, it's time to track Santa Claus as he delivers presents! Kiddos can use a computer or phone to follow Santa's journey from the North Pole, thanks to the free tracker from NORAD. The suspense is just magical!
*****
This ONT brought to you by: Wrapping presents.
Madonna Cones picture taken from elsewhere - unknown who to credit
Disclaimer: By reading, scrolling, commenting, lurking, or otherwise existing within the AoSHQ realm, you acknowledge and accept that organizers, hosts, cobloggers, and any sentient or non-sentient (you know who you are) beings associated herewith shall not be responsible for your holiday list, last-minute shopping panic, relationship status, or why you refuse to trust your compass, and/or any other GPS devices, including but not limited to the stars. Damages are expressly limited to what you say in the comment section, or the amount of eggnog ingested, whichever is greater. Any attempts to claim additional damages shall be met with public dumbing in the comment section.
More "Strandbeasts" or "Beach Animals." This is actually not AI. Just some sticks, some serious engineering know-how, some wind, and a lot of free time. The artist calls these weird creations "kinetic sculptures."
An oldie: A dog decides he's really what the paying public came out to see.
Sea otters rub their faces to groom their fur; driving out moisture, adding air, and spreading natural oils secreted by their skin.pic.twitter.com/zPHt28zn6I
When billionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein needed legal advice, help responding to negative press, or just moral support, he often turned to an unexpected confidante -- Kathy Ruemmler, an elite attorney who served two US presidents and was once a top candidate for US attorney general.
As thousands of new documents tied to Epstein have been released, many of those closest to him have paid a steep price for their friendship by forfeiting influential jobs and weathering fierce public blowback. Yet Ruemmler, a former White House counsel for Barack Obama, has maintained a prestigious post as chief legal officer for Goldman Sachs.
Friendship? Really?
The bank has continued to stand by her -- even as emails show Epstein calling her "my great defender" and seeking her help pushing back on reports detailing his abuse of underage girls.
A CNN KFile review of Epstein's emails and travel schedules sheds new light on his relationship with the power-broking lawyer and shows that their ties went far beyond professional advice and into the realm of a friendship.
Among the many high-profile and notable names that appear in the Epstein messages, Ruemmler is one of the most frequently referenced, with more than 100 exchanges between her and Epstein over several years. Epstein's schedule reveals that he was set to meet with Ruemmler more than 50 times between July 2014 and May 2019, including for lunches and dinners with celebrities, apartment hunting, and personal beauty appointments.
As early as 2014, the year that Ruemmler left the Obama White House, the pair already appeared close, with Ruemmler telling Epstein in one email, "I'll be here all week -- you may get sick of me."
Note this is after Jeffrey Epstein's conviction for prostitution. Which was understood to actually be about underaged child sex trafficking.
But their "friendship" endured.
In a statement to CNN, Ruemmler said, "In 2014, I barely knew Jeffrey Epstein. My remark was a throwaway line in response to his invitation to attend multiple meetings with business contacts."
Across the many messages, Ruemmler emerges as a confidant and advocate for Epstein, at times helping him manage his public reputation following his 2008 conviction for soliciting prostitution from a minor.
Epstein's estate is fighting to keep hundreds of additional emails between Ruemmler and Epstein private, arguing that they are protected by attorney-client privilege. The privilege log shows that Ruemmler continued to communicate with Epstein through at least June 2019 and suggests she was more involved with Epstein's legal affairs than previously known.
In a statement to CNN, Ruemmler referred to Epstein as a "business referral source" when she was at the law firm Latham & Watkins and that she knew him in a "professional capacity" when she served as head of the white collar defense group at the firm. But she said she "did not represent him and was not compensated by him."
Perfect! Then the emails are not privileged.
CNN sent a series of questions to Ruemmler and Goldman Sachs prior to publication. Ruemmler provided answers to several of them, but others she declined to directly answer -- including whether she was involved with drafting a public relations statement for Epstein or took part in discussions to help him respond to media inquiries about his sexual abuse.
I assume this is the statement she drafted for her "friend" the pedophile sex trafficker.
In 2019, as major outlets reexamined Epstein's long history of sexually abusing minors, he invoked her advice directly. In a text message from that year, Epstein said Ruemmler helped him craft a public-relations statement in response to a forthcoming Washington Post editorial calling for Congress to investigate him.
At 4 a.m. on March 7, 2019, Epstein texted a draft statement to a contact redacted by House investigators, calling it a "Ruemmler proposal" and writing, "this is what Kathy suggests we tell Waco," correcting the typo seconds later to "Wapo." The statement -- which Epstein said Ruemmler provided -- rejected claims he received a "sweetheart deal" in his 2008 conviction and argued prosecutors had pursued him too aggressively.
"The criticism is wrong and reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of both [the] facts underlying Mr. Epstein's case and how it was prosecuted by both local and federal authorities. Far from a receiving a sweetheart deal, Mr. Epstein was subjected to a lengthy, aggressive, and highly unusual federal investigation for what were, in essence, local offenses of sexual solicitation. He accepted responsibility, served time and prison, and paid significant monetary settlements to the victims involved," said the statement.
While Jeffrey Epstein's other "friends" have paid a price, this Democrat woman -- no privilege here! -- continues working for Goldman Sachs.
But Ruemmler has managed to fly under the radar despite working as the top lawyer for one of the world's largest banks, where she made $22.5 million last year.
Obviously no lawyer is actually worth $22.5 million per year. She's being paid for political influence. She's a fixer. She knows what officials to call when you need a favor or you're in a jam. That's why she was "friends" with Jeffrey Epstein.
And I do not believe that her "friendship" was uncompensated.
I think, based on this revelation, that The Walls Are Really Closing In on Trump now.
Megyn Kelly finally calls out Candace Owens
Whoops, I meant she bravely attacks Sydney Sweeney for "bending the knee." (Sweeney put out a very empty PR statement saying "I'm against hate." Whoop-de-doo.)
Megyn Kelly claims she doesn't want to call people out on the right when asked about Candace Owens but then has no compunctions at all about calling people out on the right.
As long as they're not Candace Owens. Strangely, she seems blind and deaf to anything Candace Owens says. That's why this woman calls her "Megyn Keller."
She's now asking her pay-pigs in Pakistan how they think she should address the Candace Owens situation, and if they think this is really all about Israel and the Jews.
Podcast: Pete Hegseth is everything the left hates...and we love! Illinois is the next flashpoint for federal supremacy with regard to our borders, Trump's communication leaves something to be desired, and more!
I have happily forgotten what Milo Yiannopoulos sounds like, but I still enjoyed this impression from from Ami Kozak.
Well, bamboo is actually a type of grass, and underground, it's all connected in a sprawling network, just like the parts of this story I never wanted to tell. I wish I hadn't been put in this position, that I didn't have to write about any of this, that I didn't have to subject myself or my loved ones to embarrassment and further loss of privacy.
We're back to the fucking bamboo. Guys, I don't think I can pay for bamboo ruminations.
I think he added that because he was embarrassed about all the bamboo imagery from Part 1. He's justifying his twin obsessions: His ex, and bamboo. Which is not a tree but a kind of grass, he'll have you know.
On Tuesday, the book arrived in stores. At lunchtime, in the Midtown Manhattan nexus of media and publishing, interest in Nuzzi's story seemed more muted. The Barnes and Noble on Fifth Avenue had seven copies tucked into a "New & Notable" rack next to the escalator, below Malala Yousafzai's "Finding My Way." Not many had sold so far, a store employee said.
A few blocks uptown, at a branch of the local independent chain McNally Jackson Books, a few volumes lay on a table of new and noteworthy nonfiction near the front of the store. No one was lining up to get them, or even browsing. Bookseller Alex Howe told CNN around 3 p.m. that though the store had procured "several dozen" copies, not a single one had yet sold -- a figure he said was surprising, considering how many people in media and publishing work in the area.
"We ordered a lot and so far, people have not been beating down the door," Howe said. "I'm not sure where we're gonna put them because right now, supply is outpacing demand." (A manager at McNally Jackson noted that Howe was speaking only in a personal capacity, not as a representative of the store.)
She trashes Ryan Lizza for his "Revenge Porn" here. Emily Jashinsky says that when the Bulwark's gay grifter Tim Miller asked why she didn't report on the (alleged) use of ketamine by RFKJr., she broke down in tears and asked to end the interview.
Podcast: Sefton is back with CBD to discuss killing narco-terrorists (we are both for it!), the TN special election, Trump's communication skills, and more!
Incumbent Senator John Cornyn (RINO - TX) betrayed his party and his country by voting in favor Biden's Afghan resettlement bill in 2021. Cornyn voted to bring in the Afghan who shot two National Guard soldiers on US soil. A vote for Cornyn is an endorsement of importing unvetted, radicalized murderers. [Buck]
Podcast: Jim Lakely of Heartland Institute joins CBD for a discussion of their recent polling that shows a majority of 18-39s want socialism, the Epstein files, what will Mamdani do, and more!
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