Ace: aceofspadeshq at gee mail.com
Buck: buck.throckmorton at protonmail.com
CBD: cbd at cutjibnewsletter.com
joe mannix: mannix2024 at proton.me
MisHum: petmorons at gee mail.com
J.J. Sefton: sefton at cutjibnewsletter.com
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
That's Rugelach, and a particularly fine version...probably the best I have ever had. And I consider myself a bit of a Rugelach aficionado, so you are reading the blatherings of a self-described expert!
There used to be a lot more of them in that box, but I am a weak-willed person when it comes to certain foods, and Rugelach might be at the top of the list of self-control-destroying deliciousness.
They are pretty simple little pastries, and I am sure that many food cultures have similar foods, but there is something quite special about Rugelach, and I think it boils down to the fact that they are crunchy and sweet and tender...and small, so I can pop one in my mouth and be ready for another flavor in a matter of seconds!
Chocolate and fruit are the way to go. The nut version is absolutely second class. As for shape? The ones in the photo are my preferred structure, but I have seen solid versions that are almost mini croissants. We also tried a Rugelach cake a few weeks ago, but while it was tasty, it didn't have the perfect ratio of interior to surface that makes the small ones so perfect!
"The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan discusses the complexity of the modern diet, and how best to navigate the overwhelming food choices and advice. Do I agree with Pollan? No. I think that eating meat and other tasty and satisfying foods is part of the joy of being a modern human, and not taking advantage of the incredible bounty afforded us by our wealth and modernity is just silly.
But I think the best of both worlds...eating a healthful diet AND enjoying the pleasures of eating can be had by...wait for it...cooking your own food! Yeah, I know, that's a stunning and original idea.
Home-cooked food is just better than most restaurant food, if done with flavor in mind. Is it as easy as buying prepared food or frozen food and then nuking it for a quick meal? No, of course not, but the pleasures of the dining table are for many people an integral part of being human, and the trouble is worth the delight of sitting down with family or friends, or both, and enjoying a healthful and delicious meal made mostly from scratch.
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Those are grilled lamb shoulder chops, and if you are looking for a good bang for your lamb buck, it's hard to go wrong with that cut. Much less expensive than loin chops or the ridiculous but delicious rib chops, they are also a bit tougher and a bit fattier. Since they are cut thin, the toughness is minimized, and their fattiness can be a real benefit, as long as the fat is in balance. Sometimes lamb fat can be gamey and pungent, which is why I will often trim lamb legs when I roast them.
Of course, if you can get American lamb, which is spectacular and much, much better than Australian or New Zealand lamb, that gaminess isn't that big a deal.
Anyway, I marinated them in garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper, and some dried Rosemary. Grilling on a hot grill took only a few minutes. Nice and simple and classic!
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David Lebovitz is a putz, but this recipe for Apple Jelly intrigued me, because most recipes call for pectin, but his doesn't.
I know there a bunch you who make this sort of thing, and I am curious whether anyone has tried this way!
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Apropos of nothing, I just ate an absolutely delicious Italian sandwich. Definitely not a classic construction: great bread, thinly sliced Porchetta, Broccoli Rabe, some spicy red peppers, and nice tangy Provolone.
What? What do you mean, "What happened to your low-carb diet, Dildo?"
Everything in moderation!
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I thought France would have good garlic, but the Frogs seem to have the same problem we have in the U.S. At least they don't import filthy garlic from China. Pork is great here, but no game, so send all of your extra antelope to: cbd dot aoshq at gmail dot com.
Who are those poor deluded souls We know who shakes their Manhattans! These are the same people who drink fine bourbon with coke, and probably shake red wine with ice too.
$1,200 for a bottle of bourbon is just stupid, insulting, and a ghastly affront to most people's palates and wallets. I think the sweet spot is $40-$60 for excellent and interesting bottles, and bumping that to $100 gets you an incremental improvement in quality, but nothing mind-blowing. More than that and I think you are paying for hype and rarity, which may look good in your liquor cabinet, but doesn't translate to more quality in the bottle.
The problem...or the solution...is to buy lots of bourbon, take tasting notes, and eventually arrive at your favorites! It should take forty or fifty years, but it is worth it!
Don't lecture me. It is entirely possible that I will need a 30-year-old PS/2 cable. And don't you dare suggest that my FireWire and Parallel connectors are obsolete.
I will be ready when the Zombie Apocalypse arrives!
Islam's War Against Israel Must Be Flipped Around: Israel's Policy Should Now Be Unrelenting Offense
—CBD
Wars are immensely complicated human endeavors, and the arrogance of assuming that one's enemy's plans are understandable and manageable is tremendously dangerous.
The ancient Greeks understood that rather well...
Hubris --> Atis --> Nemesis --> Tisis
That sad progression applies perfectly to Israel's military and political hierarchy with respect to Hamas and, to a lesser extent, Hezbollah. For a generation, Israel was willing to accept a certain level of terror attacks against its people, assuming that Hamas accepted that status quo because of the existential risks of all-out war. They also assumed that the the luxurious lives lived by the leaders (and their families) of Hamas in Qatar meant that they did not want to jeopardize that comfort for some unlikely success against Israel's modern military.
Israel also assumed that the oceans of oil money pouring into western capitals and universities would have only limited influence on the support for Israel in America and Europe. In addition, Israel felt that their incredible technological advantages would protect them against internet-based attacks.
And then Israel made tactical decisions that the border with Gaza could be defended with a small, lightly armed force plus automation and high-tech sensor systems. Their intelligence apparatus assumed that they would learn about and be able to defuse any large-scale attack.
Israel's leadership was wrong on all counts, and the catastrophe of October 7, 2023 could have been much worse had the Arab and Muslim propensity for backstabbing, disloyalty, and craven self-interest not held true. Hezbollah did not join the attack until the next day, and they launched rockets but did not attack with troops. Iran did not launch missiles, the Houthis did not launch missiles or drones, and the only real and successful support for Hamas came from the entrenched terror-supporting organizations in the West, on college campuses and in the streets of blue cities.
The profound failure on all Israeli fronts was mitigated by tremendous bravery among the few military personnel who were able to respond, the police, and the relatively few armed civilians who saw the reality on the ground that was still being denied by Israel's elites.
But the damage to Israel's ethos of self defense was profound. But it also came with the realization that Israel's left was simply wrong about the concept of trading land for peace, and more importantly, they were absolutely wrong that there is any accommodation to be made with the 7th century savages whose holy texts command them to kill Jews; who see Jews as subhuman; who consider Israel to be an unconquered part of their Caliphate.
And that sea change, if it survives, will be the basis for a new strategic imperative in Israel. Waiting and watching and attacking only when absolutely necessary may work for awhile, but eventually, one of Israel's many enemies will succeed. And accepting some sort of low-level of terrorist activity in the interests of some tortured geopolitical consideration was just shown to be arrant nonsense.
The first step must be to hunt down every single one of those who perpetrated the October 7th Pogrom. Even if it takes 50 years and Israel kills a grandfather on his deathbed...that must be done.
The second step must be a significant reevaluation of the decision making that leads to defensive strikes against its enemies. Israel waited too long against Iran. Israel waited too long against the Houthis. Israel waited too long against the Hamas leadership in Qatar. Israel may have waited too long to go into Gaza in force! How many hostages could have been saved had they not titrated and equivocated for two years?
Islam must be put on notice that any attacks on Israel and Jews throughout the world will be met with force. And any attacks being planned will be met with force as early as possible. And no level of terrorist activity will be tolerated.
Yes...the world opprobrium will be savage, but how different would it be compared to today? Israel will be vilified no matter what it does, and if they are vilified before a monstrous attack such as October 7th (or worse) occurs, isn't that better than being vilified for its response?
Howdy Readers! Welcome to the Reading Thread, your Sunday morning source for the insightful, lively and spirited discussion of books 'n stuff. I'm filling in for a while as this space re-invents itself under new management so please set your near-term expectations accordingly low.
What do we have this week? Why, it's none other than Romeo and Juliet, written by William Shakespeare and between 1591 and 1595. As I mentioned in the other editions of the Reading Thread you may not always get such fabulous selections as this.
Anyhoo, feel free to discuss reading and books in general and share your thoughts on this week's selection if you're so inclined.
I know you're just as excited as I am, so just jump below the fold to get started!
New procedure for clicking - rather than opening a PDF, a link now takes you to the Gutenberg Project web page for the book with multiple download options.
Some prices are lower, some say they are lower but are the same as the usual discount offered online, while others actually increase during Prime Day sales looking for people who are too busy to price-check.
There are some bargains but they are far and few between. I did find in the latest sale that it was cheaper to buy a Bosch cordless drill with battery and charger than the battery alone.*
This is another of those Strix Halo desktop models - 16 Zen 5 CPU cores, 40 RDNA 3.5 graphics cores, and 128GB of soldered RAM for $1999. It comes in an aluminium case very similar to though a little smaller than the Mac Studio.
Standout feature of this one is its dual 10Gb network ports, very useful given the limited expansion options.
You can play games on it - gaming performance is around the level of a laptop RTX 4070 - but the real use case is to configure it with 96GB of graphics RAM and run local LLMs for a fraction of the cost of a professional graphics card.
Bose has a new app. The new app doesn't work with these old products because fuck you that's why.
Rival Sonos tried to end support for older speakers and had to walk this back in the ensuring firestorm. Sonos also released a new app last year which was widely ridiculed and led to the company losing $30 million and the resignation of its CEO.
Bose seems to have slept through the entire thing.
On the chest of a barmaid in Vail
Was tattooed the prices of ale,
And on her behind,
For the sake of the blind,
Was the same information in Braille.
***
An atheist is hiking in the woods when suddenly a huge bear pops out from behind a bush.
Right as the bear is about to attack, time freezes and god appears.
God says, "You have spent your whole life as an atheist. But if you finally believe in me and become a Christian I will stop the bear from eating you."
The man says, "That's really nice of you, but I don't really believe in a higher power."
God responds, "All you have to do is believe your eyes and accept me in your heart."
After thinking for a moment, the man says "That's just to hard for me to do. I mean science has already answered how we came about through evolution. Not only that, but with all the bad things happening in the world right now, it's just too difficult to believe that there is a god. I'm sorry but I just can't do it."
God says, "Are you sure? I will give you one more opportunity to believe in me."
The man says with confidence, "As I said, no thanks."
God says "OK, you have made your choice..."
The man has a thought. "Wait... How about you make the bear a Christian instead? And then he will have morals."
God responds, "Very well."
After God left, time restarted. The bear suddenly stopped and the man started to believe that his plan to save himself had worked.
The bear knelt down and said "Thank you God for this meal I am about to receive."
Here is the setup: Plain white T-shirt, black Sharpie, and one harmless little lie scrawled across the front. What do you have, Horde?
Spitballing:
The Horde: I am great at math.
AOC: I won't make a TikTok about you. I don't want to date you.
The Disco: I hate Rush.
JackStraw: I don't like your boat.
The Dino: I can reach that.
Lurkers: I am really an extrovert.
The Doggo: I love my vet appointments.
The Cobs: I cannot time travel.
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Club ONT CEO Fun
Herb Kelleher was a treasure. The story goes: in the '90s, Herb and 10-15 of his Southwest Airlines employees (think attractive flight attendants) were in line, trying to get into the Downside Risk bar in Old Town Scottsdale. Tired of waiting, Herb asked the doorman to call the manager or owner. When the owner arrived, Herb said, "Hey, I'm Herb Kelleher from Southwest Airlines, and we've got a bunch of us who want to come in and have some fun."
The owner replied, "Herb, I love your airline. The next time I don't have to stand in line to board one of your planes is the next time you don't have to stand in line to get into my bar."
Herb laughed his ass off, got back in line, and waited his turn.
Here are some of the things Kelleher was known for during his years at Southwest:
- imitating Corporal Klinger from the television show M*A*S*H by showing up at one of the company's hangars on Halloween dressed in drag with a feathered boa.
- appearing in print ads as Elvis Presley.
- claiming his two greatest achievements were a talent for projectile vomiting and never having had a serious venereal disease.
- staying at a bar with a mechanic until four in the morning to find out what is going on. And then fixing whatever is wrong.
But my favorite story is when Kelleher, age 61 at the time, settled a trademark dispute with an arm-wrestling competition.
This sounds suspiciously like that Nigerian prince.
Hi dear friend.
Have a nice day!
WHL is pleased to inform you that we will launch an express service from Asia to the Eastern Mediterranean - AMX route from mid-September.
The new AMX service will offer the fastest sailing times from Shenzhen to the Alexandria, Izmit, and Istabul markets. This service, bypassing the Cape of Good Hope and sailing directly through Suez, will deliver shipping times to Alexandria, Izmit, and Istabul in just 22, 25, and 27 days, respectively
*****
Club ONT Music
Nothing like a good duet to bring the Horde together. Complaints harmonize at higher volume.
Couldn't get better? You got it!
More Elton duets? The D's are here for the Horde.
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Top 10ish Comments of the Week. Or thereabout...
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Club ONT brought to you by: Eleventy please.
*****
Enjoy Club ONT at your own risk. The contents of Club ONT have not been tested for safety on humans or animals and are not approved or sanctioned by any regulatory agency. Appropriate dosage of Club ONT varies by individual, so please monitor your own exposure. Too little Club ONT could result in sadness. On the other hand, if too much is never be enough, congratulations. You have reached Club ONT nirvana.
James Whale should get as much credit as any other individual for both the elevation and fall of Universal Studios' ownership in the 1930s. His four horror features for Carl Laemmle Jr., Frankenstein, The Old Dark House, The Invisible Man, and Bride of Frankenstein represent the pinnacle of the studio's efforts at bringing literary-sourced horror to the screen. Four films that were so successful that they set the financial path for the studio for almost twenty years.
And yet, right after Bride of Frankenstein, he made Show Boat in 1936, a cinematic adaptation of a Ziegfeld musical that was a major box office success but which had been so expensive and went over-budget during production that the producing father and son pair were forced to give up control of the studio to their creditors. That change in studio executive backing ended up leaving Whale without anyone to support him leading to post-production on his next film, The Road Back, a sequel to All Quiet on the Western Front based on the source sequel by the original novel's author Erich Maria Remarque, which Universal massively reshot to soften it, hoping to get it past Nazi censors to sell in Germany. (It didn't work. The film bombed horribly everywhere.)
And Whale was essentially homeless creatively after that. He had a contract with Universal to work out, so he made a handful of small films (a couple of them pretty good) while lending himself out to other studios like MGM, Warner Brothers, and Columbia for individual picture deals (which was how Howard Hawks made his entire career) until he just grew too tired to make any more movies and quit in 1941. He invested well, lived off of that and with his partner, producer David Lewis, and eventually committed suicide by drowning himself in a pool in 1957 because of health issues.
Watching his films, though, it was obvious, early, what drove him, and it wasn't the fact that he was gay.
Here's the page on Wikipedia about Bride of Frankenstein, specifically the Interpretation section that includes a more than 500 word section about the Gay reading of the film. It is a nearly endless litany of how every little thing in the film, from the Monster's calling both the hermit and the bride "friend" to almost everything else, coded as being about the gay experience. And then it ends with quotes from Whale friends who call the entire interpretation bunk. Why include the section anyway? (Oh, wait, Wikipedia, I get it now.)
Actually watching all of his movies, especially in order, the only thing one can come away with as an animating experience in Whale's life that fed his creativity is World War I. And it's not some kind of remote, "war is hell" thing from an intellectual. Second Lieutenant James Whale of the Worcestershire Regiment was commissioned in July of 1916 and was in the trenches in Flanders in August of 1917 when he was captured in the fighting with the German Army. He was held as a prisoner of war until December 1918.
I actually didn't know this slice of his biography until after watching his first two films and reading a brief summary of his third, Waterloo Bridge right before watching it. I was curious because all three, his adaptation of the stage play he had originally directed on the stage, Journey's End, the sound segments of Howard Hughes' Hell's Angels, and Waterloo Bridge were all stories of soldiers dealing with emotional effects of The Great War (well, Whale's parts of Hell's Angels, Hughes' parts were pew-pew flying).
And that knowledge fed directly into my latest viewing of Frankenstein. When I do these lists of films, I always make sure to rewatch the films I'd seen and even reviewed before because the new context of the films around them provide a different framing that can inform the films differently. I don't think there's a more potent example of me getting a completely different thematic read of a film on a second review than with Whale's Frankenstein. It completely recast the film in my mind, making Henry Frankenstein and the Monster into scarred men who couldn't communicate with anyone who hadn't shared their experiences, something that was intimately related to the characters in Journey's End, a connection made all the stronger by the presence of Colin Clive as Captain Stanhope in the earlier film and Dr. Frankenstein in the latter.
Even the film made in the 90s about Whale's later years in life, Gods and Monsters starring Ian McKellen as Whale, Brendan Fraser as a fictional gardener who befriends him, and directed by Bill Condon, (a film I assume, like all movies about real events, to be roughly 90% fictional) leaned heavily into the WWI element as foundational (though the film takes a different approach than my meager analysis).
However, this thematic line grows increasingly frayed afterwards. I think it's fair to see some strains of it in The Old Dark House, The Kiss Before the Mirror, a film about a lawyer who decides to kill his wife when he represents another man who killed his own wife, and even up through The Invisible Man (the main comparison I make is to Fritz Lang's Dr. Mabuse films, especially the second, but the idea from the earlier Whale films is still there in a form), and Bride of Frankenstein, but By Candlelight shows that Whale was not monomaniacally interested in talking about the war.
Lubitsch and the Studio System
I bring up Ernst Lubitsch pretty much whenever I can because his Hollywood films were absolute joys of formalistic technique, light humor, and masquerade, and it's easy to bring him up because Hollywood loved him and loved to imitate him. Whale was no different, and By Candlelight, the film he made after The Invisible Man and before Bride of Frankenstein, is an entertaining trifle in the vein of Lubitsch (it's about the servant to an Austrian prince who pretends to be the Austrian prince to win the heart of a girl).
I bring it up to highlight how I could probably stretch the film thin to the point of breaking to fit it into the WWI, soldiers can't speak to people who haven't been part of the conflict, line that's extremely evident in most of Whale's earliest films, but it would only be worth it to justify an analysis and say almost nothing about the film itself. The film is purely an entertainment in the vein of a popular filmmaker at the time, and it's a great place to highlight the fact that Whale, for all the talk people make about his German Expressionistic influences in Frankenstein, was actually a chameleon director. He changed his style from film to film, depending on the film. There are a couple of flourishes he retains across them, mostly a singular and long dolly shot from the furthest reaches of a set to highlight the space, but ultimately Show Boat looks almost nothing like Frankenstein because Whale obviously knew that he didn't need to make Show Boat look like Frankenstein. He was an accomplished studio director who could take assignments and modify his own methods to the material.
And that becomes important because it explains so much of his later films, those after The Road Back when he became the journeyman, riding out his Universal contract and getting individual jobs with other studios. He was well-practiced at setting aside his deepest artistic desires to just do the assignment, and when he was stripped of most creative power and just managed sets to film often subpar scripts, he just did it. There's precious little of Whale as an artist after The Road Back because he just no longer had the power, or perhaps even the inclination, to push for it. There's good stuff back there. Wives Under Suspicion, a remake of The Kiss Before the Mirror, is worth some attention, and there's also his ornate production of The Man in the Iron Mask.
But what made Whale interesting and unique, able to really breathe life in Frankenstein with all of its changes from the book, got smothered by the realities of studio filmmaking and falling out of favor.
The Road Back
The Road Back was the final half of Whale's downfall in the system. The first half, of course, was the success that was Show Boat which led to the Laemmle family losing control of Universal to its creditors. The Road Back was just Universal throwing Whale and his film under the bus to appease literal Nazis in Germany who hated the source book, calling the author Erich Maria Remarque a traitor and unpatriotic for his anti-war stances. The existing film is so butchered with reshoots done by another director that it's hard to see what the film could have been.
I was reminded of John Huston's adaptation of The Red Badge of Courage, a film that MGM cut down to the bone but one can still kind of see the film that Huston was trying to make through all of the rash editing decisions. It's hard to that with The Road Back because so much was reshot. The big stuff remains, obviously, like some large crowd scenes around unrest over the economic situation in Weimar later in the film, the more serious stuff in general, is obviously from the original shoot. But it's all undone by so many frequent cuts to lighter scenes that obviously don't fit.
It's such a compromised film that if someone were to list The Road Back as a lost film, I wouldn't begrudge the label. And it's obvious that it was supposed to be something big for Whale personally. A big, $1 million, film about The Great War and the soldiers' experience coming home. It's perfectly in his wheelhouse. Adapted from a celebrated, best-selling author like Remarque? A book so controversial is got banned in Germany? And Universal butchered the final cut so much that no one liked it and there's almost nothing of it left.
No wonder he ended up walking away from the industry.
Legacy
Whale's legacy will always be his four horror films, mostly the three that fall within the umbrella of the monster movies. I go into these runs with an eye towards finding the filmmaker away from his better known work, like how I found that the "real" Fritz Lang was much more than Metropolis and that, in fact, Metropolis wasn't reflecting of Lang overall that much at all. That's not the case with Whale, though.
He is his horror films. It's something like 75% of him as a filmmaker. You can see the major WWI elements in most of them in some form, so the more overt expressions in movies like Journey's End, Hell's Angels, Waterloo Bridge, and even the reduced form of The Road Back become almost redundant (to continue with the numbers, this would be about 24% of who he was as a filmmaker with the final 1% being studio hatchet man).
The horror movies are his best films. They are his most complete expressions of what he wanted to say in the cinematic form. They are most of his best made stuff. They are him at the peak of his power with the least interference from studio heads. There's more than just those, but they end up being supporting elements rather than defining ones.
Wives Under Suspicion (Rating 3/4) Full Review "It wouldn't last too much longer, but it's still nice to see that he was still trying in his diminished professional state." [Amazon Prime]
The Man in the Iron Mask (Rating 3/4) Full Review "It's not great cinema. It's a solid entertainment. It's Whale's last big success in his career. It's a fine, light entertainment that does its job and ends without much fuss. I've seen much worse efforts." [YouTube]
They Dare Not Love (Rating 2.5/4) Full Review "His legacy will always be the monster movies, but They Dare Not Love and others of his work showed that he was more than that." [Library]
Black Sunday (Rating 3/4) Full Review "It really could have used another writer, but Bava made the absolute most of what he could." [Amazon Prime]
Erik the Conqueror (Rating 2.5/4) Full Review "It's obvious that Bava wasn't really operating in his comfort zone in these more plot-driven exercises, but I don't think he was that far from making them work. He probably needed a better sense of structure, though." [Library]
Black Sabbath (Rating 3/4) Full Review "Solid, entertaining, and stylish, it's Bava precisely where he should be." [Plex]
The Whip and the Body (Rating 3/4) Full Review "It's not some great piece of horror cinema, but it's solidly entertaining and showing that Bava could disappear a bit into gothic horror, subsuming his more outrageous stylistic flourishes in favor of a more muted visual tone. I'm kind of glad that Bava didn't rewrite it, is all." [Plex]
Planet of the Vampires (Rating 3/4) Full Review "It's all style and no substance, but the style is a good time at the movies. This is Bava in his element. I can wish all day that he worked from better scripts, but this is nothing to sneeze at." [Library]
Contact
Email any suggestions or questions to thejamesmadison.aos at symbol gmail dot com.
I've also archived all the old posts here, by request. I'll add new posts a week after they originally post at the HQ.
My next post will be on 11/1, and it will be about the directing career of Mario Bava.
Welcome hobbyists! Pull up a chair and sit a spell with the Horde in this little corner of the interweb. This is the mighty, mighty, mighty officially sanctioned Ace of Spades Hobby Thread. A spin of the Ace of Spades Wheel of Hobbies (TM) landed on lumber.
Are you thinking "I hate trees and I don't know anything about lumber, so there is nothing here for me"? No Moron could possibly say such a thing. Stick around. You might be entertained or learn something. You might enjoy hearing from others and seeing what others are hobbying.
I have faith that you can find something in the content that resonates or contribute your own hobbying interests. Dig around in the content and soak in the comments. Be curious. If you were a tree, what tree would you be? Glad you're here.
As per usual Hobby Thread etiquette, keep this thread limited to hobbying. All (legal) hobbying is welcome. However, politics, current events and religious debates can live in threads elsewhere. Pants are optional. Puns are welcome and encouraged.
Play nice. Don't be a troll and do not feed the trolls.
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This hobby thread was originally going to be a furniture theme. Research started with sourcing lumber and didn't get much further. There is a bounty of videos on YouTube. We'll do furniture in the future but we'll do wood now.
Lumber really isn't a hobby per se, but it is a building block for much hobbying. Hiking or visiting forests, building, lumberjack festivals, painting, photography, history, baseball bats, and more. Besides, the Wheel of Hobbies (TM) has spoken.
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Baseball bats? Might as well start with a visit to Louisville, KY:
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Felling knowledge:
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Giant Sequoia stump in California -
A single giant sequoia could provide 500,000 board feet of lumber.
Giant sequoias are only found in one place - a 250-mile stretch of forest along the Western slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountains. They grow at high elevation, between 4,000 and 8,000 feet, and are clustered into roughly 70 groves.
In 1892, the Kings River Lumber Company began logging the Converse Basin, home to giant sequoias with 15- to 20-foot diameter trunks.
Loggers used the same technique to fell a giant sequoia that they used with smaller trees. First, they had to make a V-shaped "undercut." To do that, they built a platform 25-feet high so they could reach the softer part of the trunk. Then two men-one left-handed and one right-handed - started chopping away with double-sided axes.
The loggers-mostly Swedish, Polish, German, Irish and Norwegian immigrants-worked 11-hour days, six days a week. It took each two-man crew several days to hack their way to the center of a tree, leaving behind an undercut tall enough for them to stand inside.
The same men would then go to the other side of the tree and grab each end of a long, two-handled saw. Heaving back and forth, they made one continuous cut back through the trunk toward the undercut. Every foot or so, they hammered in 24-inch steel wedges to prevent the tree's incredible weight from snagging the saw.
When only a few inches remained between the back cut and the undercut, the loggers used even more wedges and powerful blows from a sledgehammer to topple the sequoia in the direction of the undercut. Link
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it can't be a lumber theme without a nod to the Albany Timber Carnival:
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The story of the American Chestnut:
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Lumber guide:
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How not to buy crap lumber:
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This is endearing and entertaining and informative. Finding the perfect wood finish:
I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.
A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth's sweet flowing breast;
A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;
A tree that may in Summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;
Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.
Trees, Joyce Kilmer.
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Randomly spotted in Hobby Lobby:
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Hobby? Obsession? Illness? Doesn't matter. We salute amateur mad scientist home garage engineering.
How to break two landspeed records:
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Public service announcement:
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Did you miss the Hobby Thread last week? We did a Christmas crafting theme. The comments may be closed, but you can re-live the content.
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Notable comments from last week department:
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Words of wisdom:
"Because despite all our troubles, when things are grim out in that wide round world of ours, that's when it's really important to have a good hobby." Posted by: tankascribe at June 22, 2024 07:41 PM (HWxAD).
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If you have trouble finding something in the content or comments that resonates with you, contribute something from your personal hobbying. We will feature a different theme next time. What are you hobbying? We love showing off Horde hobbying. Send thoughts, suggestions and photos of your hobbying to moronhobbies at protonmail dot com. Do mighty things.
mindful webworker: "You'd never guess this big fellow was part gray wolf, would you?
This is Yuki. He was rescued from being euthanized after her owner dropped him off at a shelter for getting too big. DNA results show that he is 87.5% Gray Wolf, 8.6% Siberian husky, and 3.9% German shepherd pic.twitter.com/RbSb5DrXEY
Snoopy was adopted by Charlie Brown on October 10, 1950, from the Daisy Hill Puppy Farm, after Snoopy had been bought by someone else but was returned. pic.twitter.com/c36zxW2Uv8
I adopted Lulu nearly 4 years ago when she was 13 years old--at least that is the age the folks that surrendered her told my local Humane Society. I discovered she was 98% deaf after I got her, as she hears only nearby loud, sharp sounds. After 4 years, I am quite skeptical that she's now 17, because she's still very spry, can jump up 28" onto my bed, and has no signs of joint pain. She is now going blind, and we're in a period of adjustment for that, which I think causes me more stress than her. But her olfactory sense is spot on, and she uses her different voices to let me know when it's time to eat, and time for a walk. At 13 lbs, she's a big Pom, and I call her the Pomzilla.
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Liz
Oxford, Maryland
What a beautiful dog. Thanks for all the detail in your wonderful story.
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Levon, our English Setter has graced your pages before. Here are his siblings. Charli, our new Golden Retriever puppy and Bean, the tireless tyrant. Yorkies are spicy. Levon is such a patient boy.
Cheers
Tom
Levon has a spicy puppy sibling now! Thanks for sending in both their photos.
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Please refer to me as "Snoopy-Class of 70". This is 6 y/old Keyboardus Katus Kip. He fits most of the preferred habits in spades! Kip is an indoor/outdoor cat, and well-loved.
Kip looks a bit mysterious, but wonderfull!
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Thank you for sharing your pets and animal photos and stories with us today.
If you would like to send pet and/or animal stories, links, etc. for the Ace of Spades Pet Thread, the address is:
petmorons at protonmail dot com
Remember to include the nic or name by which you wish to be known when you comment at AoSHQ, or let us know if you want to remain a lurker.
I just had to stop and take a picture of these roadside zinnias. I like flowers that are hardy and can grow anywhere. I expect that they will provide colorful blooms until the first frost.
Cheers,
The Pilot
They are wonderful! The mostly semi-double blooms make them attractive to butterflies.
Below, some sources for interesting roadside flowers for next year. Single-flowered varieties are even better for attracting butterflies.
Things are growing well here. The grape vines are full of rapidly darkening fruit, although this is the first year they've really produced, so I'm not sure how long to wait before harvesting. Likewise, the three aronia bushes on the back of the house are loaded, and I'll pull the berries off them soon.
We have a bunch of elderberry, which seem a bit more phased in ripening, with bunches of fruit ranging from green to almost black/fully ripe. They're kind of a pain to process, and I haven't done anything with the few pounds I harvested last year, but I guess that's what the deep freeze is for.
While walking around looking for things to photograph, I saw this tree covered in little bug eggs. Isn't nature beautiful?
There are some less-usual fruits there. Let us know when you blet your medlars.
Look to the left of the moon flowers and you see a hummingbird next to the wind chimes!
Behind the walkway are hostas and the impatiens volunteers.
These are the impatiens volunteers from last year, growing in 6" of pebbles next to the back porch. Amazing life force. They're sprawling 1-2 feet onto the concrete.
p.s. hummingbird report: as of October 3, they're still here in the upstate (SC).
These make me so happy, Miley!
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Hope everyone has a nice weekend.
If you would like to send photos, stories, links, etc. for the Saturday Gardening Thread, the address is:
ktinthegarden at g mail dot com
Remember to include the nic or name by which you wish to be known at AoSHQ, or let us know if you want to remain a lurker.
Considering the out-sized influence of Rousseau and some of his disciples on our civilization, his life and some events surrounding his death are marked by ironies. There are ironies in some of today's young leftists which remind me of certain stories about Rousseau.
I put this together as an analytical tool to better understand these issues and how they align. Replace Fabianism with Gloablist/Technocratic managerialism for countries without Fabianism but similar situation. It’s not designed to offende of create grievance, by god we have… pic.twitter.com/0CR2BRlWc8
Rousseau’s book Emile, or On Education, is a notable proto-modern take on education. It was one of the first to move the focus of schooling away from teacher-centred instruction and towards child-centred curiosity and discovery. It also included a take on religion that led to the book being banned and burned. And it also included a take on female education (they shouldn’t be educated, lest they take over!)
The Taliban might agree!
The elder statesperson of French philosophy and letters at the time, Voltaire, was one notable critic. Rousseau, funnily enough, was an admirer of Voltaire. but he received mostly condemnation and bad reviews from Voltaire in return. Voltaire despised Emile, except for the anti-religious bit, which he called “among the boldest ever known.” Voltaire had written his own religious treatise – The Sermon of the Fifty – under a pseudonym. Rousseau outed him as the author, to Voltaire’s dismay. Time for some revenge!
Voltaire dug up a dirty secret of Rousseau’s, one that had been doing the rounds but had never been made public. Rousseau, that paragon of educational theory, was in fact the father of five children. And all five of those children had been abandoned at a foundling hospital at Rousseau’s urging. Voltaire published an anonymous pamphlet bringing this awful secret to light.
Rousseau’s partner, Marie-Thérèse Levasseur, was from a formerly prominent family that had fallen on hard times, and when she gave birth Rousseau (and Levasseur’s own mother) urged her to send their son to an orphanage. He claimed it was to preserve her honour (ew), but Rousseau later claimed it was because he was worried that the child would be better educated there (ew ew). Four more children followed, each following their elder sibling to the foundling hospital (ew ew ew). Rousseau later tried to track them down, but by that time they were probably all dead (ew ew ew ew).
This is what Rousseau had to say about the whole ugly affair:
Five children were born of [our] liaison, and all were placed in the Foundling’s Hospital, and with so little thought of the possibility of their identification that I did not even keep a record of their dates of birth [or of their gender]. For several years now, the self-reproach which my neglectful behavior has aroused in me has disturbed my peace of mind and I am about to die [a frequent condition in Rousseau’s life] without being able to remedy it, much to the mother’s and my own regret.
Failing to keep a record of his childrens' genders seems rather modern!
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (born June 28, 1712, Geneva, Switzerland—died July 2, 1778, Ermenonville, France) was a Swiss-born philosopher, writer, and political theorist whose treatises and novels inspired the leaders of the French Revolution and the Romantic generation.
Rousseau was the least academic of modern philosophers and in many ways was the most influential. His thought marked the end of the European Enlightenment (the “Age of Reason”). He propelled political and ethical thinking into new channels. His reforms revolutionized taste, first in music, then in the other arts. He had a profound impact on people’s way of life; he taught parents to take a new interest in their children and to educate them differently; he furthered the expression of emotion rather than polite restraint in friendship and love. He introduced the cult of religious sentiment among people who had discarded religious dogma. He opened people’s eyes to the beauties of nature, and he made liberty an object of almost universal aspiration.
The entire biography is quite extensive and academic, however.
Does any of the summary above reinforce what Voltaire said? “No one has ever employed so much intellect to persuade men to be beasts. In reading your work one is seized with a desire to walk on all fours.”
Do "furries" come to anyone's mind?
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Rousseau's Death
Reportedly, after he wrote Emile, or On Education, Rousseau was forced to become a fugitive from the French government due to official uproar over the book, though he was never imprisoned. He still had patrons. He died in July of 1778.
By the time of his death in 1778 at age 66, Jean-Jacques Rousseau was world famous as a philosopher, novelist, composer, and all-around polymath. He was buried at midnight, by torchlight, on the Isle of Poplars, a small artificial island in a park in Ermenonville, France, where he had spent the last six weeks of his life. Rousseau’s tomb immediately became a place of pilgrimage for his admirers, but his remains were not to stay long on the peaceful little island.
Rousseau’s writings and philosophy had a profound impact on the French Revolution, especially among the most radical of the revolutionaries. Maximilien Robespierre, perhaps the most bloodthirsty of the Jacobins, appealed directly to Rousseau’s philosophy to justify the Terror, relying on Rousseau’s argument that the “general will” must prevail over individual private will, through the use of “universal compulsory force,” if necessary. Although Rousseau would most probably have disapproved, the Jacobins cited his work as thousands of heads deemed to contain insufficiently radical minds rolled down the guillotine chute.
But devotion to Rousseau did not die with the end of the Terror. In September 1794, less than two months after Robespierre himself was guillotined, the French Assembly proclaimed Rousseau to be a “Prophet of Jacobinism,” and voted to have his remains reinterred in the Panthéon.
Originally intended to be a new Church of Saint Genevieve (the patron saint of Paris), the building that would become the Panthéon was completed just as the French Revolution was getting underway. As part of the seizure of all church property, the National Assembly confiscated the building just before it was to be dedicated and declared that it would henceforth be a “temple of the nation,” where the “great men” of the nation were to be interred and honored. (About a year later revolutionaries burned the relics and remains of St. Genevieve and tossed the ashes unceremoniously into the Seine.)
In July 1791, Voltaire became the first of the great men to be reinterred in the Panthéon. Jean Paul Marat followed, after his assassination in 1793, only to have his remains ejected after he was later declared to be an “enemy of the revolution,” rather than a “great man.” In an effort to avoid such embarrassments in the future, in 1795 the Assembly passed a law providing that no one could be interred in the Panthéon until he had been dead for at least ten years.
But back to Rousseau. In October 1794 his remains were taken from the tomb on the Isle of Poplars and placed into a wagon for the thirty-mile journey to the Panthéon. A 12-horse team pulled the wagon, which also carried a statute of Rosseau, while the inhabitants of the villages where he wrote his most famous works walked along solemnly behind it, one of them carrying a copy his book “The Social Contract” on a velvet cushion. In the days leading up to the reinterment ceremony, public lectures praised him and throughout the country songs and plays were composed and performed in his honor.
Finally, on October 11, 1794, two hundred thirty-one years ago today, in a ceremony that one observer noted had a (perhaps ironic) “religious atmosphere,” the remains of Jean Jacques Rousseau were interred in the Panthéon. Rousseau’s remains were placed directly across from those of his former hero and philosophical rival Voltaire, who after reading Rousseau’s Discourse on Inequality wrote, “No one has ever employed so much intellect to persuade men to be beasts. In reading your work one is seized with a desire to walk on all fours.”
I find the references to religious sentiment in writings about Rousseau to be sort of odd and interesting. What do you notice?
The shutdown rages, ostensibly, but not many seem to notice. When will it end? I suppose when Chuck Schumer’s polling shows him pulling even with Ocasio-Cortez, now that he has stood up to the dreaded Trump.
In other more significant news, a cease fire finally came to Gaza. It is bittersweet: good to have the remaining hostages returned, bad that Hamas still exists. Whether any of the remaining points of President Trump’s peace plan are ever implemented, remains to be seen. But memesters gave Trump credit for saving the lives that could be saved.
Meanwhile, battles raged in Portland and Chicago. The Democratic Party and its judges came out foursquare for criminality, in what some see as a clarifying moment.
And, oh yes–meme creators are not yet done with the sombrero. Sombreros may attain a permanent place in the panoply of memedom. So here goes:
The Classical Saturday Coffee Break & Prayer Revival
—Misanthropic Humanitarian
[Too opinionated this morning? Deal with it.]
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 Hortonville)
1) This is an open thread. Feel free to lurk, opine and/or bloviate.
2) Be kind, be nice. And equally cruel with the trolls.
3) Gosh darn it. No, you can't run with sharp objects.
4) A big Shout Out and Thank You to Annie for shepherding the Prayer Revival
5) Have a great weekend!
Please submit any prayer requests to me, “Annie’s Stew” at apaslo atsign hotmail dot com. Prayer requests are generally removed after four weeks unless we receive an update.
Prayer Requests:
9/9 – Pookysgirl asked for prayers as Pooky has a procedure to hollow out his prostate on 9/23. They are not sure of the long-term implications of his acute kidney injury, but his kidneys are recovering. God has worked miracles to keep Pooky with them in the past, as an answer to many, many prayers.
9/13 Update – Pookysgirl reported that Pooky is on the mend. His kidneys are recovering, he is sleeping better, he has been more confident interacting with the kids. Prayers of thanks!
9/11 – D sent an update for Susan, his wife, and her battle with cancer: Thank you, everyone, again for your prayers for Susan. Her cancer markers went down at the last Dr visit, but she is back to having abdominal pain that is making it hard to eat right. They are trying to get her weight up and thank God for the good days they do have. The really good news is that she is able to walk around again without the fear of falling over.
9/23 Update – The pain has started coming back, so they went to the hospital and found a cyst. They are trying to determine if it is infected.
9/13 – vmom deport deport deport asked for prayers for her daughter KTE to fully recover from the stomach bug that she has been suffering through.
9/18 – Taylor reported that WitchDoktor took his own life last week.
9/20 – Tonypete sent happy prayers for Will and Natalie, who were married on 9/19. May they continue to live God’s plan for themselves and remain as happy as they were on their wedding day.
9/20 – Accomack sent his thanks for the prayers for his wife. She was cleared of the parasites, but her liver has not returned to normal because of all the antibiotics. She has not been cleared to return to work, but she has insurance and union payouts, so this could go on for a while.
9/20 – Dash my lace wings asked for prayers for her mama. On 9/17, she fell and broke ribs. It was the second time in about 6 weeks, and much more painful than the last time.
9/27 Update – Thank you for your prayers. Her mother is recovering slowly.
9/20 – RedMindBlueState asked for prayers for the wife of a close friend. She is back in chemo for a recurrence of cancer. Please pray for her and her family.
9/21 – P asked for prayers for her brother, T, in New York. He already has stage 4 lung cancer. His car got totaled one night at 3 am, and when his wife was driving him to the insurance office the next day to report this, he felt so wobbly that she diverted to the ER, where they found out he’d had a stroke.
9/22 – C requested prayers for a friend whose mother passed away after years of dealing with dementia.
10/4 Update – The friend and his siblings are gathering at the family home today and the service will be in the next few days. The finality will probably hit him at that point.
9/27 – Retired Buckeye Cop wrote to thank the Horde for praying for his kid brother, “J”, after he lost his job back in June. A few weeks ago, J received two job offers. He accepted the job that offered $13K/year more pay and had a shorter commute.
9/27 – vmom deport deport deport asked for prayers for her husband’s swift recovery. His procedure was minor, but not quite as minor as expected.
9/27 – Sock Monkey requested prayers for his paster, who went to the ER with chest pains and slurred speech. The pastor is a young man, late 30s, and relatively fit. He has 3 young children with a 4th due in Oct. Please pray for his recovery and strength for his wife. He has been a tremendous blessing to the church.
9/27 – Joe Kidd posted a request for a friend, Bill, who has assumed sole responsibility for the care of his 90-year-old mother. (The original caretaker has fallen into alcoholism and was been removed from the premises. Please pray that she gains clarity and resolve to battle that demon.) And please pray that Bill’s path is made straight as he decides between taking early retirement or continuing to balance full time work with caretaking. Thank you and God bless.
9/27 – From about That Time asked for prayers for surgery on 10/1 to remove a growth. Please pray that it’s just a small disposable annoyance, as expected.
9/27 – Tonypete gave an update on the people from his church who were in an automobile accident earlier this year. Cheri is doing much better. While convalescing from the car crash, she fell and broke her hip, so she is recovering from that also. One of the passengers, Nick, had a heart episode during the wreck and died. He was his wife’s caregiver and she is now bereft. Prayers are still needed for all.
9/28 - Teresa in Fort Worth gave an update: It has been 1 year since Teresa started “down the cancer rabbit hole”. She sends her thanks for the prayers as they have buoyed her and her family through this year. She has been blessed to exceed the original 6-12 months predicted, by the grace of God – and the prayers of many people. Her next CT scan is in November, and the surgeon is pretty sure that her tumors will be small enough to remove/destroy.
10/7 Update – A recent CT scan shows lots of calcification (indicating tumor cell death), and the oncologist didn’t see any sign on the small tumors. The area where the largest tumor was now shows lots of calcification and the largest tumor has shrunk by almost 90%! Her next CT scan will be 11/3, and they assume they will be discussing surgery to remove the lobe of her liver, where the tumor is located. Timelines are uncertain, but she is hopeful that she will get to spend Christmas with her family at least one more time, if not more! Thanks to EVERYONE who has been praying on her behalf.
9/29 – toby928 asked for prayers for a brother named Joe, who is being crushed by grief. Joe’s wife is in a coma and will likely die in the next few days.
10/1 – Duke Lowell sent an update. He is home now, after 8 days in the hospital and every antibiotic known to man. He sent thanks for the prayers, and thanks to God for granting him another day in this glorious world He’s created.
10/2 – Bluebell passed along an update: grammie winger sends her gratitude for all the prayers – she feels they are working. On Oct 6 she will be starting a cancer treatment program because her doctors are “cautiously optimistic” that they can give her some more time. Monday she gets the port, followed by 6 hours of chemo infusion on Tuesday. The Rev is doing better because now he has some hope. Pleease pray for her as she starts this treatment program because in her words, “prayer changes things”.
10/4 – Legally Sufficient’s “Boss” will be undergoing intestinal surgery shortly. It looks scary so prayers for him and his medical team are appreciated.
10/4 – The Fabulous for safe travels as she travels to visit her oldest daughter who is about to be a mother of a baby girl. Prayers for the mom to be and her child.
10/4 – Skip requested prayers for his dad, who fell at church back in August, hitting his head. He fell again at home and has had back pain since then. He is going in for more tests on 10/8.
10/4 – Out Country is Screwed sent thanks for the prayers over the past year, during breast cancer treatments. The prayers have sustained, through surgery, chemo, and now through radiation.
10/4 – Random Dave would appreciate prayers from the Horde. He is one of the 5% of government workers that make the other 95% look bad, and he is trying to move to the private sector. He has found a good possibility to meet/exceed his pay and do an interesting job that is a good fit for his skills and interests. Praying that if it’s where God wants him, He will make it clear and the road smooth.
10/4 – DenverGregg asked for prayers for Ana, a lady from his church who is experiencing unemployment and mental illness, which tend to exacerbate each other.
10/4 – Longtime Lurker, Morgan, offers praise for financial blessings and petitions for safety in upcoming travel and coping with social isolation and loneliness, including finding a church home. Blessings upon Ace, the COBs, the other site works and all the blog lurkers and participants.
10/4 – Mrs. Leggy asked for prayers for a young girl who is suffering from leukemia and now has a horrible infection of the colon. Surgery may be required and because of her weakened condition, this could kill her. Thanks so very much!
10/6 – Inogame sent happy news about his wife and baby. The 20 week ultrasound was completed, and there is one baby girl with all the correct parts in the correct places. Mom and baby are doing well, though mom could use a nap or 20.
10/7 -CW is a long-time Horde member who could use prayers. His relationships with his son and his daughter have deteriorated recently, and his daughter has cut him off from the grandchildren.
10/8 – fourseasons asked for prayers for his/her brother-in-law, Chris, who was diagnosed with a brain tumor. He had another scan last weekend and there is another tumor. He is losing his vision and has lost his ability to speak. He will have surgery on 10/10, and the surgeon said he will probably lose the ability to walk. The family is devastated. Chris is a wonderful man and has always been healthy.
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.
There are 17 rare-earth elements, used in electronics (particularly magnets) and chemistry, and China has shut off sales of 12 of them. China gained control of the market not because it has massive resources - Vietnam by itself has half the proven reserves of China - but because rare-earth elements are stinky and China didn't mind the smell.
Past tense, because a lot of China's rare-earth production these days comes from slave camps in Myanmar and not from China at all.
President Trump has announced a 100% tariff on all imports from China in response.
This is hardly the first time China has pulled this shit - the same thing happened in April. Which seems like hundreds of years ago, but trust me, it wasn't.
Because the funny thing is that rare earth elements aren't all that rare. Vietnam, as I mentioned, Brazil, India, Australia, and the US itself all have millions of tons of reserves.
It's hard to precisely compare the two since products aren't shipping to consumers yet, but Intel's 18A process looks to be somewhere between TSMC's 3nm and 2nm - 20% denser than TSMC's 3nm but 20% behind the upcoming 2nm process.
But it certainly seems to be a leading-edge process and Intel is not repeating the years of 14nm+++.
At Amazon's hardware event last month, I asked Panay how ads fit into his mission to build products customers love. He said that if it's relevant, it's not an ad, "it's an add-on."
Translation: Fuck you.
"There are moments on the product where ads aren't always bad," he told me, explaining that if the customer is looking for something specific, and the ad gets them to that faster, it can be a good thing.
Translation: You're too stupid to know what's good for you anyway.
My experience of these ads has not been that they're an "add-on." They're intrusive and annoying, showing me products I'm not even slightly interested in, such as elderberry herbal supplements, Quest sports chips, and tabletop picture frames. (Well, the last one might be an option if I remove the Show from my desk.) And, unlike some of the previous ad experiences on the Show, they cannot be turned off.
Translation: Cory Doctorow might be a filthy commie but he's not wrong. Well, he's still 100% wrong on the solution, but he has correctly identified the problem.
I asked Amazon if they can be disabled, and spokesperson Lauren Raemhild replied via email, saying, "Advertising is a small part of the experience, and it helps customers discover new content and products they may be interested in. If customers don't like a suggestion, they can swipe to skip to the next screen card, or directly provide feedback by tapping the Information icon or pressing the screen."
No, no we're not. Normal people don't wear four smart watches and an AI ring at the same time.
(Honestly, this article reads like one of the drones that infested tech companies before they all got fired recently complaining My new job is so awful. Sometimes they expect me to get up in the morning.)
Musical Interlude
Disclaimer: What about the spiders, you ask? Oh, they don't mind the smell.
Just as Farage had somehow learned of Khan's videos, Khan learned about Farage's video featuring him as an example of the kind of people the UK should be deporting. He quickly made a response on TikTok. Here's the video in which he threatens to kill Farage. "Delete the video. This not good my friend. You not know me. I gonna come to England. I gonna pop, pop, pop, murder."
He also published another video in which he doubled down on his theat.
A subsequent TikTok post by Khan read: "I mean what I say" on an image of a GB News report about the threat against Mr Farage.
Khan was stopped when he eventually crossed the channel. He was interviewed and denied any intention to kill Farage.
In a police interview on 1 November last year, Khan said through an interpreter that he had attempted to come to the UK "10 times" and was in Dunkirk, France, when he recorded the video in which he is alleged to have made a threat to kill Mr Farage.
Khan told police: "I come here because I want to live here. I want new life. I don't come here because I want to kill Nigel Farage."
He also said that he had been smoking cannabis and was "high" at the time of posting the video.
Quick, give him a free apartment and lifetime of welfare before this Cancer Curer decides to go to another European country and threaten to kill people there.
As reading scores improve in red states thanks to the "Southern Surge" and their emphasis on scientifically-proven methods of reading instruction like phonics, they're falling in blue New England states.
Red states raised the bar, whereas blue states just lowered standards.
Massachusetts public schools were the best in the nation, and the rest of New England wasn't far behind, writes Christopher Huffaker in the Boston Globe. Ten years ago, Massachusetts students "led the United States across ages, subjects, and most demographic groups, despite wide achievement gaps," on the Nation's Report Card. Students in the Deep South, who came from much poorer families, were at the bottom.
Now test scores are falling in New England, rising in Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee and Alabama, he writes. While leaders of the "Southern Surge" focused relentlessly on improving reading instruction, New England schools were lowering expectations, Huffaker writes. To end the Massachusetts Malaise, leaders must "override the wishes of popular and powerful teachers unions, and, most of all, stop resting on their laurels."
Karen Vaites and others have written about the Southern Surge in reading scores for months now, but it's an essay last week by Kelsey Piper, Illiteracy is a policy choice, that seems to have woken everybody up. "If you live where I do, in Oakland, California, and you cannot afford private education, you should be seriously considering moving to Mississippi for the substantially better public schools," wrote Piper in The Argument.
No, Mississippi isn't cooking the books, Piper and Vaites write this week, also in The Argument. With far fewer resources than most states and far needier students, these deep South states are showing impressive progress.
...
The "surge" states adopted comprehensive programs to train teachers in the "science of reading," adopt high-quality curricula and show teachers how to teach the curriculum well, Wexler writes.
Expecting teachers union members to do their jobs well is racist or something, you Racists (or somethings).
Huckster and flake Vivek Ramaswanay, the Guy Smiley of the Ganges, is now scolding the right for attempting to defeat the left and "own the libs."
This guy always stunk of the rankest opportunism. He was always a phony and a flake. And he'll soon be calling us racists for wanting to restrict H1-B's for Indians.
The truth is, we face a hard choice ahead for our movement. It is a fork in the road. It is a fork in the road for the future of the conservative movement. And it's a hard question to ask ourselves: Is our goal to defeat the left, or is our goal to save the country? Last year, I believed these goals were one and the same. But going forward, I don't think they quite are.
An Axios preview described his speech as "No more 'owning the libs': Ramaswamy pushes sharp break for GOP":
Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy on Tuesday plans to call on the GOP to embrace a less overtly belligerent and oppositional posture, Axios has learned.
According to his prepared remarks, Ramaswamy will say the conservative moment is at a "fork in the road" and urge them to abandon its fixation on "owning the libs" in favor of a less overtly confrontational posture.
"We can still stand for truth, while viewing those who believe in falsehoods not as our enemies who must be vanquished, but instead as our fellow citizens who have lost their way and must be shown the light," Ramaswamy will say.
"Not to berate them, embarrass them, and banish them -- but to pray for them, to talk to them, and to persuade them," he will add.
Trump fans liked him in the primaries because he was the guy "running for the nomination" who was in fact never running for the nomination at all, but always praising Trump and basically running to be a Trump appointee.
Raise your hand if you didn't see this coming. Now slap yourselves with the same hand, you Big Dummies.
During the 2010s [leftwing] sentiment swelled to a crescendo, but in the 2020s it has begun to wane. The popular outpouring of "antiracist" sentiment that characterized the "Great Awokening" has petered out, and with it has gone the feeling of overwhelming progressive cultural domination. Bari Weiss, who got run out of the New York Times for being insufficiently progressive, just got hired to run CBS News. Cancel culture is canceled.
...
Meanwhile, the activist energy that powered the smaller, initial version off BLM in the mid-2010s is gone now. That generation of activists has largely gotten exhausted and/or aged out. When the Supreme Court killed Roe v. Wade and banned affirmative action in college admissions, there was no major grassroots pushback. All the grassroots energy on the left now is invested in the Palestine cause, which is basically harmless to Republicans.
And the policy ideas that came out of the woke era mostly flopped. Black Americans did not like the country's brief experiment with anarchy in 2020, and became much more pro-cop, which put an end to "defund the police". The flood of illegal and quasi-legal immigrants that Biden allowed during his time in office ended up turning much of the country against immigration (at least temporarily). The trans movement is losing on key issues such as women's sports teams.
But in response to all of these losses, progressives have failed to moderate their views
[...]
...progressives have retreated to safe spaces where they still maintain the absolute cultural dominance that so intoxicated them in the 2010s -- universities, NGOs, a few companies, and the small social network Bluesky. There, they can wield some facsimile of the cancel-power they once enjoyed
[...]
Meanwhile, quietly and behind the scenes, progressives are still quietly pushing Democrats to support policies that no one outside the progressive bubble really likes.
This kind of thing renders progressives extraordinarily ineffective against Trump's anti-democratic blitzkrieg. It's also probably a big part of what makes the Democratic party so incredibly unpopular.
I saw Trump's Anti-Democratic Blitzkrieg open for Turgid Wrinkle Noodle at the Cow Palace in 1977.
The left's long romance with "revolutionary violence" -- aka terrorism -- is actual insurrection, writes Glenn Reynolds.
We live in ugly times -- made uglier, and ever more violent, by the institutional left.
White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller didn't mince words this weekend: "There is a large and growing movement of leftwing terrorism in this country," he declared on X.
"It is shielded by far-left Democrat judges, prosecutors and attorneys general. The only remedy is to use legitimate state power to dismantle . . . terror networks."
Progressives like Stephen King shrieked "extremist!" in response, but example after example backs Miller's point.
In Chicago on Saturday, a mob of protesters surrounded ICE agents on a routine patrol, ramming their vehicle and boxing it in with 10 cars to frustrate immigration enforcement efforts.
Chicago officials allegedly ordered the city's police to stand down and not assist the federal agents -- even though one of the "protesters" was armed and shots were exchanged.
Disturbed Staten Island teen seen bloodied on gurney as he's charged with murder for allegedly decapitating mom's boyfriend
Armed resistance to US government officers executing the law, with police refusing to back them up? That was no accident.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker didn't condemn the violent resistance, but he did condemn the feds.
...
Sen. Charles Schumer openly threatened the Supreme Court, saying Kavanaugh would "pay the price" for overturning Roe v. Wade, shortly before Roske's assassination attempt.
Democrat after Democrat openly called Trump a fascist, a dictator and a mortal threat to "our democracy" -- and two different people came close to killing him before the 2024 election.
...
Democrats are forever telling conservatives their "rhetoric" could lead to violence. Apparently they meant violence from Democrats.
As I said earlier: The Democrat-Antifa-Media Cult keeps making the case that political violence is acceptable if you're angry enough.
I don't think they appreciate that we on the right are thisclose to agreeing wholeheartedly with them.
Cracker Barrel is ending its partnership with Prophet, the consulting firm behind its failed rebrand.
The chain faced intense backlash after unveiling a new logo and redesigned stores that longtime fans said stripped away what they loved most about the brand.
Cracker Barrel's restaurants, long known for their kitschy Americana décor, were recast in a style critics called drab and soulless.
The uproar grew after the company dropped its iconic logo of an elderly man leaning on a barrel.
A March press release said Prophet was hired to redesign Cracker Barrel restaurants and lead a new brand marketing campaign.
At the time, the company said: "In collaboration with Cracker Barrel, they are focused on shaping a new brand vision that will enhance market share while preserving the company's unique heritage. This new strategy will inform brand communication, restaurant redesigns, brand marketing campaigns and a redefined employee value proposition."
Separately, Prophet CEO Michael Dunn pledged $4 million in 2020 for the firm's DEI initiatives, saying the company would "bring in Black team members across every level of the firm," hire a DEI-specific recruiter and provide $4 million in pro bono work to social justice organizations, according to a 2020 blog post.
Fox News Digital found no evidence that Prophet's DEI commitments were connected to Cracker Barrel's rebranding.
Makes sense, right?
Not to effeminate anti-Christian liberal extremist David French.
Now, a reminder: New York Times columnist David French explained, just over a month ago, that the controversy over Cracker Barrel's rebranding was an absurd fake crisis ginned up by right-wing idiots who were just pretending that something had gone wrong at the company. Along with the Sydney Sweeney thing, he concluded that we were watching some "completely frivolous and meaningless cultural disputes," examples of the way "right-wing media both mobilizes its base and bends political reality."
If you believed that the Cracker Barrel rebranding was poorly done and would alienate the company's customers, you were falling for an invented reality that was completely meaningless and frivolous. Then Cracker Barrel fired a bunch of managers and its rebranding consultant, abandoned the rebranding, and apologized profusely, while its stock plummeted.
If you listened to French, if you trusted the op-ed pages of The New York Times to explain the world to you, your understanding of the most basic outline of factual reality was flipped over, turned precisely upside down. He was only wrong about literally every single detail, completely missing what was happening, what it meant, and what would happen in the near future as a result of it.
To listen to this idiot is to abuse your own mind, trapping yourself in the confines of an absurd house of ideological mirrors. He is inevitably wrong, completely wrong, reliably wrong to the point of absolute and unyielding madness.
Now, the twist:
David French, 2022: Churches are terrorist training centers, and churchgoing Americans are preparing to attack the country in a vast wave of right-wing insurrectionist violence. When you drive past one of the Lutheran terror cells, you're looking at the next 9/11, because here comes the Christian nationalist insurrection that they're prepping for in the pews.
If you work in entertainment, you probably heard some variation of this last year: "Survive 'til '25."
Things have been bleak. In a recent article from The Wall Street Journal, the reporting goes as far as to call Los Angeles' production prospects "a disaster movie."
The numbers are stark.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, around 100,000 people were employed in Los Angeles County's motion picture industry at the end of 2024. Two years earlier, that figure stood at 142,000.
That's a loss of 42,000 jobs--nearly a third of the workforce--in just 24 months.
The decline shows no signs of stopping.
...
FilmLA, the official film office for the city and county, reported that on-location production was down 22% in the first quarter of 2025 compared to the same period last year.
Television production has been especially hard-hit. The region reached a peak of 18,560 annual shoot days in 2021. By 2024, that number had plummeted to just 7,716. It's a 58.4% decline in three years.
Paul Audley, president of FilmLA, told NBC Los Angeles that 2024 was "the worst year on record, excluding COVID."
The first quarter of 2025 looks even worse. Every major category of production, from television dramas to commercials, logged fewer shoot days compared to the year before.
What's driving this collapse? Multiple factors have made this unemployment stew.
We have not yet recovered from the WGA and SAG strikes. The streaming bubble has burst, with major companies pulling back on content spending after years of explosive growth. The fires uprooted many on the west side of the city, and rebuilding is slow, so some have opted to leave town.
I've got a theory: Maybe it has something to do with Hollywood basically being Antifa Theater Kids now.
Hollywood's big prestige drama for the fall is One Battle After Another which is expliclty pro-left-wing terrorism and anti-ICE. It never uses the word "Antifa" or "ICE," but its leftwing terrorist heroes are plainly Antifa, and the even Reichwing government agency they're blowing up and shooting at is plainly ICE.
Sean Penn is part of this, you won't be surprised to hear. He plays, get this, an evil right-wing law enforcement official. Despite his insane levels of racism, apparently he's got a thing for darker-skinned minority women. (Oooh, maybe that's why he's so racist! Now that's some outstanding character psychology.)
He used to have sex with a Virtuous Terrorist Minority Woman and had a Secret Racist Love-Child with her and, per Ethan Van Sciver, wants to erase all evidence of that. Van Sciver is being coy because he doesn't want to spoil everything but I think it's pretty clear he means that this evil Reichwing LEO wants to kill his former lover and his own child so that he can run for office in Texas or something.
And then they claim that they have no responsibility for the endless Antifa/Trantifa violence:
My full statement to President Trump during the White's House roundtable on Antifa: Antifa is real. It's a real threat...Sustained political violence is not a 'both sides' issue. All of the violent protests I have covered just this year have been because of people on the Left. pic.twitter.com/AKy7NBjM3Q
An individual has been arrested for threatening to kill my wife, my four children, and me. He sent a letter to my home saying he hated our views and wanted us dead.
He is being charged federally and faces prison time.
Have these geniuses who can't stop propagandizing in favor of political violence ever considered that they are also propagandizing political violence to the pissed-off and heavily-armed (and veteran- and LEO-stuffed) right-wing?
And that we are thisclose to agreeing that yes, political violence is justified?
Is that what you want? Think long and hard before answering.
Fraudulent Documents Merchant and Hard-Left Activist Dan Rather has commented on CBS's hiring of Bari Weiss, claiming that her hiring, and not the attempt to rig the 2004 election with obviously fake "documents," is a "dark day."
"The American people will pay the price for this move, as will the journalists of CBS News who can no longer credibly serve as watchdogs because the ones they are meant to hold to account are signing their paychecks and hobnobbing with the president," the veteran journalist wrote.
At one point, he warned, "It is a dark day in the halls of CBS News."
Last night I linked Critical Drinker's review of Good Boy, an independent movie about supernatural horror in which the hero is the family dog, and a very good boy indeed.
Our resident Moron Dog Movie Reviewer naturalflake saw it, and has been recommending it since last week:
I've been flogging "Good Boy" all this week ever since we saw it on the weekend.
I don't want to over sell it, but it is a very good movie
Honestly, it does everything you'd want if you think about its premise.
And yes, Indy is a very good boy.
Definitely check it out if it's playing in your town.
Commenters kept telling me that diet soda was almost as bad, or as bad, as regular sugar water soda, and I kept not believing them.
A new study says that diet drinks with artificial sweeteners cause fatty liver disease -- a disease that 30% of the public has -- just like sugar water drinks do.
People could be at higher risk of fatty liver disease from both sugary sodas and diet drinks, a new study says.
In fact, artificially sweetened drinks might pose a greater threat to liver health than sugary beverages, researchers reported Monday at the United European Gastroenterology's annual meeting in Berlin.
The team also found that replacing these drinks with water significantly reduced people's risk of fatty liver disease.
I mean, it sounds so drastic, but I might have to give it a shot.
...
Fatty liver disease occurs when fat accumulates in the liver, which over time can cause liver damage. It's the most common chronic liver disease, researchers said, affecting more than 30% of people worldwide.
I was diagnosed with Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease -- i.e., Fatty Liver Disease because you're fat, not because you drink liquor -- five or six years ago.
After I shed a bunch of weight, I went in for a follow-up, and had no more fatty liver disease. So it can be cured just by shedding fat.
I don't know to what extent I have it now. I guess I have to get it checked again.
...
Results show that drinking about nine or more ounces of artificially sweetened beverages every day was associated with a 60% increased risk of fatty liver disease.
Likewise, drinking sugary beverages daily was associated with a 50% increased risk, researchers said.
"Our study shows that low- or non-sugar-sweetened beverages were actually linked to a higher risk of (fatty liver disease), even at modest intake levels such as a single can per day," Liu said.
Drinking water instead of an artificially sweetened beverage lowered a person's fatty liver disease risk by more than 15%. Likewise, replacing sugary beverages with water reduced people's risk by nearly 13%.
...
On the other hand, artificially sweetened beverages might affect liver health by altering a person's gut microbiome, driving cravings for sweets and stimulating insulin secretion, Liu said.
Through the use of advanced fluorescence microscopy and single-cell imaging, researchers discovered that a protein called MRAP2 plays a key role in shaping how MC4R is positioned and behaves inside cells. Fluorescent biosensors and confocal imaging revealed that MRAP2 is essential for moving MC4R to the surface of cells, allowing it to more effectively send appetite-suppressing signals.
This discovery reveals an additional layer of control in how hunger is regulated and could inspire new therapies that imitate or adjust MRAP2's activity to treat obesity and related metabolic diseases. Professor Heike Biebermann, project leader at CRC 1423 and co-lead author of the study from the Institute of Experimental Pediatric Endocrinology at Charité, notes that this international and interdisciplinary effort combined multiple experimental methods and perspectives to uncover key physiological and pathophysiological insights into appetite regulation with potential clinical impact.
A new Wright State University study showed that more than four out of 10 deadly car crashes included a driver with high levels of THC in their bloodstream.
The study, just published in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons, reviewed data for 246 deceased Ohio drivers, and found an average THC blood level of 30.7 ng/ML -- 15 times the state's legal limit -- in 41.9% of dead drivers. Ohio is a fairly typical state in most regards, so I'd take that 42% as a good-enough approximation of trends in states with legal weed.
Almost a dozen years have passed since legal weed first went on sale in Colorado and Oregon, so the numbers, high as they are (heh), don't surprise me. But the report is also frustrating in the context that it lacks. What percentage of fatal crashes involved weed before 24 states legalized recreational sales?
The closest we get to that side of the issue is this item from the ACS writeup: "The rate of drivers who tested positive for THC did not change significantly before or after legalization (42.1% vs. 45.2%), indicating that legal status did not influence the behavior of those who chose to drive after use."
The study only reaches back six years -- by which time medical marijuana, often a fig leaf for recreational use, had already been legal for four years. Prior to medical (and then recreational marijuana) becoming more widely available, there wasn't nearly as much testing -- making the data frustratingly incomplete.
Green discusses the potency of today's weed. I remember reading about this when the Legalize Pot movement was really making strides. Pot growers had really cultivated the marijuana plant, just like we did with corn and grapes and wheat, making it produce far more "fruit" than it ever had in nature. I remember DEA agents warning people who thought it would be cool to just light up a J in the street: Today's pot is definitely not the pot you remember from 1977. It's basically an entirely new species.
Green notes that 36 years ago, the pot in his area was prized across the country for having a super-strong THC content of 14-15%. Today, merely-average pot has a 21% TCH content.
Frogurt -- a name-brand grown and sold in Michigan -- tests at 41%. Something called Future #1 is up to 37% THC, and the Permanent Marker brand runs at an average of 34%. Back in the day, the hard-to-find 15% stuff was the much-sought-after "one-hit weed." The average pot today is 50% stronger. But for people willing to pay a little more, they can get stuff four times more powerful than much of anything your typical 1990 dorm-room smoker enjoyed behind the Redwood Curtain.
Speaking of Mind-Expanding Drugs: I have some drugs to recommend.
I've been craving some kind of nootropic since I first heard of them -- well, since I saw Bradley Cooper change his entire life by taking a fictional nootropic (brain-boosting drug) in Limitless.
I also saw Rhonda Patrick talking about dosing herself with 20 grams of creatine when she wanted a mental boost.
She claims it's like speed. I've tried speed -- well, Ritalin -- for the nootropic effect and I will say, no, it's not like speed. If you take speed, you know for a fact that your brain has been hit with a drug. It's potent stimulant that leaves no doubt you have been stimulated.
Creatine's effect is more subtle.
Note that weightlifters usually take around 5mg-10 grams per day (for the effect of boosting energy storage in cells). So 20 grams is a high dose.
For the past couple of months, I've been trying to get at least 5-10 grams of creatine per day and sometimes trying to get 20 grams when I could remember to do it. Sometimes I would just have 5 g. Other days, ten. But I tried to hit 15-20.
Based on my own N=1 study: I do notice significantly improved focus and ability to just churn out work when I get 20 grams of creatine. As I've started to notice the effects, I've been better about trying to make sure I get 15-20 grams consistently.
My usual working day is 6 to 7 hours. I'm not saying I work efficiently for 6 or 7 hours. I do a lot of dicking around, a lot of scrolling through stories without ever bothering to post about them, and just wasting a lot of time. The amount of time-wasting I typically do is, well, embarrassing and just wildly sub-optimal.
When I've got a good 15-20 grams of creatine, I work 4 and a half or five hours. I'm not really working better or harder, it's just that I don't waste as much time. No mid-day perusal of Busty Lesbian Porn. I'm more able to just say, "Here is the pile of stories I have to crank out, so let's get to it."
I think that's a benefit. I haven't tried it with trying to work on that novel I've picked up and put down one hundred times before, but I'd like to.
As you may know, creatine is cheap and legal and is well-tested and there are few negative effects. I've seen people say "Talk to your doctor first if you have kidney problems," and of course pregnant women and kids should probably not use it at all.
This guy talks about possible health problems, including the possibility that low-quality producers may sell you powder containing a lot of dangerous heavy metals.
One problem with it is possible GI distress. I don't know if this is a real problem or just one that Mac put into my head. Assuming it's a real danger, you probably don't want to just start on a 20 grams per day regimen and you wouldn't want to take 20 mg all in one sitting. Your GI system may need to build a tolerance for it. I built up to the 20 g over a couple of weeks and usually have 5 g per drink (coffee or diet soda, or, in the future, just water) for the first couple of hours of the day.
Update: I had to go to Ikea earlier today so I drank two cups of coffee and took about 8 grams of creatine over an hour. I did in fact get a bout of Intestinal Urgency. I don't know if it was the coffee or creatine or just both at once. But I think Mac might be right. Or it could have been caused by eating Ikea Swedish meatballs early in the day and then doing the Ikea Death March for four hours.
Back to post:
It's not a wonderdrug. It's not the Limitless drug, unfortunately. (Damn I want to take that pill.)
But I'm pretty sure there is a real benefit. The reason weightlifters and athletes use it is because it helps cells regenerate energy (ATP) during exercise. It also does this for brain cells. So maybe the better focus I'm experiencing is due to brain cells being able to regenerate ATP more quickly. I guess it just helps in recovery when you burn energy, including in your brain.
Obviously I'm not a doctor and you should consult with your blah-blah before making any medical blah-blahs.
But if you try it, let me know after four or six weeks if you think there are genuine BRAINZZZ GAINZZZ or if I'm just experiencing a placebo effect.
Since I'm now in Joe Rogan mode: Say, pyramids are weird, right?!!?! The blocks are so big they only could have been moved by enslaved Bigfeet under the direction of Space Reptiles, right?
So: Do you have any GAINZZZ?
My own GAINZZZ: No real GAINZZZ, because I've had a lot of personal work I've had to do, but I also haven't regained the weight I lost during the fast. I'm counting that MAINTAINZZZ as GAINZZZ.
President Donald Trump's administration on Friday afternoon announced that it has begun firing federal workers, OMB Director Russ Vought wrote on X.
"The RIFs have begun," Vought posted, on day 10 of the government shutdown, referring to reduction-in-force plans that the White House has long contemplated.
"Can confirm RIFs have begun and they are substantial," an OMB spokesperson told POLITICO. "These are RIFs not furloughs."
It's unclear how many people were laid off, and Vought provided no further details.
But an administration official granted anonymity to discuss the layoffs said they hit agencies including: Interior, Homeland Security, Treasury, EPA, Commerce, Education, Energy, HHS and HUD.
And Vought's post appears to follow through on a threat to inflict more political pain on Democrats.
Trump on Thursday said his administration would target programs backed by Democrats.
"We're only cutting Democrat programs, I hate to tell you, but we are cutting Democrat programs," the president said during a Cabinet meeting. "We will be cutting some very popular Democrat programs that aren't popular with Republicans, frankly."
...
In a memo to agencies two weeks ago, OMB instructed Trump administration officials to prepare to carry out reduction-in-force -- or RIF -- plans during the shutdown, targeting employees who work for programs that are not legally required to continue or clash with Trump's policy priorities.
I don't know if this is the bargaining chip we've imagined it is. The Democrats will just demand that the layoffs be undone as their payment for ending the shutdown.
Active duty military personnel deployed in war zones will begin missing their paychecks this week.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) is drawing fire from Republicans after declaring that "every day gets better for us" Democrats during the government shutdown, which dragged into its ninth day Thursday.
"Democrats couldn't care less whether military families miss a paycheck tomorrow. In an interview posted this morning, the Democratic leader said, 'Every day gets better for us,'" Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) fumed on the Senate floor.
"This isn't a political game. Democrats might feel that way, but I don't know of anybody else that does," he declared. "The longer this goes on, the more the American people realize that Democrats own this shutdown."
Thune cited a new Morning Consult poll that showed Democrats are getting more blame for the shutdown. The poll showed 43 percent of voters blamed Republicans for the shutdown while 38 percent blamed Democrats, but the number of respondents who blamed Democrats was up 6 points compared with an earlier poll.
Thune made his comments in response to Schumer's comments in an interview with Punchbowl in which he asserted: "Every day gets better for us."
Stop all welfare payments and pay the military instead.
Thirteen people were arrested Tuesday night in connection with a pro-Palestinian protest that turned violent on the Boston Common and left four police officers injured, including some with broken bones, according to officials.
Protesters "turned on police" at approximately 6:50 p.m. when they began to move from the Common to the area of Tremont and Winter streets, Boston Police said.
"At that time, protesters turned on police, kicking a marked cruiser, assaulting officers, blocking traffic, and setting off devices causing red smoke in the air," Boston Police spokesman Sgt. Det. John Boyle said in a Tuesday night statement.
Protesters scuffle with officers at Chicago anti-ICE demonstration
Eight men and five women were placed under arrest. No one had been booked as of shortly before 9 p.m.
Four police officers were injured in connection with the incident. Two officers were taken to local hospitals for treatment. Police have preliminary reports of officers with broken bones, but all injuries are considered non-life-threatening, Boyle said.
"Another night of violence against police officers in Boston tonight," said Larry Calderone, president of the Boston Police Patrolmen's Association.
"Our officers were attacked, assaulted and sent to the hospital with injuries. Completely despicable and totally unacceptable. We were outnumbered and understaffed for the event," he continued.
Remember when Democrats pretended, for four hours on January 6th 2021, that they were Rilly Rilly Opposed to Violence Against Cops?
For four blissful hours, violent riots were not the voice of the voiceless.
Two more protesters charged in the outburst of violence during a pro-Palestine march and rally Tuesday have been held on $10,000 bail. A number of others were held on $7,500 and $5,000.
This is "high bail"? January 6th "paraders" were held in solitary confinement pre-trial and some were sentenced to 20 years in prison.
The high bail amounts are the latest as public officials respond to the chaotic protest Tuesday that left a Boston Police officer with a broken nose and likely in need of reconstructive surgery.
Osama El Khatib, 26, of Watertown and Styx Hatch, 19, of Boston were both held on $10,000 bail.
Osama, huh?
Always remember that bail bondsmen only expect you to put up 10% of the cost of the bond, with them fronting the rest. (Their fee is that 10%, which you don't get back).
So basically this is $1000 fine.
So high a fine for Osama!
Two other defendants were held on $7,500 including: Atlanta Carrig-Braun, 24 of Boston; Haley Macintyre, 24, of Dorchester.
Held of $5,000 bail were Madeline Weikel, 27 of Watertown; Jacob Pettigrew, 22 of Malden, and Gabrielle Smith, 28 of Cambridge.
Wow this bail is so high I can't even believe it.
In a statement Wednesday, Suffolk County DA Kevin Hayden condemned the violence.
"These defendants were not in court today because they were protesting," Hayden said. "They were in court because they committed crimes. If you assault police and commit other offenses you're going to be arrested and prosecuted, period.
Pro-Palestinian "protesters" did damage estimated at $400,000 to statues and other property at Case Western University.
Although the school's president promised the jihadists would be prosecuted, in fact, they were let go with no criminal prosecution.
They were, however, required to pay for the damage they caused. Well, not even all of it. They were required to pay the school $350,000 for the $400,000 in damage they caused, and then they would be set free with no jail and not even a criminal record that would jeopardize their precious "student" visas.
[T]hey made a plea deal which meant they would have no criminal record at all so long as they paid for the cost of the cleanup.
The 11 Case Western Reserve University students and activists indicted for pro-Palestinian vandalism on campus last year have paid more than $350,000 in restitution to the university to clear their names.
The payments are part of a legal agreement with the Cuyahoga County prosecutor's office under the pre-trial diversion program. If all stipulations are met, the defendants' criminal records will be cleared...
Three of the students still face expulsion via university conduct proceedings running parallel to the legal case...
Mullin-Vanneste said he was offered his diploma in exchange for "full cooperation," meaning identifying the people involved in the incident.
"When I rejected this, they shut down negotiations completely. It doesn't seem to just be about policy or accountability. This is about making an example of us to stifle any dissent, and about silencing the movement for Palestine."
These babies are getting off easy and still whine that they are being punished too harshly. They really expect to walk away from this with zero consequences so long as they pay back the cost of the cleanup. But why should the school continue to allow students who broke the law and defaced the campus to study there?
At least one of them is in trouble at another school after Case Western filed a complaint about him. Again, he acts like this is shocking behavior and not bare minimum consequences for his behavior.
Podcast: CBD and Sefton are joined by retired Army Major Diogenes to discuss Secretary of War Hegseth, women in the military, drones, the left's masks slipping, and more!
Chris Dreja RIP: of the legendary 60s Rock band The Yardbirds has died at 79.
Dreja co-founded The Yardbirds in 1963; playing rhythm guitar alongside lead axman Tom Topham, singer Keith Relf, drummer Jim McCarthy and bassist Paul Samwell-Smith. The group would go on to feature three of the most celebrated guitarists in rock history in Eric Clapton, who replaced Topham in 1993; Jeff Beck, who took over for Clapton in 1965; and future Led Zeppelin heavyweight Jimmy Page, who joined in 1966; when Samwell-Smith left. (J.J. Sefton)
I have no regrets about quitting the NFL.
I also have no regrets about quitting the increasingly gay James Bond:
Bleeding Fool
@BleedingFool
Amazon removed the guns from key art used on every James Bond film on Prime -ostensibly to provide a unified look for the series on streaming. Alas, removing the weapons left 007 in some awkward poses.
What does this portend about Amazon MGM's handling of Bond?
Podcast: Hegseth slaps the generals, is the Gaza peace plan another chimera, Iowa's illegal alien school superintendent, the deep state subverts our republic, and more!
Sinclair folds under political pressure from Democrats like Bernie Sanders who demanded they air Jimmy Kimmel again; for reasons they won't even pretend to explain, that kind of political pressure is allowable and even righteous.
Podcast: A Palestinian state will lead to more violence, The UN plays dangerous games with President Trump, the newest ICE attack, will the Right respond with violence, and more!
Can Texas A&M be saved? Mere days after its woke President was forced out over his DEI/LGBT advocacy, the university just posted for a tenure-track “Latinx Environmental History” position. “For queries about the position please contact Dr. Sonia Hernández electronically at soniah@tamu.edu” I just might query about it. [Buck]
Where are all the Madison Cornbreads of yesteryear?
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