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Sen. Mitch McConnell was admitted to the hospital on Sunday, according to a spokesperson.
"Senator McConnell was admitted to the hospital this morning. He is receiving excellent care," the spokesperson said.
ABC News has inquired about McConnell's condition and diagnosis but his team has not yet provided more information.
This is the latest in a string of medical incidents that the 84-year-old senator has faced in recent years.
So this is a possible problem. As you probably know, the governor of Kentucky is a Democrat, and would be able to appoint a Democrat replacement for this guy who should have retired 12 years ago. The Republican legislature passed a law that says the governor can only pick a replacement from a list submitted by the party of the incapacitated senator, but the governor says that goes against the state's constitution and hints that he will ignore that and appoint a Democrat.
The Kentucky state Legislature passed legislation on Thursday that would change how vacancies in the U.S. Senate are filled, over the objections of Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear.
The Republican-sponsored bill, which would require a special election to choose a senator in the case of an open seat in the unexpired term, passed with bipartisan support as the Legislature nears the end of its session. It passed both chambers with veto-proof majorities.
It's a significant change from how the process currently works. A majority of states -- including Kentucky -- pick successors in vacant Senate seats by gubernatorial appointment. But there are some notable restrictions in the commonwealth: The governor must choose a nominee from a list of three names the outgoing senator's party submits. Beshear would have to choose a Republican, should either Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell or Sen. Rand Paul's seats become vacant.
McConnell last month announced he will not run for another term as GOP conference leader later this year. But he has vowed to serve out the rest of his term, which runs through 2027. Last year, the 82-year-old faced questions about his future after bouts of freezing in public, although Kentucky Republicans who sponsored the bill have insisted that it was not prompted by McConnell's health.
But with the change, Kentucky Republicans now have a backup plan in case there is an opening for the longtime senator's seat before his term expires.
Beshear has not hidden his disdain for the current arrangement. When the appointment rule was passed in 2021, he said it "improperly and unconstitutionally restricts the governor's power." He has also not explicitly committed to following it; when asked over the summer whether he would abide by the law should there be a vacancy, he refused to "speculate about something that hasn't happened and isn't going to happen."
I'm not sure how to read the Kentucky Constitution on this point. I fear Bashear might in fact be right:
The last part of that:
Vacancies in all offices for the State at large, or for districts larger than a county, shall be filled by appointment of the Governor; all other appointments shall be made as may be prescribed by law.
I think "offices for the State at large" would include Senators, who are of course elected by the state at large, and that would be an office filled by the governor, as opposed to other offices, which will be filled as "prescribed by law."
It's very basic law that a statute cannot modify a constitution, only a constituional amendment can. (Unless you're a Democrat pushing the constitution to the left/towards DEI, in which case practically anything can override the constitution.)
He may be right that the legislature has no power to overrule the constitution if the constitution does indeed give this power to the governor alone.
Thanks, Mitch! Give yourself a raise and take the rest of the week off, buddy.
Biden DOJ targeted parents at school board meetings despite FBI, sheriffs' objections, memos show
AFL said it acquired the documents as part of its ongoing lawsuit related to former Attorney General Merrick Garland's October 4, 2021 memorandum that targeted concerned parents at school board meetings during the COVID pandemic.
By Nicholas Ballasy
Former President Joe Biden's Justice Department used federal law enforcement to target parents at school board meetings as potential threats "despite warnings from FBI officials and the National Sheriffs' Association," according to America First Legal's analysis of new government documents it obtained.
AFL, a conservative legal nonprofit, said it acquired the documents as part of its ongoing lawsuit related to former Attorney General Merrick Garland's October 4, 2021 memorandum that targeted concerned parents at school board meetings during the COVID pandemic.
...
Some inside DOJ also fretted the strategy would boomerang, and create a political headache for elections,
"I don't think it's possible to state how strongly I object to this. It will completely and totally nuke our election threats efforts, and will damage the reputation of the Public Integrity Section into the bargain," one top DOJ official wrote in an email. "It's like they've affirmatively trying to make this thing not work and look political."
"If they do this, they might as well rename the damn thing the Anti-MAGA Task Force," an official wrote.
The National Sheriffs' Association also shared concerns like those of the FBI, the memos show...
The Sheriffs were not aware of any "threats to school officials." That's because it was all invented, yet another hoax Moral Panic created by the left to justify endless warfare against its many, many, many enemies.
The FBI enforced the memo, AFL noted, establishing a new threat tag, "EDUOFFICIALS."
Bitter Old Has-Beens Stage Counter-Event to WH UFC Show
—Disinformation Expert Ace
The left is very angry that Trump "desecrated" the White House by staging a sporting event there. They say the White House lawn is sacred, and only for wholesome events like lurid transgender perverts exposing their fake breasts to children.
The usual old crowd of Bitter Clingers staged a counter-concert, featuring an array of stars who made up a virtual Who's Who of Who's That?
Jane Fonda Decries First Amendment Violations at Star-Studded Event: "It's Being Allowed by Cowardly Corporations"
"Right now, the government and its cronies [are] routinely violating its First Amendment to silence artists," she said at Rise Up, Sing Out: A Concert for the First Amendment in New York.
Jane Fonda gave a passionate speech defending the First Amendment on Sunday night at the star-studded Rise Up, Sing Out: A Concert for the First Amendment.
The event, held at The Town Hall in New York, was organized by the Committee for the First Amendment, a group that originally formed in 1947 during the McCarthy era but was recently revived by Fonda.
The very patriotic event featured dementia patient Robert DeNiro declaring that loving America is like loving the spouse who beats you -- in other words, he hates the country.
Robert De Niro: “I hate to say it, but loving our country is starting to sound like an abused spouse saying they love their abuser. I can’t love a country that’s led by a racist, misogynist, xenophobic tyrant.” pic.twitter.com/TeLglm9DCe
Shew! I just saw a bunch of literal fascists getting ready to take down the country, BUT LUCKILY, Bette Midler and her super powerful squad stopped them at the gate... lol pic.twitter.com/mUS7thCTVj
Daily Mail: A Former "Counter-Terrorism" Propagagnda Unit Headed by an MI-6 Spy Has Been Redirected to Run Nonstop Psyops Against the British Public to Convince Them to Accept Terrorism and Third-World Hyperviolence as Normal and Perfectly British
—Disinformation Expert Ace
I think we already knew this, but social media is blowing up about it, so maybe we didn't. Or maybe it was alleged but now we have more information.
REVEALED: How shadowy unit of government 'thought police' set up by ex-MI6 agent is trying to keep a lid on Britain's simmering racial tensions
While the streets of Belfast were ablaze with anti-immigration protests last week, behind the scenes a group of spies, spinners and soldiers were deploying the 'dark arts' to try to defuse tensions.
The name of the secretive Government propaganda unit trying to manipulate events makes it sound like an innocuous back-office operation -- the Research, Information and Communications Unit, or RICU.
But the dull moniker is part of the deliberate camouflage of an outfit which uses deception and skulduggery to try to manage the 'challenges' of multiculturalism.
Its techniques range from planting stories in the media, using undercover operatives to lay flowers at the scene of terrorist attacks and even, in one case, sending a pop group to sing anti-extremist songs in Muslim schools.
But as the article states later, the RICU unit is very one-sided, focusing laser-like on the traditional elements of the British public for their "far-right" anger at murder and terrorism.
The 22-strong unit was established in 2007 by the late Charles Farr, a former MI6 officer, as part of the Prevent counter-terrorism strategy.
Modelled on the Information Research Department (IRD), a propaganda unit established by the Attlee government in 1948 to blacken the names of communists and other political opponents, RICU operates out of the Home Office's Westminster headquarters.
While its original purpose was to monitor and challenge the spread of Al Qaeda propaganda and to vet the language used by public officials when describing terrorism, its tentacles now stretch far across Whitehall -- to the extent that critics say it risks strangling free speech.
When the mobs took to the streets of Northern Ireland last week following the stabbing of Stephen Ogilvie, allegedly by Hadi Alodid, a 30-year-old Sudanese asylum-seeker, RICU swung into action to advise the police in the province on how to 'control the narrative'.
A source said: 'They are working with the Police Service of Northern Ireland's C3 intelligence unit to identify those posting the online 'calls to protest' in Belfast and other areas, as well as giving strategic messages to the police to ensure that the protesters were portrayed as unsympathetic thugs, rather than activists, and effecting behavioural change.'
The source said that the unit had also been advising the police in Southampton following the horrific murder of Henry Nowak by Vickrum Digwa -- who falsely claimed he had been racially abused and had acted in self-defence -- saying: 'RICU made sure that the liaison team dealing with the family were well briefed.'
It has also been claimed that the unit intervenes to write statements by the families of victims of potentially racially linked incidents to stop them from inflaming tensions further with their remarks.
The source said: 'You can see their fingerprints all over the statements released by the families of victims in these volatile situations -- they usually have a similar tone.'
However, RICU is regarded by many Whitehall insiders to be 'out of control', after last year putting its name to a Home Office recommendation that the police should record more 'non-crime hate incidents' -- the controversial, sub-criminal measures used to inhibit people from making reference to matters of race, religion, sexual orientation or disability.
Ministers finally bowed to pressure by scrapping the measures, telling the police to stop recording everyday rows and online spats.
The unit also claimed that the prevalence of sexual grooming gangs in Pakistani communities was being exploited by the far-Right to stir up hatred against Muslim communities.
It has a long history of 'covertly engineering', in the words of one expert, 'the thoughts of people' at times of crisis, being quick to spring into action after terrorist incidents such as the London Bridge attacks in 2017. Eight people died when a van was driven into pedestrians on London Bridge and the three occupants ran to a nearby market and began stabbing people.
In the immediate aftermath of the atrocity, RICU's undercover operatives handed out flowers in the area, with the aim of perpetuating an atmosphere of 'grief' rather than anti-Muslim 'anger'.
...
RICU frequently uses social media in this way to infiltrate online conversations in 'target communities'.
However, according to Sir William Shawcross, who published a review of Prevent in 2023, the unit seems more keen to target the far-Right than extreme Islamists.
Sir William wrote: 'The bar for what RICU includes on Islamism looks to be relatively high, whereas the bar for what is included on the extreme Right-wing is comparably low.'
By way of illustrating his point, in 2023 the unit identified viewing habits which it believed indicate that someone could be susceptible to far-Right views. These included Michael Portillo's Great British Railway Journeys, The Thick Of It and Yes Minister, all on the BBC. Works by Shakespeare, Chaucer and Milton were described as 'key texts' of interest to 'white nationalists/supremacists'.
...
Security expert Professor Anthony Glees responded: 'The unit that produced this report is called RICU.
'It's based in the Home Office but it's in that kind of shadowy area between what the Home Office does and what the security service MI5 ought to be doing. Or what the special branch used to do before it was turned into the counter-terrorist police force.'
Obviously the US has something like this too, or at least did. I think -- I can't recall the name so I can't search for it-- the DOJ had some kind of "anti-bias unit" that rushed in to tell families of victims of terrorist or racial violence that they must call for peace and that the death must not be used to inflame passions.
That sounds fine except this group obviously stands down and permits black radicals to inflame passions about alleged "racist" cop-killings and "nooses hanging from garage doors." We never see these radicals reciting government agitprop to "turn down the heat" and "remain calm."
In fact, it's obvious that when a Muslim or black radical group wants to inflame passions against the majority, the entire media and government apparatus turns into a machine to inflame passions further and encourage and justify rioting and arson.
I can't help but notice that the US form of this "Don't be angry, just accept it" Regime propaganda operation chooses to inflame passions when those passions might -- beyond the direct provocation of riots and arson -- help galavanize minority voters to vote Democratic. The Regime ops only seek to "turn down the temperature" when passions threaten to cause voters to turn against the Democrat/Socialist Regime.
Also obviously: This unit is working hand-in-glove with UK censors working to censor Americans, and that's all made possible by US CIA operatives working with those foreign censors to do what they themselves are forbidden by law to do, which is to censor the American public themselves.
That's not a real tweet. It's a parody tweet mimicking Norm's actual tweet saying that what really worries him is if ISIS detonate a nuke and kills 50 million people -- can you imagine the anti-Muslim backlash?
THE MORNING RANT: Hampton Prescott Returns to Discuss the Importance of Architecture for Urban Renewal
—Buck Throckmorton
In a post a couple of months ago I invited Hampton Prescott to contribute his thoughts about a subject that is important to me – “municipal conservatism.” Like me, Mr. Prescott understands the importance of conservatives working to not only gather votes in urban areas, but also working to make urban areas inhabitable again. Rudy Giuliani proved it can be done. Doing so will also have spillover benefits, including the construction of more housing, thus reducing overall housing costs by increasing supply.
As frustrating as the decline of urban areas is, we cannot simply wish their problems away, or completely walk away from them. They exist, even in red states. I appreciate conservatives who want to address the problem.
I am traveling right now, so I invited Mr. Prescott to provide a follow-up piece, this time focusing on the importance of architecture in the livability of cities. He kindly obliged. Read the whole thing, but here is a quote that captures the importance of the topic: ”Classical architecture isn’t nostalgia—it’s proven urban technology refined over the centuries. It restores dignity and desirability while delivering economic, social, and cultural returns.”
In an age of sterile glass boxes, “Tetris Chic” monstrosities, and sprawling suburban monotony, many cities feel like they’ve lost their soul. New construction often worsens the problem: out-of-scale, soulless structures that prioritize short-term cost-cutting over enduring appeal.
As I’ve noted before, the poor quality of contemporary architecture is an underrated driver of why urban spaces feel downtrodden. Lately, there’s growing lament in the discourse about the sterile, lifeless designs of restaurants, hotels, theme parks, and streetscapes. People crave vibrancy and a sense of being alive in a world where their senses are being dulled by overexposure to screens. This theory is further supported by studies consistently showing public preference for traditional/classical designs (often 70-84% in polls).
A return to classical principles—proportion, hierarchy, human scale, ornamentation, and just plain grandeur—offers more than aesthetic redemption. It provides a practical pathway to urban renewal and a massive arbitrage opportunity for developers who recognize the shift in tastes.
Postwar planning and modernist dogma treated cities as machines for efficiency rather than places for human flourishing. Tom Wolfe’s “From Bauhaus to our House” documents this superbly. Vast redevelopment schemes razed historic fabric for high-rises and highways, eroding the fine-grained, walkable streets and dignified buildings that once fostered community and pride. The result was predictable: ugly environments signal low value, deterring investment, accelerating blight, and inviting more utilitarian “solutions.”
Classical and traditional architecture counters this cycle. Timeless forms—properly proportioned columns, balanced facades, rhythmic streetscapes, and human-scaled detailing—create places people want to linger in, invest in, and maintain across generations. Historic districts with classical or traditional character consistently show higher desirability, better upkeep, stronger property values, and greater resilience. This is illustrated by the Polo Bar in New York—the hardest reservation in town—and classic hotels like The Breakers in Palm Beach, which command $2,000+ a night. These lifestyle assets benefit tremendously - from a financial as well as a cultural perspective - from spaces that uplift rather than demoralize.
To expand upon this point, restoring or emulating classical elements sparks broader renewal—increased foot traffic, tourism, private reinvestment, and community stewardship. Poor architecture fails Jane Jacobs’ “eyes on the street” test and erodes sense of place; context-ignoring modernist insertions often accelerate blight, even if it yielded its developer a healthy promote (though the end of QE has made this a much less frequent occurrence).
The Real Estate industry, writ large, is desperately looking for a new business model after the interest rate shock of 2022. While the major allocators are tying their capital up in data centers, traditional developers are generally at a loss for next steps considering today’s landscape—rising costs, regulatory complexity, shifting demographics, hybrid work, and pent-up demand for authentic places. These headwinds indicate an opportunity for a new approach that strongly favors classical strategies benefitting from the following:
1. Premium Pricing & Resilience: Traditionally inspired buildings often deliver higher rents, sales prices, occupancy rates, and tenant retention. Buyers and residents pay for craftsmanship and timelessness that resist obsolescence. In volatile markets, these assets hold value far better than the ubiquitous “Tetris Chic” designs.
2. Incentives & Leverage: Historic tax credits, downtown revitalization grants, and area-wide programs reduce risk. Bundling rehab with sympathetic new classical infill can pencil out financially while unlocking public support and faster approvals (time is money, and as any developer can tell you, NIMBY resistance can quickly kill the profitability on a project.)
3. Demographic Tailwinds: Growing preference for walkable, family-friendly, high-quality environments (neither sterile high-density nor car-dependent sprawl) aligns perfectly with classical urbanism. The massive popularity of Seaside in 30A illustrates this and the late, great Robert AM Stern’s designs in New York routinely achieving the highest per square foot sales in the market makes this hard to ignore.
4. Long-Term Economics: Upfront investment in high quality, aesthetically pleasing construction will often yield lower maintenance, superior durability, and elevated market perception—improving ROI.
5. First-Mover Advantage: Momentum is building—from cultural discourse to policy shifts to select developer projects. Those who move now will benefit from immense pricing power in their developments.
The growing family office sector, guided by smart incentives and conviction rather than overly-risk averse bureaucratic investment committees, can move faster and more effectively. These capital sources seem to be primely suited to capture this opportunity. In addition to the long-term compounding opportunities outlined above, being responsible for popular, new landmarks can serve as a massive halo effect (much needed in a world where economic populism is firmly on the rise).
Classical architecture isn’t nostalgia—it’s proven urban technology refined over millennia. It restores dignity and desirability while delivering economic, social, and cultural returns. In an era skeptical of failed modernist experiments, the timing is exceptional. Developers who deliver beauty aligned with human nature will reap substantial arbitrage as markets reward places worth caring about.
Build ugly and feed decline. Build beautifully and compound value for generations. The data, anecdotes, history, and shifting preferences all point the same direction.
The US and Iran have reached a peace deal to end their three-and-a-half-month-old war, President Trump announced Sunday evening.
The Strait of Hormuz, which carries 20% of the world’s oil, is set to reopen on Friday when a deal is signed in Switzerland, officials said.
“The Deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran is now complete,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“Congratulations to all! I hereby fully authorize the toll free opening of the Strait of Hormuz, and, simultaneously herewith, authorize the immediate removal of the United States Naval blockade. Ships of the World, start your engines. Let the oil flow!” The signing will launch a 60-day negotiating process to determine the fate of Iran’s nuclear program and the extent of sanctions relief, according to officials.. . The agreement has not been seen publicly, but the White House on Friday described to reporters five points that are in the deal:
--Iran will destroy its highly enriched uranium
--Tehran will pledge never to obtain a nuclear weapon
--Economic relief will come after those first two steps are completed
--The Strait of Hormuz will be open immediately upon signing
--Iran must stop funding terrorist groups including Hezbollah
A senior administration official said the economic relief would be released “around physical milestones, it’s built around action and it’s built around verification.”
Brent crude, the international benchmark, fell by around four percent to below $84 a barrel, the lowest price since March 5. West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark, fell by nearly five percent to below $81 a barrel.
“With the opening of the Strait upon the signing of the Deal on Friday, for purposes of mine removal, oil will flow on both ends again for the Region, and the World!” President Trump said Sunday evening.
Stock futures tied to U.S. equities market climbed on the news.
The Iranian state-controlled Mehr News Agency is trumpeting the deal as a complete victory for the Islamic Republic. It involves concession after concession from the U.S., and nothing whatsoever in the other direction. Mehr states the 14 provisions of the Memorandum of Understanding in this way: According to the source, the draft includes the following provisions:
1. Permanent and immediate end to war on all fronts, including Lebanon.
2. US commitment to non-interference in Iran’s internal affairs and respect for the sovereignty of the Islamic Republic of Iran... 11. Release of $24 billion in Iran’s blocked funds during the 60-day final negotiation period, with half of that amount to be made available to Iran before negotiations begin. . .
. . . If this is even close to true, it’s the most breathtaking betrayal in American history (after Trump’s promises to the Iranian people), a new lease on life for the Islamic Republic, likely ensuring it remains in power for decades to come, and the most humiliating and unnecessary defeat in American history. Trump’s legacy will be surrender and the empowerment of America’s enemies, to an extent even worse than anything Barack Obama or Old Joe Biden did.
If you read all the points while understanding the nature of the Mullahs and the nature of ISLAM, this is merely strategic retreat in the 1500-year Islamic crusade for world domination. They know that all they have to do is wait out the next two years for Trump to exit the White House and that at best a Democrat will be elected and at worst, even if it's Vance or whomever, there will be a groundswell of opposition should that administration want to once again attack Iran once they inevitably resume their drive for nuclear weapons as well as continue to foment terrorism in the region and around the world, because gentle reader this is exactly what they are going to do.
Elsewhere, congratulations to Elon Musk for becoming the first nrillionaire in history. naturally the Democrat Left are beside themselves dropping venom and doing everything they can to denigrate this accomplishment. whatever one thinks of Musk personally or otherwise, his achievement is a shining example of the American dream as well as the work ethic that made this nation great and has been the engine of progress that took us from out of the caves to landing on the moon and building the freest most prosperous society in human history.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know by now that with SpaceX’s Initial Public Offering (IPO), Elon Musk has become the world’s first trillionaire. The implications of this for all of us and our grandchildren are many and far-reaching. Of course, the left has found a way to narrow it all down to one simple idea: “His money is our money, or it should be.”
Envy is the lifeblood of leftist politics, and Musk is merely their latest, biggest, and most convenient target. But it’s worth being reminded that to the left, you are no different than Elon Musk. Let me explain. The left is miserable when you’re happy. It feels entitled to be the only source of your happiness, but it has no desire to make you happy. Rather, it simply wants to control how happy it will allow you to be.
Make no mistake about it, Tehran is going to test the limits of this thing. That's what Iran does. But the framework is there, and the verification mechanisms matter... Obviously, there's still work ahead. And there’s reason to be skeptical of Iran because this is a regime with a long history of buying time while running out the clock. But, we aren’t sending them plane-loads of cash in the dark of night, or giving them a path to nuclear weapons, as Barack Obama did. Trump Announces Peace Deal with Iran Is Complete
Obama said, “It is doubtful that any agreement that arises is going to be significantly different or a significant improvement from the deal that we had in the first place. And had worked for, for a long stretch of time, before we, the United States, pulled out of it. Obama on Iran: We Can’t ‘Bully Our Way or Bomb Our Way to Solutions’
CIVIL WAR 2.0, LEFTIST PERSECUTIONS, DEMOCRAT PUTSCH, AMERICAN DISSOLUTION
The post garnered over 10,000 likes in less than 12 hours, sparking widespread outrage and calls for legal action. A number of AI-generated copycat posts were also shared. Under Texas law, desecrating a grave is a serious offense, and even creating realistic images of such acts could potentially lead to criminal charges or civil claims for emotional distress. Instagram Influencer Posts Image of Himself Urinating on Austin Metcalf’s Grave.
Victor Davis Hanson: ...Their pushback might be summed up as: “We are no longer going to allow you to destroy ancient traditions that ensured our prosperity, security and liberty, and which were handed down to us by generations far better than your own.” The most self-destructive pillars of lefty lunacy finally begin to fall
“Acting as self-appointed anti-ICE vigilantes, Lauren Morrow, her co-defendant Joma and others took it upon themselves to obstruct immigration proceedings.” Utah Clerks Charged in Alleged ICE Evasion Plot
FirstNet (also known as the Nationwide Public Safety Broadband Network) is scheduled to sunset in 2027 under the 2012 law that created it. The House bill would reauthorize the network and the FirstNet Authority that oversees it, while also increasing NTIA oversight of the authority. Senate Needs To Reauthorize FirstNet, America’s Public Safety Network For First Responders
Roger Kimball: Britain’s leaders celebrate multiculturalism even as the ideology reshaping the nation grows increasingly hostile to the civilization that welcomed it. The Face of Modern Britain: Jihad’s Triumph
Envy is the lifeblood of leftist politics, and Musk is merely their latest, biggest, and most convenient target. But it’s worth being reminded that to the left, you are no different than Elon Musk. Let me explain. The left is miserable when you’re happy. It feels entitled to be the only source of your happiness, but it has no desire to make you happy. Rather, it simply wants to control how happy it will allow you to be. Elon Musk and the Politics of Envy
Rather than worrying about whether the USMCA will last past 2036, America’s businesses need to focus on whether they will. Reforming North American Trade
RED-GREENS, CLIMATE CHANGE HOAX, DEMOCRAT-LEFT WAR ON FOSSIL FUELS,
In fact, every study in the past two decades that attempted to replicate earlier work has consistently found that about half the papers published in the scientific literature in the soft sciences (psychology, social sciences, biology, medicine, pharmaceuticals) could not be confirmed. Only half of all social science can be replicated
AMERICA AND THE WORLD IMPRISONED: CHINESE CORONAVIRUS FICTIONS AND FACTS
In a press release, the outgoing DNI stated that biolabs researching dangerous pathogens in Ukraine have been “at risk of compromise” due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.
In a letter sent to Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon said the department would investigate whether the city’s practices comply with state law and constitutional protections. DOJ Investigates Philadelphia Over Concealed Carry Permit Practices
Gun Owners of America responded to the arrest of Cleveland Cavaliers’ James Harden by noting “Texas allows constitutional carry” and opining the government’s role is not in “micromanaging” our lives. GOA Stands by James Harden: ‘Texas Allows Constitutional Carry’
On June 4, Brady United sent a letter to Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman, demanding he investigate Turner’s Outdoorsman over the fact that 22.48% of guns recovered at crime scenes are traced back to the chain’s stores. Turner’s Outdoorsman is a chain of stores that sells, among other products, firearms. Gun-Control Organization Uses Questionable Data To Single Out Major Firearms Outlet
Decades of research have shown that political conservatives report better mental health and greater happiness than their counterparts on the left. A new study published in the journal Political Behavior takes that finding a step further, finding that “mental illness is emerging as its own political identity and is most heavily aligned with leftist political ideology and causes,” and that it clusters heavily among younger, far-left Americans. A New Study Just Confirmed the Left's Worst-Kept Secret
Pratt had previously sued Bass’ Los Angeles Department of Water and Power in a separate suit. The New York Post reported Pratt has not officially joined Kenneth Bass’ lawsuit yet, making it unclear if they will be joining their lawsuits in court, combining the two, or if Pratt was referring to a sort of joint public campaign to expose Karen Bass that will also include the two lawsuits. Spencer Pratt Says He and Mayor Bass’ Brother Are Suing Karen Bass
The 84-year-old senator entered the hospital Sunday morning and is “receiving excellent care,” a spokesperson for McConnell confirmed to the Daily Caller News Foundation. He has faced a series of health issues in recent years. 84-Year-Old Sen Mitch McConnell Hospitalized
Having been nominated by the President, Clayton will need to be confirmed by the Senate. Resistance from Senate Republicans is believed to have killed Trump’s previous attempt to install Bill Pulte, Director of U.S. Federal Housing, as DNI. The change at ODNI is the second replacement nomination made by the President this month. Earlier in June, he announced his decision to nominate Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche for Attorney General. Blanche was appointed as interim head of the Department of Justice following the departure of Pam Bondi. Trump Switches Director of National Intelligence Nomination to Jay Clayton.
The nation is currently grappling with a worsening healthcare worker shortage. Non-metro areas of the U.S. are projected to face a 39% staffing shortage of primary care physicians by 2038, according to the Bureau of Health Workforce. US Careening Toward Healthcare Crisis Amid Deportations And Shortages
Messier 64 is characterized by its bizarre internal motion. The gas in the outer regions of this spiral galaxy is rotating in the opposite direction from the gas and stars in its inner regions. A galaxy as seen by Hubble and Webb
FEMINAZISM, TRANSGENDER PSYCHOSIS, HOMOSEXUALIZATION, WAR ON MASCULINITY/NORMALCY
The freak out started on Friday morning, shortly after Musk’s SpaceX began trading at $150 a share, a figure above its listing price of $135. According to Fox Business, “Combined with his holdings in electric vehicle maker Tesla, as well as other investments and assets, Musk’s net worth is now estimated at about $1.1 trillion.” Leftist Freak Out Over Elon Musk’s Trillionaire Status Embodies Their Hatred For Success
The architecture of recent American embassies lacks beauty and dignity. Ambassadors of Ugliness
ALSO: The Morning Report cross-posts at CutJibNewsletter.com usually within an hour or so of posting here, if you want to continue the conversation all day.
Howdy Hordelings! Welcome to the Sunday night ONT. Big day today - Flag Day, President Trump's 80th birthday, The US Army's 251st birthday -- and even more noteworthy, it's National Bourbon Day!
Open thread, as always. Fashion and music, as always. What's on YOUR mind tonight?
Honey is one of the most beloved foods on the planet, but can you imagine eating over two pounds of it in under a minute? You’re probably thinking that it can be done, but you’re probably overestimating your throat’s ability to handle viscous liquids. It’s not like drinking water or soda, and it’s not like ingesting solid foods, and that makes it really tricky.
Andre Ortolf, a young German man famous for taking on unusual eating and drinking challenges, recently set out to break the world record for the most honey consumed in a minute. His attempt took place in Augsburg, Germany, and saw him consume 1,273 grams, or 44.91 ounces, of honey in just 60 seconds. Talk about a sugar rush!
Video segment at the link
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The sunset sky was spectacular here in central Maryland on Friday. The crowd at Camden Yards was treated to a particularly amazing view.
It's that time of the week - when we turn the ONT over to our good friend Piper for a bit. Here's this week's fashion pr0n.
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Patriotic Style Spotlight: Usha Vance + Red, White & Blue Styling Tips for the 250th! 🇺🇸✨
Today’s fashion review is a fun hodgepodge, starting with Second Lady Usha Vance’s latest looks and wrapping up with fresh ways to style red, white, and blue all summer long as we head toward America’s 250th celebration.
Usha Vance’s Maternity Glow-Up
Usha has been looking fresh in maternity wear! She stepped out in an adorable black-and-white gingham sundress by Ripe Maternity, paired with classic Ray-Ban Clubmaster sunglasses in black on gold. The dress is sweet, breezy, and perfectly summery.
Shoe note: She wore her cap-toe ballet flats, which we have seen before. While they’re reliable, they feel a little safe and dated next to the charm of the dress. I would have loved to see her in something more elevated like these Rag & Bone espadrilles / sandals:
or sleek Vince slingback flats for a modern touch.
Later, she kept it cute and casual in Hatch maternity overalls with Goodr sunglasses in Pink Flamingo, such a cutie, relaxed vibe!
Red, White & Blue Styling Inspiration
Whether you’re heading to a parade, backyard BBQ, or fireworks, here’s how to wear the colors without looking like a costume:
• Classic & Clean: A crisp white button-down or tee with tailored navy shorts and red accessories (belt, earrings, etc). Timeless and polished.
• Gingham & Stripes: Mix red gingham with navy stripes. Gingham is definitely having a moment!
• Modern Twist: All-white outfit with bold red/white/blue statement jewelry.
• Casual Cool: White jeans + red tank + navy blazer or chambray shirt. Finish with red espadrilles.
• Evening Sparkle: Navy or white linen dress with red lipstick, metallic gold accents, and fun star inspired accessories.
Keeping the palette but skipping an actual flag or flag adjacent print feels intentional rather than overwhelming. Natural fabrics like linen, cotton, and seersucker keep it breathable for summer heat. Which one is your favorite patriotic look?
Howdy, Y'all! Welcome to the wondrously fabulous Gun Thread! As always, I want to thank all of our regulars for being here week in and week out, and also offer a bigly Gun Thread welcome to any newcomers who may be joining us tonight. Howdy and thank you for stopping by! I hope you find our wacky conversation on the subject of guns 'n shooting both enjoyable and informative. You are always welcome to lurk in the shadows of shame, but I'd like to invite you to jump into the conversation, say howdy, and tell us what kind of shooting you like to do!
Holy Shitballs! How in the ever-loving Hell did it get to be the Pre-NoVAMoMe Edition? Time to rush your NoVAMoMe plans to completion!
With that, step into the dojo and let's get to the gun stuff below, shall we?
Why must I beg, badger and cajole you each year to come to the NoVAMoMe and have a good time? I don't get it. It sometimes seems like I am trying to convince you to slam your fingers in a car door, or to set your hair on fire or stab yourself in the eye with a pencil. It's fun to come hang out with your online pals at a MoMe, and there just so happens to be a NoVAMoMe this coming Saturday, June 20th, and you are invited!
It's fun! I swear! Other people swear too! Lots of other people! It's also totally low-key and really only a little bit of a cult. If you want to come and pretend like you don't know anyone and would frankly never in a thousand years associate with any of the other attendees, that's fine! So, fence-sitter scaredy-cats, it's time to make a decision. If you have previously emailed for info but not let us know you're coming, please drop a note to everyone's pal bluebell.
Turn on the volume to hear Gertie politely encourage your attendance. She also said some stuff about curved space-time and gravitational effects in four dimensional Minkowski space, but I forgot to hit record for that part.
If you have no idea what I am talking about, there are details below. If you have been to a MoMe before, any MoMe at all, please comment and let the scaredy-cats know it's safe, and for what must be the gazillionth time, email WeaselBell Productions today!
Special update!
Oh! I totally forgot to mention that a few of us will be at the secret NoVAMoMe location Friday afternoon/early evening if you're in town and want to stop by and visit before the main event Saturday.
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Spotting Scopes
When shooting a rifle at longer distances, a spotting scope is essential. Below is my long-range setup before a match in Phoenix. Note the spotting scope setup next to the rifle scope so I can look through it with a very slight tilt of my head to the left. The wide angle of view is essential for observing range conditions.
As with most things you get what you pay for. My spotting scope is a Kowa TSN-82SV with a fixed 25x eyepiece (sold separately). The large 82mm objective lens lets in a ton of light, has excellent glass, and gives a wide and distortion-free view of what is going on downrange and at the target.
How do you choose a spotting scope? Well your budget is certainly a consideration. Here's a look at how some popular models stack up, and some ideas of things to look for when comparing models.
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Bluing a Colt Python
Nice.
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Starrett Tools
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Our Pal Living Stereo!
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NoVaMoMe 2026
What - you thought there wasn't going to be a NoVaMoMe in 2026?
Note: One of the great joys of NoVAMoMe season, at least for me, is being able to cut and paste the entire block of text below and haranguing you to attend the event. Are you attending? Are you focusing on the fundamentals of attending?
Alright, guys and gals, the long awaited and highly anticipated details of the 2026 NoVAMoMe are here! That's right, I finally got my act together and updated the information page for 2026, and need to go over a few details. First, the date is June 20th, 2026 from 11am to 3pm. Nextly, my bestest blog buddy bluebell and I have decided 2026 will continue the longstanding tradition of NoVAMoMe simplification, and want to pass along the changes from prior years.
First, no registration and no advance charge for food. If you would like to attend, send an email to WeaselBell Productions, and let us know. You will be directed to a sekrit webpage with all of the details. We do ask once you have decided to attend to let us know so we can coordinate an expected count with venue management. Once there if you are hungry or thirsty simply order from the onsite menu and pay separately. Cash and credit cards accepted. Next, although fun, we have decided to again take a break from the raffles and mug sales this year. Depending on how it goes, that may be something we bring back in future years. While your generosity is always appreciated, with no prize table, please leave donations and contributions at home, but bring your appetite for a great afternoon spent with your imaginary online friends.
Next, a NoVAMoMe PSA from our pal bluebell
Hi folks - just a quick PSA. If you write for info about the MoMe, please give us a few words in the body of the email just so I know you are a Moron and not a spammer (moron). I do receive spam on this email account because it's sitting right here in my nic, so that's why I'm asking. I don't want to give our details to a spammer. Also, remember to check your spam folder if you don't receive a reply email.
Thanks.
bluebell
Seriously, just send an email then go to the website with the password provided. If you forget, a link to the email is on the main page, left sidebar. If you do not sign up, bluebell will be disappointed. Weasel will be disappointed, too, but it's bluebell you need to worry about.
Here are some different online cigar vendors. You will find they not only carry different brands and different lines from those brands, but also varying selections of vitolas (sizes/shapes) of given lines. It's good to have options, especially if you're looking for a specific cigar.
A note about sources. The brick & mortar/online divide exists with cigars, as with guns, and most consumer products, with respect to price. As with guns - since both are "persecuted industries", basically - I make a conscious effort to source at least some of my cigars from my local store(s). It's a small thing, but the brick & mortar segment for both guns and tobacco are precious, and worth supporting where you can. And if you're lucky enough to have a good cigar store/lounge available, they're often a good social event with many dangerous people of the sort who own scary gunz, or read smart military blogs like this one. -rhomboid
Anyone have others to include? Perhaps a small local roller who makes a cigar you like? Send me your recommendation and a link to the site!
Please note the new and improved protonmail account gunthread at protonmail dot com. An informal Gun Thread archive can be found HERE. Future expansion plans are in the works for the site Weasel Gun Thread. If you have a question you would like to ask Gun Thread Staff offline, just send us a note and we'll do our best to answer. If you care to share the story of your favorite firearm, send a picture with your nic and tell us what you sadly lost in the tragic canoe accident. If you would like to remain completely anonymous, just say so. Lurkers are always welcome!
That's it for this week - have you been to the range?
Food Thread: Bread And Butter...A Match Made In Heaven
—CBD
That color is amazing...it conjures visions of buxom farm maidens herding cows through idyllic pastures, then milking them gently for perfect, fatty, delicious milk. Then on to the creamery where the cream is churned lovingly into perfect, beautiful, delicious butter!
Add in a fresh sourdough loaf cooling on the counter, and life doesn't get much better! Well, I added a great NY strip steak and a nice green salad, and some grilled broccoli slices to placate my inner Vegan.
That butter is from a spectacular Paris department store called Le Bon Marché, which has an amazing food department...two floors of food and wine that is rivaled only by another Parisian department store! They have prepared foods and places to eat there and fresh produce and meats and cheese and fish and butter! about 25 feet of refrigerated displays filled with butter of all kinds, from everywhere in France.
They also vacuum pack it, so it has been preserved quite well! I was a bit apprehensive, but one bite of this perfectly salted butter with some of that sourdough bread eased my concern. It was perfect, even after nine months in the freezer!
That's the wrapper, and it really doesn't say much, other than the name of the company! There are dozens of these small creameries all across France, and they survive because the quality is usually quite high, and the flavor of the butter (and milk) varies by region, so the market is highly segmented. They do it with cheese and yogurt too...
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This guy is funny, and completely apolitical, at least as far as I can tell.
Travel changes the menu. Meals while traveling become part of the memory of the trip. Those that live in rural areas and don’t have access to the variety found in large cities understand this immediately. It doesn’t have to be exotic food or trendy restaurants either. Sometimes it’s just the things you can’t get back home - or more accurately, can’t get prepared correctly back home.
Spent last weekend in Chicago. Nephew graduated from law school - nice to have a lawyer in the family. Maybe.
The cravings started about three days before departure: a simple, authentic Italian beef sammich. Thin-sliced beef soaked in jus, good giardiniera, paper giving way before the first bite. Shortly after came the craving for a proper Chicago dog - dragged through the garden, all the right fixings. Ordinary food that somehow becomes the entire point of the trip.
First food stop was for the Italian beef sammich. Seasoned beef shaved thin, melted provolone, spicy giardiniera piled on top. Jus dripping through the wrapper and a bit of it down the wrist. Food Valhalla for a country boy. Pic is a bit blurry, about the same as my mental state after the first bite.
Next up: the Chicago dog. Yellow mustard, pickle, celery salt, and the criminally underrated sport peppers. Dog charred just enough and hanging over both ends of the bun. No onions, no tomatoes, no glow-in-the-dark relish - those toppings are for the unwashed. Dog was fine, but the homemade chips stole the show. Should have ordered a 10lb bag to go.
Tavern pizza for the finale? Sort of.
Knew the place was good the second we sat down. Small menu. Maybe seven appetizers, four salads, and 14-inch pizzas offered two ways: Tavern Style or Artisan. Efficient. No need to rewrite a novel/War and Peace when you know what you’re doing.
The Tavern pizza itself was solid - thin crust with burnt edges. Soppressata and smoked pancetta on all, garlic on one half, giardiniera on the other. Waiter gave a knowing nod – or you’re an idiot nod, but I’ll humor you. Tourist.
The surprise winner was the Sunday Salad.
Big plate. Awkward oversized tongs like something borrowed from an ear, nose, and throat doctor’s office. Little gem lettuce base, balanced amounts of salami, ditalini, cheeses, firm beans, finely chopped vegetables, and a red wine vinegar-sweet Italian dressing that tied the whole operation together. Damnit, it worked. For about fifteen minutes, I was half vegan.
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The garlic is doing well! I think. I know all of you are worried, but it is still tall and green and healthy! And if they survive the deer and squirrel apocalypse, and actually grow into something edible, I will be in garlic heaven! Now I have to figure out when to harvest! Late June into July seems like the consensus. But I'm a Dildo, not a farmer! In case it doesn't work out, send all of your excellent home-grown garlic to: cbd dot aoshq at gmail dot com.
Rumor has it that the Bourbon Bubble is bursting. I have seen no evidence of decreasing prices, but maybe the bursting started somewhere else! 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!
That is an under-cabinet low voltage light that takes a standard G4 two-prong bulb. Easy-peasy...right?
Except the prongs of the new bulb don't slide into the receptacle. Since the bulbs produce a startlingly large amount of heat, I am not surprised that the thing failed after many years. What does surprise me is the difficulty in replacing it. Those cables are six feet long, and the end is buried somewhere in the cabinetry. The back of the receptacle is riveted closed, so I can't remove the female side and simply replace it.
I will have to splice the wires onto a new receptacle without wire nuts, since there isn't enough room for them inside the housing. That should be interesting, in a deeply irritating way.
FISA Is A Catastrophic Failure, And Should Be Allowed To Die
—CBD
Except...our government is fanatical about spying on us, and there is no way that a temporary pause in their ability to spy on Americans will survive. That pause is for purely political reasons, as the House simply doesn't like President Trump's nominee for Director of National Intelligence (DNI). Once that little pissing match is cleared up, they will go back to merrily supporting warrantless searches and surveillance of Americans.
Oh, they have their cute little legal subterfuges that protect them...we Americans are swept up in that surveillance by accident! Really! It's true! Our government claims, without a hint of irony or sarcasm, that when Americans are spied upon without a warrant, it is merely coincident to the surveillance of a foreign national, and they respect our God-given natural rights to safety from government intrusion.
The law enables the US government to surveil non-Americans abroad without first going before a judge to get a warrant.
However, that surveillance often sweeps up communications of American citizens in the process. The controversial spy power was reformed in 2024, but some critics want additional changes.
This shit has been going on forever, and FISA was supposed to be the solution to the myriad domestic spying programs that our Constitution expressly forbids.
Except that after FISA was passed in 1978, spying on Americans seems to have increased! Here is a small sample of the dozens of programs that our government used or uses to spy on us.
Pre-1978
COINTELPRO
Operation CHAOS
Project RESISTANCE
Operation MERRIMAC
MINARET
SHAMROCK
Post-1978
CARNIVORE
PRISM
Section 215
Total Information Awareness (TIA)
Stellar Wind
Hemisphere Project
Section 702
Main Core
FISA is so obviously a rubber stamp for fishing expeditions based on political or personal expediency that it's embarrassing that any legislator defends it. But most of them do, and it's only the dust-up with Bill Pulte as DNI that they even bothered to look up from the trough and actually do something.
Most of the Bill Of Rights address these affronts to our freedom and liberty, yet our government cavalierly disregards those rights, claiming the always convenient, "National Security Imperative," or whatever phrase is in fashion to describe the destruction of our freedoms.
If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen.
-- Samuel Adams
He said that in 1776, and it applies today. Government should serve us, not the other way around. And...government should also fear us as a free people. The Second Amendment of the United States Constitution guarantees that, and today we see shocking examples of countries whose citizens have become subjects exactly because their governments no longer fear them.
This is not a call to arms; this is simply a recognition that we must defend all of our rights, no matter how trivial-seeming or unlikely. Most of us will never be swept up in the surveillance of a foreigner, and most of us will never be surveilled coincident with an investigation. Except...we can never know that with certainty unless we fight back against the rapidly encroaching totalitarianism of our government.
Yes, that sounds melodramatic...just like the wholesale arrest and detention of hundreds of peaceful demonstrators after January 6th, 2021 sounded like a conspiracy-theorist's fever dream.
Sunday Morning Book Thread - 6-14-2026 ["Perfessor" Squirrel]
—Open Blogger
Welcome to the prestigious, internationally acclaimed, stately, and illustrious Sunday Morning Book Thread! The place where all readers are welcome, regardless of whatever guilty pleasure we feel like reading (from the pages of DRAGON® magazine!). Here is where we can discuss, argue, bicker, quibble, consider, debate, confabulate, converse, and jaw about our latest fancy in reading material. As always, pants are required, unless you are wearing these pants...
So relax, find yourself a warm kitty (or warm puppy--I won't judge) to curl up in your lap, and dive into a new book. What are YOU reading this fine morning?
St. Augustine's City of God has been mentioned quite a bit around here lately. I vaguely remember reading parts of it way back in college during my Western Civilization I course. I had a great professor for that course. We didn't have a textbook, just a variety of primary texts translated into English for our convenience. City of God was just one of them. I've hung on to it for all these decades. I finally decided to dig it up. Turns out it was super easy to find, barely an inconvenience. It was stashed in an open box of books in my garage. As I bought it USED, it's filled with annotations from the previous student(s). Maybe one day I'll get around to reading it with purpose.
WHY WE NEED VIRTUOUS CHARACTERS
Although the YouTuber above focuses on Hollywood storytelling in movies and televisions, I'd argue that her points are relevant to the modern state of literature right now as well.
For NerdWord (the YouTuber), virtuous characters are necessary for the following reasons:
Narrative Expansion -- The best stories involve continuous struggle by the main characters to reconcile their virtuous nature with the chaos and darkness that confronts them. In many cases, they always have an easy way out, but their refusal to take the easy way is what drives the narrative and gives the conflict in the story the depth we enjoy as readers. That choice demonstrates the strength of their virtue. They may suffer terrible short-term consequences as a result, but in the end, we as readers are rewarded in the long term when we see the characters develop over time into people worthy of respect and admiration.
Values -- Virtuous characters have values that define them. Honor, honesty, compassion, sacrifice, and so forth. The challenge for the character is to uphold these virtues despite the cost or difficulties of holding on to those virtues. One defining characteristic of a virtuous character is their selflessness. They are prepared to give up even their lives to save their friends and loved ones. They do not lust after riches and power, though those may come to them through their actions as a reward for their efforts. If they are already rich and powerful, they will gladly give it all up to achieve a more important goal, such as saving a loved one from tragedy or death. They also seek out and encourage others to embrace virtues for their own sake.
Inspiration -- Above all, a virtuous character is meant to be INSPIRING to the reader. One of the reasons why I love epic fantasy so much is because traditional epic fantasy has abundant examples of characters that I admire and respect and who possess those qualities that I seek to develop within myself. I don't always succeed, of course, but that's the point. Journey before destination.
Virtuous characters are important for a thriving, vibrant civilization. I think we've lost quite a bit of that here in America in recent decades. We only have to look to the Left and see what THEY celebrate to understand just how far we have fallen as a society.
Never lose sight of virtue. It matters far more on a personal level than many people realize.
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THE MAN BEHIND THE MOST BEAUTIFUL BOOKS IN THE WORLD
A lot of artistry goes into designing a quality font. It's clear that this man cares about the products he creates, because they are used in texts that deeply matter to their readers.
Out of curiosity, I looked at my own bible to see if I could find any information about the font used in it. Sure enough, on the copyright page, I found this notice:
This Bible was set in the Zondervan NIV Typeface, created at the 2K/DENMARK type foundry.
I'd be curious to know if any of you have books that are set in typeface created at 2K/DENMARK...
MORON RECOMMENDATIONS
I read The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness by Jonathan Haidt. The generation which matured using flip phones are mentally much healthier than Gen Z which matured using smart phones and social media apps. Haidt gives an overview of the many studies in this area and how almost constant screen time affects pre-teen and teens. Finally, he suggests actions that parents, schools, and various levels of government can do to restore sound mental health in our children.
Posted by: Zoltan at June 07, 2026 09:10 AM (VOrDg)
Comment: There does seem to be a psychological epidemic affecting younger people these days. Children are growing up with technology practically glued to their fingers as soon as they are born. There's a tendency to think of them as "digital natives" as though they have a better understanding of the technology than us old codgers. I'm not sure that's true, though. They may be able to USE the technology, but that doesn't mean they have a clue how it actually works.
I can also understand how depriving them of technology could induce withdrawal symptoms. Yesterday the power at my house went out for an hour or so. Within minutes, I could feel myself getting anxious because the comforting familiar sounds of technology were no longer humming around me. I even left the house and drove around town because I didn't want to be surrounded by the silence and darkness (OK, it was early afternoon, but quite cloudy).
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I purchased Caroline Glick's book, Shackled Warrior: Israel and the Global Jihad, when it came out in 2008. I somehow let it slip off of my to-read pile and gather dust on a shelf until about a month ago. 18 years. But maybe there's good in the delay.
The book compiles many of Glick's media columns published worldwide between around 2003 and 2007. The material covers the post-9/11 world, including the Iraq and Afghanistan invasions and Israel's 2nd Lebanon War - and Iran's nuclear threat to the world. It points out the obvious failures of most everyone but especially of Israel, especially Prime Ministers Barak and more so Olmert (yuk!).
It's deja vu all over again. You could lightly edit some of these essays and republish them now. In 2026, it's practically an entire book of unintended I Told You Sos.
The last section of the book contains some of Glick's essays written as she travelled during battle in Iraq with US troops.
Whether it's Bush, Powell, Rice, Olmert, Netanyahu or US military brass and personnel - or to Glick herself, for that matter - the one thing everyone got wrong and still doesn't get is that you can't fix Islam.
Regards from northern Israel.
Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at June 07, 2026 09:33 AM (5UTWB)
Comment: Fixing Islam is one of those thorny problems that really only has one solution, but nobody wants to talk about it. Nobody even wants to *think* about it because it will require a solution so drastic that normal minds are horrified by the implications. As it should be. Going down that road will stain our souls for generations, no matter how necessary it might be to end the threat of Islam once and for all.
The Dragonrealm - The Horse King by Richard A. Knaak
The human kings are asserting their power and authority now that the Dragon Kings are waning. King Lanith of Zuu is launching a war of conquest against his neighbors. He's gathered an array of sorcerers to assist him. He's also discovered another entity that possesses incredible power, but may have its own hidden agenda. Cabe Bedlam's son is kidnapped and enslaved, so Cabe and his friend Darkhorse embark on a quest to rescue Aurim Bedlam, stop King Lanith from his mad plans, and uncover the truth behind Lanith's agenda. Darkhorse will be forced to confront his greatest fear.
Journeys to the Twilight Zone edited by Carol Serling
You unlock this door with the key of imagination. Beyond it is another dimension - a dimension of sound, a dimension of sight, a dimension of mind. You're moving into a land of both shadow and substance, of things and ideas. You've just journeyed into the Twilight Zone.
Rod Serling's wife edited this anthology of Twilight Zone style stories long after Rod Serling passed away. As with most speculative fiction, some of the stories are really good, some are OK, and some are just "meh." But the entire anthology is less than 300 pages long and they are all an easy read. The last story, "Suggestion," was written by Rod Serling himself and is a great way to end the anthology. Disturbing implications arise when an amateur hypnotist uses his skills at a cocktail party that results in a horrible tragedy.
Star Trek - The Next Generation #16 - Contamination by John Vornholt
She's a sexy empathic Betazoid counselor. He's a tough-as-nails Klingon security officer. Together, they must overcome their differences and solve a murder mystery...IN SPACE!
Counselor Deanna Troi and Security Chief Worf are assigned by Captain Jean-Luc Picard to find whomever murdered one of the leading scientists of the Federation aboard the starship Enterprise. It's one part buddy-cop movie, one part Agatha Christie murder mysters, and one part Perry Mason courtroom drama. Yet, somehow it all works (more or less). Just to make things more complicated, the Federation is in delicate negotiations between the Krell and the Klingons, who hate each other.
The Quorum by Kim Newman
Kids...Don't make a deal with the Devil.
This is NOT part of Kim Newman's Anno Dracula series. It's a stand-alone novel of loosely connected stories. The main characters made a deal with the enigmatic media mogul Derek Leech for wealth, but he demands a terrible price.
With a name like "Leech" you just know he's up to no good. Apparently he just appeared at the bottom of the Thames River and walked out of the muck. A leech in human form, existing and profiting off the misery and chaos of others' lives.
Tips, suggestions, recommendations, etc., can all be directed to perfessor -dot- squirrel -at- gmail -dot- com.
(Huggy Squirrel takes a side trip to...the Twilight Zone!
Disclaimer: I mean it! Don't make a deal with the Devil!
This whole story is dumb but at the same time it's amusing to watch Anthropic's continuing push towards regulatory capture leave them stuck like a rat in a trap.
To mix my metaphors, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei cried "risk" one too many times and ended up being devoured by it.
This leaves SpaceX, by the way, pulling in $2 billion a month renting out its datacenters to its capacity-limited competition.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman blames this trend on Chinese influence, and while Altman absolutely is a compulsive liar, that probably is a large factor. Chinese datacenter rollouts are not facing the same headwinds.
Raptor Lake was the codename for most of Intel's 13th and 14th generation chips; power-hungry but capable, and most importantly and just like the 5800X3D, still supporting DDR4 memory. (Though Raptor Lake can also work with DDR5.)
This market opportunity opened up with the AI companies consuming all the world's DRAM, so CPU makers are looking to sell upgrades to consumers wanting to keep their DRAM and upgrade their system around it.
(I own 384GB worth of DDR4 modules, bought at a small fraction of today's prices. You can bet I am interested.)
"The officer involved has been removed from frontline duties, pending the outcome of the investigation. No arrests have been made."
It comes in the same week that a new national centre for AI in policing, called PoliceAI, was established.
At the launch on Wednesday, PoliceAI interim director Alex Murray said: "Crime and technology are evolving rapidly.
"Policing must keep pace by adopting AI responsibly to catch criminals and keep people safe."We're sorry we got caught. We'll make sure that never happens again.
It's not as bad as it seems: The packages are not in the core of the distribution, but in a secondary user-contributed repository that has long been viewed as "use at your own risk".
The report on the use of AI was AI-generated. Only 5 of 45 citations actually matched the material being cited.
Speaking of which, I've been using Grok recently to dig into the background of a science fiction story I am working on involving highly speculative physics.
It is extremely helpful at sniffing out related real-world speculative papers on the topics I am interested in, since the papers themselves are most often locked behind paywalls.
But it is also very clear when it reaches its limits. LLMs cannot "clump" without careful management. Grok has "projects" limiting conceptual bleed between answers, but it doesn't have nested subprojects; I can't easily keep it from inserting irrelevant details into a question, unless I create a new project with every question and then merge the answer into the whole afterwards.
(If you try it for a while you'll notice this happen as soon as you venture beyond simple question-and-answer use.)
The stock photography company has embraced the inevitability of AI as its market implodes.
Musical Interlude
Song is I Like That by insert name here. Before You Exit Anime is Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun, one of the best anime romantic comedies of recent memory. At 12 episodes and no sign of a sequel it never reaches a conclusion but never outlives its welcome.
Welcome to Club ONT - a collaboration of The Disco and The Dino. We built this place for you so you can have some fun. Come in in, grab a drink or 3. Keep it light and friendly. Jerks need not enter the premises (the moose out front is keeping watch).
[Top photo: Old First Church, Bennington, Vermont]
The flag out front of Club ONT is at half staff in honor of the late Mom of Doof. Please keep Doof and the friends and family of Mom of Doof in your prayers. The disco ball may turn a little more slowly this evening. Thank you for your patience.
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Saturday Night Jokes and Other Funnies
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Drink of the Night
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Club ONT Department of Travel
In case you have missed it, the best account on X (Twitter) right now is from a German guy visiting the US for the first time and planning to take in World Cup games. He keeps finding the best of America and the people of America keep embracing him.
He's covering more of America than many Americans and showing the world that there is more to America than New York, Los Angeles and Las Vegas.
Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), astronomers may have uncovered new clues about a longstanding mystery in galaxy evolution: why so many massive galaxies in the early universe appear to have died far sooner than expected.
Using ALMA and JWST observations of a distant galaxy, researchers have detected a "galaxy-killing" wind - an enormous, high-speed outflow of gas - that is powerful enough to strip a galaxy of the raw material needed to make new stars. The discovery could help explain the puzzling population of massive "dead" galaxies found throughout the young cosmos, according to a statement from the Royal Astronomical Society.
Curious visitors are flocking to a New Zealand produce store to catch a glimpse of a rare chimera apple that is half red and half yellow.
The apple, with colors split almost perfectly down the middle, was found in a mid-May delivery of Red Braeburn apples at the Sunshine Corner Market in the Christchurch suburb of Mairehau.
Chimera apples, believed to occur in less than one in a million fruits, result from a genetic mutation that causes the apple to form from cells from two different genetic backgrounds.
The store's owner, Heather, said the apple has become something of a local celebrity.
A popular tourist attraction in a New Zealand town has been temporarily closed by officials after multiple incidents involving human feces.
The Masterton District Council said in a since-deleted Facebook post that the Fernery, a building that houses more than 60 varieties of fern at Queen Elizabeth Park in Masterton, had to be closed for cleaning Wednesday due to the presence of poop.
"This kind of behavior is completely unacceptable - and disrespectful to other park users. It is thankfully rare. There are excellent public toilets literally two minutes from the Fernery in Queen Elizabeth Park, and regularly-praised toilets a few minutes away in the [Central Business District]," the spokesperson told 1News.
Club ONT has regularly-praised toilets nearby, so please do not engage in unsanctioned pooping while in Club ONT.
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Club ONT Department of Dance Moves
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Club ONT Jukebox
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Top 10ish Comments of the Week
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Club ONT thanks you for your support:
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The Club ONT bar has been freshly stocked with alcohol, cheetos, wheat thins and Mountain Dew. Help yourself.
Saturday Evening Movie Post [moviegique]: Backrooms
—Open Blogger
Another good and in some ways significant film—twelve out of twelve new films in a row, for those counting—has crossed our paths, being yet another trampler of a once undefeatable franchise.
The origins of Backrooms go back to a 2019—ancient history!—creepypasta about an eerie interdimensional space that looks like a very ordinary but empty office building or, in fact, a furniture store. Although much of the concept (which I don't know, honestly) was developed collectively on the Internet, 16-year-old writer/director Kane Parsons created, wrote, directed and starred in a YouTube series based on his take on the story and, now, at the ripe old age of 20, has directed a movie that's easily smashed the $100M barrier, made 20x its budget back already and trounced the flagging Mandalorian.
Of course, only 20x its budget (so far) makes it a big compared to Obsession, which had now made over 220x it's budget, but I doubt anyone's going to complain. And Backrooms may have even better legs, because while it's not a better film, it does have a massive trove of Easter Eggs for fans.
"Backrooms" looking at "Obsession"s legs in the distance.
The Boy was quite pleased, more than I, but I liked it and I could sense the layers of lore there.
I would call it a "funhouse horror," which is what I call scary movies that prioritize effects over narrative consistency—but the best funhouse flicks have an aesthetic or dream logic which pulls everything together. Phantasm, for example, doesn't make narrative sense, but it convinces you (in the way of a dream or nightmare) that it's perfectly rational by its own rules.
Its rules, not ours. Why is there a tiny door with three doorknobs there? What is that menacing human-like shadow? Where'd that seagull come from? Despite not making sense, the movie derives a clear set of rules from the first scene and sticks to it. The weird stuff is in the Backrooms, it's all gonna happen there, and while anyone can get it, nothing from inside gets out.
There is even a kind of rationale, which I think shares something in common with the last movie I saw Chiwetel Ejiofor (nope, 20 years later and I still don't know how to pronounce his name): The Life of Chuck. (No spoilers, but TLoC actually makes less sense as it goes and is kind of a cheat.)
Our star! Well, one of them. Probably. Might just be the key grip.
Ejiofor does a great job as Clark, the rage-filled loser who owns his own (constantly empty) furniture store, which he sleeps in, and can't decide whether he's a pirate or a sultan (as the store mascot). Lukita Maxwell and Finn Bennet do a good job supporting Ejiofor as he's looking for confirmation of how the Backrooms are laid out. Mark Duplass (Baghead) fits perfectly as the man who knows something about the Backrooms, which is worse than knowing nothing.
The other pivotal character in the story is Mary, Ejiofor's therapist, who's a fraud and mess in her own way. Played by Norwegian actress Renate Reinsve, who is perfect for the part, I kept wondering what I knew her from. (The Worst Person In The World and Sentimental Value.)
The movie starts off with a fair amount of backstory. We learn a lot about Clark from his sessions with Mary. We learn a lot about Mary because she's hung up on some childhood trauma. I thought this part was a little slow, but it all pays off.
We have another movie, in other words, where the makers cared about it. Nobody trying to pad the runtime. Nobody trying to check boxes on some list.
"!evol fo eman eht ni..."
We've thankfully seen more films pulling away from the 2010s "color coding", with recent filmmakers not constraining themselves to blue, gray, black and red. Backrooms is yellow. A not-quite-healthy yellow. And it mostly hews to that kind of a palette without shifting to blue/blacks as a crutch.
Also, the use of "analogue" video, as the kids might or might not be calling it, is very effective. It's basically grainy '90s video—the movie takes place pre-cell phones and old media formats abound. As I noted years ago, both in Cloverfield and Chronicle, using lower res video can actually sell CGI better, at least to my eyes.
Unlike Furiosa, for example, where the action is compromised by a seemingly elastic space, and despite the Backrooms being an irrational, dreamlike space, the topology is very anchored. The backrooms can be and are mapped. This doesn't mean there aren't disruptions in the reality. It means that the disruptions are intentional and not a lazy out. Again, somebody cared about this map.
I don't know that I'd rank it as highly as Obsession or Hokum, but it is very different from both and very layered. One of my tweeps has seen it three times, and it's the sort of thing that sparks fan theories.
It has one jump scare in the opening sequence that I saw coming a mile away and it still got me. There's not a lot of blood. If the movie can go for weird/unsettling over gory, it picks the former every time. I'm sure some will dislike that aspect but on the other hand it makes it easier to recommend to even the squeamish.
Big props to Parsons here. Not just for directing it, but for working with Will Soodik, a more seasoned screenwriter, to adapt his series. And for getting excellent actors rather than insisting on being the lead. (Might've been trouble for the 20-year-old to be a divorced, middle-aged man with a furniture store.)
Man, that one episode of "The Twilight Zone" gets a lot of mileage.
MOVIEGIQUE NEWS:
Light fortnight-and-a-half as we saw only four (?) movies but all were new and all were good! Tuner (heist/musical/romcom?), Python Hunt (doc about Burmese Python hunt in Florida), Backrooms and Pressure (Brendan Fraser IS Dwight D. Eisenhaur ON D-Day).
ALSO: I moved my site from Wordpress to...nothing. The new moviegique.com is a static site, so it loads blazingly fast and the search function is also much improved. I do all my editing locally, so it's a million times slicker than WP, and also has none of the security risks. I was getting something like 8,000 visitors a week, 90% of which were hackers and bots. I had taken away the membership registration just to keep down the spam only to discover WP has an API for registration which was on and causing my site to send out login information--probably a thousand emails this year.
The commenting system is crude, since that's trickier from a static website perspective, and we'll see how long I can keep it completely open. (Probably not long.) Also cool, I have a special "Ace of Spades" button on my local editor that makes it do all the things I used to have to do manually. It takes about two minutes to upload a review now. I only wish OregonMuse were here to see it.
Welcome hobbyists! Pull up a chair and sit a spell with the Horde in this little corner of the interweb. This is the mighty, mighty officially sanctioned Ace of Spades Hobby Thread.
This is the second anniversary of TRex assuming the Hobby Thread helm. Hooray! That makes this my 105th Hobby Thread (not counting a few previous oddball contributions through MisHum). Thank you all for being here and participating. None of this works without you (even the lurkers).
In honor of the occasion, the Wheel of Hobbies (TM) took the night off and left a note that said "all of the above." What does that mean? Read on hobbyists...
We all started somewhere. We found our hobbies and interests because someone showed us or we stumbled into it. As kids, we don't know what we don't know. We try things (sometimes voluntarily and sometimes less so). We get exposed to different things and sometimes we light up, even if we had no idea it would resonate until we tried it.
How many hobbies and interests started as childhood sparks? Even better, what childhood sparks blossomed into life-long hobbies? School, summer camp, YMCA, scouts, church groups, parents, relatives, neighbors, etc.
The archery theme last week was a great example of an activity many kids would not get the chance to try unless an adult took the time to make it happen.
What adult hobbies were ignited in your childhood? What hobbies did you try and HATE? What hobbies do you wish you would have tinkered with more as a child?
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What are you hobbying?
As per usual Hobby Thread etiquette, keep this thread limited to hobbying. All (legal) hobbying is welcome. We have a theme, but no need to stick with the theme. Even if the theme does not speak to you, find something else or offer something else relating to hobbying. Leave politics and religion to threads elsewhere (unless your hobby is building or restoring churches). Pants are optional. As always, puns are welcome and encouraged.
Play nice and do not be rude. Do not be a troll and do not feed the trolls.
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Random scouting merit badges:
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Not getting lost is an activity:
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Bird calls:
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Young rex's adventures with watercolor painting were not fruitful.
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When do kids learn robotics?
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Get into the water!
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Adorable:
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Friendship bracelets are a camp craft type thing:
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Leatherworking for beginners:
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How to make a massive backyard zipline:
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Is your hobby motorsports? Hope you're enjoying the 24 Hours of LeMans. Have you been to the race in person?
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Did you miss the Hobby Thread last week? We did an archery theme. The comments may be closed, but you can re-live the content.
Notable comments from last week that are, in part, responsible for the theme this week:
Notable hobbying comment from the Friday ONT comments:
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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 your own. Send thoughts, suggestions and photos of your hobbying to moronhobbies at protonmail dot com. Do mighty things.
FYI I sometimes comment on Ace of Spades as Geoff Shotts.
Anyway, here is Dini, enjoying the shade.
She just turned 11 and is a Lab/Basset mix. Super sweet, loves kids. She's not as spry as she used to be, but still loves walks and trips to the local creek.
Thank you
Awww, love Dini. She looks like a wonderful dog.
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We have heard rumors of a couple of new pets for which we have not received photos. In the meantime, here's another photo of Saijo:
PetMoron Adjacent Animals
Encountered by Members of The Horde
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Hey Katy,
Just thought the horde would appreciate my garden friend this morning. It is a screech owl, we get a pair that nests here every year. I have a lot of water about, bird baths and a fountain and a fish pond. I think they appreciate the water. I got pretty close to him before I even noticed him. He was right where I turn on the water. Made my day.
Weekreekfarmgirl
That's a bold owl - out so near to you during daylight hours! Such a great surprise to find him looking at you!
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Greetings lovers of all things pets and pet adjacent,
Just a few pics from over the last few weeks or so showcasing why I absolutely love living in the country. Featured are the deer who have slowly started trusting us enough to come within 25 yards of the house. Of course it probably helps putting out some snacks for them now and again. Our two Peacocks, the male is the one with the bright turquoise neck, a few wild turkey's and a little frog who has decided to make his home under our evening coffee table.
Love seeing all the contributions to The Pet Thread and look forward to it every week.
v/r Sua Sponte
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Wonderful! Love the frog.
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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:
Penstemon cobaea close-up, showing the "bearded tongue" characteristic of the genus
Don in Kansas has a fine summary on his experiences growing penstemons, back on May 9: Tongues with Beards. Here are three of several he is growing. Click on the link for photos and description of others, along with growing tips:
One of my long-term projects is to find out which penstemons will do well in Kansas. I've got around twenty species planted in various parts of the yard, many of which are coming into bloom now. The Kansas natives such as Penstemon cobaea, above, have done very well. In general, most species I've tried have been easy and haven't needed attention beyond weeding and occasional watering during dry spells. . .
P. wrightii is native to west Texas, a place much drier than Kansas. Surprisingly, all the rain from last year's freakishly wet summer didn't bother it at all, nor did 0℉ in January or 12℉ in March. It's been blooming for three weeks now, and it should continue for at least one and possibly two weeks more. Although the individual flowers aren't large, there are a lot of them, and the color is vivid.
Penstemon Strictus
P. strictus, the “Rocky Mountain Penstemon,” grows throughout the Rocky Mountain states. It’s easy and tough, and will likely grow anywhere that the climate isn’t too extreme.
Interesting variety of beautiful flowers from different parts of the country at the link above, with helpful growing tips from Don.
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Edible Gardening/Putting Things By
By-Tor has a big update on his container garden with some good tips:
Tomatoes are going great guns. The plants are getting huge. No reds yet but they’re coming.
Peppers are the same. Zucchini and squash as well.
Dill is maxed out; I may have to dry them and store, then plant more. Or maybe trim the tops and see if it grows out.
Long hot days on the horizon, with lots of water, portend a successful harvest.
Most of these are in containers or grow bags; I’m a little surprised at how well they are doing.
The veggies and strawberries look great! You might think about freezing some dill, depending on how you intend to use it (maybe as immature seed heads for pickles?)
Keep the zucchini and summer squash picked small, since you are growing the plants in containers.
Next week, maybe we'll post By-Tor's instructions for making Fried Green Tomatoes.
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Protecting your holiday celebrations from yellow Jackets
This week, a yellow jacket stung me while I was feeding the garden kitties. WOW. Haven't felt pain like that in a while!
Later that day, we found a nest set up in a torch that was not far from one of the kitty-feeding locations, a few inches from the ground. Those insects were buzzing around in an erratic fashion that was really unnerving. Glad that this didn't happen to me:
Stung by dozens of yellow jackets. There was no sense of where exactly the pain was coming from because there was no sense of where the pain wasn’t. https://t.co/meu5XqucPr
For your neighbors who are infected with suicidal empathy:
A lovely yellow jacket queen skulking on the ground to find a suitable nesting site to establish a new colony. She can sting but is quite docile. Yellow jackets have a bad rap for obvious reasons, but they do serve a purpose in the woods by preying on pests and consuming carrion. pic.twitter.com/XGRmXueJPt
This is Magnolia figo, common name banana shrub. My plant buying got a little over enthusiatic last fall but managed to get it through the winter under lights. I finally put it outside 10 days or so ago and the buds are opening. It's only hardy to Zone 8 so I'm ooing to keep it pruned to container size and cross my fingers this coming winter again.
It is fragrant but to me the fragrance is more floral than banana like. It does have the magnolia fuzzy buds.
I like this plant and its fragrance. Probably attracts yellow jackets.
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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.
Days before the woman was stabbed in the neck by a taxpayer-supported Cultural Enrichment Officer, in the same general area, another taxpayer-supported Cultural Enrichment Officer attacked a boy and bloodied his head with a brick. What is the UK Regime's plan for protecting the citizens from the savage criminals they've foisted on the populace? They offer NONE. They do, however, have a plan for protecting the savage criminals from the citizens: The citizens must STAY CALM and not get angry and not share videos of citizens being attacked by savage criminals.
The public keeps saying "protect us from the foreign savages you have imported against our wishes and over our objections" and the UK branch of The Regime keeps proposing plans to protect the foreign savages from the public. Soclose to what the public is demanding, just, you know, the complete opposite. Just a thought: Maybe you wouldn't have to worry about the public attacking the savage criminals if you actually introduced a plan to protect the public from the savage criminals. Maybe they wouldn't feel as if it was necessary for them to protect the public through self-help.
Podcast: Sefton and CBD bounce around from Maine and its pet Nazi, to the cracks in the Democrat messaging, to the failure of California and its effect on the 2028 election, sea drones rescuing Apache crews, and more!
NEW: Five FBI employees were fired today over the infamous Richmond Catholic memo on "radical traditionalist Catholics," FBI source confirms to @realDailyWire.
Oof. Reviewers do not like Scary Movie 6. The criticism I keep hearing is that the movie mistakes a reference for an actual joke. The movie (they say) keeps Key Jangling a reference to another movie (or some other pop culture ephemera) and you expect there to be a joke but nope, the Key Jangle was the joke. Other reviewers say that the promise that "no lines will be uncrossed" is a fake-out, and that the movie is bland and inoffensively corporate.
Whoops! I posted about Dan Goldman losing the NY congressional primary. He might do that, but it won't be tonight -- the primary isn't held until June 23.
One race to keep an eye on: the Levi's heir nepo baby and egregious "Designated Liar" Dan Goldman -- one of the Democrats from a safe district Democrats send out to spread their most indefensible lies -- may actually lose his lower Manhattan/Brooklyn set due to, get this, antisemitism in the Democrat primary electorate. Antisemitism? In the anti-Nazi Democrat Party? Sounds crazy, I know, but apparently the anti-Nazi Party wants to eliminate Jews.
Henry Rosoff
@HenryRosoff
🚨EXCLUSIVE POLL:
Brad Lander is 34-pts ahead of Congressman Dan Goldman with #NY10 Democratic Primary voters. @ZohranKMamdani is backing the former Comptroller.
@bradlander: 57%
@danielsgoldman: 23%
Poll by @PIX11News & @EmersonPolling.
MORE: http://pix11.com
Oh my Totenkopf Tattoo, that is a DRUBBING! I'm usually very anti-antisemitism but if the Communist Antisemite Jihadists can pull this one off, Go Communist Antisemite Jihadists, Go!
Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., on Platner: "We know that Graham has lived not your typical political experience. He's been very clear and open with his wife, and they worked through whatever they worked through. At the end of the day, this man has had 60 more town halls than Susan Collins has. He's winning the polls, he's willing to accept that he has grown as a person, and I think we should accept that."
Gallego says the drip-drip of revelations won't harm Platner's campaign.
"I think you guys are all in a bubble here right now. The drip, drip that's actually happening is Americans are really, really hurt the fact that gas is still high, food is still high, they can't buy a home, you can't afford rent. They're not going to care about text messages and everything else like that that happened years ago, especially when it was worked out between spouses."
I like that he says that it's okay that Graham Platner sexted 12 different women within months of marrying the woman to sponge off her because he wasn't then "living a political life" -- the clear meaning being, "We all cheat, we just don't cheat when we're running for office, and he didn't know he was running for office when he was sending dicpics to half the women he ran into."
Except he was running: His own wife turned the sexts over to his campaign.
And obviously Reuben Gallego didn't let his "political life" get in the way of his extramarital dating life:
