Ace of Spades Pet Thread

—Misanthropic Humanitarian

Welcome to the almost world famous AoS Pet Thread. Take some time from making kitteh toupees and enjoy the world of animals. Today's opening photo is a h/t from Hank Curmudgeon.

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A Little of This. A Little of That.

Some happy news in the AoSHQ Pet Thread. Missing toddler found with her doggeh. h/t Mike Hammer.

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I agree with Rush Limbaugh. Twitter for the most part is a sewer. This is an exception to the rule.

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Dog. Swimming pool. Cute.

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Meet The PetMorons

Shade earned this nickname when we were doing a 50 shortly after that movie had played on TV and after going slow through a rocky section we hit clear looking area that had hidden gopher holes. Sped up and she hit a hole and managed to not fully fall on me. Both our faces were a bit scraped and she'd had a good wrench on her leg but she was not going to quit. Sadly she had a bit of offset on her front legs and it did lead to arthritis in her right knee, forcing retirement at age 16 and euthanasia on June 18 at 21 years.

As the song says in my heart she will remain forever young.

Pale Rider

Never easy to lose a pet regardless of it's size. What a great video.

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Hi, guys,

Attached please find some pics of my Border Collies. The black and white mom is Fiona, blue Merle dad is Spenser, and the pups are yet to be named. We are thinking of naming all the Merle's after blues songs, and I'm pushing for "Betty" for the black and white one. Bam ba lam! - Frank

Puppies, so cute!!! Thanks.

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I am a long time lurker and follower of the Ace of Spades blog. I have enjoyed the content and the wit of many commenters. Y'all come up with stuff that is funnier than anything on TV. I have especially enjoyed the Pet thread. The stories that your readers tell about their amazing shaggy friends are often bittersweet, as they tell about losing these friends after so many wonderful years.
I would like to submit my pal, Cooper (aka Coop de Ville) as a Pet of the Week. Coop is a two year old Maltipoo, and my wife and I have had him for about 16 months. We knew that Coop was a very refined pup, but we were a little surprised when he asked to personalize and beautify his area. He chose the art himself, and asked to put it in his bedroom, photos included. He has really brightened our senior lives, and he is a real pal.
Thanks for your consideration.

Well, this lurker didn't give me permission to use his first name or his initials. Let's just say this Lurker Moron from S.C. really has a spoiled dog. Nice job!!!

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Thank you for the submissions this past week. A fine group of animals and a fine group of Morons.

Do you have a story, link or a pet photo you wish to share? You may pass them along to petmorons at gmail dot com. Please give us a name to use so we can credit you or shame you, j/k.

Have a great week!!

Close it up

Saturday Gardening Thread: The Science is Shifting [KT]

—Open Blogger

After reading about the attempted coup news of the day, nice to have my Shangri la --- the real world we fight to maintain.
Illiniwek

Welcome to the first official week of Summer 2018 on the Gardening Thread! It is weeks like this that I appreciate The Horde. We get some great things in the mail. It's been a wild week for me. Haven't gotten to all of them. Sorry about the short thread. But The Horde supplied the ideas and/or photos which follow.

Wildflowers in the Wild and in the Garden

Cumberland Astro has some friends in Texas who are interested in Indian Paint Brush and Indian Blanket. One of these is an easy summer garden flower. The other is not so easy, and may be better in a wild setting, unless you are doing a meadow or something, because it is a hemiparasite. But it brings up an interesting topic: changes in botanical names.

As a result of developments in the science of genetics, a few decades ago, the Figwort Family, formerly very large, was decimated. Most of its members were moved to other families. Even snapdragons, formerly considered to be models for the family. That is because genetic evidence was more powerful than similarities in plant structure. Changes in botanical names continue at a slower pace today. They remain disconcerting to gardeners. Don't get me started on "Chrysanthemum".

But still, botanical names are less confusing than common names. Especially of wildflowers, as Cumberland Astro has noted. I think the Indian Paintbrushes pretty much retained their genus and species names when they switched families.

Indian Paintbrush

Here is a photo of Scarlet Indian Paintbrush, Castilleja coccinea, one kind of Indian Paintbrush for which seed is offered. It is an Eastern species, though there are many more species in the West. It is apparently pollinated primarily by the Ruby-throated Hummingbird.

If you will be starting Indian Paintbrush in a container, good hosts for many hemiparasitic species include low-growing grasses and sedges like Hairy Grama, Blue Grama, Buffalo Grass, Common Oak Sedge, Sweet Grass, and June Grass. With a knife make a 2" deep cut at the base of the host plant. Sow seed in the cut, making sure seed is not more than 1/8" deep. If host is transplanted at sowing time, the cut is not needed because damaged roots will be available for attachment by the parasite. You may also try sowing hemiparasitic and host species seeds together at the same time. To add hemiparasitic species to existing sites, scatter seed on soil surface (rake in if seed is large) in late fall.

The Forest Service says that this species is found in Texas as well as in more easterly states, though their map doesn't show Texas in its native range. I expect that planting instructions would be similar for other species found in Texas and elsewhere. The Forest Service did provide some other information:

Ironically, this plant was used by Native Americans as both a love charm in food and as a poison used to against their enemies, as this species is known to have toxic properties.

Indian Paintbrush is known to concentrate selenium if it is in the soil. This might account for beneficial properties in small amounts and toxic properties in large amounts.

Owl Clover

As an aside, I was surprised to find that Owl's Clovers, which were never real clovers, has been re-classified into the same genus as Indian Paint Brush. They grow around my house where the land is not cultivated for a season and grasses take hold. They are also hemiparasites.

See the little owls peeking out of the flower? More photos of Owl's Clovers and Paintbrushes at the link.

Fields of Owl's Clover are sometimes seen in places where this plant and its host plants don't get much competition: deserts, alkali flats, sand dunes, etc. They often seem to bloom after their host plants have dried up for the season.

Indian Blanket

In contrast to the hemiparasites above, Indian Blanket, Gaillardia, is a pretty easy summer garden flower to grow in much of the country. This genus is in the Aster Family. There are several species in North and South America. Sometimes it is called 'Firewheel'. Below is G. pulchella, which is found in Texas and much of the Southeast.

Photo by Rhododendrites - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link

Garden hybrids are mostly called 'Gaillardia x grandiflora'. I like 'Arizona Apricot' and the red solid color ones.

Gardens of The Horde

We have been getting some lovely flower photos, but not many veggie photos yet this season. Some nice veggie commentary in the comments though.

Ever wondered what turnip flowers look like? This is what turnips look like the second year. I've eaten my share of turnip blossoms. They're the yellow ones. The blue ones are vetch. Don't think I would eat those flowers. These were grown by Illiniwek, who has the means to dig them under.

Looking forward to some photos or tips from you, too.

If you would like to send information and/or photos for the Saturday Gardening Thread, the address is:

ktinthegarden
at g mail dot com

Include your nic unless you just want to be a lurker.

Close it up

Thread before the Gardening Thread: No Snark Week [KT]

—Open Blogger

Happy Saturday! I am out of snark today. I am even out of irony. Among other dramatic events of the week, I watched emergency crews at our home and at the hospital work together pretty intelligently to bring our friend back from the brink of death. Changes your perspective some. I plan to write some notes of appreciation. Lots of prayers were said in his behalf, too.

The things our friend cared about when he came back to consciousness a few days later were the people he knows and his little dog. And making sure that his private world was in order. My to-do list has changed as a result of this experience with him. Maybe it shouldn't take something so traumatic to prompt us to remember some of those important things we have been putting off.

I've been following the news, but my mind is not on analysis right now. This is an open thread, so if you have an observation on the world of media or politics, feel free. It was a remarkable week in more ways than one.

But if you're ready for a breather, I have been saving a video for a while that you might appreciate, or at least find interesting. I like the idea of people feeling free to ramble alone in the park, in the dark. I guess that was a different time.

Weird News Dump

—Misanthropic Humanitarian

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Refill that coffee cup, have another donut and check out some stories that didn't get too much attention at the AoSHQ this past week.

• Somewhere there is a lab missing its mad scientist.

• So much for live and let live.

• Remind me to never ask her for medical any advice.

• I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream, HIC

• Spare the rod, spoil the child and the reason this family can't have anything nice.

• Losing bid failed the specs. Jeez what about the winner.

• Eels, Pepsi no Coke please.

• No means No! Dammit!!!

• My this is different.

• With friends like this............

• Didn't know there was a caliber in .Dumb Shit.

• Too clever for the Humorless Police.
  

A couple of suggestions, don't run with sharp objects, be nice to the 'ettes and have a great weekend!!!!!

Close it up

EMT 06/23/18

—krakatoa

Your EMT: 100% on time 60% of the time.

Friday Night's ONT is a Mystery

—WeirdDave

ONT comments go here, on this thread. You can find the content here. The game is afoot!

Decompression Thread

—Ace of Spades

Below, some cute animal vids, starting with one sent along by steevy to brighten our moods:

Michael Anton: Here's a Question No One Ever Asks-- Why Does a Nation of 320 Million Need Millions of More Immigrants?

—Ace of Spades

Not a Cuck. Trump made an error in letting this cat go, and should rehire him in a more important position if he ever becomes available again, and if he's even willing to take a job again with Trump.

As Capitol Hill Republicans attempt for -- what, the eighth? ninth? -- time in the past two decades to jam through an amnesty that their voters have explicitly, loudly and repeatedly said they do not want, it’s worth asking a question that is rarely raised:

Does the United States -- population 320 million and rising --need more people? If so, why?

To most ears, the question sounds blasphemous, which illustrates the rottenness of our immigration debate. Actually, "debate" is far too generous. One side has made sure that there is no debate. Good people want more immigration, and bad people object or raise questions. An inherently political issue has been effectively rendered religious, with the righteous on one side, sinners on the other.

The basic question remains. The pat answer over the past 20 years 0-- "to do the jobs Americans just won’t do" -- may seem to have some salience with a 3.9 percent unemployment rate. But that only further begs the question. After at least two decades of wage stagnation and even decline, now that we've finally reached the nirvana of full employment (and who knows how long it will last), why not take advantage of this tight labor market to raise wages across the board? Especially for the working and middle classes that got nowhere or even lost ground during the housing, finance and tech booms of recent years?

Just about everyone knows the answer: because the business community does not like tight labor markets and the concomitant necessity to raise wages. That's bad for the bottom line. The solution? More workers! And so the Chamber of Commerce Annex -- a.k.a. Capitol Hill Republicans -- dutifully attempt to do their donors' bidding at the expense of their voters’ interests.

Economists in league with big business got good at torturing data to "show" that immigration benefits the economy. But as demonstrated by Harvard University’s George Borjas, one of the nation’s leading economists on the topic, immigration is a net economic benefit to immigrants and to their employers. To workers already here, not so much.

...

We know how more immigration benefits big business and the Democratic Party. No one has yet to convincingly explain how it benefits the American people as a whole. That's the foremost consideration that should drive our immigration debate, and that’s what should determine our immigration policy.

#FakeNews: TIME's Open Borders Propaganda Cover Story Is Fake In Every Way An Article Can Be Fake

—Ace of Spades

The actual facts:

The girl wasn't "separated" by Trump's policy. She wasn't separated from her mother at all. She was just standing slightly (slightly!) away from her mother while her mother was being patted down, that being what you do with criminals you're arresting.

She wasn't a first time border crosser: she'd already been caught illegally entering the US in 2013. A second offense makes her a felon.

She had left three other children back with her husband.

Her husband confirms she wasn't fleeing any sort of political persecution, but was just looking for a job.

One can surmise she brought the tot along as her Get Out of Border Jail Free card.

A border patrol agent actually present at this "separation" told CBS News the real story, as digested at the Daily Caller:

"The photo might be a little misleading," CBS News admitted before playing an interview they did with the border agent whose legs appear in the picture.

"We were patrolling the border, it was after 10-o'clock at night," agent Carlos Ruiz explained. "We asked her to set the kid down in front of her, not away from her... and so we can properly search the mother. So, the kid immediately started crying as she set her down," he continued. "I personally went up to the mother and asked her, 'are you doing OK, is the kid OK?' and she said, 'yes, she's tired and thirsty and it's 11 o'clock at night.'

"They're using it to symbolize a policy and that was not the case on this picture," he continued. "It took less than two minutes, as soon as the search was finished she immediately picked the girl up and the girl immediately stopped crying."

How does TIME respond? By invoking the Fake But Accurate defense, of course:

TIME defended its cover and its reporting Friday, essentially claiming the facts are irrelevant because of the propaganda value of the piece. The photo and story "capture the stakes of this moment," the editor in chief told reporter Hadas Gold.

That's not the only #FakeNews the media's cooking up for you, of course. The AP just vomited up some Journ0lizm about abuses of children in immigrant detention centers, which leftwing feckless cucks claimed was a new "Abu Ghraib," specifying that this abuse happened "after" Trump called MS-13 gangsters "animals."

In fact these abuses happened well before them -- the AP story is almost all about abuses that happened in 2015-2016 under Obama.

But you can almost excuse the Daily Beast's Justin Miller for getting the story so incredibly wrong -- because the AP wrote it up in a way that seemed calculated to produce exactly this misreading.

The AP story is very vague about the dates of these alleged abuses, and keeps mentioning Trump in a story about things that happened before Trump was even a candidate for election.

This sums it up well:

Of course, this entire contrived propaganda tornado began with #FakeNews: John Sexton runs down the #FakeNews beginnings of this Democrat-Media disinformation campaign, beginning with #Activists and #JournalistActivists pushing out photos that actually date from Obama's term as well as actually staged, completely fictitious photos of kids in dog cages, which activists had staged during a protest.

Meanwhile, there's some #RealNews the media can't cover, because it's too busy with the #FakeNews.

Like:

Angel mom Sabine Durden says Trump saved her from committing suicide after an illegal immigrant killed her only son.

"President Trump coming down that escalator that day and talking about illegal immigration stopped me in my tracks."https://t.co/YqOeYUkSXM pic.twitter.com/OsPXNUUsov

— Amber Athey (@amber_athey) June 22, 2018

There's also the small matter of 11 MS-13 gangasters -- or should I call them Citizen-Activists? -- being charged with the murder of two teenagers, just a few miles away from Capitol Hill.

Eleven members of MS-13 have been charged with kidnapping two teenagers, ages 17 and 14, whose bodies were discovered buried in the woods in northern Virginia last year. Authorities claim each of the 11 gang members played some role in the murder of one or both boys.

...

All but one of the eleven men charged are immigrants from El Salvador. NBC 4 Washington reports the names and charges for each of the eleven individuals. Note the gang names of some of these individuals, i.e. "Killer" and "Horror."

Trump should call them "Killers" and "Horrors" -- then the media won't be able to debate whether they're animals or not. If they call themselves Killers and Horrors, who are we to argue with their own sense of self-actualization?

Leaked Memo Reveals that ACLU No Longer Supports Free Speech

—Ace of Spades

Surprise -- the hard left begins agitating against free speech in order to champion "social justice," which is racial supremacy approved by polite liberal society, and the ACLU harkens to its master's command.

The American Civil Liberties Union has explicitly endorsed the view that free speech can harm "marginalized" groups by undermining their civil rights. "Speech that denigrates such groups can inflict serious harms and is intended to and often will impede progress toward equality," the ACLU declares in new guidelines governing case selection and "Conflicts Between Competing Values or Priorities."

This is presented as an explanation rather than a change of policy, and free-speech advocates know the ACLU has already lost its zeal for vigorously defending the speech it hates. ACLU leaders previously avoided acknowledging that retreat, however, in the apparent hope of preserving its reputation as the nation's premier champion of the First Amendment.

But traditional free-speech values do not appeal to the ACLU's increasingly partisan progressive constituency--especially after the 2017 white-supremacist rally in Charlottesville. The Virginia ACLU affiliate rightly represented the rally's organizers when the city attempted to deny them a permit to assemble. Responding to intense post-Charlottesville criticism, last year the ACLU reconsidered its obligation to represent white-supremacist protesters.

The 2018 guidelines claim that "the ACLU is committed to defending speech rights without regard to whether the views expressed are consistent with or opposed to the ACLU's core values, priorities and goals." But directly contradicting that assertion, they also cite as a reason to decline taking a free-speech case "the extent to which the speech may assist in advancing the goals of white supremacists or others whose views are contrary to our values."

In selecting speech cases to defend, the ACLU will now balance the "impact of the proposed speech and the impact of its suppression." Factors like the potential effect of the speech on "marginalized communities" and even on "the ACLU's credibility" could militate against taking a case. Fundraising and communications officials helped formulate the new guidelines.

...

The speech-case guidelines reflect a demotion of free speech in the ACLU's hierarchy of values. Their vague references to the "serious harm" to "marginalized" people occasioned by speech can easily include the presumed psychological effects of racist or otherwise hateful speech, which is constitutionally protected but contrary to ACLU values. Faced with perceived conflicts between freedom of speech and "progress toward equality," the ACLU is likely to choose equality. If the Supreme Court adopted the ACLU’s balancing test, it would greatly expand government power to restrict speech.

Although they're citing "white nationalists" as the reason for this balancing test, #MuhNazis is always the first reason offered for censorship -- and within a week, they're staging police-tolerated riots over Ben Shapiro and Ann Coulter.

The ACLU knows this, of course -- and the ACLU approves.

Totally Underaged Lads Arrive in LaGuardia Airport for Transportation to Other Parts of America

—Ace of Spades

Obviously underaged boys.

Here's video of these "underage boys."

Oddly enough, they're all about the same height as the adult man who's seen taking pictures of them, and one of them has a ferocious five o'clock shadow that would shame Homer Simpson.

Did Jake Tapper verify the age of these tykes or is he just being a feckless partisan as usual?

Are any of Jakey's Twitter Conservative Cucks going to question him about this, or are they all too afraid to, because he will YELL AT THEM IN DMs if they dare to question his Royal Jakeyness?

Isn't that great? The brave stalwarts of the TruCon Brigades are all too afraid to publicly criticize Jake Tapper because he'll give them nasty DMs.

They'll mock conservatives -- their actual readers! -- all day long, but they're too timid to say a cross word about Jake Tapper's "journalism."

A lot of the very same people decrying a "Cult of Trump" and bemoaning Republicans shying away from criticizing Trump have never pubicly criticized Jake Tapper.

Or maybe did, years ago, and got YELLED AT IN DMs, and have kept a civil twitter-tongue ever since. Or maybe they caught hell for a blogger on their site criticizing Jake Tapper and then laid down the fiat that there would be no Jake Tapper criticism permitted on that site any longer.

If they're so brave, why can't they ever criticize Jake Tapper? Or do they simply agree with him 100% of the time?

I cannot spare this man; he tweets.

Flashback: Even Buzzfeed Ben noted Jake Tapper's legendary reputation for twitter nastygrams -- a reputation so legendary, in fact, that people don't even talk about his addiction to screaming at people in DMs:

[O]ne of the great secrets to his professional success is his all-out defense of his reputation on all fronts at all times: Before the Tappergram about the dossier, I'd heard from him more commonly about stray tweets from BuzzFeed staffers about everything from the poop cruise (his own coverage, he wanted to point out, had been serious and policy-focused) to the usual arguments over ratings. No tweet about Tapper, not even a subtweet, falls without Tapper's notice.

"I don't have time for your high school drama club," he said recently in his fourth rapid-fire tweet to a BuzzFeed News reporter who had botched, then quickly corrected, a Tapper quote.

Perhaps the best evidence of how fiercely Tapper protects his reputation is that -- despite his irascibility being a kind of Washington legend -- I can't find any reference to it in a series of recent glowing profiles of the CNN anchor. These profiles tend to feature a relaxed-looking Tapper, surrounded by red, white, and blue memorabilia. Perhaps his feet are up on his desk. Tapper’s friends and acquaintances were rather surprised to learn, from the lede of a recent Times profile, that "Jake Tapper doesn't seem to get rattled easily."

Some of Tapper’s colleagues and Twitter enemies find the heated private responses to criticism over the top, a sign that he takes himself too seriously.

So, TruCon Tappercucks: Not a single point of disagreement with Jake Tapper you'd dare to share publicly?

Manager of Mexican Restaurant Where Socialists Mobbed Kristjen Nielson: We're Happy It Happened and Wouldn't Even Be Bothered if One Of Our Employees Tipped Off The Harassers

—Ace of Spades

Well.

Good to know.

The Mexican restaurant where Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen was swarmed by protesters Tuesday in Washington, D.C., took no action to quell the protesters or ensure Nielsen’s safety, a manager told The Daily Caller News Foundation on Wednesday.

"We are not upset the protesters came here and we are not upset even if it was any of our staffers [who tipped off] the protesters," the MXDC Cocina Mexicana manager, who refused to give his name, told TheDCNF. "We are happy about what happened."

Judicial Watch: John McCain's Former Staff Director Urged Lois Lerner to Engage in "Financially Ruinous" Targeted Audits of 501(c)(3) Organizations

—Ace of Spades

Judicial Watch today released newly obtained internal IRS documents, including material revealing that Sen. John McCain’s former staff director and chief counsel on the Senate Homeland Security Permanent Subcommittee, Henry Kerner, urged top IRS officials, including then-director of exempt organizations Lois Lerner, to "audit so many that it becomes financially ruinous." Kerner was appointed by President Trump as Special Counsel for the United States Office of Special Counsel.

The explosive exchange was contained in notes taken by IRS employees at an April 30, 2013, meeting between Kerner, Lerner, and other high-ranking IRS officials. Just ten days following the meeting, former IRS director of exempt organizations Lois Lerner admitted that the IRS had a policy of improperly and deliberately delaying applications for tax-exempt status from conservative non-profit groups.

Lerner and other IRS officials met with select top staffers from the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee in a "marathon" meeting to discuss concerns raised by both Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) that the IRS was not reining in political advocacy groups in response to the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision. Senator McCain had been the chief sponsor of the McCain-Feingold Act and called the Citizens United decision, which overturned portions of the Act, one of the "worst decisions I have ever seen."

In the full notes of an April 30 meeting, McCain’s high-ranking staffer Kerner recommends harassing non-profit groups until they are unable to continue operating. Kerner tells Lerner, Steve Miller, then chief of staff to IRS commissioner, Nikole Flax, and other IRS officials, "Maybe the solution is to audit so many that it is financially ruinous." In response, Lerner responded that "it is her job to oversee it all:"

Henry Kerner asked how to get to the abuse of organizations claiming section 501 (c)(4) but designed to be primarily political. Lois Lerner said the system works, but not in real time. Henry Kerner noted that these organizations don't disclose donors. Lois Lerner said that if they don't meet the requirements, we can come in and revoke, but it doesn’t happen timely. Nan Marks said if the concern is that organizations engaging in this activity don't disclose donors, then the system doesn't work. Henry Kerner said that maybe the solution is to audit so many that it is financially ruinous. Nikole noted that we have budget constraints. Elise Bean suggested using the list of organizations that made independent expenditures. Lois Lerner said that it is her job to oversee it all, not just political campaign activity.

Judicial Watch previously reported on the 2013 meeting. Senator McCain then issued a statement decrying "false reports claiming that his office was somehow involved in IRS targeting of conservative groups." The IRS previously blacked out the notes of the meeting but Judicial Watch found the notes among subsequent documents released by the agency.

A snake that's been in our house and steathily poisoning us for 40 years.

The Morning Rant

—OregonMuse

"So the zoo sends Sam the vet around once a month to check me out. He's a great guy. 'How's it going, GP?', he'll say, 'Oh, you know, same old same old, Dr. Sam', I'll tell him. Or, 'Hey Doc, I've got this scaly patch on my right butt you might want too look at.' But if I run into him at a cocktail party, I'll say, 'Hey, Sammy, how's it going?' Sam's a low-key guy, he doesn't stand on ceremony. He's 'Dr. Sam' when he's exercising his professional capacity as my vetinarian, and 'Sammy' when we're pounding down brewskis at a local tavern. And everything's cool. Sammy can tell the difference between the personal and the professional. So I don't get these elitist ass clowns who insist on being called "Doctor" no matter who they're talking to or what the situation is. Do they think that graduating from med school confers some kind of title of nobility? And not only the medical doctors, then there's the Ph.D graduates who prance around wearing their 'Dr' diploma like an Easter hat, insisting that everyone call them 'Doctor'. You know, you WILL respect my authority! Give me a break. If Julius Erving went around insisting that everyone call him 'Dr. J', that would be more credible than most of these smug pr*cks who think that writing words on a piece of paper is an awesome achievement."

"...Then They Walk Around In Its Skin And Demand Respect":

Today In Progressive Scholarship #1:

Today In Progressive Scholarship #2:

And the MSM Wonders Why They're Such a Laughingstock:

"When They Go Low, We Go High"

Compare & Contrast:

Ohio Man Gives Florida Man A Run For His Money:

Ohio Man sentenced after attempting to seduce undercover officer with chicken Alfredo https://t.co/p8jga0pUkI pic.twitter.com/5ShGELmYfH

— NBC4 Columbus (@nbc4i) June 18, 2018

"You know, if would be pretty
funny if the officer's name was
Al Dente."

Close it up

Mid-Morning Open Thread

—CBD

The Falls At Kaaterskill
Thomas Cole

The Morning Report 6/22/18

—J.J. Sefton

Good morning kids. The weekend is here and with it brings a mixed bag of news, and from my perspective it seems mostly positive, all things considered. As I had alluded to the other day, aside from its long-standing goal of flooding the country with a massive, permanent voting bloc, the Democrat-Left-Media complex manufactured a border crisis of migrant babies being torn from the arms of their loving parents by Adolph Trump and tossed into a concentration camp. The reason was the evaporation of the vaunted midterm Blue Wave along with the Mueller witch hunt and now the revelations that Obama and Clinton with a willing FBI, CIA and NSA conspired to sabotage the Trump campaign and subsequently overthrow his administration.

Well, after almost a week of non-stop lies, smears and utter fakery, the President singlehandedly exposed this sham for what it is by his executive order to reunite the children with their parents - without turning them loose. He made them admit that what he was doing was merely following a long-standing law, that the conditions he was blamed for were in fact the fault of Obama and most importantly that the Democrat-Left merely cares about these kids insofar as it gets them to their holy grail of open borders. The latest Rasmussen poll shows that a majority of Americans place the blame for this on the parents for placing their kids in mortal danger to be used as political pawns. Most importantly, the President's rhetoric on all these issues is plain, straightforward and brutally honest. It's also reassuring to hear for the first time a Republican president calling it like it is and calling out the Left for their intentions. Well played, sir. And with the embarrassing defeat of the first House bill to address DACA, Paul Ryno was forced tp postpone the more moderate bill (read: total sellout) for Monday and, as of this writing, the situation is in doubt if he'll be able to whip the necessary votes for passage, and even so, it would have to clear the Senate and then face PDT's veto pen. So, at least for now, the status quo such as it is is maintained.

From my perspective, when you consider the corrupt nature of the bureaucracy, a large portion of our judiciary and the rogue nature of blue states and cities where upwards of 20-30 million illegal aliens live, in a very real sense already have open borders. Unless and until you cut off the money and benefits that attract and keep these people here, and severely punish any person or enterprise that knowingly employs them, this problem is not going to go away. Along with that, if we are going to even have a chance at saving the nation and preserving whatever vestige of America as founded still exists, we must have a moratorium on legal immigration for a period of minimum 20 years. I realize that that is almost assuredly a non-starter given the political climate and mindset of a large part of the nation and more importantly those in DC and those with deep pockets. But it has to be said and it has to be proposed. In any case, all in all, it was a good week for the President and the American people on this most crucial issue.

That said, the rage and anger goes on and as the Media drum up more propaganda, the potential for violence ramps up. A former cop is being charged for making death threats to the President while some writer up in Canada is taking a cue from Petered-out Fonda and threatening Donald Trump Jr's 4-year-old daughter, and some raving college socialist burped out a sick, violent, inchoate diatribe against the GOP. Jackie Speier rushes to the defense of that Hrabar slag who verbally assaulted DHS Sec Nielsen at a DC restaurant while Cynthia "Tricky Dickless" Nixon has openly slimed ICE as a "terrorist organization." Considering an NYU prof doxed several thousand ICE agents' personal info yesterday, if one of them or a family member is attacked a la Friend-of-Durbin James Hodgkinson, then the Democrat-Left-Media will have blood on their hands. Meh, that's exactly what they want.

Moving along, the big news in the Mueller Flea Circus and Spygate is the DoJ has revoked Peter Strzok's security clearance (gee, that was quick /s) and Peter Kadzik, the DoJ official who sought a job on the Hillary campaign for his son while being part of the investigation into her e-mail servers will not even get a slap on the wrist. Not a smidgen of corruption. Nope.

On the 1st amendment front, anti-American front group SPLC is facing a potential huge lawsuit over its smearing of companies as "hate groups," and as goes Tommy Robinson, so goes whatever liberty and heritage of Magna Carta is left in the UK.

The big news from SCOTUS is its decision to allow states to collect taxes from internet sales. A boon for brick and mortar stores or taxation without representation? Discuss. On the political front, the question of California splitting up is causing heated debate over exactly what that's going to look like. My big fear is three state which have Los Angeles, San Francisco and Sacramento as their capitals. That would be suboptimal to say the least.

On the international scene, the Russians and Chi-Coms are going ballistic over PDT's proposed Space Force. I see parallels with President Reagan's SDI, since despite their image, my gut tells me that the volume and intensity of their reaction indicates that they know they can't compete, technologically or financially, in this area. No doubt a Democrat will try and reassure them a la Ted Kennedy that once Trump's gone, they'll scrap the program. Meanwhile, GOP lawmakers want to isolate Iran form the international financial community and want Treasury Secretary Mnuchin to m'nuke Obama's secret side deals in the now defunct nuke deal.

From hither and yon, ABC is booting up a spinoff of "Roseanne" minus Ms. Barr, a rather sobering essay from the Federalist about the end of America and lastly, today marks the 77th anniversary of Operation Barbarossa, Nazi Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union which they boasted as a war of annihilation. It was the bloodiest, most savage battle in history taking nearly 20 million Russian lives. It also marked the ramping up of the annihilation of the Jews. Over 1.5 million people - nearly one fourth of all the victims of the Holocaust - were shot, one by one, by the Einsatzgruppen in cities, towns and villages from the Baltic to the Black Sea. The mind boggles.

Anyway, links from around the world, across the nation and up your street. Have a better one and remain blessed.

IN THE LEAD: THE AMNESTY SCAM

• PDT: "The Democrats Want Open Borders... We Are Not Going to Let It Happen"
  
• FAKE: Iconic Photo of Crying Migrant Honduran Girl Said to Have Been Separated From Her Mother Wasn't Says... Her Migrant Honduran Father
  
• AP Deliberately Manipulates - Then Stealth Updates - Immigration Horror Story to Smear PDT with Obama-Era Abuse Case
  
• Guardians of Truth Facebook Allows Fake News Photo to Raise $18 Million for Open Borders Cause
  
• Embarrassing: Conservative Amnesty Bill Fails in House; Vote on More "Moderate" Sellout Postponed Until Monday
  
• Related: Levin - Is It Too Late to Have a Lawful Immigration System?
  
• Backfire: Rasmussen Poll Shows Majority of Americans Blame Illegal Alien Parents for Plight of Their Kids
  
• Lefty TV Writer Makes Disturbing Threat on Trump Jr.'s 4-Year-Old Daughter
  
• Weaponizing Compassion
  
• Speier Defends Sandersnista-Supporting "Heckler" Who Verbally Abused DHS Sec Nielsen (so she's totes cool with James Hodgkinson, right? - jjs)
  
• Grandstanding Commie DeBolshevik Turned Back at Texas Border Facility
  
• Dick-Less Nixon Smears ICE as a "Terrorist Organization"
  
  SPYGATE, MUELLER WITCH HUNT, DEEP STATE
  
• Sessonszzzz Sez Strzok's Security Clearance Revoked
  
  CLINTON SCANDALS, OBAMA SCANDALS, DEMOCRAT SCANDALS
  
• Peter Kadzik, DoJ Official Who Tipped Off Podesta,Likely Won't Face Any Legal Consequences
  
• Hillary's Friends in High Places
  
• The Real Lesson of the IG Report
  
• Why is the FBI Still Covering for Discredited Agents at the Heart of the "Investigation?"
  
  SECOND AMENDMENT
  
• Media Lining Up to Defend Another of Obama's "Sons" Shot During Carjacking, Attempted Murder
  
  FIRST AMENDMENT, MEDIA, FAKE NEWS
  
• Tommy Robinson's Last Stand
  
• 47 Non-Profits Warn Editors and CEOs "You're Complicit in SPLC's 'Hate Group' Defamation"
  
• Former Police Officer is the Latest to Be Charged for Making Death Threats Against PDT
  
• Big Loser/NSA Leaker Reality Winner Accepts Plea Deal
  
  POLITICS, 2018 MIDTERMS
  
• California Separatists Argue Over How Best to Carve Up State (with a Dem shit-hole as capital for each, no doubt - jjs)
  
• Would the Virginia GOP Rather Lose to a Democrat Than Win with Corey Stewart?
  
• Liberals Are Crazy; Will Voters Notice?
  
• The Peril of Politicized Anti-Semitism
  
  FOREIGN POLICY, INTERNATIONAL
  
• Russians, Chi-Coms Alarmed by PDT's "Space Force" Proposal (heh, like Reagan and SDI - jjs)
  
• First East Africa, Now US Pilots Targeted by Lasers in East China Sea
  
• Congress Seeks to Ban Iran from International Finance System
  
• Related: GOP Leaders Urge Mnuchin to Close Secret Obama Nuke Deal Loopholes
  
• Rift Grows Between Congress and Pentagon Over Weapons Transfer to Turkey (why the hell have they not been booted from NATO?! - jjs)
  
• Canada Moves Closer to Legalizing Marijuana
  
  DEFENSE, MILITARY AFFAIRS
  
• How to Protect the Space Force from Critical Threat of... Krony Kapitalizm
  
  ISLAM, TERRORISM, SHARIA, DHIMMITUDE
  
• Israeli Study Asserts Link Between BDS Movement and Palestinian Terrorist Groups
  
• Philly Schools Add Muslim Holiday by Cutting Jewish One
  
• Greenfield: Islamic Terrorists and Gay Targets
  
  THE ECONOMY, STUPID
  
• Tax Reform Helping Main Street and the Energy Sector Grow (meh, Upton's a dim bulb but he's right - jjs)
  
• The High Cost of Tariffs
  
  DOMESTIC POLICY, COURTS, BUREAUCRACY
  
• SCOTUS Decision Signals End of Tax-Free Internet Purchases
  
• Related: SCOTUS Authorizes Taxation Without Representation
  
• Related: SCOTUS Opens Door to Internet Taxes - What Comes Next Could Be a Lot Worse
  
• California Targets the SCOTUS
  
• Nikki Haley, Bernardo Sandersnista Get Into Heated Argument Over UN Report of Poverty in the USA
  
• HUD Sec Carson: "Real Compassion" is Tackling "Perverse Incentives" That Continue Cycle of Poverty (the ones created/pimped by Democrat-Socialists - jjs)
  
• Why is the GOP Rewarding Big, Liberal Hollywood Music?
  
  HEALTHCARE
  
• Link to Herpes Virus Offers Hope for Curing Alzheimer's Disease
  
• Opioids: The Child Separation Crisis No One is Talking About
  
  EDUCATION, INDOCTRINATION
  
• 1,000 DC Public School Teachers Reportedly Are Not Licensed
  
• College Socialist Goes on Lunatic Anti-GOP Rant: "Smash Them, Burn Down Their Tent"
  
• Why Isn't Personal Finance Taught in the Public Schools? (go axe the DC B-of-E - jjs)
  
  RED-GREENS, CLIMATE CHANGE, LYSENKOISM
  
• Dem Senate Candidate Profits from Big Oil Despite Making "Renewable Energy" Pillar of Campaign
  
  CULTURE WARS, HITHER and YON
  
• NO-seanne: ABC Orders 10-Episode Spinoff of "Roseanne" Without Namesake Actress
  
• America Is Over, But I Won't See It Go Without an Epic Fight

What Can I Say? It's The ONT

—WeirdDave

Say, did anyone notice that the World Cup is going on? Does anyone care? Even though I played some soccer as a kid, and enjoyed it, I've never been interested as an adult. If the US is playing I won't turn it off, but that's about as enthusiastic as I can get.

Speaking of Sports

Coach Teaches Team A Powerfully Patriotic Lesson In Respect

What do you do if you coach athletes who want to join in the national kneel-down garbage that's going on? If you're Coach Williams, you take away their chairs and give them to veterans:

“These guys, when they were your age, interrupted their life, they paused their education, they changed their career, and they gave their life for those chairs,” Williams says. “So when the anthem is played, we’re going to stand like grown men and we’re going to honor men like this, that gave their life, so we can have a chair to sit in.” The impassioned coach then had his players line up, right there in the middle of the arena, directly across from US veterans. Then, side-by-side, the players and the veterans sing the National Anthem as one. 

I remember when coaches used to view it as their job to coach their kids in life as well as sports. Coach Williams does too, I'll bet.

It's only June, and We've Reached Peak 2018 Already

STORMY DANIELS headed to border to weigh in on child separation ⤵️⤵️⤵️ https://t.co/OBHXus4ApJ

— Kenneth P. Vogel (@kenvogel) June 21, 2018

If David Hogg shows up, we'll have the trifecta.

ONT Book Thread

Not to step on OM's toes, but I'm reading this book again.

I have to say, I like it. The last 2/3 of the book is a pretty good yarn. The first 1/3....I wish it was annotated, I'd use it as a civics text. He spends a lot of time setting up the world that the adventure takes place in, and in the process creates a damn good argument for conservative free market principles. Some of the stuff he lays out in my field I know is true, some of the stuff in other fields I believe to be correct, but I wish it had cites. Anyone else read this?

Drill, Baby, Drill

Titan Has More Oil Than Earth

So, the question I have is, if oil is a critically limited resource because it is the result of decayed dinosaurs, how on Earth did so much of it got on Titan, hmm? Really, it's a serious question. We all know the doomsday predictions of “peak oil” from a few decades back have proven to be bullshit, but I thought that was just because we discovered a lot more. Maybe, however, oil isn't as finite a resource as we were led to believe. I dunno. Any petroleum geologists in the house?

Skip This Section

Amazing skipping skills. (Not sped up.) pic.twitter.com/BRBjZ4IqfZ

— Only In Asia (@Crazyinnasia) June 19, 2018

I Had a Job, but Then I Blew It.

Shocking number of Americans have sex at work

A better title might be “Shocking number of Americans claim to have sex at work”. Do lots of people really do this? I mean, I've had sex at work, but not in 30 years or so. (I was the manager of a movie theater. The last shows of the evening were running, everything was shut down, all the other employees had left and my girlfriend cornered me in the projection booth) I can't imagine doing it now. Is it really that common?

Stop the World, I've Had Enough

Woman claims drinking her dog’s urine cleared up her acne

 “Many of you have asked me how I always look so good, how my makeup always looks so perfect, or how I always have this natural glow.”

…

Until I first drank my dog’s pee, I was depressed, I was sad, and I had bad acne.”

Now she looks great and feels, but unfortunately she's got worms. :eek:

Really, really, really bad news: There's video at the link. Oh. Boy.

Tonight's ONT brought to you by people who are about to have a very unpleasant experience:

The Yahoo Group drinks their own sweat.

Close it up

Media and Sad Twitter Addicts Spend Afternoon Obsessing Over Melania's Jacket

—Ace of Spades

Twitter addicts showing off their addiction to each other.

Most odious among them: Grandstandin' Jim Acosta.

This is just like the media/twitter addict spaz out about Melania's stiletto heels when touring hurricane-battered Texas, except that it's exactly like that.

Trump trolled the twitter shut-ins where they live. Which is on Twitter:

Peter Strzok Has Lost His Security Clearance

—Ace of Spades

Finally.

This probably had to do with the IG's inquiry. The IG can interview federal employees but not ex-federal employees (well, at least the IG has no authority to demand an interview).

People have said, erroneously I think, that Page and Strzok had "cooperated' with the IG. I think that is a misunderstanding. Their lawyered-up, "Gee I don't remember saying 'We'll stop it' and if I did say it I only meant we'll stop the exploitation of child labor" bullshit answers weren't "cooperation." They were just some lies they were telling because they had to offer some answers, so long as they were still sucking off the federal tit.

But now that the IG has probably gotten all of their bullshit answers, there's no reason to continue keeping these two as real employees.

This might be a move towards an eventual firing.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Thursday that former FBI official Peter Strzok has lost his security clearance amid an internal disciplinary review.

"Mr. Strzok, as I understand, has lost his security clearance," Sessions told radio host Howie Carr.

Strzok was escorted out of FBI headquarters on Friday, the day after the Department of Justice’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) released its long-awaited report about the FBI’s handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation.

And we still don't know how it came to be that the most explosive of all of Peter Strzok's known texts came to be... unavailable, or at least not discoverable without some serious efforts by Horowitz to find it, which involved happening across the information that the FBI phones were capturing some old texts in their internal hard drive. Something that I guess most people didn't know.

Byron York reports that three attempts to capture missing texts did not find the "We'll stop it" text.

Finally, Horowitz's staff went back to the FBI and did a final search -- this was just a few weeks ago, in May -- and discovered that the phone itself "had a database on it that was actually also doing a collection of text messages."

Using that method, on their fourth run through the data, the IG staff discovered the "We'll stop it" text from Aug. 8, 2016. "It turned out that the FBI wasn't aware that that database on there, which was supposed to be an operating function, was actually collecting data," Horowitz said.

But there was something odd about it all. The Strzok "We'll stop it" text did not come from that period of time, December 2016 to May 2017, when the FBI system was not working. It came from August 2016, when the FBI system was supposedly collecting every message. That was the period of time from which the FBI originally turned over tens of thousands of Strzok-Page texts.

And yet, that one-line message -- "We'll stop it" -- was not turned over to the IG, and not turned over to Congress, either.

"It's now clear to us that the -- even when the software at the FBI was collecting text messages, because the August 8th period was within the collection period, we had the incoming Page to Strzok text, we didn't have the response," Horowitz told the Senate. "It's now clear to us that even outside this blackout period, we're not convinced that the FBI was collecting, for obvious reasons, 100 percent of the text messages."

On Tuesday, speaking to the House, Horowitz faced some skeptical questioning. There were reams of Strzok-Page texts turned over to Congress last fall, Republican Rep. Jim Jordan said to Horowitz, "But there was one we didn't get to see -- one text message we didn't get to see that -- until last week, when your report came out, and it just happened to be the most explosive one, the one that says, 'We'll stop Trump.' How come we didn't see that beforehand?"

"There was, in that fourth recovery that we made in May, there was 100,000-plus lines of text to go through," Horowitz said. "Most -- all of them we'd found before. This one was one we hadn't. We didn't see it, or pick it up, until June."

"Did you not see it, or was it hidden from you?" Jordan asked. "Because we have the text message right before it, and the one that happened right after it, but somehow that one — the most explosive one — was missing from the pages that we got months ago."

Horowitz said he did not believe the Justice Department knew about the text before the IG's office discovered it. "I don't think the department had it," Horowitz said. But any chance for Horowitz to elaborate on that, or to satisfy Republican suspicions about the Justice Department's role, was lost when Jordan's time ran out, and no one picked up his line of questions.

As far as I can tell, no one directly asked Strzok if he deleted the text. And Strzok's official story is that he doesn't remember the text at all.

Charles Krauthammer, RIP

—Ace of Spades

He was 68.

Charles Krauthammer, a longtime Fox News contributor, Pulitzer Prize winner, Harvard-trained psychiatrist and best-selling author who came to be known as the dean of conservative commentators, has died. He was 68.

His death had been expected after he wrote a heartbreaking letter to colleagues, friends and viewers on June 8 that said in part "I have been uncharacteristically silent these past ten months. I had thought that silence would soon be coming to an end, but I'm afraid I must tell you now that fate has decided on a different course for me...

"Recent tests have revealed that the cancer has returned. There was no sign of it as recently as a month ago, which means it is aggressive and spreading rapidly. My doctors tell me their best estimate is that I have only a few weeks left to live. This is the final verdict. My fight is over."

Tucker Carlson was on Fox, praising Krauthammer's spirit. He thought that because Charles Krauthammer faced his own death early in his life -- lying at the bottom of a pool, knowing immediately that he had severed his spine and would drown unless promptly rescued by someone else -- he was liberated from the sort of anger and frustration that consume many other people.

Nation's Largest Supplier of Hobo Toilets, Starbucks, to Close 150 Hobo Toilet Outlets

—Ace of Spades

They say they'll be closing their Hobo Toilet outlets in the "densest-penetrated" markets.

Does that refer to cities, where there's a lot of foot-traffic and hobos and therefore the highest need of Hobo Toilet Outlets?

Or does "penetrated" refer to its heroin shooting gallery side-business?

We'll have to see.

Americans' long-running joke about a Starbucks on every corner may be nearing its end.

The coffee behemoth is retrenching in its home market as it contends with sales growth that Chief Executive Officer Kevin Johnson acknowledges isn't fast enough. The cafe chain said Tuesday it expects comparable sales to rise just 1 percent globally for the current quarter--the worst performance in about nine years. That's well below the 2.9 percent analysts were expecting, according to Consensus Metrix.

Starbucks also plans to close about 150 company-operated stores in densely penetrated U.S. markets next fiscal year, three times the number it historically shuts down annually. Shares slid as much as 5.1 percent in early trading on Wednesday.

"Our growth has slowed a bit," Johnson said in an interview. "I expect better, I think our shareholders deserve better, and we're committed to address that.”

A few weeks ago some friends and I plunked ourselves down at an outside Starbucks patio table and sat there for hours without ordering anything.

Well, one weak Cuck did order a small tea. But there were four of us. I was drinking something I'd bought elsewhere!

Anyway, it was my right as a Transient and I enjoyed it to the hilt.

True to Starbucks' policy, we were permitted to do this. So, hey, at least they're providing free tables for people like me who want to sit down and enjoy my Big Gulp.

Federal District Court: Elizabeth Warren's Creation, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Is Unconstitutional

—Ace of Spades

Courts have found the law creating the CFPB unconstitutional in that it creates a "Director" running it, who is, in theory, a member of the Executive Branch, but then puts that Director unconstitutionally beyond the reach of the actual Executive, the President, stating that he can only be fired for cause.

One court reviewing this en banc chose to say that part is unconstitutional, but it can be "severed" from the rest of the law, and the law just rewritten by judge's fiat to say the Director can be fired by the president, like any other executive officer, for any reason.

Actually, a clarification: I think the rule is that members of a committee exercising executive power can be made fire-proof (or fireable only for cause), but you can't vest that kind of unfireable power in a singular head, as a Director is.

But one district judge says, "Nah, bro," and finds that that the can-only-be-fired-for-cause provision is part of the heart of the CFPB, and therefore cannot simply be severed/written out of the bill.

As that part is unconstitutional, and cannot be severed from the bill creating the CFPB, the whole law is unconstitutional, and the CFPB is unconstitutional and null and void itself. It strikes the CFPB as a party from the suit (against various defendants, including the NFL), finding it simply has no authority to act at all, in any capacity.

In reaching the question of the constitutionality of Title X of Dodd-Frank, which established the CFPB as an "independent bureau" within the Federal Reserve System, 12 U.S.C. § 5491(a), the Court acknowledges the en banc holding of the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in PHH Corp. v. CFPB, 881 F.3d 75 (D.C. Cir. 2018), upholding the statute. Of course, that decision is not binding on this Court.7

Respectfully, the Court disagrees with the holding of the en
banc court and instead adopts Sections I-IV of Judge Brett
Kavanaugh's dissent (joined in by Senior Circuit Judge A.
Raymond Randolph), where, based on considerations of history,
liberty, and presidential authority, Judge Kavanaugh concluded
that the CFPB "is unconstitutionally structured because it is an
independent agency that exercises substantial executive power
and is headed by a single Director." Id. at 198.

Also most respectfully, the Court disagrees with Section V
of Judge Kavanaugh’s opinion wherein he determined the remedy to
be to "invalidate and sever the for-cause removal provision and
hold that the Director of the CFPB may be supervised, directed,
and removed at will by the President." Id. at 200. Instead,
the Court adopts Section II of Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson's
dissent wherein she opined that "the presumption of severability
is rebutted here. A severability clause 'does not give the
court power to amend' a statute. Nor is it a license to cut out
the 'heart' of a statute. Because section 5491(c)(3) is at the
heart of Title X [Dodd Frank], I would strike Title X in its
entirety." Id. at 163-64 (citations omitted).

Let me digest the next bits: The CFPB argues that because Mick Mulvaney is now the director, but was appointed as a vacancy appointment and therefore can be fired by the President for any reason, that the CFPB is acting constitutionally if only for this brief bit of time, having a constitutional, fireable executive in charge.

The Court points out that Mulvaney can only serve until 2018, at which point the law calls for another unconstitutionally, not-fireable-except-for-cause director to be appointed, which therefore keeps the CFPB in violation of the Constitution.

The CFPB argues that Mulvaney, by currently being the head of the CFPB and not choosing to end this action (which was begun before he assumed the directorship), effectively "ratifies" the actions taken by his predecessor. The argument is that while the previous Director might have been unconstitutional, the current temporary one is, and his presence retroactively fixes the constitutional defects of the CFPB.

Nah, brah, says the Court again. A temporary and temporarily-fireable director does not fix the fundamental unconstitutionality of the Dodd-Frank law which created this unconstitutional agency.

Here, the constitutional issues presented by the structure of the CFPB are not cured by the appointment of Mr. Mulvaney. As Defendants point out, the relevant provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act that render the CFPB's structure unconstitutional remain intact. (Ratification 4.)

Furthermore, Mr. Mulvaney cannot serve past June 22, 2018 (210 days after the vacancy arose), unless the President nominates a new Director, and then
only until the new Director is appointed. Thus, there will
likely be a new Director appointed in the coming months who will
be subject to the for-cause removal provision. Therefore, the
Ratification does not cure the constitutional deficiencies with
the CFPB's structure as the CFPB argues. Accordingly, the Court
rejects the Notice of Ratification (ECF No. 78) to the extent
the CFPB argues that the Ratification renders Defendants'
constitutional arguments moot.

Accordingly, the Court finds that the CFPB "lacks authority
to bring this enforcement action because its composition
violates the Constitution’s separation of powers," and thus the
CFPB's claims are dismissed. Fed. Election Comm’n v. NRA
Political Victory Fund, 6 F.3d 821, 822 (D.C. Cir. 1993).

d. Conclusion

For the foregoing reasons, Defendants' motion (ECF No. 39)
is DENIED. Because Plaintiff Consumer Financial Protection
Bureau is unconstitutionally structured and lacks authority to
bring claims under the CFPA, the Clerk of Court shall terminate
Plaintiff Consumer Financial Protection Bureau as a party to
this action.

Baller move, bruv.

Revealed: The "Stanford Prison Study" We've Been Hearing About for 50 Years as a Progressive Cautionary Tale Was, Get This, a Scripted Pageant From the Beginning, Designed for the Admitted Purposes of Leftist Activism

—Ace of Spades

Wow. Another leftwing "study" exposed as a lie.

How many does that make, now?

Oh, right: All of them.

Media Misreports Trump's "Elite" Put-Down... Because Of Course They Do

—Ace of Spades

Trump is being widely misreported as having attacked "the elite" for being elite.

In fact, of course, he denied that they were elite at all.

Which is what upsets these self-proclaimed non-elites so much. So they -- unconsciously, I could imagine, just as a defense reaction -- rewrite his remarks as acknowledging their eliteness and then attacking them for their eliteness.

No. He's calling them non-elite. People who lack actual achievements and true status-markers and for whom, therefore, pseudo-status-markers, such as vociferous agreement with the progressive dogma of the day, serves as their only badge of "eliteness."

By the way: In addition to denigrating the non-elites calling themselves elite, he also goes the extra mile of insult and says that "The Deplorables" are actually smarter and better than the alleged "elite."

Oh, and he also taunted a man-bun wearing protester as "darling," wondering if xe was a man or a woman.

I'm sure that bothers the sexually-confused pseudo-elite, too.

Jordan Peterson Files $1.5 Million Defamation Lawsuit Against Wilfrid Laurier, The Canadian University That Called Him an Incompetent Nazi While Intimidating Lindsey Shephard

—Ace of Spades

Yes. Finally.

Let the "Nazis" start suing their enemies into the poor-house. Just like they did in WW2 (obviously).

University of Toronto Professor Jordan Peterson has launched a $1.5-million defamation suit against Wilfrid Laurier University, two of its professors and a former gender and equity manager for suggesting he was “analogous to Adolf Hitler.”

The statement of claim, prepared by lawyer Howard Levitt and filed Monday, says Peterson was falsely labelled as incompetent, sexist, misogynist, dangerous and racist in a now infamous disciplinary meeting with Wilfrid Laurier University teaching assistant Lindsay Shepherd.

...

"So I think this is a warning, let's say, to other careless administrators and professors who allow their ideological presuppositions to get the best of them to be a bit more careful with what they say and do," he said.

The Morning Rant: J.V. Edition

—CBD

What a toad. He lives in a fine suburb, firmly ensconced in the ivory tower, where ignorant star-struck undergraduates worship at his feet. His greatest triumph is to impress 18-year-olds whose primary goal is to bang the hot chick in the third row of his lecture hall.

Maybe if he had any inkling of what it means to absorb third-world scum into his expensive town I would take him more seriously.

The joke is: What did socialists use before candles?

Electricity.

Mid-Morning Open Thread

—CBD

Mrs Samuel Quincy
John Singleton Copley

The Morning Report 6/21/18

—J.J. Sefton

Good morning kids. The first day of summer has arrived, and so I guess it's fitting that the longest day of the year brings with it the longest Morning Report ever! 61, count 'em, 61 glorious links guaranteed to depress, enrage, or even give you a boost. Remember, we're not happy til you're not happy, so let's get on with it, shall we?

The big story continues to be the completely manufactured border crisis, the intention of which is to attempt to cleave the President from his supporters by forcing him to concede on the key policy issue that got him elected, with the secondary aim of deflecting attention away from the biggest political scandal in US history that strikes at the very heart of the rule of law and that essentially implicates the Democrat-Left's two biggest personalities - the ex-president and his presumptive successor.

Because this section alone contains fully a third of today's links, let me unpack it as succinctly as I can in order that I can get to an overarching theme that is coming into sharp focus and that is scaring the hell out of me (I'm sure you can all guess what that is, but hang on for a tic). On the tactical/granular level, PDT signed an executive order that overrides the existing law calling for the separation of border-jumping adults and children while still keeping them all detained and not letting them loose on our soil. The Democrat-Left Media complex went ape, since they were expecting the President to cave and just let them into the country free as a bird, thereby enraging the conservative base with an eye towards the Midterms. Meanwhile, the Amnesty bills, both the shit sammich Ryno variety and the marginally more palatable "moderate" one are likely to be torpedoed in the House by the conservative members (here's hoping). And with every effort to try and solve this issue, which as sane, rational people like the ICE director have pointed out IS THE FAULT OF THE ILLEGAL ALIEN PARENTS THEMSELVES, the Dems have exposed themselves as the liars we have aways known them to be. Cuck Schemer yesterday said any legislative fix was dead on arrival and now Nancy Palsi is calling for a complete halt on all border enforcement. When you put that all in context, I can't see how this President can even begin to even consider these people as ones that can be dealt with in good faith on any level. And that is a win.

Now, pulling back, we have the abuse of DHS Secretary Nielsen by thugs led by a current DoJ employee (someone wake up Sooper Secret Sleeper AG Lemmon 714) and welcomed by the restaurant's manager, the violent rhetoric aimed at the President's son by Petered-Out Fonda, as well as the death threat aimed at Brian Mast's son. Then, there's the foul, classless ravings of Kathy Griffin, Samantha Bee, Robert DeNiro hurled at the President and his family coupled with someone you'd think a bit more intelligent and informed like a former Air Force general equating the President's following of our immigration laws to the letter to that of the ramp at Birkenau. Now, we have Antifa goons doxing ICE agents' personal info culled from LinkedIn, the doxing of Stephen Miller by a website owned by a so-called legitimate TV network (Univision). All of this has been fueled by a Media that are nothing more than propaganda organs for the anti-American socialist enterprise, shameless, brazen and totally open without even the fig leaf of a pretext of a sham of a pretense of being impartial now that their monopoly to control what you see and hear has been shattered and worse, that you rejected their attempt to control you in November of 2016. That sin is unforgivable in their eyes.

And with the complete disregard for the oath they swore to uphold the law and protect our nation, our national law enforcement and intelligence officials have actively sought to sabotage a political campaign of an opponent who they also saw as a mortal nemesis, and when that failed to overthrow his Presidency by using their offices to engineer a coup with the approval and direction of the previous president and his ordained successor. Remember, it was he who publicly told his supporters and voters to "get in our faces." And that leads to the big fat cherry on top - the Dick Durbin-linked thwarted mass assassin James Hodgkinson.

All of this is connected and it's aimed right at President Trump, which means it's aimed right at We the People. These people are playing with fire. They want to don their little Guy Fawkes maskies and smash some windows and maybe the occasional head or two. And then there's Hodgkinson. And in a sense worse than him - Strzok, McCabe, Brennan, Clapper et al. I cannot predict the future. I can only look at history and day by day we are being forced to imagine the unimaginable. They invoke Fawkes and now I will invoke Oliver Cromwell:

Let's move on to the aforementioned Deep State coup attempt against President Trump. The big news here is that Obama's own cyber security czar has revealed Susan Rice gave a "stand down" order when it came to investigating Russian election meddling, not a smidgen of bias as 3 out of 5 FBI officials dinged for anti-Trump animus went from the Clinton investigation to the Mueller probe, PDT totally destroyed Strzok and Page and Michael Cohen has quit his job at the RNC and is now on the anti-zero tolerance bandwagon. I guess Mueller used the rubber truncheon on his where it doesn't show, eh?

On to politics where PDT was in his element up at a rally in Minnesota's iron range region. He stood firm on immigration as well as dealt with a heckler to the delight of the enthusiastic crowd. Meanwhile, as the RNC is setting new fundraising records, the Dems are getting big money but from singular sources such as Planned Mengelehood and Doomberg, both boosting gubernatorial candidates in CO and PA respectively.

1A news saw a giant abortion mill was defeated in their lawsuit to get church e-mails and in 2A news, American citizens reportedly now own close to 400 million weapons. Something the Left needs to think long and hard about considering my opening commentary. At the foreign desk, while Colombia has rejected the "shining path" to socialism, Mexico's upcoming elections do not bode well in that regard and that is sure to have implications both in terms of trade and especially immigration and border policy.

Domestically, prepare for our BP to spike: Fake Flake is sabotaging PDT's appeals court nominees in a really hideous way, Susan "Tom" Collins and Richard "Butt" Burr gave the Dems a win in defeating a PDT's spending cuts in the Senate. And Claire McAssKill isn't a hypocrite at all, no-sirree.

From hither and yon, Ted Cruz is wants to bring some heat on the global warming advocacy swindle, the bromide that blacks are disproportionately more the victims of police shootings than whites is shown to be a myth while lastly, the SPLC keeps lying about the overwhelming numbers of black-on-white violence as opposed to vice versa.

Anyway, links from around the world, across the nation and up your street. Have a better one and remain blessed.

IN THE LEAD: THE AMNESTY SCAM

• Levin: PDT's Family Detention Order Exposes the Screaming Hypocrisy of the Open Borders Left
  
• ICE Director Delivers Truth-MOAB: "If You Want to Blame Somebody for Separating Families, Blame the Parents"
  
• Greenfield: The Real Child Abusers of Border Insecurity
  
• Literally Mother F****r: Avenatti Dumps Used Whore, Heads to Border to Represent Illegal Alien Mothers
  
• Democrat Volunteer Threatened to Kill Brian Mast's Kids Over PDT Zero Tolerance Policy
  
• Petering Fonda Apologizes for Sick, Violent Tweet Aimed at President's Son
  
• Restaurant Manager on Goons Abusing DHS Sec Nielsen in His Restaurant: "Happy About What Happened"
  
• Conservatives' Refusal to Concede on Key Points Likely to Kill Both Amnesty Bills in House
  
• Dave Brat Rips Dems' Pretense on Immigration
  
• PDT Executive Order Ends Family Separations But Locks in Zero Tolerance Policy
  
• Dems Not Appeased After PDT Signs Exec Order Halting Family Separations at Border
  
• Nancy Palsi Demanding Zero Border Enforcement; Detention of Illegal Aliens "Form of Child Abuse"
  
• PDT Trolls the Dems
  
• Just DREAMy: Uncle Abandons 6-Year-Old Illegal Alien Boy in AZ Desert, Says Border Patrol Agent
  
• Illegal Immigration, Internment Camps and Useful Idiots
  
• DeBolshevik "Shocked" to Find Detained Illegal Alien Kids Bused Up to NYC
  
• The Immigration Fight is Just Beginning and the Media is Going to Lose
  
• 3 Benefits of a Border Wall No One is Talking About
  
• Michael Cohen Quits RNC Gig, Slams PDT Immigration Policy (I guess he was "touchable" - jjs)
  
• Coulter: Google "Internet," Media!
  
  SPYGATE, MUELLER WITCH HUNT, DEEP STATE
  
• Obama Cyber-Security Czar: Susan Rice Gave "Stand Down" Order in Response to Russian Meddling
  
• 3 of the 5 FBI Employees Dinged in IG Report for Anti-PDT Bias Wind Up on Mueller Probe
  
• DoJ Turns Over Docs to House Intel Committee Following Explicit Threats by GOP Members
  
• "I Don't Think Their Wife and Husband Are Too Happy": PDT Destroys Strzok and Page
  
• "Textbook Definition of Bias"
  
• Who Are Those Mysterious Trump-Hating FBI Officials? And Other Unanswered Questions from the Clinton E-Mail IG Report
  
  FIRST AMENDMENT, MEDIA, FAKE NEWS
  
• Univision-Owned Website Doxes Senior White House Advisor Stephen Miller
  
• The Left and the "F" Word: This is Your Brain on Progressivism
  
• Court Rejects Abortion Giant's Demand for Church E-Mails
  
  SECOND AMENDMENT
  
• Report: Nearly 400 Million Civilian-Owned Firearms in America
  
  POLITICS, 2018 MIDTERMS
  
• Why Minnesota's Iron Range is Trump Country
  
• Crowd Goes Wild as PDT Slams Man-Bunned Heckler at Minnesota Rally
  
• Original Child Separators Planned Parenthood to Throw $1.5 Million at PA Gubernatorial Race
  
• Poll: For GOP, Voting for Amnesty is Playing With Fire
  
• Bloomberg Throws Another $1 Million at CO Dem Gun-Grabber Governor Candidate
  
• Liberal Tolerance Dept.: State Rep Welcomes VP Pence to Philly by Giving Him the Finger
  
• RNC Sets Another Fundraising Record; $14.6 Million Haul for Month of May
  
  FOREIGN POLICY, INTERNATIONAL
  
• The Migrant Question: Western Nations Are Fracturing Over the Issue
  
• The Left is About to Win in Mexico - And That's Terrible News
  
• Conservatives Cheer US Withdrawal from UN Human Rights Council
  
• Brexit's Exit Light Remains On
  
• Pro-Iran Militias Vow to Hit US, Israel After Unclaimed Airstrike Near Syria-Iraq Border
  
• Examining the Singapore Summit Logically
  
• In China, Free Trade Means Steal What You Want
  
  ISLAM, TERRORISM, SHARIA, DHIMMITUDE
  
• Ramadan Rage 2018: Defeat of Islamic State Brings Holy Month Deaths Down 45%
  
• The Other Immigration Issue: Muslim Migrant Violence Comes to Maine
  
• Superhero Comic Books Go From Fighting America's Enemies to Submitting to Them
  
  THE ECONOMY, STUPID
  
• Wilbur Ross Schools Michael Bennet on PDT Plan to Counter Chi-Com Steel Dumping
  
  DOMESTIC POLICY, COURTS, BUREAUCRACY
  
• Lame Cuck Flake Blocking Votes on PDT Appeals Court Nominees to Sabotage Cuba and Tariff Policies
  
• Scum: Collins and Burr Join Dems to Kill PDT's Spending Cuts in 50-48 Senate Vote
  
• McAssKill Pulls Her Name From Bill Targeting Offshore Tax Havens; Hubby Most Pleased
  
• Dem Congressman Calls for "Taxpayer-Funded Dorms"
  
• The Left and Children
  
  HEALTHCARE
  
• Severe Obesity Rates Surge in Rural America
  
  EDUCATION, INDOCTRINATION
  
• The Cost of College: Beating the System
  
  RED-GREENS, CLIMATE CHANGE, LYSENKOISM
• Teh Ted Demands Investigation into Taxpayer-Funded Global Warming "Advocacy"
  
  CULTURE WARS, HITHER and YON
  
• Blue States Raising Barriers to Faith-Based Adoptions (does that include the Religion of Peace? - jjs)
  
• Whatever Happened to Losing an Argument if You Invoke Nazis?
  
• Study Shows No Racial Difference in Police Shootings Compared to Crime Rates
  
• The Folly of Multiculturalism
  
• SPLC Keeps Denying, Black-on-White Violence Keeps Happening

Wednesday Overnight Open Thread (6/20/18 )

—Misanthropic Humanitarian

Quote I

“I don’t know, should I run for president? The terrifying thing is, I might win.” Stephanie Clifford

Quote II

"Frankly this law was actually signed into effect in 2008 under her husband's leadership. Not under this administration" Sarah Sanders

Quote III

Guilt: the gift that keeps on giving. Erma Bombeck

*****

The Royal Free Hospital. This free health care doesn't sound free.

Hundreds of thousands more families could be forced to pay the higher 40p rate of income tax under plans to give the NHS a £20.5billion-a-year cash boost.

Ministers have been told that freezing the tax-free allowance at £12,500 and the point at which the higher rate kicks in at £50,000 would raise billions of pounds from 2020.

But the Institute for Fiscal Studies said this would raises taxes on everyone earning over £12,500 and drag an extra 400,000 people into the 40p income tax band in just two years.

The NHS needs to kill them off faster.

*****

Diversity isn't diverse enough: Or thoughts by Shoe0nHead. NSFW-Language

*****

I'm not trying to step on CBD's toes, really I'm not. Summer treats for you and your dog.

While every season holds different charms for dog owners (even brutal winter walks give way to magic moments with doggos frolicking in the snow!), there’s nothing quite like lazy summer days with your furry friend. It’s the season of restaurant patios, front stoop sittin’, and beach outings, all rife with opportunities to bring along your buddy (sun’s out, tongues out). And while you can totally pony up a few bucks for those fancy dog cupcakes at your favorite cupcake shop, or blow away your Starbucks budget with too many Puppuccino trips (they’re free, but you need a treat, too!), there are plenty of frozen concoctions that you can make at home for both you and your pup to enjoy!

*****

A Democratic congressional candidate appears to have a weeeeee problem. Law suit filed to remove candidate from ballot.

A lawsuit seeking to remove Arizona Democrat Ann Kirkpatrick's name from the ballot this November could stymie the former congresswoman's attempt to run for the House again.

Kirkpatrick represented Arizona's first congressional district beginning in 2009, but was voted out of office in the 2010 Republican wave election. She won back her seat in 2012 and 2014, but then decided to forgo reelection to challenge John McCain unsuccessfully in the 2016 Senate race.

Now Kirkpatrick aims to return to Congress, this time in Arizona's neighboring second district. But a lawsuit from three voters bankrolled by her primary opponent, Matt Heinz, claims she gave false information to election officials about her place of residency.

I know that some GOP swamp creatures are guilty of not residing in their districts. But it is always funny when "Our Betters" are called out for being hypocrites.

*****

The 2nd Amendment and gun ownership keeps getting interesting. There are more guns in the USA than there are people.

We did it! According to a decade-long survey of gun ownership around the world, the United States now has more firearms than people, about 1.2 guns for every man, woman and child. It’s always appalled civilian disarmament types and their media stenographers that Americans love their guns so much, so expect this news – that America accounts for almost half the one billion civilian-owned firearms globally — to induce plenty of spittle-spraying cries of horror and think pieces lamenting the depravity of a nation so in love with guns.

*****

The ONT Musical Interlude

June 20, 1942, Born on this day, Brian Wilson American singer, songwriter with The Beach Boys who scored the 1966 UK & US No.1 single 'Good Vibrations', plus over 25 other UK Top 40 singles. The 1966 classic album Pet Sounds is widely considered to be one of the most influential albums in music history. Wilson released and toured the 'lost' Beach Boys Smile album in 2004. via thisdayinmusic.com

***

June 20, 1954, Born on this day, Michael Anthony, American bassist who has worked with Van Halen and other acts. Anthony markets a line of hot sauces and related products named Mad Anthony. He has a number of custom-made bass guitars, including a Jack Daniel's model shaped like a whiskey bottle. via thisdayinmusic.com

*****

Do you like Elvis? Do you like to fly? Here's your chance to own a jet owned by Elvis.

Still, if you’re intrigued, you have until July 27 to bid on it. Per auction outfit IronPlanet’s listing:

“Custom private jet personally owned by Elvis Presley, the late American singer, complete with red velvet seats, gold plated accents, and red plush carpet. Elvis’s Jet has been privately owned for more than 35 years.”

*****

The times, they are a changin'.

In 1896, Charles Dow created what came to be known as the Dow Jones Industrial Average—an index consisting of just 12 companies at the time, meant to signal the state of the industrial sector. Nestled among outfits focused on cotton, sugar, tobacco, and railroads was General Electric, then a four-year-old electric company.

Today, some 122 years after the DJIA’s debut, GE is being booted from the list.

On Tuesday (June 19), Dow Jones announced it would be replacing GE in the index with Walgreens Boots Alliance. The change will take effect before the market opens on June 26.

*****

Would you like a chuckle? Starbucks is planning on 150 stores.

The coffee chain Starbucks today announced plans to close 150 locations.

The 150 poorly performing company-operated cafés will be closed next year. That's about three times as many stores as Starbucks typically closes per year.

From CNN Money:

The company told investors late Tuesday that it expects same-store sales to grow just 1% for the quarter that begins next month, lowering its previous guidance. The stock slumped 3.5% in after-hours trading.

Goodbye shooting galleries.......

*****

Somewhere a shrink is screaming, "My couch is empty!!"

Forget extreme plastic surgery, tattoos and piercings - a minority are taking body modification to the next level - by voluntarily cutting off their own limbs.

A body modifier has exclusively revealed how his "extra" limbs feel alien, and has resorted to the drastic measure of self-mutilation - because he actually want to be disabled.

*****

Always. Always check your Quotes of The Day. Or you could become a Genius Award Winner.

'One cannot permit unique opportunities to slip by for the sake of trifles.' -from Erwin Rommel, who led Hitler's war machine in North Africa.

The quote from the German commander, known as the Desert Fox during the Second World War, read: 'One cannot permit unique opportunities to slip by for the sake of trifles.'

A spokesman for the university, based in Devon, said it was a 'genuine error'.

*****

Not content for the pricing rollback at Wal-Mart tonight's Genius Award Winner.

Man charged with making $1.3 million in fraudulent returns to Walmart

*****

Trying to help his fellow man, one lawn at a time. Tonight's Feel Good Story of The Day.

*****

Need some more good news? Sure, we all could. Missing toddler and doggeh found safe and sound. Tonight's 2nd Feel Good Story of The Day. h/t Mike Hammer.

A 3-year-old girl was found safe on Friday after spending the night in a rural Missouri cornfield with her faithful Yorkshire terrier by her side.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol said the whole incident began around 8:30 p.m. Thursday after officers received a 911 call that 3-year-old Remy Elliott wandered from her home in the town of Qulin, located about 175 miles south of St. Louis.

Missouri State Highway Patrol Sgt. Clark Parrott told the Associated Press a search began that included an airplane, but the girl was not found overnight.

*****

Tonight's ONT has been brought to you by Fashion.

Notice: Posted with permission by AceCorp, LLC. The restrooms are for customers only. There are no ONT closings on the horizon.

Close it up

Evening Briefing

—Ace of Spades

Trump signs Executive Order asking judge to modify consent decree (which Obama apparently agreed to) that forbids holding children for more than 20 days. The judge almost certainly won't do that, which means we're back to catch-and-release.

Even though a modification of that decree to permit holding families as a unit seems to command a plurality of support:

This is the point in the script where the NeverTrumpers start howling about Trump being soft on immigration, ignoring the part where they've joined the liberal mob for a week in agitating for just that outcome.

Four things the media won't tell you about the border crisis.

The Obama administration responded to these rulings with a combination of deportation raids targeting criminals and a "catch-and-release" policy for families apprehended at the border, who would usually be issued notices to appear at an immigration hearing at some later date. This "catch-and-release" policy is what the Trump administration is trying to end.

To that end, Trump has invoked Flores as the reason for separating parents and children, saying the settlement limits what federal agencies can do with children brought here illegally and apprehended at the border. He blames congressional Democrats for failing to negotiate on an immigration bill that would solve the problem--although saddling Democrats with all the blame is disingenuous. Republicans have also failed to act on immigration (although now they say they're ready to pass a bill to keep families together).

The media have been nearly unanimous in contradicting Trump, arguing that Flores does not force the federal government to separate parents and children, and that the administration has discretion in how it treats these families.

Both sides have a point. Flores does indeed limit how long, and under what circumstances, federal immigration authorities can detain children. But it only "forces" the separation of families if the parents are detained and prosecuted for illegal entry. In that case, families are separated because children can't stay with their parents if the parents are in criminal custody.

Before Trump's "zero tolerance" policy, families caught crossing illegally were often released within a few days and the parents fitted with an electronic ankle monitor to reduce the likelihood of them absconding. Back in March, when I was reporting on the border in McAllen, Texas, I met a number of people from Central America who were wearing an ankle monitor. Most planned to cut it off and throw it away when they got to where they were going.

I'm having a Bush flashback: It shouldn't be up to The Federalist to explain these things. Trump should do a primetime address explaining them.

Do Republican Presidents just not do communications?

"Reporter" admits he's a Democrat seeking to "inflict" damage on Trump, then pretends he didn't mean that.

"You can't inflict this kind of policy on Americans, and not pay a political price," Heilemann told MSNBC's Nicole Wallace, referring to Trump’s recent executive order to stop separating families who entered the United States illegally. "We have a great chance to inflict [a political price on Trump] and his party on November. We, I mean the Democratic Party."

Heilemann quickly tried to cover his tracks. "I'm not part of the Democratic party, but people who object to this policy, which I think is a lot of people."

Christopher Steele visited the State Department just before the 2016 election to brief people there on the Steele Dossier Sid Blumenthal and Cody Shearer Dossier with the Words "Totally by Christopher Steele" Added at the Top.

Former British spy Christopher Steele visited the State Department in October 2016 and briefed officials there about his work on the infamous anti-Trump dossier, it was revealed on Wednesday.

"Based upon our review of the visitor logs at the State Department, Mr. Steele visited the State Department, briefing officials on the dossier in October 2016," Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Richard Burr said during a hearing held to review the U.S. government's response to Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

Steele's visit to Foggy Bottom in Washington, D.C., prior to the election has not been previously reported.

Burr revealed Steele's visit during an exchange with Victoria Nuland, who served as assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian Affairs in former President Barack Obama’s administration.

Sounds like Hillary's Minions were frantic to get this reported as a story -- "Steele briefs State Department" was their last effort before the election to get this sham printed up.

But it would take Clapper and Comey staging a false briefing with Trump -- which did not brief him at all -- to get CNN the "news hook" they told Comey they needed.

Finally -- Instapundit apparently isn't as submissive to the whims of Jake Tapper as Tapper's Fanbois are.

Claim: Future Soy Wars Movies on Hold as LucasFilm Tries to Navigate the SJW Asteroid Field It's Created

—Ace of Spades

I don't know if I buy this -- this hot scoop is from "Collider," whatever that is -- but it made me smile.

t may be a while before we see any more movies like Solo: A Star Wars Story out of Lucasfilm. Sources with knowledge of the situation tell Collider that Lucasfilm has decided to put plans for more A Star Wars Story spinoff movies on hold, instead opting to focus their attention on Star Wars: Episode IX and what the next trilogy of Star Wars films will be after that film. Sources tell us that the previously rumored Obi-Wan movie was in active development, but those who were working on the film are no longer involved. It was recently reported that Logan filmmaker James Mangold was in early talks to write and direct the Boba Fett film, but that was before Solo's release.

This news comes in the wake of the disappointing launch of Solo, which was only Lucasfilm's second A Star Wars Story spinoff, but which received mixed-positive reviews and fell short of box office expectations.

Disney is terrible and deserves to have its nose bloodied.