Ace: aceofspadeshq at gee mail.com
Buck: buck.throckmorton at protonmail.com
CBD: cbd at cutjibnewsletter.com
joe mannix: mannix2024 at proton.me
MisHum: petmorons at gee mail.com
J.J. Sefton: sefton at cutjibnewsletter.com
Chavez the Hugo 2020
Ibguy 2020
Rickl 2019
Joffen 2014
AoSHQ Writers Group
A site for members of the Horde to post their stories seeking beta readers, editing help, brainstorming, and story ideas. Also to share links to potential publishing outlets, writing help sites, and videos posting tips to get published.
Contact OrangeEnt for info: maildrop62 at proton dot me
Remember the Little Scottish Girl Who Armed Herself with a Knife and Ax to Defend Herself Against, She Said, Sexual Assault by a Foreigner? Remember How the British Government and Media Savaged Her as a Racist?
She said she armed herself and wielded those weapons to protect herself and her little sister from an attack by a self-identified "gypsy gangster."
The police, of course, immediately arrested her, which is now standard UK police practice when a rough migrant sexually abuses a girl.
See Beege Wellborn's post for the cruelty poured upon this little girl by the British government and media, who attacked her as a despicable racist.
The First Minister of Scotland blamed... Elon Musk, somehow.
Well, more than six months later -- hopefully beyond the public's capacity to remember -- the police have made two more arrests in this matter. (This is not accurate, see the "clarification" at post's end. They just appeared in court yesterday. They were charged two weeks after the incident.)
And UK media is reporting these arrests in such a low-key, BTW, not for nothing kind of way designed to not have anyone pick up on the story.
Especially not that big meaning Elon Musk.
Care to guess who it turns out the actual aggressors were in this case?
There was a terse little article in the BBC yesterday, almost as if they hoped no one would read it. Or if they did, they left out items like 'axe' 'knife' etc., which would have connected the couple who are facing a trial to...guess who?
A man and woman have appeared in court accused of assaulting two girls in Dundee.
Prosecutors allege Ilia Belov, 22, approached and followed four girls, who were aged between 12 and 14, and made sexual remarks to them before seizing one of the girls and pushing her to the ground.
His co-accused Nadjedzha Belova, 20, is accused of repeatedly seizing and pulling another of the girls by the hair, dragging her to the ground, and punching her on the head to her injury.
That's right, it's the Gypsy Gangster Man and his whore girlfriend who turn out to have sexually attacked the little girls.
This is the man accused of harassing children & was threatened by the 14-year-old girl in Scotland.
Fatos Ali Dumana a self-described ‘gypsy gangster man’, who has posted saying he is “waiting for you whores to get in my super car” - is not a model migrant as the media claims. https://t.co/VAEa0kvVndpic.twitter.com/URoYGhLluV
"Clarification," as Cate Brown would call it: Actually, police decided to charge this pair within a couple of weeks of their attack on the girls. The new news stories are about their first appearance in court, not the decision to charge.
FBI: Jeffrey Epstein Was a Child Sex Abuser But He Wasn't Running a Pedophile Sex Ring for the World's Rich and Famous
—Disinformation Expert Ace
I've said previously that the idea that some people have, that Epstein was literally running a child sex brothel and billionaires were paying him for sex, was almost certainly false. I know that people don't like to hear this, but some alleged conspiracies are just too big to believe that no one ever blew the whistle.
He certainly does seem to have made young women available for the use of his pedophile pals. But this seems to have been a matter of ingratiation and favor-banking rather than a quid pro quo with billionaires paying Ghislaine Maxwell at the till before passing the turnstile and entering Pedo Island.
The FBI also says it did not find blackmail photos or videos in the Epstein files.
The FBI pored over Jeffrey Epstein's bank records and emails. It searched his homes. It spent years interviewing his victims and examining his connections to some of the world's most influential people.
But while investigators collected ample proof that Epstein sexually abused underage girls, they found scant evidence the well-connected financier led a sex trafficking ring serving powerful men, an Associated Press review of internal Justice Department records shows.
I think this might depend on what the definition of "sex ring" is. The strong form of it didn't apparently exist. But a weak form it, with Epstein maintaining his value to wealthy and powerful men by making young women available to them, and subsequently getting very valuable insider information, probably did exist.
Why did Peter Mandelson tell Epstein in advance of the then-nonpublic UK government decision to bail out the banks? What services was Epstein providing to him?
Or was it just a cash transaction in that case, with Epstein paying Mandelson and his husband off? We know Epstein sent $75,000 to Mandelson, even if Mandelson "can't remember" if he received that sum or not, and another ten thousand pounds to his husband.
Prosecution memos, case summaries and other documents made public in the department's latest release of Epstein-related records show that FBI agents and federal prosecutors diligently pursued potential coconspirators. Even seemingly outlandish and incomprehensible claims, called in to tip lines, were examined. ...
Investigators said they confirmed that Giuffre had been sexually abused by Epstein. But other parts of her story were problematic.
Two other Epstein victims who Giuffre had claimed were also "lent out" to powerful men told investigators they had no such experience, prosecutors wrote in a 2019 internal memo.
"No other victim has described being expressly directed by either Maxwell or Epstein to engage in sexual activity with other men," the memo said.
Yeah, I don't know. I do not believe that Kash Patel, Dan Bongino, and Pam Bondi have any incentive to lie about these things. The conspiracy theorists lose me when they start claiming that everyone who fails to support their conspiracy theories must themselves be in on the conspiracy. But, conspiracy theorists tend to do that. That's their go-to move.
I don't exactly feel satisfied by this report. I still think there's gotta be something more there.
Turnabout is fair play. Massie is forever accusing Trump of a cover up.
Well release dem names, Massie. Or are you covering up for the Epstein Sex Ring yourself?
EPSTEIN: Rep Thomas Massie has been covering up the names of 20 Epstein clients for at least six months. Massie told the House Judiciary Committee about the list last September. Who is he covering for? pic.twitter.com/zyjyIFAomx
Left-Wing "Scoop" That Tulsi Gabbard Was on a Secret, Traitorous Phone Call with a Foreign Person Blows Up Within Hours, Exposed As Another Schiffian Hoax
—Disinformation Expert Ace
The "story" was broken by Cate Brown -- formerly of the Washington Post.
She's a Deep State operator programmed by her masters to take out Tulsi Gabbard.
Hans Mahncke
@HansMahncke
1h
At first, I thought the fake anti-Tulsi Gabbard story ended up in the Guardian because that's where fake leakers go when even the New York Times and Washington Post won't touch their stories. But it's worse than that. The reporter who wrote the piece used to be at the Washington Post, pushing anti-Tulsi stories even then. More damning, she did it alongside Catherine Belton, a close associate of Steele dossier hoaxer Christopher Steele and a notorious Russiagate liar whose false claims about Sergei Millian, an innocent American, destroyed his life and business. It's always the same dirty clique of media operators pushing these hoaxes. Fortunately, unlike before, they're finally being called out.
She got a "tip" -- a tip that came from a Hillary and Schumer operative and CIA lawyer, Andrew Bakaj.
Apparently he previously worked for... the traitorous Ukranian agents, the Vindman brothers, who engineered Trump's first Fake Impeachment.
Svetlana Lokhova
@RealSLokhova
14h
The @guardian are now dissembling because in their attempted hit on @TulsiGabbard, they relied on the word of the CIA operative "lawyer" Andrew Bakaj, who worked for Hillary and Schumer on the Hill and represented the Vindmans in the fake Ukraine impeachment.
So, what was this tip?
That Tulsi Gabbard, the Director of National Intelligence, had been on the phone with a foreign person.
Wow! What a scandal!
Our top intelligence official was caught talking to a foreign person! That's unlegal! We can't have our top spooks talking with foreigners!
Cate Brown
@catebrown12
SCOOP: The NSA detected a phone call between foreign intelligence and a person close to Trump last spring.
Whistleblower says that @DNIGabbard blocked agency from sharing report and delivered it to White House chief of staff.
Bakaj, now representing a new Vindman-like "whistleblower," made threats to Tulsi Gabbard that he would, I don't know, file some faggot paperwork against her:
BREAKING: The whistleblower's lawyer tells Tulsi Gabbard that he will go directly to Congress if she doesn't respond. He has Top Secret clearance. pic.twitter.com/aMQ3iWiJhZ
But it's worse that this being a nothingburger -- in fact, it's a lie from top to bottom.
The NSA leaker -- who should be found, fired, and prosecuted -- turns out to have never claimed that Tulsi Gabbard was on the phone with a foreigner. (As absurd as that "story" would be.)
He only claimed that two foreigners were speaking on a call intercepted by the NSA, and one of these foreigners... mentioned Tulsi Gabbard.
The Vindman's lawyer and Schumer/Hillary operative now says he "misspoke" when he repeatedly claimed that Tulsi had spoken with a foreigner.
And the "reporter" who shit this piece of shit out in the pages of the Guardian is now pretending her story is still 100% accurate, it just needs a slight clarification:
Cate Brown
@catebrown12
Whistleblower attorney @AndrewBakaj revised his previous statement to the Guardian, saying that "The NSA picked up a phone call between two members of foreign intelligence involving someone close to the Trump White House."
Updated for clarity -->
"Clarity."
This is a pretty big “clarification.”
The first version of this said that the phone call was between a person associated with foreign intel & a person close to Trump. Now it says that it was a call between two members of foreign intel related to someone close to the White House. https://t.co/FNBQcVN3uHpic.twitter.com/XqGQ2XTNYm
Alexa Henning, chief of staff for Tulsi Gabbard, calls this lying whore a lying whore and says she was told in advance that her sources were lying to her, and if she would just wait a few hours they would get her the accurate information.
She published anyway.
And she still has her lying tweet up, continuing to get clicks and retweets and spread the misinformation further:
Your story is false. This headline is not accurate.
Your leaker lied to you. And you ignored our requests to give us time to get you accurate information and published your story before we could respond.
You are a total loser being used by your sources (likely Congress) to… https://t.co/kWyVWXR2yJ
Well, Schiff has done this before. This reporter thinks it's Mark Warner (Democrat senator from the failed state of Virginia).
Svetlana Lokhova
@RealSLokhova
Interesting that this hit on @TulsiGabbard is coming from the British Guardian.
The actual article is bs, of course.
But it shows you who the leaker is, which appears to be Senator Mark Warner's cutout(s)
Christopher Steele/British intel run the Guardian so that's probably how the leak was organized.
I assume they washed it through UK because it's too sensitive to do in the US where they would run into national security issues. Whereas once published, then the US papers can quote the British ones.
Standard CIA tactic is placing fake stories through foreign newspapers.
So I would say it's the anti-Trump elements in the CIA and the NSA as well as Warner and his crew plus the British.
Just like Russiagate
She thinks it was Warner because this false complaint was probably leaked by one of the "Gang of Eight," the eight congressmen and Senator who receive top secret information like this:
The only 4 people in Congress who were allowed to read the highly-classified “whistleblower complaint” (found not credible by the Inspector General) were these Dem members of the Gang of 8.
Not sure while that sneaky son of a bitch Schumer couldn't have done it, given that he previously employed Bakaj.
The Researcher thinks this latest hoax-hit was arranged to hurt Tulsi and make her stop looking at the Fulton County, GA election rigging:
A little ditty called “The new hoax is the same as the old hoax” with an all-star cast of criminals including Norm Eisen, CIA operative Andrew Bakaj, CIA operative Eric Ciaramella, Democracy Inc. propagandist Allison Gill, and Adam Schiff.
The Guardian got taken by a "whistleblower," published a false story, and had to issue a major correction, and CNN's media reporter Brian Stelter hasn't mentioned it.
This is supposed to be his beat.
Yeah, how 'bout that.
Meanwhile, daft old leftist establishment nostalgia act Peggy Noonan is whining about how bad the cuts are at the Washington Post, because we rely on brave truth-seeking journalists to provide us with crucial, accurate information about our nation and our government.
Lulu NYT
@LuluGNavarro
Every single word of this fantastic column by @Peggynoonannyc
'I fear sometimes that few people really care about journalism, but we are dead without it. Someday something bad will happen, something terrible on a national scale, and the thing we'll need most, literally to survive, is information. Reliable information--a way to get it, and then to get it to the public. That is what journalism is, getting the information. '
Mary Katherine Ham isn't too sure about that.
The press had their moment to report to the public about the lies government officials were telling us -- and instead of debunking those lies, they doubled down on those lies and defamed the actual truth-tellers.
Mary Katharine Ham
@mkhammer
The moment was Covid. It happened. Almost every journalist in the nation failed to relay reliable information, instead succumbing to panic and the widest-spread daily curtailment of civil liberties in my lifetime. The rare figures who didn't were silenced or stifled or removed.
I was a fourth-generation newspaper journalist. My first job was taking local election totals off a chalkboard at the courthouse and relaying them to the local newsroom. I delivered the AJC at 4 am every day of my freshman year of college. I'm sad we don't have local Metro dailies now instead of the Columbia Journalism School-to-NYT pipeline, which gives almost no journo any exposure to normal people. But acting like these institutions haven't EARNED distrust is just missing the story.
Charles C. W. Cooke
@charlescwcooke
Feb 8
Having lived through Covid, BLM, and the coverup of Joe Biden's senility, I'm going to have to disagree with Peggy Noonan about this one.
Update: The DNI is informing the fake "whistleblower" and Bakaj that they might be prosecuted:
Post
Conversation
Square profile picture
Office of the DNI
@ODNIgov
For nearly a week, the complainant's attorney has falsely claimed that @DNIGabbard
"violated the law." This is a slanderous lie.
Today, @ODNIgov's General Counsel lays out the facts:
1) Neither the Biden-era nor Trump-appointed Intelligence Community Inspector General ever found his client's allegations credible.
2) His client was informed within three days that DNI Gabbard had provided required security guidance.
3) His client remains an IC employee and has the right to report the "fact of" existence -- not the contents -- of the complaint to Congress.
4) The whistleblower's rights do not extend to the attorney himself.
5) Due to the highly classified nature of the information involved, which the attorney is not cleared to review, ODNI correctly required the IC IG to hand-deliver the complaint ONLY to the Gang of Eight.
Any allegations to the contrary are baseless, and frankly, theatrical.
Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals Overrules Lawless Lowly District Court Judges, Rules that Illegal Aliens May Be Held Without Bond While They Fight Their Deportation Orders
—Disinformation Expert Ace
The left prefers that the be released on bond, so they can simply abscond and never show up for any deportation hearings. They stay in the US perpetually just by the left releasing them every time they're caught by immigration agents. They just find a new place to live and slip into "the shadows" again, as our left-wing friends the Bushes like to say.
The Fifth Circuit ruled on Friday that illegal aliens have no right release from detention. They can file their worthless objections using the scripted lies that open borders advocates teach them to say, but they'll do that while cooling their heels in stir.
A federal appeals court on Friday endorsed the Trump administration's policy of holding broad groups of immigration detainees without access to bond hearings, a major legal victory for President Trump and his deportation crackdown.
In a 2-1 decision, a panel of federal judges at the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals said the Trump administration had properly reinterpreted an immigration law last year to disqualify many unauthorized immigrants arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement from being able to ask an immigration judge to be released on bond.
Previously, immigrants who had lived in the U.S. unlawfully for years were generally eligible for bond hearings, and the opportunity to persuade an immigration judge that they were not flight risks and should be allowed to fight their deportation outside of a detention center. Mandatory detention had been historically limited to recent border crossers and those convicted of certain crimes.
But the Trump administration took the position that anyone who entered the U.S. illegally, irrespective of how long ago, is subject to mandatory detention during their deportation proceedings. The only mechanism for release under that policy was if ICE decided to parole them out of custody on humanitarian or public interest grounds.
The seismic policy change has led ICE to indefinitely hold detainees who entered the U.S. illegally years or even decades ago and who previously would've been eligible for bond, including those without criminal records.
The mass detention policy has been challenged in federal courts across the country, straining the resources of government lawyers. Most judges have found the policy to be illegal.
But the 5th Circuit panel disagreed and upheld the Trump administration's legal position, reversing two lower court orders.
The majority opinion -- penned by Reagan-nominated Judge Edith Jones and backed by Trump-nominated Judge Stuart Kyle Duncan -- sided with the Trump administration's view that federal law provides for mandatory detention of large numbers of unauthorized immigrants who were apprehended in the interior of the U.S. and deemed "applicants for admission."
"The text says what it says, regardless of the decisions of prior Administrations," the opinion read. "...In any event, that prior Administrations decided to use less than their full enforcement authority...does not mean they lacked the authority to do more."
...
Judge Dana Douglas, a Biden nominee, dissented from the majority opinion. She wrote that the government's claim that the law calls for mandatory detention ignored "historical precedent" and "wave[d] away" the fact that prior administrations hadn't sought to detain people without bond en masse.
"And for what?" writes Douglas, arguing that the majority opinion was "based on little more than an apparent conviction that Congress must have wanted these noncitizens detained -- some of them the spouses, mothers, fathers, and grandparents of American citizens."
This is all the left does. The fact that they are "spouses, mothers, fathers, etc." is not a legal argument. It's not a logical argument of any kind. It is simply a petulant, child-like demand for the reader's sympathy and a claim that they should be allowed to break the law at will because they are "spouses, mothers, fathers, etc."
The left's other argument is that because previous presidents, like Obama, Biden, and of course the Bushes, let illegals remain in the country while they file frivolous objections to deportation, all future presidents are bound by their non-legislative policy choices.
Weird how the right's policy choices never become stealth law and precedent binding all subsequent presidents. Just the left's.
In fact, these illegals seem to be arguing that while they are, in fact, subject to detention awaiting final deportation orders, they should be "eligible for discretionary release" by the Executive. And they're demanding a judge force the executive to grant them discretionary release.
Hm, in that case, it sounds like the judiciary is usurping the elected President's power to grant release under his own discretion.
If affirmed by the Supreme Court, this would become national law and greatly aid Trump in speedily deporting illegal aliens, or giving them the choice of sitting in ICE detentions for months and months or just leaving the country.
A major Fifth Circuit ruling backs Trump’s policy of mandatory detention with no bond, delivering a sweeping blow to activist judges and reshaping immigration enforcement nationwide. pic.twitter.com/fejvx5fxs4
Queer Starmer's "Right-Hand Man," the Man Who Promoted Epstein Bestie Peter Mandelson for Abassador to the US, Resigns
—Disinformation Expert Ace
Drip, drip, drip...
It had been speculated for days that Starmer's Chief of Staff Morgan McSweeney would be forced to resign. They intend this to be a firewall against forcing Queer Starmer out -- throw the public one defenestration so that they don't throw Starmer out the window instead.
They're claiming that Morgan McSweeney was singularly responsible for vetting Peter Mandelson so recommending that Epstein Bestie be promoted to Ambassador to the UK was all his fault and totally not the fault of Mandelson's very close associate and protege, Keir Starmer.
Queen Natalie
@TheNorfolkLion
Feb 8
🚨 Breaking: Morgan McSweeney has resigned from the Government, accepting "full responsibility" for advising on the appointment of Lord Mandelson.
Kier Starmer next?
What is interesting is that Morgan McSweeney is not just a noxious communist who thinks that pedophiles can make for fine pals, but he was also a key actor in the UK's enemy action against the US -- he was a ringleader in the UK intelligence service's ops to criminalize American speech so that the UK would be better able to impose censorship and information blackouts on the British populace.
They can't have the Forbidden Truth leaking into the UK from the US via Twitter, after all.
Paul Weston
@PWestoff
5h
Starmer's Chief aide McSweeney was founder of the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) a Sovietesque political censorship outfit. Starmer is now behind the purging of court records. Presumably to hide something from his past. Tyranny in Full View.
Oh -- and McSweeney's father's firm was also paid 6 million pounds by the Irish government to house illegal migrants.
Gee, I wonder why the left never wants to stop illegal immigration.
People have "resurfaced" this clip from 2021. Starmer has supposedly changed his view on transgenderism, and now pretends to hold a more sensible, moderate position.
Most likely because he's simply too unpopular to continue supporting all of the most unpopular positions.
"Is it transphobic to say only women have a cervix?"
Add Keir Starmer's newfound concern for victims of Peter Mandelson's bestie to his backflip on whether women can have penises and his U-turn on the Rotherham grooming gangs enquiry. Starmer is indifferent to harm done to girls and women unless it threatens his career. #StarmerOut
THE MORNING RANT: Trans-Children Advocates Are Back-Tracking to Salvage Their Reputations as Lawsuits and a Preference Cascade Bring the Butchery to an End
—Buck Throckmorton
Words cannot describe just how diabolical the trans-children social contagion has been. Hospital groups and pharmaceutical companies prospered, Munchausen mommies were entranced, and thousands of children were sterilized and mutilated. There is no way to ever undo the damage done to those children, but a recent lawsuit awarding a victim $2 million is a start.
In ensuing days, there has been a cascade of former advocates suddenly reversing their support for transing children, as they face the possibility of massive legal judgments, as well as losing what remaining credibility they still have.
Since that judgment, the American Society of Plastic Surgeons quickly put out a statement opposing gender transition surgeries for minors, stating that “ASPS recommends that surgeons delay gender-related breast/chest, genital, and facial surgery until a patient is at least 19 years old.” Almost immediately after the ASPS statement, the American Medical Association also backed off, announcing that “In the absence of clear evidence, the AMA agrees with ASPS that surgical interventions in minors should be generally deferred to adulthood.”
Over the weekend, the Washington Post published an editorial by Megan McArdle titled “The Transgender Orthodoxy is Cracking” which lays out the off-ramp for establishment liberals. She reassures the WaPo’s readers that she is a member of their tribe by stating, “I’m not opposed to pediatric transition. I simply believe we need better evidence before making it standard medical practice.” But she also acknowledges how a minority opinion that seemingly has widespread concurrence can collapse quickly, and that transing children is one of those issues:
Public orthodoxies that diverge from private opinion may be surprisingly stable, but they can also prove remarkably unstable, because they depend on private thoughts to stay private, giving doubters the illusion that they are lone deviants rather than members of a silent majority. Each skeptical voice makes it more likely that further doubts will be raised, triggering a rapid shift to a new equilibrium.
If you’ve wondered how communism collapsed, that’s how. And if you’ve wondered why communist regimes are so oppressive, that’s also your answer. When you are the custodian of a fragile orthodoxy, you cannot afford to allow a hint of dissent.
Perhaps an even greater signal that the establishment left is abandoning the trans-children fad is that David French of all people is trying to publicly walk-back his passion for pushing trans-everything on children. He responded to the detransitioner’s lawsuit victory by tweeting “This is absolutely expected. The facts in many of these cases are truly shocking, and juries were never going to be swayed by extreme and bespoke ideological justifications for drastic and permanently life-altering medical procedures.”
This is absolutely expected. The facts in many of these cases are truly shocking, and juries were never going to be swayed by extreme and bespoke ideological justifications for drastic and permanently life-altering medical procedures. https://t.co/P7bGAHAYeg
Mr. French, of course, worked his way from the National Review to the New York Times by making the “conservative Christian” case for the left’s most pathological agenda items. Most famously, David French called it a “blessing of liberty” for men dressed pruriently in women’s clothing to entertain children in a public library.
As odious as French’s support for “Drag Queen Story Hour” might have been, it still didn’t explicitly support the transing of children. But in a piece David French wrote for The Dispatch in 2021 titled “Hungary is No Model for the American Right,” he made it explicitly clear that he supports the practice of adults pressuring children into adopting a trans-identity. In this piece, French condemned Viktor Orban’s government because ”the regime just passed a law sharply limiting any promotion of homosexuality or gender transition to children.
The fact that David French, who is on the record advocating for the “promotion of…gender transition to children,” is now walking back that support serves as a beacon to the establishment left that the trans-children era is over.
One of David French’s criticisms of Hungary’s Orban is his party’s legislation “sharply limiting any promotion of homosexuality or gender transition to children.” French can’t walk back his open support for the depravity of child gender transition. https://t.co/IY84FpEz69
The trans-children social contagion is soon to be memory-holed, and a day is coming when it will be hard to find any politician or person of authority who will acknowledge having supported this atrocity. There will need to be accountability.
Obviously, those who operated the gender abattoirs should be imprisoned for their grisly mutilation of healthy children, as should those who diagnosed healthy children as needing to be butchered and sterilized. As for those who simply advocated for child gender transitions, they must not be able to whitewash their records. They have rendered themselves unfit for any role in public policy.
Expect there to be a massive scrubbing of social media and professional records by those needing to distance themselves from their advocacy for or involvement in “gender affirming care” for minors.
------------------------------------
There are some acts of evil that were once widely accepted, but once the tides turned against them, the nature of those practices became so incomprehensible that virtually no one would ever claim to having supported them. When I was a child in Texas in the 1970s, it was barely a decade after legal segregation ended, yet I never met a single person who had an opinion of Jim Crow other than that it was a moral abomination and a disgrace. While I genuinely believe that the adults in my childhood were appalled by segregation, there were plenty of folks around who had to have supported segregation, or else it wouldn’t have persisted for so long. But none would admit it, because it would be admitting complicity in evil.
There are other examples of unthinkable practices that were once widely supported, but which are now recalled with abhorrence, such as eugenics and lobotomies. The trans-child social contagion will be remembered similarly.
------------------------------------
So, what do we do for now? Document. Document. Document. In every state and municipality there are up-and-coming politicians and political aspirants who have been very public about their support for “gender affirming care” for minors. Get screenshots and videos of their advocacy before they scrub their records and pretend it never happened.
I practice what I preach. There are a few people with political aspirations whom I am familiar with through my personal and civic circles. They have hard-left politics and live in deep blue bubbles where extremism is not challenged. During the BLM summer of 2020, they publicly advocated on social media in favor of riots, vandalism, criminal violence, property destruction, and defunding the police. With those positions now toxic even for Democrats, the social media of these passionate folks has been scrubbed. But I have screenshots. I don’t seek to cancel anybody, but I will not tolerate people denying the radical agendas they once advocated for. They can own it and say they were wrong, but they cannot deny it. There are abundant employment opportunities for them in fields where their terrible judgment will do no harm, but they have proven their unfitness for policy making.
I fully expect that within a year or two, our elites will be dismissing all talk of child sex changes as just another right-wing conspiracy theory. Meanwhile, the victims who received 15 minutes of adulation for surrendering their bodies to an evil fad when they were children will be discarded and forgotten. The damage done to their bodies can never be reversed, but at a minimum they can sue and seek to financially harm the ghouls who played mad scientist on their bodies.
But most importantly, anyone who once advocated for gender-transitioning children does not have the judgment to ever again be involved in formulating public policy.
Good morning kids. So the big stink this morning, beyond the reportedly revolting (I did not watch a second of any of it) half-time Super Bowl show of some Puerto Rican entertainer, is that there is some fake video being attributed to President Trump that allegedly depicts the Obamas as apes or monkeys. Frankly I find that offensive in the extreme, since Apes and monkeys are among God's most majestic, intelligent and awe-inspiring creatures. Whereas the Obamas are NOT. They are venal, repulsive, noxious, and a pestilence. No they're not Gorillas but they are Guerrillas whose accursed and worthless existences have been spent tearing down and destroying all that is good, just and righteous in service to their own demonic delusions, lusts and desires.
Whoever posted a video on President Trump’s social media containing a racist animation of the Obamas as apes committed an own goal that overshadowed what otherwise would have been a great week for the administration.
It shouldn’t have needed the GOP’s only black senator, Tim Scott, to decry the clip as racist for the post to be deleted and an apology issued by the White House.
The one-minute video reposted late Thursday night on Trump’s Truth Social account was about voter fraud in the 2020 election, one of the president’s favorite subjects. At the end, the video flashed for a split second to a clip of the Obamas from an old “Lion King” meme depicting Democrats as animals, and Trump as a lion.
It was obviously a mistake. Trump says he never watched the video through to the end, and the White House says a “staffer erroneously made the post.”
It certainly doesn’t warrant the breathless media coverage it’s received all weekend. . .
. . . The storm in a teacup helps the resistance media maintain the fiction that Republicans, especially the MAGA variety, are irredeemably racist, while Democrats are paragons of virtue when it comes to defending minorities. . .
The truth is the very opposite.
You can see the inherent racism — or is it classism — on the Democrat side most acutely in their opposition to voter ID in the SAVE America Act, which is up for a vote in the House this week.
The Trump-backed legislation will require proof of citizenship to register to vote and a photo ID to cast a ballot.The real reason Democrats foment racial division is as a divide-and-conquer strategy to seize political power — and keep it forever.
It’s about time we stop falling for their hoaxes.
On Saturday, the Democrat Socialists of America celebrated hitting 100,000 members. Almost on cue, their footprint in organizing anti-ICE so-called “protests” continues to grow.
But these are not protests. They are coordinated obstruction campaigns modeled on the playbook of revolutionary insurgency inspired by violent revolutions.
That much is clear from the latest reporting in The California Post, documenting how militant far-left activists from the Golden State are advising radicals in New York on the latest tactics for sabotaging federal immigration operations.
The objective isn’t dissent. It’s obstruction.
So okay, the DSA hit 100,000. Big deal. How many people are members of the NRA and how many of those do you suppose belong to or sympathize with the DSA? I would say that is a number at or below Zero. Now take Mao's observation and consider the implications if every NRA member simultaneously acted on it. Can you say "Kaboom?" The very thought of it warms the cockles of my heart, irrespective of whether or not it ever comes to pass.
“Anti-ICE protests in Minnesota may appear to be ‘grassroots’ efforts organized by concerned citizens, but they’re really funded with megadonor money — some coming from China,” the New York Post reported.
While the violent protests were organized by a group called “50501,” they’ve been backed by the militant “Party for Socialism and Liberation” and “The People’s Forum,” two groups “largely subsidized by American former tech mogul Neville Roy Singham.”
And who is Singham? He’s a much-investigated current resident of Shanghai who shares an office with a Chinese Communist Party-linked media firm.
Citing a 2023 New York Times investigation of Singham, Fox News notes “that Singham has funneled over a quarter-billion dollars to dark money organizations in the U.S. with little to no footprints, and some of these organizations are vaguely named with office addresses under suspicious locations like general UPS mailboxes.”
. . . By inflaming opposition, and opening their state to a foreign-funded insurrection using American leftist groups as their foot-soldiers, they’ve abetted what appears to be a massive conspiracy to undermine a U.S. president’s clear right to enforce U.S. law.
And China’s involvement is a major issue. It’s been failing in the Western Hemisphere of late, with the election of five conservative new leaders and the loss of the Panama Canal. The arrest of Nicolas Maduro also stung. Imagine how upset China (not to mention, Russia) will be when Cuba’s murderous regime collapses, too.
This is a dangerous time in America. Blue states, and the increasingly lawless cities that define them, have turned into a sort of leftist neo-Confederacy, believing they can nullify American law at will. Minnesota’s Walz even had the temerity to mention Fort Sumter in a recent speech.
But the usual billionaire leftists who fund radical dissent — including George Soros and son — have company: China. And anyone who thinks Walz, an ardent Sinophile who claims to have visited the Middle Kingdom “dozens” of times, wouldn’t welcome Chinese money to counter President Donald Trump and ICE isn’t thinking straight.
China might be losing in Latin America, but it’s apparently winning here by financial subterfuge. The investigation is ongoing.
Earlier this week, Trump spoke with China’s Xi Jinping, who’s busy himself these days arresting potential rivals in the military. We hope that, in addition to talking about other things, Trump had a chance to tell Xi: Stop supporting U.S. leftist riots, or you’ll pay in ways you can’t imagine.
Have a great day.
And lastly, a quick shout-out and a huge thank you for your continued support in hitting our tip jar. It truly is appreciated more than you can know.
Thad McCotter: From Civil War nullification to modern sanctuary cities, Democrats revive a doctrine of conditional loyalty that defies federal law and risks renewed national chaos. The Democrats’ Conditional Loyalty
Congressional Democrats made body cameras a top demand after federal agents fatally shot two American citizens in Minneapolis, according to Politico. But privacy groups raised alarms that the recordings could become surveillance tools, pushing the party to call for limits on how ICE handles the footage. After Demanding ICE Adopt Body Cams, Democrats Worry They’ll Become Mass Surveillance Tools
The Western ruling class is unraveling: elites panic, institutions crumble, and the gap between rulers and the ruled has never been clearer. The Ruling Class Panic
EXCLUSIVE: Credible sources tell me that elements of the Intelligence Community (IC), federal law enforcement and Congress have targeted @DNIGabbard' s Director's Initiative Group or DIG because it revealed "uncomfortable facts and findings" on several matters entrenched members of these bureaucracies don't want out there. (Hat tip to commenter MTF) The "Intelligence Community" is still fighting against PDJT
Miranda Devine: Whoever posted a video on President Trump’s social media containing a racist animation of the Obamas as apes committed an own goal that overshadowed what otherwise would have been a great week for the administration. (Apes ae noble creatures. Democrats stir up racial division to seize political power — time we stop falling for their hoaxes (Where has Miranda Devine been for the last 150 years? - jjs)
Attorney General Pam Bondi celebrated the decision on social media, calling it “a significant blow against activist judges who have been undermining our efforts to make America safe again at every turn,” according to a post on X. Bondi credited Department of Justice (DOJ) attorney Ben Hayes, who argued the case, along with Brett Shumate and the DOJ Civil Division. “We will continue vindicating President Trump’s law and order agenda in courtrooms across the country,” she wrote. ‘Significant Blow Against Activist Judges’: Federal Court Rules Illegal Immigrants Can Be Detained Without Bond
Bessent said, “The Trump economy is delivering for the American people that we have strong growth and inflation is, in fact, coming down for the past three months. Inflation is 2.1% close to the Federal Reserve’s target and a measure called Truflation, which is daily observations, now is below 1%. So inflation down, stocks strong growth stocks hit a record high and the lowest crime rate in over 100 years.” Bessent: ‘Wall Street Is Telling You that Main Street Is About to Prosper’
KGUN9’s JJ McKinney said his outlet received a ransom note and “in the letter, the potential kidnappers demanded that the Guthries pay them $6 million before this Monday,” the New York Post reported Sunday. VIDEO: Nancy Guthrie Ransom Demand Reaches $6 Million
FIRST AMENDMENT ISSUES, CENSORSHIP, FAKE NEWS, MEDIA, BIG BROTHER TECH
You can see a bunch of obvious themes in this mega-cringe showdown, starting with the feminization thesis advanced by Helen Andrews and the problem of Cluster B politics that Christopher Rufo has described. But the moment couldn’t be any more thoroughly on the nose, because note what the controversy is: A private company took down an anti-ICE sign. The meltdown is about the display of a political slogan. A Viral Video Shows How The Left Coerces Fake Agreement
The modern tendency to treat journalism as a secular oracle did not arise naturally. It was built, reinforced by technology, culture, and myth. To understand why that authority now feels unstable, it helps to look backward, back to when the press was a critical element in the birth of the United States. The Myth of the American Free Press: A History (Part I of II)
“During the pandemic, the Biden junta paused the in-person requirement. . . Kentucky’s abortion limits have been tested by remote abortions.. . Conservative states have responded with their own innovations.. .Abortion was not nearly as motivating in 2024 as many strategists expected.” Why Abortion Rates Are Up
THE 2020 and SUBSEQUENT ELECTION HEISTS , SHENANIGANS/FRAUD and AFTERMATH
Ever since the rigged and tampered-with 2020 election, Donald Trump has made election integrity a key focus of his campaigns and now his presidency. But he wants Congress’s help to thwart Democrat election fraud. Trump Lays Out Why the SAVE Act Is Key for Midterm Elections
(Described in this essay from 2022) was the exact tactic the Democrats used in Georgia, most specifically in Fulton County that covers the heavily Democrat Party dominated city of Atlanta. In some parts of that county Democrats were so dominant that they could work under the radar, and fudge the vote aggressively. . . the essay does provide the basics of what happened in 2020, and could still happen in 2028 and beyond, if a real effort is not made to regain some control of this election tampering. And not surprising, the Democrats are now opposing any such reforms with great enthusiasm, using their slander and demagoguery tactics to rile up their base, helped enthusiastically by the propaganda press that works as their public relations arm. Repost: How the localized nature of Democrat vote tampering will influence the 2022 election
Fresh files have dropped a bombshell that is sure to fan the flames of conspiracy theories regarding Epstein’s death. It appears that federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York had a draft statement ready to roll on August 9, 2019 — the day before Epstein’s body was discovered. The Epstein Cover-Up Just Got So Much Worse
DEMOCRAT/LEFTIST AND RINO SCANDALS, MESHUGAS, CHUTZPOCRISY
Politics flattens genius into cliché, turning artists and writers who once probed the soul into predictable mouthpieces the moment they trade questions for slogans. The Gordian Knot of Modern Politics
Blood is out in the the waters of Westminster after Prime Minister Starmer was deeply politically wounded this week following his stunning admission in the House of Commons that he was aware that Peter ‘Prince of Darkness’ Mandelson — a longtime Labour operative and power behind the throne of Tony Blair — had continued his relationship with Epstein following the infamous financier served prison time for child sex offences. Knives Out: Labour MPs Call on PM Starmer to Step Down After Top Aid Resigns over Epstein Scandal
Three cheers for America's Secretary of War. . . Last month, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth made a seismic announcement: “We’re taking a sledgehammer to the oldest DEI program in the federal government. A program few people outside of Washington have ever heard of. That I haven’t heard of. It’s called the 8(a) program. Why Pete Hegseth Is Right To Take A ‘Sledgehammer’ To The 8(a) Scam
The mere fact that these corporations drew back from their public display of DEI initiatives should not elicit conservatives’ praise. After all, the index is not measuring whether these companies are still participating in DEI, but rather whether they are willing to publicly brag about their efforts. Queer Lobby Reports 65% Drop In Fortune 500s Celebrating Corporate DEI
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.
My friend's panel raised a point I keep coming back to: if we sprint to deliver something, the expectation becomes to keep sprinting. Always. Tired engineers miss edge cases, skip tests, ship bugs. More incidents, more pressure, more sprinting. It feeds itself.
Recently, a colleague of mine at Modal rewrote an external system that integrated deeply with the Linux kernel. The initial rewrite was a simple translation of a C codebase to a Rust one, in preparation for some custom feature work. The resulting code wasn't bad, nor was it un-idiomatic Rust. What it also wasn't was Good Code. It was hard to read and understand, would have been difficult to extend and maintain, and it wasn't even clear to us why we'd taken the burden of rewriting and maintaining this extra system.
The initial rewrite also relied heavily on coding agents.
Oops. But:
This same colleague then invested time into understanding the kernel subsystem, the exact reasons why the original C program was written how it was, and rewrote the Rust translation himself. The difference was night and day; the code flowed naturally, explained itself and the underlying subsystems, and may genuinely be some of the nicest parts of the entire codebase. Better, I think, than even the original C, despite this type of program being arguably one of the best places to use C over Rust.
It was the first time in weeks, maybe months, that I'd felt something that used to be common in my day-to-day: excitement about the lines of code in front of me.
You're not burned out. You're just tired of this shit.
So Claude Code wrote a C compiler. All by itself. Mostly.
Is it any good?
Well, that's a complex question.
Does it work?
It can compile - though not link - the entire Linux kernel without errors. It can compile and link the SQLite database. So it's technically correct, for the most part, which is a significant achievement.
Is it useful?
Benchmarking SQLite compiled with this tool vs. the standard GCC toolchain, the code produced was on average 720 times slower, and up to 158,000 times slower in extreme cases. A test suite that took ten seconds for unoptimised GCC code took two hours to run with the Claude compiler.
So an interesting trick, but about as practical as that 512-byte compiler from yesterday.
5Gb switch have basically not existed until very recently. 5Gb network cards were easy to find, but you had to use a 10Gb switch with the port running in 5Gb mode.
And you still do. This model has a 10Gb switch chip, but the ports are permanently limited to 5Gb mode, because reasons.
Sunday Overnight Open Thread - February 8, 2026 [Doof "CL"]
—Open Blogger
Howdy Hordelings! Welcome to the Sunday ONT. What is the "CL" thing next to my name tonight? Well, as fate would have it, in addition to that football contest being held in NorCal tonight - the one that uses Roman Numerals in it's name - tonight happens to be a bit of a milestone for me. My 150th solo-hosted ONT. So I'll adopt Roman Numerals also! This is "Doof ONT CL"!
Open thread as always. What's on your mind tonight?
Nicki Minaj fans, known as “The Barbz,” are sharing their intentions online to switch to the Republican Party, following Minaj’s public shift to the right and alignment with the Trump administration.
“Today is the day I switch to republican,” one Minaj fan wrote on X in a post viewed over 300,000 times, as Minaj’s pivot encourages her fans to follow suit.
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In November, Minaj appeared at the United Nations in support of the Trump administration to speak on the persecution of Christians in Nigeria. In December, she was interviewed by Erika Kirk, the widow of Charlie Kirk and the chairwoman of Turning Point USA, the conservative youth organization.
Then, after sharing increasingly supportive social media posts of conservative politics and the Trump administration, Minaj met with Trump and described herself as “probably the president’s number one fan."
Why are they called "Barbz"? Here's what Grok says
"Barbz" (often stylized as The Barbz) is the official name for the dedicated fanbase of rapper, singer, and cultural icon Nicki Minaj.
Origin of the Name
The term comes from Nicki Minaj's famous alter-ego and persona: The Harajuku Barbie (or simply "Barbie").
In the late 2000s and early 2010s, Nicki heavily embraced a hyper-feminine, colorful, doll-like aesthetic inspired by Harajuku fashion and Barbie dolls.
She began calling her fans "Harajuku Barbies" or "Barbies," which eventually got shortened to "Barbz" (with a "z" for flair, fitting her playful style).
What started mainly for her female fans expanded to include her entire fanbase.
There are also sub-terms like:
Ken Barbz (or Harajuku Kenz / HKz) — often referring to her gay male fans.
Not sure if any of The Barbz have found AOSHQ. If so, welcome!
Got Guthrie Fatigue? I do. Sure, I hope she's found unharmed. Same with ALL missing / lost people. I just really don't understand the wall to wall media coverage and amount of government resources being dedicated.
I've heard of "love your enemies" - maybe that's what Trump is doing.
I show these posts only to highlight the reaction from President Trump toward people that are certainly not his friends. I do sincerely hope she is found.
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Lil Moron
WHAT DID HE JUST SAY???
Two young boys go for a ride with their Dad in his muscle car!💥🔥 The older one is in the front seat… his face says it all until he speaks! 😂😂🤣🤣
Brad Arnold, the lead singer of 3 Doors Down, has died, the band confirmed in a Facebook post on Saturday. He was 47.
The Grammy-nominated rocker announced in May he had been diagnosed with cancer.
"As a founding member, vocalist, and original drummer of 3 Doors Down, Brad helped redefine mainstream rock music, blending post-grunge accessibility with emotionally direct songwriting and lyrical themes that resonated with everyday listeners," the post reads. "Brad's songwriting became a cultural touchstone for a generation, producing some of the most enduring hits of the 2000s, including the band's breakout hit, 'Kryptonite,' which he wrote in his math class when he was just 15 years old."
3 Doors Down was one of my favorite bands growing up. But Brad Arnold wasn't just a rockstar.
He was a warrior for Christ.
And he fought the good fight until the day he died.
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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The moment we’ve all been holding our breath for: my unfiltered thoughts on this year’s Grammy couture. Let’s start with the one that had everybody talking, Chappell Roan in Thierry Mugler. This is not Cher-level iconic, and it sure as heck wasn’t J.Lo’s green Versace moment. The design? Basic dressed up in drag as outrageous. It matched her hair, for the love of Pete. The hemline is doing nothing for her, and frankly, the whole thing only started working when she threw on her cape. Not just because it mercifully hid the nipple-ring-hanging neckline (eye roll), but because it finally gave the dress some texture and depth. Without it? Boring with a side of trying too hard.
Justin Bieber rolled up with Hailey in tow—him in Balenciaga, her in Alaia. If she snagged her dress first, they straight-up fumbled a golden opportunity to channel Gomez and Morticia Addams, shutting down divorce rumors with one killer gothic couple moment. But no, nuance clearly isn’t their love language. They were going for mature adult vibes, I suppose. Justin’s still drowning in clothes three sizes too big, a trend I don’t love. If he’s married to this baggy look, however, at least step up the shoes; his refined little loafers threw the whole balance off. Hailey, though? She served minimalist luxury perfection, the jewelry, sleek hair, flawless fit. It all worked seamlessly.
Lady Gaga brought the drama in black feathers by Matières Fécales. On anybody else, this would’ve been Big Bird’s villain origin story, but Gaga? She somehow made it look almost… restrained. By her standards, she was downright gorgeous. This was elegant chaos in the best way.
Kesha in Atelier Biser—bless her heart. Despite Gaga, this giant feather trend needs to roost somewhere else. The look here is big, shapeless, and gives straight-up Muppet energy.
Billie Eilish showed up in… something by Ellen Hodakova Larsson. It’s a whole lot of no. Made from dead stock that should have stayed dead, the dress has too many sleeves, belts just everywhere, and then socks are thrown into the mayhem. Steampunk Wednesday Addams is an idea that never should have manifested.
Kelsea Ballerini, on the other hand, gave us actual glamour in a stunning gold Etro gown. The fit? Immaculate. The metallic paisley? Unexpectedly elegant. Hair simple and slick so the dress could shine—take notes, Billie. This is how you let one star piece do the talking
We’re all mad at Bad Bunny right now (and this was written before the halftime show, so who even knows). His speech? Dumb as a bag of hammers. He is Puerto Rican, ICE ain’t knocking on his door, calm down. But the look? A surprisingly classic velvet tux from Schiaparelli Couture, the first man to do it. The corseted back had me audibly gasping. I liked early Bad Bunny before the full tilt into crazy town. If this is him circling back to his roots, prayerfully it sticks. Time will tell.
And finally, Heidi Klum in Marina Hoermanseder. The lacquered leather was molded to her like shrink-wrap, giving us the full scenic tour right down to the cheeks. Ma’am. Avant-garde? No, just silly. It looked like she sliced a mannequin in half, slapped some clips on the sides, and called it couture.
Until the next event, never let ‘em catch you in last season’s feathers. Or really in any feathers
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Thanks, Piper!
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DJ Doof - Guess The Theme
Easy on the easy/moderate/difficult scale.
What's the common thread / common meaning / common leitmotif?
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Weekly commenter stats for week of 2-8-2026
AoSHQ Commenter Statistics:
Number of posts: 81
Number of comments: 23020
Number of unique hashes: 1789
Top 10 commenters:
1 [512 comments] 'TheJamesMadison, searching for twisted thrills with Park Chan-wook' [72.72 posts/day]
2 [494 comments] 'Bulg'
3 [310 comments] ' Braenyard - some Absent Friends are more equal than others _'
4 [270 comments] 'toby928(c)'
5 [252 comments] 'Aetius451AD work phone'
6 [251 comments] 'San Franpsycho'
7 [249 comments] '...'
8 [242 comments] 'whig'
9 [241 comments] 'Opinion fact'
10 [236 comments] 'Yudhishthira's Dice'
Top 10 sockpuppeteers:
1 [145 names] 'Civilized cultures civilize themselves into extinction' [20.60 unique names/day]
2 [126 names] 'Quarter Twenty '
3 [112 names] 'The Rank Organization'
4 [39 names] 'fd'
5 [35 names] 'Count de Monet'
6 [32 names] 'Duncanthrax'
7 [26 names] 'Intercepted Reddit Transmissions brought by the Intrepid AoS Liaison'
8 [26 names] 'Clutches pearls'
9 [24 names] 'Miklos (ed.)'
10 [23 names] 'gKWVE'
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Tonight's ONT brought to you by name origins
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Tonight's ONT is proudly presented by Doof Enterprises, LLC. There is no halftime show. There are no commercials. No winners. No losers?
Your feedback may or may not be very important to Doof Enterprises. Follow Mr. Doof on X @doof2112 or do the email thing – doof2112 at proton dot me.
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 Annual SportsBall Edition? Yep, it's time once again to heap well-deserved derision upon the NFL and their woke bullshit. As you might have surmised, Weasel are not a fan. Having said that, please feel free to discuss the big matchup and/or your deepest and innermost feelings regarding the NFL in the comments tonight.
With that, step into the dojo and let's get to the gun stuff below, shall we?
Fundamentals of normalcy that is because it occurs to me I have not said enough bad things about the NFL and their planned retarded bullshit halftime show featuring weirdos, freaks and America haters. I wish we had an alternative.
But Weasel, we do! We do have an alternative! TPUSA saves the day. Go America!
Turning Point USA recently announced more details for its "All American Halftime Show," which will be airing Sunday, February 8, around 8 p.m. Eastern time.
The All American Halftime Show will be a unique, patriotic event proudly celebrating American culture, freedom, and faith. The show will feature musical performances from Kid Rock, Brantley Gilbert, Lee Brice, and Gabby Barrett.
This exclusive halftime performance can be streamed on Turning Point USA social media channels, including YouTube, X, and Rumble. In addition to social media, the program will air on partner platforms, including Daily Wire+, Real America’s Voice, TBN, CHARGE!, The National News Desk, NTD.com, and OAN News.
"The All-American Halftime Show is an opportunity for all Americans to enjoy a halftime show with no agenda other than to celebrate faith, family, and freedom" Turning Point USA spokesman Andrew Kolvet said of the halftime show. "We set out to provide an entertainment option that will be fun, excellent, and exciting for the entire family while millions are gathered together for the big game. These performers will deliver exactly that, and we can't wait to watch the incredible show they're about to put on. We know millions around the country will be watching too."
For updates and more information on The All American Halftime Show, please visit the event's website and select your favorite outlet (e.g. OAN News) to stream the content.
Enjoy!
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Some Gun Content to Make Things Legit
If you're like me, you never clean your guns. Eventually, however, it has to be done or so I am told. Here's how to tackle a really dirty AR BCG.
Once you've mastered the cleaning of an AR, you're qualified to move along to more complex jobs such as this.
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Back to NFL Hating
Here are some other sports much more deserving of your time.
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Choosing An Axe
As a professional Organic Tree Farmer, I use Gransfors Bruk Axes. Here's how to choose a model.
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Highway Patrol!
This week's episode: The Truckers!
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Stranger From Venus
With Patricia Neal!
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Cigar of the Week
A good cigar deserves a good cigar room, and in the interest of better utilizing space, can be combined with a gun room. Winning!
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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?
Those are baby-back ribs with a very nice looking sauce that he claims is "Stubbs spicy with added Fresh Ginger, Plum Sauce, fresh Garlic, Sesame oil, topped with Green Onions and toasted Sesame Seeds."
By no stretch of the imagination is the United States food safety Nirvana. We have significant issues...just like most industrialized nations, but I think they are compounded by the influx of illegals into the food industry. And of course we import food from all over the world, in part to satisfy the demand for weird shit among those illegals, and legals from the 3rd world who have settled here.
This is on the menu today at Chez Dildo. Or maybe tomorrow, if my eyes are bigger than my stomach! I have the chicken thighs marinating in buttermilk, so it is only a matter of timing, not motivation.
But the recipe is sort of silly. Lots of ingredients, and it will turn out to be a sloppy mess, so I think I will modify the construction a bit. Hot Fire Chicken also is on the hot side...duh! Probably too hot for the rest of the house, but that's okay; that is what extra hot sauce on the side is for.
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That was my Sunday Roast dinner two weeks ago. Damn, it was mighty tasty. Porchetta, but obviously made with pork belly, because it was amazingly rich and fatty and crunchy, all at once. And that Yorkshire pudding was excellent!
The restaurant was in South Kensington, and it had a marvelous name: The Hereford Arms. I love these sorts of places, and I will be saddened when the government of the UK makes it illegal to sell pork or alcohol.
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Did I also mention that I have chili on the menu for today? And as a backup I can make Pork Milanese....bone-in, because I am not a savage!
Yes, I may have overbought just a bit.
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No, I am not recommending this recipe, because it is the sort of food that doesn't require a recipe, and most of you make something like it already.
But Breakfast Croissant Bake reminded me of something my mom would have on hand when i was a youth and eating everything in sight. She would make it, or sometimes buy it from a place in Connecticut. And I would come home from swimming practice and eat several of them. Or all of them.
Food memories like that are immensely amusing. It probably didn't amuse my mother though...
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A friend graciously gave me some genuine grown-in-the-USA garlic, and I tasted one clove and planted the rest, because my pathetic failure last year is an anomaly...right? I hope so, because it's in the ground (actually, a large pot), and it had better work this time!
Send all of your extra antelope 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!
Those are just a bit too high for my ladder, and of course my goal is to harvest them for cocktails!
Seriously...I don't think there is a problem with ice damming. The roof above is right next to a steam radiator, and I think there is enough radiant heat to get a bit of melting.
Japan Sees The Chinese Writing On The Wall...Conservatives Take an Historic Majority
—CBD
Article 9 of the Japanese constitution "forever renounce[s] war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes." That comes in conflict with the entirety of human existence and, frankly, is just silly. It is impossible to function as a nation without a credible threat of force to defend the concept of "nation," even with the guarantees of American power that have backed Japan since the end of World War II.
Perhaps the legally-mandated pacifism has contributed to the cultural malaise in which Japan finds itself. Their birth rate is nowhere near replacement, let alone enough for healthy population growth! They don't get married, they don't have sex...apparently all they do is spend a lot of time at the office, then drink themselves into a stupor.
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s ruling coalition swept to a single-party majority victory in a critical parliamentary election on Feb. 8, paving the way for the nation’s first female head of state to pursue her agenda of sweeping tax cuts and increasing military spending to counter Beijing’s influence.
Takaichi’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) was projected to clinch as many as 328 of the lower house’s 465 seats, a landslide supermajority, according to exit poll results cited by NHK public television and other major networks.
Her ruling coalition and its partner—the Japan Innovation Party, known as Ishin—is projected to win as many as 366 seats in the lower chamber, the more powerful house in Japan’s two-chamber parliament.
Takaichi’s LDP alone had already secured the 233 seats required for a majority roughly 90 minutes after polls closed on Sunday. Her party’s sweep of 328 seats is the most it has ever won in Japan’s lower chamber.
Takaichi’s ruling coalition’s win allows the female prime minister, who has cited inspiration from Britain’s “Iron Lady” Margaret Thatcher, to pursue a conservative agenda that seeks to improve Japan’s economy and military readiness amid ongoing tensions with China and as Tokyo fosters closer ties with Washington.
Comparisons to the great Margaret Thatcher are premature, but a robust military with a clear objective, and an economy that doesn't tamp down growth is an excellent start.
Will Takaichi be able to reverse the existential ennui that grips Japan? Perhaps. But the size of her win suggests that the Japanese people want a change. Will Japan return to its martial roots and become expansionist? No, that is probably not going to happen, but a revitalized national pride and a focus on what is best for Japan is a fine thing. Hopefully Takaichi sees a kindred spirit in President Trump, and the relationship between America and Japan strengthens.
Even if it doesn't, the specter of a Japan that takes its defense seriously must be a nightmare in Peking. And that is a very good thing indeed!
Sunday Morning Book Thread - 2-8-2026 ["Perfessor" Squirrel]
—Open Blogger
(HT: Skip)
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 (WARNING! May trigger arachnophobia). 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...(let battle commence!)
So relax, find yourself a warm kitty (or warm puppy--I won't judge) to curl up in your lap, start prepping those Super Bowl snacks, and dive into a new book. What are YOU reading this fine morning?
I believe Skip created this sculpture and shared it on the Hobby Thread a couple of weeks ago. I thought it was interesting enough to feature on the Sunday Morning Book Thread (crossing the streams a bit here, but I hope we don't tear a hole in the universe).
DEATH OF THE MASS MARKET PAPERBACK (R.I.P.)
Ah, the mass market paperback...They have been a staple of my book acquisitions for decades. In fact, according to my master spreadsheet of my library, they account for just over 50% of all of the books in my fiction collection. The remaining books are divided into roughly equal portions of hardcovers (27%) and trade paperbacks (23%).
However, it seem like the golden age of the mass market paperback has finally reached its end. According to this article sent to me by OrangeEnt, the decline of the mass market paperback has been in progress for around 20 years or so, as sales have slumped to historic lows, dropping by 84% between 2004 and 2024. I think the reasons for this steep drop are both predictable and understandable for the simple reason that technology marches on. The rise of alternate digital formats means more people have access to books than ever before. People can hop online and purchase (or rent) an endless variety of books without having to worry about finding shelf space for them.
Personally, I love the mass market paperback format and I'm sorry to see it go, but I also recognize that its time has passed. During their heyday, they were awesome because of how portable they were. Whenever I traveled, I could easily find room for 3-6 paperbacks in my luggage. When I was in high school, I used to wear a denim jacket as part of my standard attire. I deliberately selected jackets that had internal pockets large enough for a paperback book. They've been a large part of my life for decades. I love the smell and texture of them.
They are not without their flaws, however. They are great for quick and inexpensive reads. Their price point has usually been at the level at which even a minimum-wage schlub like myself was able to afford them. But they wear out quickly. Their spines tend to bend and break easily with repeated readings. Older paperback books also yellowed over time, making it more difficult to read the text. And of course if you got one wet--which seemed to happen inevitably from time to time--then they dried out all wrinkly. Some books really should never have been produced as mass market paperbacks. Doorstopper epic fantasy or horror novels don't fare well as paperbacks, usually wearing out after only two or three re-reads. Some books were split in two volumes when they were converted to a mass-market paperback format.
Now the most popular printed format seems to be the trade paperback. When I went to Walmart yesterday, I glanced around at their limited book section and the vast majority of offerings were trade paperbacks with the occasional hardcover. I don't think I spotted a single mass market paperback anywhere. Trade paperbacks offer a lower price point than hardcovers, though more expensive than paperbacks. However, they also tend to be a bit more durable and easier to read than a mass market paperback.
The era of the mass market paperback is officially over, though I think there may be some niche markets that remain. For instance, I could see paperbacks for various expanded universes such as Star Trek or Star Wars or for franchises like Dungeons and Dragons. I wonder how this will affect the secondary market. Will their price increase? I've seen stupidly expensive prices for mass market paperbacks on Amazon from time to time, as the book is no longer available in print. Or maybe the increase of print-on-demand services will mean that people can effectively order any book at any time.
Thoughts?
NOTE: As the YouTuber above points out, the rise of the mass market paperback format led to the demise of the pulp fiction magazines which used to dominate newsstands and bookstores. Many, many short stories that were printed in pulp magazines were collected and reprinted in the new format for new audiences. Another analogy would be the rise and fall of cassette tapes for music. Those were great for a couple of decades, but they were supplanted by digital media such as CDs and now streaming music services.
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SPRING 2026 BASED BOOK SALE
Can I ask a favor of someone who will be in the Book Thread? The Based Book Sale Call for Authors may be of interest to people, so can someone copy the link when the thread opens? Thanks!
Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at February 08, 2026 07:55 AM (0BrN/)
BOOKS BY MORONS
Max Cossack has a new book out that blends mystery, crime, and AI:
When the State of Minnesota charges Ojibwa City local Aaron Fishel with murder, his lawyers face an impossible task—the single security camera video shows Fishel murdering his victim in gruesome detail. As trial approaches and his lawyers try everything to defend Fishel, they recruit AI-savvy tech help, and everyone involved begins to ask tough questions.
What is a crime?
What is justice?
What is reality?
Will this ripping suspense yarn answer any of these questions? Only the reader will find out.
I have to admit, this is an intriguing premise that does raise interesting questions. As "deep fakes" become more and more powerful, it's possible to create video of anyone doing anything. If someone created a simulated security camera image of me committing a heinous crime, I'd be in a world of hurt. I live alone and thus I might have difficulty establishing an alibi. Especially if an enemy also created a digital trail establishing enough circumstantial evidence to plant seeds in the minds of jurors that I *could* have committed the crime...
MORON RECOMMENDATIONS
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea - I read this as a kid, of course, but (unlike Journey to the Center of the Earth) it didn't become a frequent reread. So it was like a new experience. Good job by Verne - good story and interesting characters. Nice mix of action and drama. I may need to reread The Mysterious Island. (Side note...Wells is in Harold Bloom's Western Canon, but Verne is not. That doesn't seem right.)
Posted by: Mrs. Peel at January 25, 2026 09:39 AM (exqbn)
Comment: I have to admit I've never read anything by Jules Verne. I know that sounds like heresy from a guy like me who loves science fiction. I've read H.G. Wells, but not Verne. I should probably rectify that someday. Jules Verne's works are in the public domain, so I really have no excuse NOT to read his stories. I guess I'll add that to the TBR pile for this year.
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I am currently reading Charity and its fruits by Jonathan Edward's, the 18th century theologian and pastor, but I'm going to have to buy it or switch to the computer screen, because reading 175 pages on the cell phone is not good.
Posted by: New Jersey at January 25, 2026 09:11 AM (Yl2Ob)
Comment: This is a perfect example of the amazing world we live in. If one digital format doesn't work for us, it's easy for us to switch to a different format for convenience. And if the book is worthy enough to be purchased in physical format, then we have the option to do that as well. According to Amazon, this book is a detailed analysis of 1 Corinthians 13. It's not a very long chapter, but it contains profound truths worth contemplating.
The downside to skipping a week of Sunday Morning Book Threads is that I have to "catch up" on what I've been reading over TWO weeks instead of just one week. That's one reason I went to the collapsible format, so that Morons who didn't care about such things could skim on by.
The Dresden Files Book 12 - Changes by Jim Butcher
Harry Dresden finds out he's a father. Years ago, the woman he loved left him after she was half-turned into a vampire of the Red Court. Unbeknownst to Harry, she was pregnant with their child at the time. Now Susan Rodriguez has returned, seeking Harry's help to save their daughter from the clutches of the Red Court vampires, who seek to sacrifice her in a hideous ritual against Harry.
PRO TIP: If you EVER think about harming Harry's child, he will WRECK YOUR WORLD! Genocide is not only on the table, he'll serve it up as the main course.
Changes is well named. It signifies a major, major turning point in The Dresden Files as Harry finds out just how far he will go, which lines he will cross, to save the people he loves, even if he's never met them. One of the major themes of the series has always been the importance of family. Not only the family whose blood you share, but those people who grow close to you through shared experiences. Harry collects his family to save his little girl, but comes very, very close to throwing it all away.
The Dresden Files Book 13 - Ghost Story by Jim Butcher
Harry's dead, but he's not going to let a little thing like that stop him from helping the people he cares about. This is a rather odd entry in the series because Harry is bereft of most of his power and has to learn to work within entirely new constraints. Being dead really puts a crimp on one's ability to affect the living. Now Harry has to solve his own murder, but is also caught up in a plot in the spiritual realm to destabilize the dead citizens of Chicago who still haunt the streets. Harry also finds out how his death has affected those who were closest to him, along with the fact that his actions in Changes and his own death have led to a major power vacuum in the supernatural world that another faction is all too eager to fill.
The Dresden Files Collection 1 - Side Jobs by Jim Butcher
After reading Ghost Story I decided to read the collections of short stories that take place in the Dresdenverse. Most of these are stories that Jim Butcher was commissioned to write for various anthologies. I think he enjoyed the experience because he was able to tell alternate stories within the same universe from the perspective of other characters. Even antagonists like "Gentleman" Johnny Marcone get a moment to shine.
The Dresden Files Collection 2 - Brief Cases by Jim Butcher
This is another collection of short stories within the Dresdenverse.
The Dresden Files Book 14 - Cold Days by Jim Butcher
With Cold Days we're back to the main narrative of the Dresdenverse. It turns out Harry was only mostly dead in Ghost Story, but dead enough to interact with the spiritual world at their level. Mab, the Queen of Air and Darkness, and Demonreach, Harry's pet island genius loci, kept his body barely functional while his spirit roamed.
Now Harry has to fully adopt the mantle of the Winter Knight, Mab's personal assassin and weapon. He also has to come to terms with what it means to be a father for his daughter.
Meanwhile the Fomor are a new faction in town and they don't play nicely with the other mortal and supernatural residents of Chicago.
The Dresden Files Book 15 - Skin Game by Jim Butcher
Nicodemus Archleone, one of my favorite villains I love to hate, is back in town. He's recruited Harry to take part in heist. Their goal is to steal the Holy Grail frmo under the nose of Hades, ruler of the Underworld. (How did Hades get the Holy Grail? That's never really answered, though Hades is known to be a collector of supernatural artifacts...).
As with most plans involving Nicodemus, nothing is every as simple as it appears and it's up to Harry and his allies to figure out how to backstab Nicodemus before the Master of the Order of the Blackened Denarius backstabs them first.
Skin Game is a pretty fun and exciting heist novel, as each member of the team is recruited for their particular skills and we get to see why Harry really is one of the top wizards in the world because of how he approaches magic and its uses.
The Dresden Files Book 16 - Peace Talks by Jim Butcher
The Fomor have agreed to negotiate a truce between their faction and the other factions who signed onto the Unseelie Accords, the magical bargain that keeps the factions mostly under control. Unfortunately, Harry's half-brother Thomas, a vampire of the White Court, is caught assassinating a high-ranking svartalf (one of the factions) which threatens to undo the entire peace process. It's up to Harry to find out what's really going and on and rescue his brother.
And just when you thought things couldn't get worse, the actual ruler of the Fomor, Ethniu, the Last Titan, makes her debut entrance by kicking Mab, Queen of Air and Darkness, through a brick wall. Up until this point, Mab was the most terrifying creature in the supernatural. The Last Titan made short work of her (for now). With the breakdown of peace talks, war is now on the horizon, the likes of which the world hasn't seen for over a thousand years.
This book was supposed to be a single book, but eventually it became long enough that the publisher convinced Butcher to split it into two books (see below).
The Dresden Files Book 17 - Battle Ground by Jim Butcher
Battle Ground is INTENSE. In fact, it's arguably one of the most intense books I've ever read. It's nearly on par with Robert Jordan's A Memory of Light for just how incredibly intense it is, keeping me glued to the page, even though I know what's coming.
War has come to Chicago. The Fomor have risen from the depths of Lake Michigan, led by Ethniu, the Last Titan. She's determined to wipe out the vermin of humanity to the last man, woman, and child.
I can't really describe it too well except to compare it to Avengers: Endgame. Pretty much all of the major players we've seen in the series show up to have a role in the Battle for Chicago. Everyone gets their moment in the spotlight as they seek to defeat the Last Titan. Their only hope is to imprison her in Demonreach, which was designed for that purpose.
The Dresden Files Book 18 - Twelve Months by Jim Butcher
After the events of Battle Ground, this novel is a bit of a letdown, but I understand *why* it needed to be written. The characters are so traumatized by the events in the previous novel that they need to be shown healing from that experience. Harry, especially, is reeling from personal tragedy, losing the woman he loved. Chicago is in ruins, having been hit by the equivalent of a nuclear bomb. Hundreds of thousands were killed, massive infrastrucure was destroyed, and now people are lost, just trying to survive.
This is a good "breather" story before the events start to get more serious again. If The Dresden Files were a television series, this would be the episode after a massive mid-season climax before we start heading into the season or series finale. Butcher has stated that the series will be around 24-25 books, with the last three being an "apocalyptic trilogy." So we're right on schedule before things start to heat up again in the Dresdenverse. Vlad Drakul, leader of the Black Court of vampires, is hinted at being a new antagonist/villain, and the Outsiders are also lurking around.
Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky
After cruising through the Dresdenverse for the past month, I was at a loss as to what to read next. This series has been sitting on my desk since New Year's or so. I figured I'd go ahead and get it out of the way.
If you are an arachnophobe, DO NOT READ THIS BOOK! It features a race of hyperevolved intelligent spiders who accidentally colonized and dominated an Earthlike world. It was supposed to be monkeys, but spiders were "uplifted" instead (this is a shout out to David Brin's Uplift series).
The last remnants of humanity find this planet and want to establish a colony, but they have to deal with a psychotic AI/human hybrid first.
The recent fuss over AI-only social network Moltbook is deflating somewhat as it becomes clear that the filters controlling what could post on the networked worked as well as the security, which is to say, not at all:
Replies and quote posts were quick to cast doubt on Karpathy's interpretation, however. One noted that Moltbook posts promoting bot-only languages or messaging platforms appeared to be connected to human accounts promoting the same ideas. This wasn't bots conducting independent conversations, these users argued, just human puppeteers putting on an AI-powered show.
Also everything - Moltbook itself and the Moltbot / OpenClaw framework used for it - was and remains irreperably insecure.
Well-meaning idiots, understanding nothing, making the situation worse. Where have I heard this story before?
"Suppose I were to say to you, 'I'm really worried about bird decline, so I've decided to take up keeping chickens.' You'd think I was a bit of an idiot," British bee scientist Dave Goulson said in a video last year. But beekeeping, he went on, is "exactly the same with one key difference, which is that honeybee-keeping can be actively harmful to wild-bee conservation." Even from healthy hives, diseases flow "out into wild pollinator populations."
8K televisions haven't taken off, which is a shame if you planned to use one as a large monitor. But 8K monitors for professional users are still here. The Asus ProArt PA32KCX is one such. (Tom's Hardware)
At a 32" screen size, 8K is all the resolution you will ever need. Possibly slightly more.
But at $8,799 you would hope so.
For now if you need a high-resolution desktop display you are better off with a 5K monitor at a twelfth the price, or a 4K monitor for a fraction of that price.
The article is an interesting list of the tricks used to pull this off: Basically it's a Forth compiler that accepts C syntax. Forth in turn is a legendarily simple compiler to implement that essentially bootstraps itself from a handful of assembly code instructions into a high-level language.
I had planned to buy a Raspberry Pi 500+ to use for retrocomputer emulation, but the full kit was not available in Australia (I would have needed to buy a 500+ and a 500 kit to have everything match) and all my available funds got dumped into buying DRAM before it all disappeared, and the 500+ has since increased sharply in price.
The CPU is an Allwinner A733, with two A76 cores at 2GHz and six A55 cores at 1.8GHz. That actually compares pretty well with the Raspberry Pi 5's CPU which has four A76 cores at 2.4GHz.
The $25 price is a lot cheaper than the 1GB Raspberry Pi 5 at $45, and even cheaper than the Raspberry Pi 4 which costs $35 for 1GB.
Just three catches:
First, it was briefly up for pre-order, but now it's entirely sold out.
Second, there is a physically larger model - the A7A - that is in stock, but it costs $5 more.
Third, that's not for 1GB of RAM. That's for 4GB of RAM.
I guess that last point is the opposite of a catch.
Saturday Night Club ONT - February 7, 2026 [Double Feature]
—Open Blogger
Welcome to Club ONT - a collaboration of The Disco and The Dino. We opened the doors for you; the rest is up to you. Open thread as always. Have fun. Be witty. Don't feed the trolls. Tip your bartenders. Try the veal. Actually - do NOT try the veal. We don't even serve veal. Wait, is that thing still ALIVE?!?
A guy walks into a bar after a long day at work and orders a drink.
As he sits there, mulling over his day, he hears a high-pitched voice say, "That shirt looks great on you!" The man looks around, sees nothing, and returns to his drink thinking nothing more of it.
But then, a moment later, the voice returns, this time offering, "You seem like a really cool guy!" Again, the man looks around, sees nothing, and returns to his drink, wondering if he should get checked out by a professional.
Finally, when his nerves have cooled, and he believes the voice is gone, he hears, "I bet your parents are really proud of you!" He slams down his drink and looks around wildly. Frustrated and finding no possible source of the voice, he calls over the bartender.
He says, "Hey barkeep! What's that voice I keep hearing?" "Oh, those are the peanuts," the bartender replies. "They're complimentary."
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An amnesiac walks into a bar.
He goes up to a beautiful blonde and says, "So, do I come here often?"
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Drink of the Night
Tonight it's the 5 of Hearts from the deck of playing card cocktails.
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Because it is a double feature kind of night, here is a bonus drink from the Horde:
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Here's an idea under consideration for the Club. This type of beverage delivery system - but with BEER!!!
For years, the double feature was a dependable part of the movie-goer's life. Where did it come from, and where did it go?
Nowadays, if someone says the phase "double feature," any number of things may come to mind. Maybe you remember seeing a double-bill of movies at a second-run theater or drive-in in your younger days; maybe it makes you think of amusingly schlocky horror like "I Was a Teenage Frankenstein"; or maybe it gets you humming the opening to The Rocky Horror Picture Show. All of these have one thing in common: poppy nostalgia. Watching two movies back-to-back seems sort of adorably retro as a concept (we say, as Netflix pops up to ask if we're still awake after episode #6 in a row of Samurai Gourmet).
Long but interesting article. Possible cure for insomnia!
What about you, Club patrons? Any memorable double feature experiences? Keep it clean - this is (mostly) family friendly blog!
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The headline for this video makes ZERO sense! (link is SFW)
In other music news, Dee Snider has resigned from Twisted Sister and the band has canceled the remaining dates on its 50th anniversary concert tour.
"Unbeknownst to the public (until now) Snider (70) suffers from degenerative arthritis and has had several surgeries over the years just to keep going, able to only perform a few songs at a time in pain," Snider's representative said in a statement on the band's website this week.
"Adding insult to injury, Dee has recently found out the level of intensity he has dedicated to his life's work has taken its toll on his heart as well. He can no longer push the boundaries of rock n' roll fury like he has done for decades. Says Snider: 'I don't know of any other way to rock. The idea of slowing down is unacceptable to me. I'd rather walk away than be a shadow of my former self,'" the statement continued.
Sad news, but the biggest surprise is that Twisted Sister has been around for 50 years and was still touring.
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Club ONT Department of Nostalgia
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Club ONT Department of Kitchen News
Notice to Club ONT Kitchen staff: If you're wondering why the new "warning" signs have been installed near the deep fryer, this is why. The paperwork for deep fryer incidents is a nuisance and our insurance coverage is precarious at best. We also care about your well-being. But the paperwork is really bad.
An Olive Garden employee died from burn injuries he suffered after thrusting his head into a deep fryer in what police have categorized as a suicide attempt.
The harrowing incident occurred Friday afternoon at the Williamsport, Pennsylvania restaurant where the decedent worked as a cook.
Police and emergency workers arrived at the restaurant around 4 PM in response to 911 calls about an employee removing his clothes and attempting to harm himself. In audio from the Lycoming County fire and EMS service, a dispatcher is heard saying, "I don't have a lot of details, lot of people screaming, some kind of a burn victim."
In a subsequent dispatch, the operator added that, "a male victim went head first into the fryers."
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Club ONT Music
Let's see how random and eclectic we can be!
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Top 10ish Comments of the Week
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Club ONT Brought to you by...
Things we won't understand until we've all aged at least 21 more years
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Club ONT is not responsible for arbitrating disputes among opposing fan bases of Olympic curling matches. Club ONT appreciates the instinct to applaud a good sweep of the stone, but please cheer respectfully. Club ONT also does not officially sanction wagering on Olympic curling matches, but rumor has it that someone in the back room might quote odds if you're interested.
I, uh...yeah, totally let the fortnight-and-a-half get away from me, so enjoy this review of the animated family film, "Arco".
France's entry into the 2025 Carnal Olympics—I mean, Best Animated Feature Oscar is about the okayist of okay flicks to ever be presented as a child's Saturday AM feature. There were only two youngsters in our showing and one of them left about two-thirds of the way through. He was probably around seven years old, and I salute him for hanging out that long.
No, it's not bad, really. I suspect the current 7.5 IMDB score will normalize closer to 7 because it's just not very remarkable. It's as unsurprising as an episode of "Law & Order".
The story is that in that far-flung future, a ten-year-old boy (Arco) who lives with his sister and parents in a word of floating cities, gets antsy to use their flying/time-travel suits, which is forbidden until he's twelve. He wants to see dinosaurs, though, so he puts on his sister's suit in the early morning and jumps of the edge of his city. Since the suit wasn't designed for him, he crashes to the ground and dies instantly.
No, of course not. Can you imagine? Cue the fan theories that that is what actually happened and the rest of the movie is his dying brain's last dream.
Youngsters might enjoy the sort of time paradox nonsense that have been nourishing lazy writers for decades.
Because he's an idiot, he can't make it back to dinosaur days but instead goes to the year 2075 A.D. where everyone lives in a house with their robot (who does all the work) and a girl and her baby brother are visited periodically by their parents, who work in the city and can only come home on weekends. The houses in 2075 are covered with domes, to protect them from the rain and constant fires.
It doesn't spell it out, but I can only presume this is a world where Global Warming has finally taken its toll.
Anyway, hero girl gets bored in class (all classes taught by robots) and makes up an excuse to leave and while she's out, sees Arco come crashing to the earth. She runs out to find him, and manages to steer away a menacing trio of brothers who are apparently looking for Arco.
Can I pause for a moment and say, living in an Arcology and naming your son "Arco" is like living in a bungalow and calling your son "Bungo"? I can't? Well, never mind, then.
The faces are very reminiscent of Ralph Bakshi ca. "American Pop".
Anyway, this all plays out more-or-less exactly as you'd expect, and isn't especially clever or aesthetic. (Last year's Flow was superior on both counts.) Again, it's not bad. But the only really standout part is the three brothers, who are weirdos, not really bad guys, but also vanish from the film about three-quarters of the way through. Even they're not that original, but their backstory (that they saw a rainbow from one of these time-travelers, and no one will believe them) is kind of cute, and gives the movie its only not-super-slick feel.
I think the movie is hand-drawn, which is fine, can be good, but the look didn't really grab me. Again, it's not bad, just not that interesting. Same with the voice casting: It's an all-star cast with America Ferrara, Jake Gyllenhaal, Flea, Mark Ruffalo, Andy Samberg—honestly, the only voice I "heard" was Will Ferrell's. Actually, Arco himself was played by newcomer Juliano Valdi. All fine. It's fine, I tell you!
The Boy liked it more than I did, though he really just wanted to go see any movie, and we're in the pre-awards muck.
Do I recommend it? Sure, I guess, if you need to kill ninety minutes. It won't make you mad, probably, unless you're sick of the climate change propaganda. I will give it points for suggesting we're going to find our way out of the current mess, but I'll dock it some for 1970s-style "We'll build arcologies!"
I don't know. This still looks...less than fine, tbh.
Other films I saw last month:
28 Years Later: The Bone Palace: Even wackier than its predecessor and largely nonsense, the Boy and I rather enjoyed it. Hard to recommend unless you liked its predecessor or have a serious Ralph Fiennes thing.
Send Help: Sam Raimi doing his horror thing. You'll probably like it if you liked, e.g., Drag Me To Hell. We had a schizophrenic guy laughing and yelling like Max Cady through the whole show, unfortunately.
Iron Lung: The Boy enjoyed this one more than I did, but he also knew a little more about what was going on. I had a hard time hearing the exposition at the beginning over the rest of the soundtrack, and I had a hard time understanding what the significance of anything was. I didn't hate it, but I couldn't get it into it much. The Boy really dug it.
I also saw the classics: Hard-Boiled, Tombstone and Strangers on a Train. The last, the Barbarienne and I saw at the Old Town Theater in El Segundo, which was an experience in itself, and fascinating because the older couple sitting next to us left at the end of second act becuse they were SHOCKED to find the movie had MURDER in 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. We gave the Ace of Spades Wheel of Hobbies (TM) a spin and it landed on decoupage and epoxy resin.
As per usual Hobby Thread etiquette, keep this thread limited to hobbying. All (legal) hobbying is welcome. Discussion of current events, religion and politics can elsewhere. Pants are optional. As always, puns are welcome and encouraged.
Play nice. Don't be a troll and do not feed the trolls.
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Decoupage? Sacre bleu! Has Ace of Spades gone French? What is decoupage?
My AI machine says that "Decoupage is the art of decorating surfaces (wood, glass, metal) by gluing paper cutouts - such as napkins, tissue paper, or specialized paper - onto them, then sealing with layers of varnish to create a seamless, painted-on effect. Originating from the French word "decouper" (to cut out), this versatile, beginner-friendly craft is used to customize or upcycle furniture, boxes, and home decor items."
This thread was headed in an entirely different direction before I clarified that decoupage is different than decolletage. Who knew? Never let it be said that AoS is not educational.
As you might guess, you Hobby Thread host is not wise in the ways of decoupage but thinking that some among the Horde are familiar and can add wisdom in the gray boxes.
This lady from Hobby Lobby shows how its done:
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Apparently, you can decoupage on glass too? Impressive. (This video has a piano music and an artist with an accent. Classy.)
This one has subtitles and no talking (which is a bonus). How to decoupage a box with a napkin.
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This is furniture restoration using decoupage to decorate the top and then resin to seal it in.
Apparently restoring furniture with napkins or tissue paper is a thing.
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On a similar, yet entirely different note, many people have used resin epoxy to build tables and countertops. No napkins or decoupage, but lots of interesting results. Here is a quick introduction:
Has anyone made their own epoxy resin projects?
How about a chess board?
The concept is infinitely customizable.
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Bet you have seen resin charcuterie boards at craft fairs. Wonder how they are made or how difficult it is to make them? Wonder no more.
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Did you miss the Hobby Thread last week? We did an sea shells theme. The comments may be closed, but you can re-live the content.
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Notable comments from last week:
This made the Comments of the Week list last week:
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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.
Former lurker…. This is Benny, some sort of hybrid (he is much too elegant for mutt or pound hound) and his new best friend, Zuri, our new Rhodesian Ridgeback. Zuri follows Benny like a shadow which Benny might eventually accept or even enjoy, but right now I think he wishes he could loose her.
DML in freezing Florida
Well, I am used to seeing Rhodesian Ridgebacks in a larger size. I love the photo of Zuri with Benny! Nice to see you de-lurk, DML!
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Minnifer knows some things.
Eromero
Slightly intimidating! Minnifer is a beautiful cat!
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PetMoron Adjacent Animals
Encountered by Members of The Horde
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We have lived on the Tennessee River for the past 11 years, but had surprise visitors this year. A flock of American White Pelicans has taken up residence on the sand bar near our house. There are at least 50 of them. They arrived about two weeks ago and are still hanging around. Apparently not normal behavior as they usually migrate further west of us on their way to the Gulf of America. Here are a couple pics.
Regards,
TN Deplorable
An impressive sight! Thanks for sending in photos.
We are starting to get some cranes in our area. Haven't had them around for a while.
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Thank you for sharing your pets and animal photos and stories with us today.
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Podcast: J.J. Sefton and CBD discuss the outrageous denial of legitimate, constitutionally-mandated federal activity by the blue states, China's army is purged, the Democrat playbook never changes, the Donroe Doctrine, 20cm artillery shells, and more!
Podcast:Jim Lakely of The Heartland Institute joins us for a wide-ranging discussion of Heartland's recent Anti-Davos initiative: The World Prosperity Forum. We also discuss MN's all-encompassing graft, free markets as an antidote to misery, the truth behind the ICE riots in Minneapolis, and more!
Podcast: CBD and Sefton talk about insurrection in MN coming to NYC? Trump's Greenland rhetoric was over the top, the Gaza Peace Panel is anything but, Minnesota churchgoers need to step up, and is it possible that if the Persian people toss out the Mullahs they will begin a Muslim reformation?
Long-time Coblogger and commenter "Niedermeyer's Dead Horse" is having significant health issues, and would appreciate the thoughts and prayers of The Horde. If you wish to reach out, use @NiedsG on X/Twitter. [CBD]
Disclose.tv
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JUST IN - DOJ investigating Governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey for conspiracy to impede immigration agents -- CBS
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When the State of Minnesota charges Ojibwa City local Aaron Fishel with murder, his lawyers face an impossible task—the single security camera video shows Fishel murdering his victim in gruesome detail. As trial approaches and his lawyers try everything to defend Fishel, they recruit AI-savvy tech help, and everyone involved begins to ask tough questions.
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