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
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
"Sports" Illustrated: Sophie Cunningham getting clotheslined was "karma" for saying that women's sports should be for women:
Gee I wonder why this writer is so keen on seeing the pretty white straight girl get brutalized:
The trans lunatic who fled the oppression of Drumpf's Amerikkka, only to wind up in a Dutch refugee camp filled with trans-hating Muslims, has now fled back to the comfort and safety of Drumpf's Amerikka.
An American transgender refugee is back in the United States after spending a period inside a dangerous asylum center in the Netherlands, but she's still not happy with the US.
Jane-Michelle Arc, 48, fled to Ter Apel, the Netherlands' largest refugee camp, after Trump was re-elected in 2024 - saying that she feared for her safety as a trans woman living in America.
She claimed asylum in the European country - and while she endured tough conditions in the sqaulid camp where stabbings and attacks are commonplace, she came to the realization that she actually wanted to return to her native California.
Now, Arc has returned to America - and she is already complaining.
'The situation I have in the US as a trans person, not good, right? But here, I will be hurt or killed,' Arc told local outlet Pow News.
'It is too dangerous to walk to the grocery store because of the people that live in the camp, and I'm one of them, I live here. You see these guys in yellow vests, they actually wear them because there are so many stabbings.'
Ter Apel has been deemed dangerous by the Red Cross, who said aid volunteers feel 'unsafe' at the site, adding that violence 'cannot be controlled.'
Last month, Arc returned to the US, but the software engineer's transition back to the States hasn't been the easiest.
From the healthcare system to the expensive grocery prices, she's finding life difficult along the Pacific Coast after a year away.
'First time shopping in the US, and In-N-Out too. America is really, really loud and overwhelming. And everything is so expensive,' she wrote on Threads shortly after returning.
'The Dutch complain about groceries being expensive, but good grief, San Francisco is a whole different experience.'
A few weeks ago, she celebrated being back in the US for a week by acknowledging how much more 'comfortable' the States are.
Despite the ease of living more safely, she complained that the 'transphobia is quite overt.'
...
She also complained about the ongoing debate about transgender athletes in sports, as she is a triathlon athlete herself who has written about competing and winning women's events.
...
She wrote about not having toiletries inside the asylum center and wearing filthy clothing.
From her bedside on her first night, she wrote about not being afraid in the center.
'I am not afraid someone is going to threaten to kill me while screaming slurs at me outside this door. I am not afraid I will be arrested and killed in a men's jail for peeing in a public restroom. I am not afraid that one group of people is using me as a pawn in a greater ideological war against another group of people,' she wrote.
'I can't describe the feeling of that stuff not being on my shoulders. It's been there now for a long time.'
In a later post, Arc, who also posts online under the name Max Toegang, wrote: 'This place is f**king dire, and it has problems. But hate and aggression aren't the problems.'
She also detailed how the center told her to 'be careful who I hang out with and where I go' after she got 'sideways looks from Muslims.'
It is unclear when Arc started to feel physically unsafe at the center.
FOR FURTHER REVIEW
When this narcissistic schizophrenic malcontent shoots up a school, how many children do you think he'll murder?
They did so based on a letter from hyperpartisan Democrat senators.
The FBI opened a probe into sitting Attorney General Jeff Sessions in May 2017 for potentially making false statements to Congress about Russian contacts even though he had already updated the disputed testimony, newly declassified documents show.
The evidence to support the probe -- codenamed MARCH TOLL and opened one day after FBI Director James Comey was fired by President Donald Trump -- was a weeks-old letter from Democrats and an article from a liberal news site, the memos show.
The bureau's investigative files into the Sessions matter were declassified by President Donald Trump and made public Monday by the White House Government Transparency Task Force.
The investigation was predicated on evidence contained in a March 20, 2017, letter to Comey from two Democrat senators on the Judiciary Committee, Patrick Leahy of Vermont and Al Franken of Minnesota.
The senators argued that Sessions made false statements in his confirmation hearing earlier that year when he testified about communications with members of the Russian government.
A Trump administration official told reporters the timing of the investigation raises concerns because it was opened right after Comey's firing and more than a month and a half after the Democratic senators wrote to the FBI.
Officers 'avoid arrests when possible,' but when forced to do so use that 'enduring component of Whiteness': niceness
A study that came out in May but just recently came to light on social media argues that police officers stationed in schools use a technique dubbed "niceness as Whiteness" to justify arresting students for various infractions.
The paper "Niceness as Whiteness in School Police Officers' Perceptions of Student Arrest" by Vanderbilt Postdoctoral Research Fellow Abigail Beneke ("studies how schools provide care under racial capitalism") and Professors Benjamin Fisher (U. Wisconsin-Madison), F. Chris Curran (U. Florida), and Samantha Viano (George Mason) was highlighted last week by Dr. James Nuzzo.
According to the paper's abstract, the researchers used the "perceptions of arrest" by school cops' (known as school resource officers, or SROs) in two school districts, and found police "generally expressed trying to avoid arrest."
But when relating anecdotes about arrests they had made, the SROs used "niceness as Whiteness to justify arresting young people." (The academics use a capital "W" for "whites/whiteness" throughout their report.)
The researchers claim niceness is an "enduring component of Whiteness" -- it "allows predominantly White people to elide how their own actions contribute to inequality by maintaining a sense of their own benevolence."
In addition, they allege "some people of color" also make use of niceness in order to "uphold Whiteness."
Despite SROs in the study noting "they avoid arrest[s] when possible," Beneke et. al. say that when SROs do make arrests, they demonstrate whiteness by:
1) not taking responsibility for them. (One SRO said he arrested a student at the mother's request as she was "at rope's end"; the researchers claim this SRO "used niceness to shift responsibility to the boy's mother" and "minimized his own role in maintaining Whiteness in a school district where Black students were arrested at three times the rate of White students.")
2) "minimiz[ing] the negative impact of arrest by highlighting their own goodness." (This includes saying things like "You want to listen to the radio? You want the window down? Is there a station you want to listen to?" after an arrest.)
3) noting the "positive relationships with children whom they had arrested." (Highlighting such "reframes violence, i.e. arrest, that contributes to racial inequality as a positive, since students still like the SROs.")
Google Scholar
The SROs "used niceness as a strategy for upholding a system of Whiteness that systematically privileges White people and excludes those who fall outside of Whiteness," the scholars conclude in the paper's discussion section.
NEW: Man who has been arrested 22 times in just 6 years has been arrested for trying to r*pe a woman in the Daffin Park bathrooms in Savannah, Georgia.
30-year-old Lashawa Doyle has been arrested 8 times in 2026 so far.
Imagine looking at these two photos and claiming that the white girl is the one who should have been ejected -- not the person trying to rip her head off.
If this sounds familiar -- it is. "Professor" Cornell West has written no books for decades but has edited a few and recorded a rap album as his contribution to scholarship.
It's the whole grift. They're not being hired for any kind of actual scholarship, but are just paid for their identity.
The song lyrics were the first red flag. The way he'd ramble about Tinie Tempah or Eminem, or how black artists like Beyoncé were sexualized by white men, without offering any evidence to substantiate his claims. Or else there were the film clips, from Fish Tank and Kidulthood, which he'd tell us to discuss without offering guidance on how to do so. And this was if he was even in the classroom at all. He often arrived late and left early, once teaching for a single hour when four were scheduled.
So when I saw Jason Arday's name in the news, my first thought was: "finally!" As a student on the Education module Arday taught at the University of Roehampton, back in autumn 2018, a module replete with music but shockingly light on education, I can't help but have thoughts on the story that's unfolded over the last couple of weeks. For me, though, the real surprise is that it didn't all come out sooner.
...
I can honestly describe Arday's teaching as terrible. He rarely used the PowerPoint slides. Instead, he usually sat casually on a desk, giving his generalized views on racism without ever referring to any academic theories -- let alone those relevant to the "Youth Participation and Identities" module he was supposed to be teaching.
...
At first, my classmates were charmed by Arday's cheerful attitude and inspirational stories. To start with, too, they were interested in his claims that white people were guilty of every kind of prejudice. Yet as the module progressed, and he failed to turn up for yet another class, things began to change. It gradually dawned on us that we were learning nothing of substance, and that much of his talk was nonsense.
When it came to our assessment, Arday recommended we answer one of the two essay questions -- there were four options -- that mentioned ethnicity. This, after all, was the only thing he'd talked to us about. I remember one young, black, female student coming to me in the library as we began to draft our essays and saying: "I don't know what to do, I've read my notes and there is nothing there I can use!" She wasn't the only one, and I offered advice as best I could, writing my own essay using the online resources Arday's predecessor had left.
In the end, Arday gave me 70% for my essay. That sounds good -- except that my average for the year was 75%, meaning my overall result was dragged down. Particularly as Arday had given my work no feedback, I asked for a meeting. At Roehampton, marking is blind, so he wouldn't have known who'd written which essay. In our meeting, I explained that 70% was a low mark for me and asked him to provide feedback. Suddenly, his friendly, confident demeanor changed. I now saw a side of him I'd never seen before: angry, but also scared. Arday implied that I was racist, and said that the only reason I wasn't happy with 70% was due to my "white privilege". He was clearly upset at being questioned, and I ended the meeting as quickly as possible.
I don't really know what this student was expecting, to be honest.
Some of this racist, low-IQ hustler's former "students" want their grades reviewed -- and their tuition refunded.
Hit 'em in the wallets, that's where it stings.
Cambridge University could be forced to review the grades given to students of Jason Arday after graduates unhappy with their results said they were considering legal action.
A number of Mr Arday's former students have complained that they received lower grades than expected after "inadequate" supervision by the professor. In one case, a student who asked to change supervisor was accused of being racist.
Kb>Separately, Prof Deborah Prentice, the university's vice-chancellor, is facing demands to refund the tuition fees of students who were taught by Mr Arday after they were "deceived about the nature of their education".
A mass refund or large-scale retrospective grade changes would be unprecedented in the university's 800-year history.
Prof Prentice is also facing criticism for failing to grip the crisis engulfing the university, which has damaged its reputation on the international stage. The academics have accused the £507,000-a-year leader of the university of "inaction", having made no public comments since The Telegraph first reported on the plagiarism row around Mr Arday a fortnight ago. He has now resigned.
It has also emerged that when Cambridge was sent fresh evidence of Mr Arday's alleged plagiarism last year -- having first been alerted to it in 2023 -- the "responsible person" allocated to the case was Prof Hilary Cremin, the head of Mr Arday's faculty who had told him he was "the best in the world" when he was hired.
On Friday, Cambridge announced that it would be reviewing the process by which it appoints senior staff, in what is being seen by some academics as an attempt to head off an independent inquiry.
Cambridge is facing a rebellion from its own academics, who have demanded in a letter to Prof Prentice that there must be "a thorough and transparent investigation into the wider circumstances of this damaging episode".
...
Former Cambridge students who contacted The Telegraph complained that Mr Arday gave them minimal supervision, telling some they did not need supervision because they were so outstanding, only for them to get lower grades than predicted. One student who asked to be allocated another supervisor was accused of racism (though there is no suggestion Mr Arday made the accusation).
Now, ex-students have said they are considering appealing to Cambridge to review their grades, including one case where a student appealed their grade at the time but had their appeal rejected.
One former student said the "right and moral thing to do" would be for the university to reopen their appeal.
Simon & Schuster is going ahead with the publication of "his" ghostwritten book, the one they paid £1.4 million for. (Note I previously said $1.4 million, but it's 1.4 million pounds, or about 1.9 million dollars.)
EXCLUSIVE: Simon & Schuster Selectively Edited Disgraced Scholar Jason Arday's Memoir To Soften Now-Toxic Reputation
The Free Beacon has obtained two advance proofs of the book, due to be released in the US next week, and identified telling edits made in recent months
Benjamin Ryan
Jason Arday, who resigned from his prestigious professorship at Cambridge on Wednesday after the university launched an investigation into his academic integrity, is now facing more scrutiny as Simon & Schuster is set to publish his memoir in the United States next week. But the Washington Free Beacon has obtained pre-publication proofs of the book, which show that during the early months of this year the publisher removed what could have been much more fodder for the already rampant accusations of academic misconduct and false claims.
Edits to Arday's online biography on Simon & Schuster's website, the Free Beacon reported this week, further suggest that the publisher knew as long as a year ago that there were questions about the author's credibility and truthworthiness.
...
The wider public would not learn of the accusations against Arday, including those of pervasive plagiarism, until last month. But Simon & Schuster had been making telltale edits to his book since January.
The Free Beacon examined two pre-publication proofs of the book: a U.S. version dated Jan. 6, and the U.K. final edition, dated June 18. Comparing the two iterations reveals that Simon & Schuster made a series of changes, including altering verbatim quotes, that appear to have been an effort to protect his reputation--which is all the more valuable now that he stands accused of sweeping embellishments, dishonesty, and even academic fraud. One edit effectively acknowledges the possibility that he could lose his professorship.
...
The co-writer, Eve Claxton, a Brooklyn-based ghostwriter and editor, goes uncredited on the book's U.S. cover. It's unusual for a professor to need such help writing a book, much less his own memoir.
...
Simon & Schuster's edits also make it harder, perhaps deliberately, to corroborate or disprove Arday's stories. The names of two publicists involved in his charitable efforts--and the names of certain professors and a disability officer--were replaced by pseudonyms, or the names were removed entirely.
The January 2026 edition specifies the names of two PR agents, Dick Tutin and Mick Thorburn, who helped publicize his purported effort to run 30 marathons in 35 days for charity in 2010. The Free Beacon was unable to reach them.
The June 2026 edition provides pseudonyms for Dick Tutin and Mick Thorburn, who become "Paul" and "Keith." The edition states on its first page: "The names and identifying details of some people depicted in this book have been changed."
Today, Arday is faced with convincing accusations of serial fabulism. A previous Free Beacon investigation found he lied repeatedly, dating back at least 16 years, about raising millions for charity, often via undocumented charity running events. Another Free Beacon report found there were no police reports or other independent accounts of his claims of being a victim of violent threats and stalking since starting at Cambridge.
...
The June proof of Arday's memoir also contains critical new legal language. In the January proof, Arday claimed that "I continue to be persecuted, receiving hate mail motivated by racial animus." In the June edition, this sentence removes the specific claim of hate mail and just states: "I have continued to face harassment and persecution as the subject of targeted campaigns driven by racial animus."
The September Carter-Ruck letter to Times Higher Education accused Grove of a "campaign of harassment," which it said was "targeted" and might have been "racially motivated."
The woman who hired Arday says that universities shouldn't care so much about grades and educational achievement.
As the Jason Arday saga rumbles on, I've just seen this on Prof. Hilary Cremin. That someone with these beliefs was appointed *Head* of the Faculty of Education is astonishing. She not only trashes Cambridge University students, she seems not to understand educational attainment. pic.twitter.com/CD2czThqZk
Remember, this Sage told Arday that he was "the best in the world in terms of the research you do."
Research? Spending all class talking about rap music and accusing white students of racism?
Who is the mad academic who greeted Jason Arday as “the best in the world”? Hilary Cremin despises our education system and thinks those who normally rise to the top “are the worst of us not the best of us”. Far Left ideologues like her delight in sabotaging our institutions. pic.twitter.com/8bMXlHNelb
WASHINGTON -- Dr. Anthony Fauci privately raised concerns that the COVID-19 vaccine could "theoretically" be linked to miscarriages in expectant mothers, despite having publicly insisted there were "no red flags" for pregnant women.
"I asked around a bit more and another issue came up that you need to be aware of," wrote Fauci in a Jan. 25, 2021, text exchange with then-Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky and Surgeon General Vivek Murthy.
"Since many people have significant cytokines storm and fever after the 2nd dose, this theoretically could be associated with miscarriage in the 1st trimester," added the then-National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director.
Fauci, Walensky and Murthy had been discussing whether the vaccine posed any risks to women who followed the two-shot regimen earlier or later in their pregnancies.
Walensky responded to Fauci that the first trimester issues he raised were "definitely a good point, [especially] after dose two."
Days later, on Feb. 3, Fauci said during a question-and-answer livestream with the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) that the FDA "found thus far, and we have to be careful, but thus far no red flags about that, about pregnant women."
...
Other communications between Fauci, Murthy and Walensky also showed them weighing the potential risks of vaccination against the risks posed by SARS-CoV-2, the virus caused by COVID-19.
Murthy also mentioned he was "surprised to see WHO [World Health Organization] put out a strong like saying they do not recommend moderna [sic] in pregnant women."
"That's a strong statement to make and potentially quite damaging to public confidence among pregnant women," he told Fauci and Walensky in a text from Jan. 26, 2021.
The messages, released by Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), were taken from more than 34,000 texts and 522 voicemails obtained by the Senate Homeland Security Committee last week from Fauci's government-issued cell phone.
According to the Republican senators, just three contacts are listed in that phone but it is "too early to determine whether any data has been deleted."
This. Is. Murder.
At scale.
Katie Pavlich
@KatiePavlich
The mandated and doctor recommended COVID-19 shot for pregnant women was effectively an abortion shot according to new documents just released by Senators Johnson and Paul.
"The authors claimed a miscarriage rate of 12.6%, but the raw data revealed an 82% miscarriage rate in women vaccinated during the first trimester. This is consistent with the 81% miscarriage rate noted in the Pfizer 5.3.6 post-market data. These figures mirror the effects of chemical abortion drugs such as RU-486."
The mandated and doctor recommended COVID-19 shot for pregnant women was effectively an abortion shot according to new documents just released by Senators Johnson and Paul.
The mandated and doctor recommended COVID-19 shot for pregnant women was effectively an abortion shot according to new documents just released by Senators Johnson and Paul.
Meanwhile, Margaret Brennan gives Jay Battacharya the third degree and suggests his skepticism of Fauci's vaccine lies caused a shooting at the CDC. She also insists that it was Trump, not Biden, who censored him.
The good thing about Margaret Brennan is that she’s not even pretending to be unbiased anymore, it’s just openly attacking anyone who isn’t on the left pic.twitter.com/SDdt2STnup
Huge kudos to Jay Bhattacharya for how calmly he dealt with this absolutely loathsome fake news operative. She really is one of the worst.
First, when Islamist or other mass shooters leave behind extensive records explaining their motives, those records are immediately buried… https://t.co/0g0ecuV6RH
Abdul El-Sayed Has Repeatedly Endorsed Book Which Praises Left-Wing Violence and the Nihilistic Destruction of the "Summer of Love;" Also Refuses to Even Stop Campaiging with Hasan "Kill Rick Scott" Piker
—Disinformation Expert Ace
I'm starting to think this son of a terrorist might be pro-terrorism.
Abdul El-Sayed Promoted Leftist 'Radicalization' Book That Endorses Violent Resistance, Praises George Floyd Rioters for 'Property Destruction'
The book, which El-Sayed regularly promoted on his podcast, denounces 'fetishizing distinctions between violence and nonviolence'
Jon Levine
August 10, 2026
Abdul El-Sayed, the newly minted Democratic nominee for Senate in Michigan, repeatedly promoted to his podcast listeners a notorious book that encourages violent rioting and claims the U.S. government "kills untold millions," the Washington Free Beacon can reveal.
El-Sayed made the plug for the book, Let This Radicalize You, at least 10 times on his podcast, America Dissected.
...
In chapter six: "'Violence' in Social Movements," the authors dismiss peaceful protests as submissive to the state and argue that violent protesters should not necessarily be considered "bad."
"Fetishizing distinctions between violence and nonviolence can lead to the indulgence of rhetoric about 'good' and 'bad' protesters, where 'peaceful' protesters are celebrated and 'violent' protesters--for example, those who engage in property destruction that disrupts profit--are viewed as disposable and disreputable," the pair writes.
"And when they refer to 'peaceful protest,' they are talking about cooperative protest that obediently stays within the lines drawn by the state."
"This licenses people to care about the cause being protested without caring about what happens to the 'bad' protesters. For example, even as significant numbers of people supported the uprisings following the racist murder of George Floyd, many fewer people vocally defended the rights of protesters who were arrested for acts of property destruction and funneled into the racist carceral system," they added.
Meanwhile, this radical terrorist refuses to break with Hasan Piker, who himself has called for the assassination of Senator Rick Scott and called for "capitalists" to have their throats slit until the streets "run red with blood."
El-Sayed, however, won't play that game. This weekend, NBC's Kristen Welker pressed the new Democrat nominee for the Senate on his alliance with Hasan Piker, the radical Marxist who claimed, "America deserved 9/11." Will El-Sayed continue to have Piker as a campaign surrogate and ally, Welker asked?
I had hoped for a more "kinetic" operation with Iran done and dusted a year before the mid-terms. But that's now impossible, of course, so a long slow strangulation will do.
Trump to Axios: "We are low-keying it" with Iran
President Trump signaled on Sunday that he's prepared to allow economic pressure on Iran to mount -- as opposed to ordering a new military offensive -- even as the country continues to defy the U.S.
Why it matters: Only a week ago, Trump was on the verge of ordering a return to major combat operations. But in an interview with Axios, he did not make any new military threats.
Trump also didn't express any anger or frustration about the fact that Iran has been holding up an announcement on a deal with Oman to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. On Saturday, Iran issued a new list of demands to allow shipping through the strait.
What he's saying: "We are low-keying it," Trump said during a brief phone call.
"We are only semi-negotiating with them. We are just watching Iran with its huge inflation and the fact they have no money."
He stressed that Iran "is in very bad shape" economically and has no money to pay its troops. The U.S. naval blockade has exacerbated the Iranian regime's economic crisis, Trump said.
At the same time, Trump said that with oil down to slightly over $75 a barrel, U.S. consumers are feeling less pain from the war.
"It will work out. It always works out. It's like a chess game," Trump said of the back-and-forth with Iran.
...
One of the officials said the fighting allowed the Iranian regime to avoid dealing with the consequences of the war, the damage to infrastructure and the deep economic crisis that has been created.
When Iran isn't engaged in war, it is forced to confront a grim reality with no real solutions at hand, the U.S. official said.
At the same time, the U.S. official said, around 8 million barrels of oil are going out of the Gulf every night through the southern lane of the Strait of Hormuz in coordination with the U.S. military. The U.S. is going to try and get more oil out as long as there is no deal.
Let's take a look at life currently in Iran. Miad Maleki is a former United States Treasury official, Air Force veteran, and a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies who follows the Iranian economy like very few others.
A pause in strikes buys the Iranian regime time, not relief. The regime's most crippling reckoning isn't with the U.S. or Israel but it's with its own people. Barely 35% of working-age Iranians actually have a job and the current minimum wage covers barely a quarter of actual living costs.
Iranians know their country's true economic potential and know they deserve better, the Islamic Republic's revolutionary ideology is dead, even among the regime's own children.
The regime can evade external accountability, but the most punishing thing to the regime right now is to force them to go back to face domestic accountability, an economy that, when not retrained by a state of war, will show its underlying disastrous inflation, unemployment, corrupt trade, war damages, and crippled political institutions.
Iran has never been so diplomatically isolated, its share of global trade has collapsed from 2.2% to below 0.02%. That isolation will keep showing up in Iran's economy as businesses, even in friendly countries, refuse to risk trade and investment there given sanctions exposure and war risk.
Iran's official unemployment number hovers just under 10 percent, which is bad, but not calamitous...until you figure in that only four out of ten able-bodied Iranians are even in the workforce seeking jobs. The rest have given up looking for jobs that are not there. And Iran's share of the global economy plunging to less than two one-hundredths of a percent means they're not manufacturing or exporting anything these days that would necessitate employment for anyone outside of the IRGC or Basij forces, who also have been unpaid for months.
Mark Dubowitz
@mdubowitz
The Iranian rial sinks to its lowest level ever: 1,944,000 to USD. It was 70:1 on eve of the Islamic Revolution.
The Islamist regime in Iran is a human-made catastrophe.
A crowd of workers at the Russian oil refinery in Nizhnekamsk gathered as if for an airshow to watch Ukrainian FP-1 strike drones attack their plant. https://t.co/Q4zge41fKIpic.twitter.com/dWw3HCQkTW
— Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) July 8, 2026
Black WNBA Thug Who Clotheslined Sophie Cunniningham Says Her Ejection for the Flargrant Foul Is Just "White Privilege;" Male NBA Stars Announce They're Gals Now and Intend to Try Out for the WNBA
—Disinformation Expert Ace
It's "white privilege" to eject someone for a flagrant foul because, of course, blacks are permitted to take Street Reparations against white people when they feel like it.
Black WNBA player clotheslines Sophie Cunningham on a lay up attempt. Gets ejected. Tweets “White privilege” from locker room to argue she was ejected because of racism. Identity politics destroys everything, even sports. pic.twitter.com/mr3Zelj2cv
The coach of the Fever -- Sophie Cunningham's coach -- actually defended the player who fouled her own player, because... #WhitePrivilege.
Fever coach Stephanie White defending the clothesline flagrant 2 on her own player Sophie Cunningham. “She’s gonna play her butt off… I don’t oppose the hard foul… I don’t think she intentionally went for the neck.” Meanwhile Caitlin Clark is sitting right next to her with her… pic.twitter.com/pWmM5KFviI
It really is incredible that there's just outright racial violence happening in the WNBA. Every men's professional sports league has black and white players and they aren't having these problems. Remember this the next time a feminist tells you women should rule the world because they're more peaceful and empathetic or whatever.
Remember when the Woke White Woman "sports columnist" at USAToday said that Caitlin Clarke was committing a race-crime by simply complaining about being flagrantly fouled?
David Burge
@iowahawkblog
Apparently if you dare complain about her gettin eye-gouged or throat-punched, it's a dog whistle to encourage Emmett Till-style lynchings.
Not according to some 6-follower straitjacket X rando, according to a staff sports columnist for USA Today.
David Burge
@iowahawkblog
In short this is not a women's sports league. It's a joyless, angry, violent, race obsessed non-stop 2018 Oberlin struggle session filled with entitled lunatics unable to survive without someone else picking up the bill. They whine when they don't get attention, and whine 10x harder when they do. They whine hardest about the problematic "new fans" who quadrupled their pay, tripled their TV audiences, 10x-ed their franchise valuations, got them charter jets, and staved off their inevitable bankruptcy for 10 years or so.
I sincerely hope they achieve their dream of exorcising themselves of CC and all those dreaded "new fans," and return to their beloved Paradise Lost of half-empty 1000 seat high school gyms attended by girl fight fetishists with giveaway tickets printed on Subway Sandwich receipts.
Meanwhile, two professional NBA players say that they "feel like a woman" now and are ready to join the WNBA.
The eligibility rules, they say, permit it. The league is for "women" but the rules don't define what a "woman" is and suggest that a woman is just whatever you feel it is.
After careful consideration and reviewing the current eligibility guidelines,
I'm officially declaring myself a @WNBA prospect.
If simply declaring who you are is all that's required, then I meet every single requirement necessary to compete in the WNBA.
My team and I have carefully examined the WNBA's eligibility criteria and governing framework surrounding self-identification and inclusion. Based on the current guidelines, I can and am officially declaring my eligibility for the upcoming WNBA draft in April 2027.
I know my presence on the court will stir up strong opinions.
I am definitely not here to mock, make fun of, or disrespect any community or personal choices.
I'm simply asking that the current rules be applied equally to everyone -- the rules that represent the very values many WNBA players and coaches have publicly advocated for.
My team and I are prepared to ensure these guidelines are applied equally, consistently, and without exception, and I look forward to the #WNBA honoring its stated principles.
EXCLUSIVE: Former NBA first-round pick Royce White says he's declaring for the 2027 WNBA Draft, claiming he now identifies as transgender for the purpose of playing professional basketball.
The 6-foot-8 former Houston Rockets draft pick follows fellow former NBA player Enes Kanter Freedom, who announced his own plans to declare amid the growing debate over transgender athletes in women's sports.
White told Fox News Digital he believes he'd be "unstoppable" in the WNBA and suggested he could pursue legal action if denied an opportunity to play.
White said the move is meant to challenge the WNBA to clearly define its eligibility rules for transgender athletes, saying: "I'd like to know what the parameters are."
Kanter speaks of a "team" behind him and Royce acknowledges he may sue.
I wonder if they have a trillionaire backing their play.
Former NBA player Royce White told OutKick/Fox News Digital that he apparently plans to declare for the 2027 WNBA Draft, as he now claims to be transgender.
There are now two former NBA players to announce such a decision, after Enes Kanter Freedom made his announcement earlier on Friday.
"I'm transgender. I'm a woman. I identify as sometimes identifying as a woman for purpose of basketball, professional basketball, so I'll be declaring for the WNBA draft in 2027 as well," White said.
FORMER NBA FIRST ROUND PICK ENES KANTER FREEDOM DECLARES FOR 2027 WNBA DRAFT
"I think I'd be unstoppable. But I'm a team-first guy. I'm a pass-first kind of player. I do the little things. I led my team in all five major stat categories at Iowa State University, so I do a little bit of everything. I'll do whatever the coach needs me to do. I'll do whatever the girls need me to do...
"I think it's only fair."
Royce White during a basketball game
Former professional basketball player Royce White was running in the Minnesota Republican primary (Getty Images)
White said only the league could end his challenge by stating its position plainly on the subject of males playing in women's sports.
"I think the WNBA could come out and make a definitive statement about guys with a pair of balls playing in the Women's Association," he said.
Asked whether he would proceed unless the league did make such a statement, White replied, "Oh, no, I'm declaring. And I don't want to be discriminated against. I want fair treatment. I'm a young Black, hopefully United States Senator that would like a fair chance to participate as a sometimes-identifying-as-a-transgender-woman athlete."
White also suggested that he would pursue legal action if he goes undrafted and is not signed to a team.
"I have to file a discrimination lawsuit, right? I mean, that's, that's ridiculous," he said. "We're gonna have to have a huge legal battle about discrimination if I can't play."
White, 35, is also on the ballot in Minnesota's Aug. 11 Republican primary for the U.S. Senate. He was the Republican nominee against Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar in 2024, losing the general election.
While the WNBA continues insisting that trans people must be allowed in women's sports, they don't like these trans women (TM), and executives are holding an emergency meeting to change the rules so that these particular trans women (TM) can't play:
Polymarket
@Polymarket
JUST IN: WNBA Commissioner announces the league is meeting to review what a woman is, after multiple former NBA stars announced plans to join the league.
I assume the new rule will require dressing as a woman for a certain period of time -- long enough that Kanter and White can't meet the requirement by next spring -- or requiring artificial hormone treatment.
THE MORNING RANT: About that “Bad” Jobs Report Last Week: Private-Sector Jobs Increased, Government Jobs Decreased
—Buck Throckmorton
[Chart is from Pew Research. See link below.]
Following the release of last week’s jobs report, which showed that total employment in the U.S. had dropped by 23,000 persons, there was a lot of high-fiving and chest bumping among Democrats and their NeverTrump “conservative” allies. The message they are triumphantly bleating is that the Trump economy is shedding jobs.
It’s partially true – the Trump economy is causing some people to lose their jobs, especially government workers and non-citizens. We elected Donald Trump to do just that.
Lost amidst all the triumphal “bad jobs report” noise is the fact that private-sector employment is increasing, with solid gains in manufacturing and construction jobs. This is consistent with the point I keep hammering in recent articles at The American Spectator, discussing how there is an explosion of industrial construction going on right now in the U.S.
The unemployment rate fell to 4.1% as labor force participation continued to slide.
Yes, “labor force participation” by non-citizens decreased. But the unemployment rate keeps falling as actual U.S. citizens gain employment. Buried in this Bloomberg piece is another interesting number:
Private-sector payrolls rose by 30,000 for a second month…
So to be clear, private-sector employers are not actually shedding jobs, it’s government that is shedding jobs. As reported by NBC, the Bureau of Labor Statistics ”showed a 5,000 payroll gain in the manufacturing sector in July and an additional 22,000 roles in construction.”
This CNBC piece further explains that ”The main reason for the red headline number was a loss of 53,000 government workers.”
The math works, and I’m not terribly bothered by this math: 53,000 displaced government workers were mostly offset by 30,000 new private sector jobs, resulting in a net loss of 23,000. I’d like to see continued momentum in both of these inputs – more reductions in government employment and accelerating private-sector job creation. To be clear, I don’t wish economic harm to those displaced government workers. I’d like for them to find gainful employment in the private sector.
I’m going to repeat myself on the political significance of reducing government employment. All of those “Reagan conservatives” in legacy media who incessantly state that “Trump is not a true conservative” spent decades promoting “smaller government.” Suckers like me contributed money and bought subscriptions, believing they meant it. They didn’t. Trump is now doing what Conservatism, Inc. pretended to advocate for, and now all those “Reagan conservatives” are allying with Democrats and the left to protect the government behemoth from Trump.
Here are a few more headlines about who is losing their jobs in the “Trump economy”:
We need to be careful not to get swayed by headlines that conflate foreigners and government workers losing their jobs with what is going on regarding private-sector hiring of U.S. citizens. There is good news on that front, and it’s getting better.
So, evidently now Mohamed is the new Hussein, so be careful what you say lest you be labeled "islamophobic" quelle horrible!
But if your beliefs align with this . . .
El-Sayed is married to Sarah Jukaku, a former University of Michigan student who once served as president of that school’s campus MSA. El-Sayed’s father-in-law is Dr. Jukaku Tayeb, a nephrologist and a former president (and current board member) of the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. El-Sayed’s father-in-law is Dr. Jukaku Tayeb, a nephrologist and a former president (and current board member) of the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
It’s disheartening to look back and realize that, despite renewed diplomatic pressure and advocacy, Tamimi still has not been extradited—just as reported in 2021, when Legal Insurrection marked the bombing’s 20th anniversary. A Hamas “journalist” born in Jordan, Tamimi is, above all, a religious fanatic who saw the Sbarro attack as one of her “best deeds,” calculated in every respect to maximize the carnage.
In the summer 2007 Holy Land Foundation trial, it was learned that CAIR’s parent organization, the Islamic Association for Palestine, had been named in a May 1991 Muslim Brotherhood memorandum as one of the Brotherhood’s likeminded “organizations of our friends” who shared the common goal of conducting “a kind of grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and ‘sabotaging’ its miserable house by their hands … so that … God’s religion [Islam] is made victorious over all other religions.”
Meh, Look at what far too many of our fellow citizens - in name only — are cheering on and voting for, as I discussed at length here and on the latest episode of the podcast linked here and in the sidebar.
A democratic socialist member of the state Assembly and the prohibitive favorite to succeed Gov. Tony Evers as the Democratic nominee for his office come Tuesday, Hong has featured in headlines for all of the wrong reasons over the last few weeks.
In a much-maligned November 2020 tweet, she called on officials to “Cancel Thanksgiving.”...Hong’s message is a resentful, revanchist one — and it’s landing on the right ears.
The first question she fielded at the Sheboygan town hall was about what she would do to progressives’ favorite boogeyman: Elon Musk. Answer: “I will use every tool in the executive’s office to make sure that we are not only holding Elon Musk accountable, but that we are prosecuting to the fullest extent of the law individual ICE agents who break the law.”
Thunderous applause. . . Nationally, Hong has been portrayed as a kind of living joke, a ditzy relic of Peak Woke who compares unfavorably to more polished far-left figures like New York’s Zohran Mamdani and Michigan’s Abdul El-Sayed. Those portrayals miss the meaning of her candidacy entirely.
Because beneath the flighty calls for more witch poems and empty appeals to joy, there’s an irrepressible anger that she’s offering a vengeful, self-righteous seeming outlet for. And hatred dressed up as love is just about the most alluring thing there is.
In revealing the commonalities of the Reds and the Greens in the Red-Green Axis, we have elucidated their shared goals of violence, wealth redistribution, inequality before the law, a binary world, and monopoly rule by the elites. Here we explore their intent to reshape the totality of society.
Islamic political systems and Marxist-Leninist communism both claim more than the right to regulate what is currently unsettled. Each claims the standing authority to redraw, at will, the line between what the system controls and what it leaves alone. A domain currently left to private choice is never permanently protected from the system; it is simply not yet a priority. . . Clearly, Muslims and Communists are intent on “fundamentally transforming the United States of America.”
Thad McCotter: Whatever one’s view of immigration and border security, only the worst among us can fail to recognize the above is an example of incivility. Another Sign of the Times: ‘F— ICE’
They devoted enormous energy to helping their children succeed but comparatively little to explaining why they left their homelands. The Failure of the Tiger Mom
American approaches to war for the last 70 years have been characterized by a normalcy bias that war conduct should be guided by the goal of reaching negotiated compromise outcomes rather than achieving victory and total defeat of the enemy. Stop Negotiating and Get the Job Done
Does the regime have enough money to continue to pay its proxies? Iran’s Proxy Fizzle?
The world has become transfixed by conflict. Gaza dominates the headlines. Ukraine fills the television screens. Every diplomatic summit revolves around security, sanctions and shifting alliances. Yet, behind this curtain of global crises, the Iranian regime has unleashed a campaign of political executions on a scale that should shame every democratic nation into action. The silence has become deafening. While The World Watches War, Tehran Hangs Its Young
ISRAEL vs IRAN & GAZA/HAMAS, HEZBOLLAH . . . AND LEFTISTS. . . The U.N... AND HISTORY
[Netanyahu] said he has told the Trump administration about his concerns. The Israeli military “will not carry out any withdrawal until Hamas is genuinely disarmed and will continue to thwart threats against our forces and our citizens,” Netanyahu said. Israel rejects 15-point plan to disarm Hamas, withdraw Israeli troops
Some conservatives have also encouraged him to retire while President Donald Trump has the opportunity to nominate a younger successor. Alito: ‘Obviously I’m Here for Another Term’
The lawsuit seeks a court order to allow the project to proceed, a declaration of the city’s actions as unlawful, and monetary damages, including attorneys’ fees. Additionally, the U.S. Department of Justice has reportedly launched a civil rights investigation into whether Broken Arrow violated federal religious land-use protections. Islamic Society Files Lawsuit Against City for Blocking Mosque Construction.
AMERICA AND THE WORLD IMPRISONED: CHINESE CORONAVIRUS FICTIONS AND FACTS
Miranda Devine: If Fauci can be shown to have concealed or destroyed government records, then he could find himself sitting alongside Morens in the dock, depending on how robust his last-minute pre-emptive autopen pardon from Joe Biden proves to be. The walls — and evidence — are slowly building around Dr. Anthony Fauci
Reading excerpts from Anthony Fauci’s ill-advised diary, it’s clear above all that he’s a money-grubbing, narcissistic liar. Who will Judge Anthony Fauci?
FIRST AMENDMENT ISSUES, CENSORSHIP, FAKE NEWS, MEDIA, BIG BROTHER TECH
Meta plans to appeal the decision. Specifically, Meta maintains that it has already implemented measures to protect minors from harmful content. The ruling could set a precedent for holding tech companies accountable for their platforms’ effects on children’s mental health. This represents a wider push by governments across the West, such as the United Kingdom and the European Union, to regulate access to social media, allegedly to protect children. State Fines Meta Over $560 Million for Impact on Children’s Mental Health.
The surge in Nevada’s wages is attributed to the diversification of its economy. The state’s economy has historically relied on gambling. New high-paying jobs span software engineering, supply-chain management, and healthcare. While Anaheim, California, features in the top five, the state’s major cities collectively continue to grapple with significant affordability problems. The state’s affordability crisis has caused a collapse in its fertility rate. Meanwhile, on Monday, it was revealed that U.S. manufacturing had reached a four-year high, largely due to domestic production incentives, such as tariffs and tax reforms. Four Out of Five Cities With the Fastest Income Gains in America Are in Trump Country.
EDUCATION, AND WHAT PASSES FOR IT
The UAW’s turn toward universities to reverse its declining membership is imposing costs on both its traditional industrial-worker base and the world of higher education. United Academic Workers
The DOJ is seeking a voluntary resolution agreement with Duke to bring its admissions practices into compliance with federal law. The DOJ may pursue enforcement through the courts if the university refuses to comply. This represents another front in President Donald J. Trump’s crackdown on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) policies. DOJ Finds Duke Law Kept Discriminating Against White Applicants Despite SCOTUS Ruling.
. . .it is “very disingenuous” for senators other than Mike Lee (R-UT), Rick Scott (R-FL), “and a few others” to claim they are fighting to protect elections, pointing to what he described as illegal aliens on voter rolls in Pennsylvania who were “actively registered” and voting, while adding, “We’re finding them in Michigan and Arizona.” “This is an existential crisis. This is a constitutional crisis,” Presler said. Exclusive — Scott Presler Warns GOP Senators on SAVE America Act: ‘You Either Deliver or We Are Going to Get Rid of You’
All this adds up to a bad day on at least one Sunday show for the upstart candidate who is starting to look like the Michigan version of Graham Platner without the Nazi tattoo, the sexting, and all the other sex stuff. Judging him by the company he keeps, his refusal to distance himself from some seriously anti-American actors, and his clunky responses to straightforward questions, it's clear that he’s got tougher days ahead. Clean Up in Aisle 4! Abdul El-Sayed Makes a Mess on ‘Meet the Press’
Independent Montana Senate candidate Seth Bodnar could withdraw from the state’s U.S. Senate race before the Aug. 10 filing deadline if Democrat nominee Alani Bankhead remains on the ballot,” said the report. “Republican strategists and political operatives told Breitbart News that Bodnar’s campaign has struggled to gain traction despite spending by both the campaign and an allied super PAC,” it added. Report: Establishment Democrats Pressure Alani Bankhead’s Family to Push Her Out of Montana Senate Race
...Washington cannot simply write off the developing world, and American policymakers are already realizing that their enthusiasm for ideological campaigns has limits when it comes to China’s growing economic clout in Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean. Washington Needs a Strategy, Not a Sermon
HEALTH AND HEALTH CARE
A top official in the Department of Health and Human Services accused an advocacy group with ties to multiple corporations that produce processed foods of helping attack Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s pro-organic foods pitch. Big Food Is Creating Fake Health Groups to Confuse Consumers
FEMINAZISM, TRANSGENDER PSYCHOSIS, HOMOSEXUALIZATION, WAR ON MASCULINITY/NORMALCY
The case has raised questions about the oversight of vulnerable children in the care of transgenders, and is just the latest case of children seriously abused by people claiming to be the opposite sex. Legal proceedings are ongoing, with further details are expected to emerge at trial. Mother and Two Transgenders Charged in Murder of Mentally Handicapped Boy.
“The Department of Justice will stop at nothing to protect America’s children,” Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward said in a statement. “This resolution is a reminder to hospitals, medical providers, and pharmaceutical companies that the Justice Department will vigorously enforce federal law, especially where the lives of children are endangered.” DOJ: Connecticut Children’s Medical Center Agrees to End Sex Change Drugs for Minors
Rush Limbaugh would be proud of these guys. Illustrate the absurd through absurdity. But what makes it all truly absurd is the amount of reality involved here. Both Royce White and Enes Freedom are simply following the rules the left has created, and in the process, they can legitimately claim to have a shot at getting a roster spot in the WNBA. Looks Like the WNBA's Absurdity Is About to Sink the Entire Transgender Movement
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.
In his famous Robot stories he explored a variety of ways his Three Laws of Robotics - what we today call "alignment" - would go wrong, from malicious compliance to compliant malice to just plain human stupidity.
All of which we are seeing play out today, though the latter has never been in short supply.
Since I picked up a couple of the outgoing model of Legion Tabs - one in black, one in white - at half price, I don't need to care for a while about the scarcity or expense of good small Android tablets.
Musical Interlude
Disclaimer: I never knew Roy Orbison had an entire album of Dolly Parton covers.
Howdy Hordelings! Welcome to the Sunday ONT. Glad you could stop by! I'm not available to hang out with you this evening - many thanks to Dino for launching and holding down the fort!
Open thread, as always. Fashion and music, as always. What's on YOUR mind tonight?
The Virginia governor is very popular with her people
Governor Spanberger booed in Galax. Turns out when you break your campaign promise, attempt a Leftist power grab pushing an unconstitutional gerrymandering effort In order to silence rural Virginia voices, coupled with massive tax increases, it results in a frosty reception…. pic.twitter.com/oqOBR58SEF
What a wild rendition of the national anthem tonight at American Family Field. First time I’ve seen a grill used as an instrument! pic.twitter.com/vaj0q1CLet
You know your wife absolutely rocks if you can rip a joke like this in your hall of speech and she laughs instead of getting sensitive. pic.twitter.com/YJcB0lsjVQ
Remember kids, if you can see the target, the target can see you.
***
'Ette Couture (Courtesy of Piper)
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.
-----
Ric-Rac Is Back and Looking Extra Cute
Welcome to our fun fashion update, where we celebrate the little details that make an outfit feel alive. This week’s star is pure whimsy: ric-rac and it is so, so cute.
That classic braid trim, the one that looks like a happy little wave, has been zigzagging its way back onto dresses, tops, skirts, and even accessories. Once a staple of mid-century home sewing and adorable 1950s–60s dresses, ric-rac is now getting a modern refresh. Designers and brands are using it as playful contrast edging on hems, necklines, sleeves, and tiered skirts, turning simple silhouettes into something full of personality.
What makes it feel so fresh right now is the mix of nostalgia but in a larger, bolder statement. Ric-rac offers pure delight. A pop of contrasting color (think bright pink against navy, white on gingham, or bold tones on soft florals) adds instant movement and texture. It’s the fashion equivalent of a wink. You’ll spot it on tiered dresses that swish with extra bounce, blouses with ric-rac framing the neckline or cuffs, and even maxi styles where the zigzag creates subtle structure and visual interest.
Styling tip for the week: keep the rest of the outfit simple so the ric-rac can shine. Pair a ric-rac-trimmed midi with sandals and a woven bag for easy summer energy, or layer a zigzag-edged top under a blazer for a cute office-to-weekend transition. It works especially well with gingham, florals, stripes, or solid neutrals.
Ric-rac’s return feels like a reminder that fashion can (and should) be fun. So go ahead and zigzag into the trend. Your wardrobe (and your smile) will thank you. Here are a few options to consider:
From Sail to Sable (by the way, if this brand is not on your radar, it needs to be. I love them. They are moderately priced and beyond adorable)
Sadly, this one is gone now, but has been a regular for me this summer. Their items sell fast, so buy quickly!
Another really fun, moderately priced brand that you should consider in your rotation is Tuckernuck. They have created squee worthy outfits with the ric-rac trend.
Let me know if you have already joined the return of the ric-rac trend or if you are inspired now to take it on!
-----
Thanks, Piper!
The rest of you - Don't forget to check out Piper's X page.
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 Second August Edition?!
With that, step into the dojo and let's get to the gun stuff below, shall we?
Can you train with the .22LR cartridge? Why yes, yes you can!
and...
You can practice all of your fundamentals with this cartridge at a fraction of the cost of 9mm, or .45ACP or .308 Winchester or whatever. It's not a substitute for your regular carry gun or ammo, but it's fun and definitely has value as a training tool. Great for plinking, too!
Anyone out there using the .22 in addition to their regular stuff?
******
First 24 Hours
What do all y'all think? Have you thought any of this through?
******
Registered Magnum
******
Trench Guns
******
Ax Weasel
Q: Weasel, What did Air Force nuclear missile crews do every day?
A: I dunno. Launch missiles? Please see below.
AJ Fernandez, a giant in the cigar blending world, started his New World line in 2014. To commemorate a decade of this line, which now features six different cigars, in 2024 he released the Decenio. It's a nice looking medium brown stick, softly box-pressed, that's light in the hand. The handsome wrapper is Mexican, the fillers are from Nicaragua and Honduras. Construction is excellent, draw is easy. Smoke volume is large, and it's luxurious "chewy" smoke. Flavors for me varied a bit throughout. Rich, earthy tobacco flavor all the way, with a tangy finish or a smoother sweeter end note alternating as the burn proceeded. Medium to full. A very pleasant experience. Don't think I've reviewed many of the other New World sticks, but I'll be looking to try them with that in mind. The New World Decenio is available online for $7.50 and up.
Excellent, rhomboid! Thank you!
******
Here are some different online cigar vendors. You will find they not only carry different brands and different lines from those brands, but also varying selections of vitolas (sizes/shapes) of given lines. It's good to have options, especially if you're looking for a specific cigar.
A note about sources. The brick & mortar/online divide exists with cigars, as with guns, and most consumer products, with respect to price. As with guns - since both are "persecuted industries", basically - I make a conscious effort to source at least some of my cigars from my local store(s). It's a small thing, but the brick & mortar segment for both guns and tobacco are precious, and worth supporting where you can. And if you're lucky enough to have a good cigar store/lounge available, they're often a good social event with many dangerous people of the sort who own scary gunz, or read smart military blogs like this one. -rhomboid
Anyone have others to include? Perhaps a small local roller who makes a cigar you like? Send me your recommendation and a link to the site!
Please note the new and improved protonmail account gunthread at protonmail dot com. An informal Gun Thread archive can be found HERE. Future expansion plans are in the works for the site Weasel Gun Thread. If you have a question you would like to ask Gun Thread Staff offline, just send us a note and we'll do our best to answer. If you care to share the story of your favorite firearm, send a picture with your nic and tell us what you sadly lost in the tragic canoe accident. If you would like to remain completely anonymous, just say so. Lurkers are always welcome!
That's it for this week - have you been to the range?
Food Thread: Lamb, Mac & Cheese, And The Perils Of Eating Food
—CBD
Why yes, that does look delicious! That is a friend's 4H lamb after it was lovingly roasted in his pizza oven. The particulars of the recipe are a bit hazy, for reasons that I will leave to your imagination, but might have to do with fermented grapes.
What I find interesting about that sort of cooking is that the temperature is variable and not easily adjustable, so the cook actually has to pay attention to the food! That is by no means an onerous demand, in fact it is part of the joy of cooking, but it is a requirement when using fire!
And for more background about the meal, head below the fold.
That is cauliflower roasted in the same oven, and I had a hard time deciding which food deserved to be on the main page! The cauliflower was delicious! Cooked perfectly, with a delicious herb dressing topped with pomegranate seeds and pine nuts. It's also a great looking presentation!
******
Coblogger Misanthropic Humanitarian is clearly losing a step or two. He is fond of spamming me with weird recipes that make me wonder about his mental health, but recently he sent me Lemon-Marinated Tuscan-Jewish Fried Chicken, which sounds...great! That's a PDF download,because the recipe is from "Serious Eats," and I don't link to that TDS prick Kenji López-Alt. And yes, I am being ridiculously strict, because the website is now owned by People Magazine, but I am nothing if not obsessively rigid.
******
One of the pleasures of some Italian cooking is how ridiculously simple it is. Sure, they have their share of complex recipes, but a lot of italian cooking is ingredient-driven and delightfully simple. Here is a link for spaghetti aglio e olio, which is pretty damned simple, and pretty damned delicious. Hell, this is from a cook book writer from NYC, which is a testament to the simplicity of the dish and how widespread Italian cooking is!
******
I am sick and f*cking tired of the hysterical over-reaction to food-borne illness in America. We have much better reporting systems now than we did in previous generations. We have amazingly sensitive diagnostic tests that detect pathogens at minuscule concentrations. And we have a media that are maniacal in their desire to amplify every bit of equivocal data into some worldwide pandemic.
Yes, we have food-borne illness. No, it is not a crisis. No it is not increasing much, if at all.
Do you want to minimize your risk? Wash produce before consuming. learn basic food safety techniques to minimize cross-contamination. Don't eat day-old tacos from the illegal stand on the corner. Wash your hands with hot soapy water before during and after cooking.
Yeah...nothing particularly complicated there!
I would add: minimize eating take-out food or prepared food. But that's because I don't much trust strangers to follow the simple, basic rules of food safety.
Like the five-second rule! Because being afraid of food is just silly, and the media desperately tries to make us terrified!
******
Leftover sushi rice, mayonnaise, and Sriracha hot sauce. Don't judge me until you have tried it! But you have to warm the rice...only a savage would eat that dish cold!
******
We had a gaggle of small children in the house recently, so of course I bought Kraft Mac & Cheese! And not the fancy kind with the cheese in a can. No, for Chez Dildo only the original will do.
And...it is pretty damned tasty! I am not nearly snobbish enough to scoff at that stuff.
******
The great garlic experiment of 2025-2026 was a resounding...meh. Send all of your excellent home-grown garlic to: cbd dot aoshq at gmail dot com.
Rumor has it that the Bourbon Bubble is bursting. I have seen no evidence of decreasing prices, but maybe the bursting started somewhere else! I think the sweet spot is $40-$60 for excellent and interesting bottles, and bumping that to $100 gets you an incremental improvement in quality, but nothing mind-blowing. More than that and I think you are paying for hype and rarity, which may look good in your liquor cabinet, but doesn't translate to more quality in the bottle.
The problem...or the solution...is to buy lots of bourbon, take tasting notes, and eventually arrive at your favorites! It should take forty or fifty years, but it is worth it!
Yes, that timer is old, and because I am a cheap bastard, I will continue to use it and continue to bitch and moan about it until it explodes in a shower of sparks.
It has many minuscule buttons and a multi-layered series of menus through which I have to wade to program the stupid thing to turn on at dusk and turn off around midnight. Or 11:30pm or 1:00am. I don't care. But I don't want it to turn on at dusk and...stay on until 9:47am! Or never turn on until 6:12am. And who needs seven different programs for some stupid outdoor lights? That is the definition of overkill.
To top off this amazingly irritating piece of equipment...it resets to some default internal program every time there is a power outage. And by "power outage" I mean every time the f*cking lights flicker during a thunderstorm!
There is a dangerous hubris implicit in conservative political philosophy that eventually, free markets and conservative values will win out. It's easy to fall into that trap, because there is a huge amount of empirical evidence that free markets and restricted government are far better at generating wealth and protecting liberty than anything else. History is filled with the failures of socialist countries, and today we can see in real time how they inevitably devolve into rabid dictatorships fanatically fixated on their own survival at the expense of the people. And not just socialism...look at any Islamic country, and you will see authoritarian governments that have no interest in personal freedom, and are perfectly willing to conduct wholesale imprisonment or slaughter of their populations to preserve their positions. The death and destruction they wreak upon the world is unprecedented, and there is no reason to assume that they will moderate willingly.
So of course conservatives assume that the arc of history will move in freedom's direction...who would choose otherwise? Isn't the desire for freedom and liberty innate? Doesn't everyone want the bounty of free markets, personal freedom, and benign and small government?
Maybe! Or maybe not, but the advent of the comprehensive surveillance state driven by technology has made it far more difficult to create a resistance to those authoritarian structures. The GDR, otherwise known as East Germany, was a miasma of surveillance and informants and dungeons, and they did it with pen and paper and analog telephones. Poland and Romania weren't too far behind, yet these countries, along with their ruler the USSR fell quickly, driven by popular uprisings organized by word of mouth, printed pamphlets, and phone calls that overwhelmed the snooping state's ability to observe it.
But today's technology allows these states to surveil their subjects with granularity that was impossible just a few years ago. AI can listen to every phone call made, and flag troubling words and suspicious connections. Cameras are ubiquitous now, so organic demonstrations can be identified in a matter of moments, and the security apparatus can respond with overwhelming force. Facial recognition is unbelievably sophisticated, and those data centers being built all over the world aren't just storing cat videos...they are storing all-encompassing records on every single person on earth.
Well...except in the United States, because we wouldn't do that....right? Except we do it already, with Flock cameras and license plate readers and FISA and the NSA and a host of surveillance systems that we probably don't even notice.
Will technology doom freedom? No, not necessarily, but it is an incredibly powerful tool that every government on earth is busily weaponizing against the very things that we hold dear:
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Government...even our government...has been nibbling away at those freedoms pretty much forever. But technology has allowed them to take a sledgehammer to those protections, and absent a concerted effort, the ability of freedom-loving people to break the grip of government on our private lives will diminish with every advancement in technology.
Sunday Morning Book Thread - 8-9-2026 ["Perfessor" Squirrel]
—Open Blogger
Welcome to the prestigious, internationally acclaimed, stately, and illustrious Sunday Morning Book Thread! The place where all readers are welcome, regardless of whatever guilty pleasure we feel like reading (party's over, pal!). Here is where we can discuss, argue, bicker, quibble, consider, debate, confabulate, converse, and jaw about our latest fancy in reading material. As always, pants are required, unless you are wearing these pants...
So relax, find yourself a warm kitty (or warm puppy--I won't judge) to curl up in your lap, and dive into a new book. What are YOU reading this fine morning?
The House of Commons of the British Parliament tends to grab most of the headlines, but it's worth remembering that the British Parliament is a bicameral system. The House of Lords is the "upper chamber" of Parliament, consisting of around 770 members. Like the House of Commons, it plays an important role in legislative affairs, even if that role is largely behind the scenes in government. Unsurprising for an organization that has been around for many centuries, its procedures and traditions are arcane to outsiders. The House of Lords has its own dedicated library in which they can look up previous laws and statutes that may be relevant to current legislation. I suppose they tend to serve more in an advisory role to the King and the House of Commons in that respect, rather than a hands-on legislative body that gets things done--that seems to be the role of the House of Commons.
FEATURED MORON REVIEW
Biden's Dog sent in the following review:
The Curtain Falls: Last Days of the Third Reich (1945) is a short firsthand memoir by Count Folke Bernadotte*, the well-known Swedish diplomat and vice-chairman of the Swedish Red Cross.
Bernadotte recounts his negotiations from mid-February to late April 1945 with the highest ranking Nazis in Germany, including Himmler. His initial humanitarian mission was to secure the release and transport of Scandinavian (mainly Danish and Norwegian) prisoners from Nazi concentration camps to neutral Sweden for internment until the war's end.
The book details his repeated missions and meetings amid the collapsing Third Reich. It vividly describes the chaotic, surreal atmosphere in the final weeks before Germany's surrender. What began as a rescue effort took on political weight when Himmler, acting without Hitler's knowledge, used Bernadotte to convey a late, desperate offer of partial surrender to the Allies.
The account is based on Bernadotte's own notes and reports. Such rescues ultimately saved thousands, including Scandinavians, Poles, and others. It was published shortly after the war and remains a notable primary source on this period.
The book is an easy read, small in size and 155 pages long. It is a straightforward wartime memoir rather than a broad history. The book is illustrated with 10 black and white photos of most of the characters involved.
----
* On September 17, 1948, Count Bernadotte was assassinated in Jerusalem by Israel's LEHI (the Stern Gang) group. LEHI viewed Bernadotte as biased toward the Arabs and a threat due to his mediation proposals on Jerusalem and territorial limits for the Jews. At the time, future Israeli Prime Minister Yitzchak Shamir was one of the LEHI's leaders and approved of the assassination plan.
The Israeli provisional government, under David Ben-Gurion, strongly condemned the act as a "low, dastardly crime." So, too, did Menachem Begin, leader of the Irgun/ETZEL. Begin publicly called for those responsible to be found and brought to justice.
++++++++++
++++++++++
READING ON PAPER REWIRES YOUR BRAIN
I thought the video above was an excellent overview of how reading paper-based materials affects our brains. Apparently we are hard-wired to show marked improvement in retention and comprehension by reading paper books rather than digital books. This makes a lot of sense. As a species we've been reading paper-based materials for millennia. We've only been reading digital materials for a few decades at most. No doubt our brains have evolved or been shaped by our environment to prioritize gathering information from paper-based materials.
I thought the "one book effect" was very interesting because it demonstrates the power that just ONE BOOK in a home can have on a child's education and upbringing. Most of you reading this blog no doubt grew up in a home filled with books. I know I sure did. So I can't even conceive of a home that doesn't have at least one book in it. It's an alien concept to me.
As someone who works in the education industry, I was also struck by the point that reading complex material in printed format was better for you than reading it in digital format. I know that whenever I'm tasked with reading an academic journal article, I prefer to print it out and THEN go through it with a fine-toothed comb to understand it. I do find that I retain the information better and can spend time wrestling with the complicated materials until I understand it more fully. It also helps me whenever I'm writing a paper because I can spread out journal articles around me and sort them into piles that are "relevant" and "irrelevant." It's easy to tell at a glance which articles are most important to supporting the thesis of my paper.
The "dimensionality" aspect of reading printed materials also seems to have a direct impact on how much we retain and comprehend. Again, the fact that I can pick up a weighty tome of knowledge and tell at a glance how much I have left to read is immensely helpful to me. Even when reading for pleasure (which is most of my reading), I absolutely LOVE to have the physical book over a digital version. I engage most of my senses -- sight, hearing (turning the pages), touch, and even smell -- to enjoy the story. I can go back and forth within the book, easily holding my place with a bookmark or finger, while I look up a term in the glossary or flip back to a map/illustration that's relevant to what I'm reading at the moment. I have a much harder time with that experience when reading digital versions. I've noticed that digital books do attempt to replicate the physical book reading experience with digital pages that simulate physical paper, "page turning" animations that simulates a real book, and even adding a "page turning" noise.
I know a lot of you folks enjoy reading on a digital device, which does have a lot of advantages, especially for older folks who may struggle to read physical books these days. Audiobooks are also a very common alternative these days. Maybe someday the data will show a different story as future generations adapt to reading/comprehending in digital media. Of course, there's also the problem of long-term storage of digital media over time. Physical books can last for hundreds or even thousands of years. Will we still be able to read a digital copy of The Odyssey a thousand years from now?
+-----+-----+-----+-----+
WHAT I'VE BEEN READING RECENTLY
I'm continuing my trek through the Dune Expanded Universe books written by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson. They're better than I'd been led to believe, but then some folks tend to be "purists" when it comes to canon. I can understand that. That might be a topic for future Sunday Morning Book Thread.
Legends of Dune: The Machine Crusade Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson
Humanity is finally striking back at the overmind Omnius, who has ruled over a significant portion of humanity for millennia. Unfortunately, they are unable to establish a decisive victory over their AI overlords. Vorian Atreides, the son of the cymek Agamemnon, has defected to the side of humanity and now fights for their freedom, using his knowledge of the Titans to undermine their authority.
Herbert and Anderson are clearly using this war as a backdrop to establish the various factions that play a key role in the original Dune series. We see the seeds of the Mentats, human computers who use their mental abilities to calculate probabilities of events. Norma Cenva immerses herself within "spice gas," which is essential for creating the Navigators that allow ships to travel safely through folded spacetime.
This series is a bit odd in that the "foldspace" drive is essential to the Dune universe, being the main faster-than-light travel mechanism. However, before the foldspace drive is perfected, humans clearly had some alternate form of faster-than-light travel because it only takes weeks or months to travel from planet to planet. Herbert and Anderson are deliberately vague about how this older FTL drive works, which I think undercuts the story a bit.
Legends of Dune: The Battle of Corrin by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson
Humanity has driven Omnius back to a single planet after humans have bombarded all of the overmind's other world with "atomics," turning them into radioactive cinders. But once again they are at a stalemate as humanity is unable to penetrate Corrin's planetary defenses. Omnius conspires with a human traitor to unleash a virulent plague on the human worlds, which threatens to wipe out humanity.
Once again we see the seeds of the future Dune universe being sown here. This time the women who will one day be known as the Bene Gesserit unlock the keys to the future, which will one day result in the Kwisatz Haderach that will save humanity from itself.
Sisterhood of Dune by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson
Sisterhood of Dune picks up about eighty years after the conclusion of The Battle of Corrin. The overmind Omnius has been defeated once and for all, but the universe is still turbulent. The Butlerian Jihad is still gathering strength and their leader Manford Torondo is determined to wipe out technology, even benign technology such as advences in medical science, because reliance on technology is what led humans to being dominated by artificial intelligence for millennia. Emperor Salvador Corrino is a weak ruler, under the thrall of Manford's Butlerian Jihad, and unable to stand up to the mobs who are tearing his Empire apart. The Sisterhood (which will one day become the Bene Gesserit) have discovered a terrible secret about the Corrino bloodline. But they are also being torn apart by the sisters who have fallen under the sway of the Butlerian Jihad.
This book was better than I thought it would be. Manford Torondo is a zealous fanatic that you love to hate because he's such an insufferable prick. I can't hardly wait to see how he finally gets his comeuppance in later books. This series is meant to show the divide between those who embrace technology and want to see civilization advance and those who prefer to tear it down because they believe that technology/science is the cause of all mankind's woes. It's explicitly mentioned that Manford's group may not be satisfied until they've outlawed fire of all things.
Tips, suggestions, recommendations, etc., can all be directed to perfessor -dot- squirrel -at- gmail -dot- com.
Disclaimer: The Earth is neither flat nor round. It's shaped like a burrito.
Not foolish enough to use an online database? No problem, rest assured that you have your personal registered with someone who was foolish enough.
(I have received three emails so far from companies using Metabase in various ways to let me know they had been hacked and my personal data was out in the wild... Again.)
A gynecologist noticed that his new patient seemed a little nervous, so he decided to lighten the mood.
As he pulled on a pair of latex gloves, he smiled and asked, "Do you know how these gloves are made?"
The woman shook her head. "No, I don't."
The doctor said, "There's a factory in Mexico where people with all different hand sizes dip their hands into liquid latex. They let it dry, then peel the latex off their hands, and that's how the gloves are made."
The woman didn't smile. She just stared at him with a blank expression...
The doctor thought his little joke had completely fallen flat.
A few seconds later, however, she suddenly burst into uncontrollable laughter.
Curious, the doctor asked, "What's so funny?"
Still laughing, she wiped away a tear and replied, "I'm sorry, Doctor... I was just imagining how they make condoms!"
-----
A woman is pregnant, and is practically 9 months along. She goes to see her doctor for a routine check-up.
She asks, "What if the baby starts coming, and I can't get to the hospital in time?"
The doctor replies, "Well, women have been having babies for a million years without a doctor in attendance. It's a very natural process. The first thing you do is to assume the same position you were laying in when you got pregnant."
The blonde interrupts with, "Do you mean with the left foot in the glove compartment and the right foot hanging out the window?"
Cycling's newest performance enhancer isn't in a syringe - but in a sports bra.
Accusations of padded bras that can give women's Tour de France competitors an aerodynamic advantage are flying through the cycling world as breast and cup size bizarrely gets debated and even complaints get filed.
Dutch news outlet Wielerflits reported that several complaints have come in from women's WorldTeams about female cyclists allegedly exploiting their breast size by faking a larger cup size to use more padding in their bras during time trials.
In complaints made to the UCI, teams want female padded bra inspectors to come in and check the riders in a closed tent to "ensure they are not hiding anything in their bras or under their aero clothing."
In unrelated news, Club ONT will be installing a tent out back shortly. Apologies for the inconvenience during installation.
An Alberta man said a marmot he found investigating the inside of his garage had apparently stowed away in his car for a 75-mile trip.
Chris Ratzlaff said his child alerted him to the presence of a large rodent in the family's Airdrie garage last week.
"It was hiding in a corner, and at first I thought it was maybe a porcupine, so I left the garage door open for it to leave," Ratzlaff told CTV News. "When it left, we could see that it was a marmot."
He said the marmot had apparently stowed away on a recent 75-mile drive from Kananaskis.
AOP - is that you?
*****
Club ONT Half-Time Entertainment
Hard to believe that synchronized walking is a thing, but here we are.
The Klein Tools 250th Edition Diagonal Cutting Pliers have a red, white, and blue colorway on the handles, with red and white on one and blue and white on the other. Functionally, however, these are the same Journeyman handles that Klein Tools customers will be familiar with. Klein complements the special colors with a laser-etched legend that states "250 USA Est. 1776" on the jaws, alongside a stylized version of Stars and Stripes above it.
Free lifetime restroom token to any Hordeling with video evidence of using a pair of these to cut wires of a Flock camera.
*****
Club ONT Jukebox
Let's spin some 90s stuff tonight!
*****
Top 10ish Comments of the Week
*****
Club ONT is brought to you by: Club regulars
*****
Handle with care. Whelming should only be attempted for educational, informational and entertainment purposes. Whelming is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. If you become over or underwhelmed, consider seeking the advice of your physician, pharmacist, or other qualified healthcare provider. Whelming dosage, side effects, interactions, or suitability for your individual health condition vary.
Music Thread: A Little Of This...A Littler Of That!
—CBD
From Garrett's Disco phase!
***
I remember Lyle Lovett from the 1990s, And he has been an occasional presence on my various music lists since then. But I was reminded just how good he is last weekend at a friend's house, when he played a couple of Lovett songs I hadn't heard in a very long time, and in fact had forgotten!
That was a mistake. He is a fine singer, a fine guitar player, and a fine songwriter.
I don't know much about him other than his obvious talent. I don't know his politics or his sexuality or gender or favorite color...and I like it that way.
He was their living lawn jockey, period. They won't say that 'cause they're sensitive and down with his struggle and all. He was there to appease and flatter their sense of being uplifters of the oppressed. In truth, he served as their living lawn jockey -- no more, no less, and unworthy of even a second thought on their part. Tokenism, pure and simple.
Podcast: More Iran bluster from Trump? Enough! Deportations hit a record, and that is a good thing for all, Todd Blanche's nomination is out of committee, the DSA is on the march, and more!
The Short Unhappy Life of a Russian Soldier: Why recruits die in 20-30 minutes Interesting video. Some key parts: drones were responsible for 70-80% of all battlefield deaths in mid-2025, and I bet it's higher now. The Russian army is incredibly corrupt. Men get assigned to the most dangerous frontline units, the "Storm" units, unless they pay a superior $2,000 to be assigned to a different unit. Furthermore, there is often no real training for recruits -- commanders pocket the money that would have gone towards fuel and ammo costs incurred during training. Much "training" consists just of taking a single picture of soldiers doing something soldier-y, like fording a river, and publishing that as proof that the training was done. Even when it is done, training is only two weeks long.
Podcast: CBD and Sefton discuss the Berlin attack, Iran...Again! Sefton's mini Odyssey review, Data Republican's blockbuster reveal about the DNC, and more!
Forgotten 80s Mystery Click She's totally committed to major independence
She's a lady through and through
She gives them quite a battle, all that they can handle
She'll bruise some, she'll hurt some too
Podcast: Illegals registered and voted in NJ! Leftist violence is baked into the Democrat cake, Iran's capabilities are being degraded, Londonistan? And...come on SC...no senate dynasties!
FDA is providing an update regarding the sample of lettuce supplied by Taylor Farms de Mexico which was reported positive on July 18, 2026. Due to the complexity in detection of Cyclospora, FDA laboratory experts re-reviewed the sample results and have concluded that the finding does not represent true amplification and should be considered a false positive. Information about the sample has been removed from the July 18, 2026, update below. FDA has notified Taylor Farms and continues working with the firm to ensure product implicated in this outbreak has been removed from the market. FDA and state partners continue to collect and analyze product samples. As of July 19, 2026, there are no confirmed positive sample results for product testing for Cyclospora.
