Ace: aceofspadeshq at gee mail.com
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J.J. Sefton: sefton at cutjibnewsletter.com
Bandersnatch 2024
GnuBreed 2024
Captain Hate 2023
moon_over_vermont 2023
westminsterdogshow 2023
Ann Wilson(Empire1) 2022 Dave In Texas 2022
Jesse in D.C. 2022 OregonMuse 2022
redc1c4 2021
Tami 2021
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
French Elites are extra confused by President Trump
—K.T.
French elites are not the only people concerned and/or confused by President Trump's announced tariff plan this week. I heard a guy on the radio refer to him as an "agent of chaos", and tell a story about another businessman who enjoyed that role and thought that it was productive.
But French elites are extra confused. There is a long history to their confusion.
Sarah Hoyt linked a piece by Erik at No Pasaran that explains a lot about the recent inability of French politicians to "get" Trump, no matter how clearly they learn to speak in their university diction classes:
Why Does Donald Trump Bother the Élites in France and Europe So Much?
"Besides appearing on a French radio station, Sébastien Laye ruffled feathers at LinkedIn as he tried to solve a central riddle (merci pour l'InstaLien, Sarah):"
Why does Trump bother the elites in France and in Europe so much?
As an American citizen myself, and considering that these largely outdated and bankrupt élites in France had nothing legitimate to say on the subject, I asked myself this question.
To take France as an example, French graduates of the
École Nationale d'Administration (l'ENA) have feared Trump since his re-election:
The French have actually tended to have more competent bureaucrats than we have (but competent at what?) because they are trained to be good bureaucrats and have been tested in a meritocratic system. But they mostly all think alike:
1. Trump is the antithesis of their mental software
ENA graduates are trained in
technocracy, norms, collective thinking, and risk avoidance.
Trump embodies:
• Absolute individual will,
• Action without safety nets,
• Personal judgment above consensus,
• A logic of brutal disruption.
Whether you like that or not, they fear him because they can
neither anticipate nor decode his policies. It eludes their map of power.
2. The French state, over-administered, is slow, procedural, and inflexible.
Trump, for his part, acts like a pure capitalist actor:
• He redefines the framework (NATO, WTO, various trade agreements, etc. )
. . .
3. Trump shatters their illusion of a multilateral world
The ENA graduates live in the De Gaulle-Mitterrand legacy of
"enlightened multilateralism," where France plays a moral role above its real power. . .
Heard recently about a very short-term deployment of a small French military unit in the Middle East. I think they helped locals vaccinate goats or something. It seemed more symbolic than a projection of power.
4. He speaks to the people – not the elites
The ENA graduates have rarely boots on the ground,
are often out of touch with the real people.
Trump, despite his billionaire status, understands popular anger and speaks directly to the crowds, without filter or perspective. This profoundly destabilizes a French elite who still believe that legitimacy comes from education and abstract reasoning.
5. Trump could impose a new grammar for transatlantic relations
A France accustomed to a certain status quo (tacit American protection,
hushed diplomacy, symbolic place at the UN) is seeing the arrival of a Trump:
• Who haggles over everything,
• Who values might over law,
• Who demands proof of strategic loyalty (as with Israel or Taiwan).
This forces the French elite to choose: fall in line or step aside.
Do you think this guy is mostly on target in his assessments?
There are others in France who warn that the French should prepare for an expanding U.S. economy. Several examples are presented in the piece linked above. You will be able to tell whether the ones you can hear include people trained as 1. politicians or 2. radio personalities by how fast they talk.
* * * * *
Going deeper
All Bad Ideas Are French (or Genevan?)
�All bad ideas are French. It is an absolute principle of human existence.�
France followed up Rousseau with postmodernism which is at the heart of our current socialist infestation - Derida, Foucault, etc. Yeah, the French have a lot to answer for.
You might want to look through the thread. What do you think?
* * * * *
A Nancy Pelosi of a different time on reciprocal tariffs and more:
There were some bad things that happened this week, but the election news was not as bad as portrayed by BIG NEWS.
The pictures are penguin-heavy. And there's this:
A guy pulls into a gas station. The attendant pumps his gas and looks into the back seat of the car. He sees a penguin sitting there. The attendant comes around to the driver’s window and says, “Did you know you have a penguin in the back seat of your car?” The driver says No and turns around and looks. He sees the penguin and asks the attendant, “What do you think I should do with him?” The attendant says, “If I were you, I would take him to the zoo.” “Good idea,” the driver says, and drives away.
A couple days later the driver pulls into the same gas station. The attendant pumps his gas and looks in the back seat, and there is the penguin. The attendant comes around to the driver’s side and says, “Hey, that penguin is still in the back seat.” The driver says, “I know.” The attendant says, “I thought you were going to take him to the zoo.”
The driver says: “I did, and we had so much fun, today I’m taking him to the beach.”
The Classical Saturday Coffee Break & Prayer Revival
—Misanthropic Humanitarian (ONT Cob Emeritus)
Good morning boys and girls and everything in between. According to the calendar it is April 5. One would not know that looking at the lakes here in the frozen tundra.
Before we enter the Prayer Revival, just a few house keeping matters to go over. (Rulz for those of you in Slinger)
1. This is an open thread unless you are that person, then it is not. But for the remainder of you it is an open thread and feel free to lurk, opine and/or bloviate.
2. Be kind, be nice. Most trolls are mentally ill. And no jumping on the furniture.
3. Running with sharp objects is not permitted. You are not even allowed to think about it.
4. Have a nice weekend.
Please submit any prayer requests to me, “Annie’s Stew” at apaslo atsign hotmail dot com. Prayer requests are generally removed after four weeks unless we receive an update.
Prayer Requests:
1/18 – Jrgunn77 requested prayers for health, which was fine a few months ago, but recently has been his with extremely high BP spikes, anxiety attacks, constant headaches, and hernia troubles. Jrgunn is on meds for the BP and anxiety, scheduled for a colonoscopy, and has referrals for a cardiologist and neurologist. These out of the blue anxieties are the worst. Jrgunn also asked for prayers for a friend from church, Rodney, who has recently suffered lung failure and is on oxygen, to come home from the hospital, and Pastor Ben and his brother, for comfort after the passing of their little sister from drug addiction.
3/8 Update – Pneumonia has cleared, and the neurologist is treating him for Parkinsonian tremor. The CT scan showed 3 hernias. The BP, head pressure, and physical strength is better and he was able to work a couple of hours. Rodney is awake, but has intestinal bleeding. They are still waiting for test results, and if they are bad, he will be knocked off the transplant list. He’s still on 100% oxygen.
3/8 Update – Lester Fahrner posted that BP spikes and anxiety needs lab and urine tests for carcinoid tumor and pheochromocytoma.
3/15 Update – Rodney was placed on the official transplant list on 3/12. On 3/15, he received donor lungs during a 14 hour surgery. Now prayers are for his recovery and for God’s provision for the avalanche of medical bills.
1/31 – Bif Bewalski gave an update on Smash. The blood work confirmed that she does not have pancreatitis. They gave her fluids, 3 types of digestive system meds via IV, and then ignored her for 8 hours. Anyway, she is home and feeling better.
3/22 Update – They are going to run an upper GI series of tests to confirm whether a previous surgery has allowed fluid to settle onto the upper stomach, causing all the issues. Then Smash got the flu, which turned into pneumonia. On the mend now.
2/15 – Ben Had asked for continued prayers for Jim Sunk New Dawn. He hasn’t been on the ONT for a while now.
2/22 Update – Doof heard from Jim SND and posted an update. Jim SND says he is doing OK and is in good spirits, all things considered. He’s just struggling to keep up with things here on the blog due to physical limitations. Doof plans to keep checking on him. Jim SND definitely appreciates our prayers and support.
3/7 Update – Jim Sunk New Dawn sent an update to Weird Dave. Jim SND sends his greetings and thanks for the prayers. He can’t reply to everyone; his 80 wpm is now about 8. He can barely type, and chewing is even tough. He says he is a walking skeleton. He is getting full benefits from the VA, so that helps with ADA mods to the house, healthcare, etc.
4/1 Update – Jim was hospitalized for a few days, and has been transferred to Houston. He is still having trouble with breathing, talking, and eating. They are planning to put in a feeding tube on 4/2. Jim is still reading, even though he cannot comment. He and Iris greatly appreciate the prayers. Prayers for a successfully and uneventful surgery, a quick recovery, and for Iris, for help, peace, and laughter in these trying times.
2/18 – Teresa in Fort Worth asked for prayers for her husband’s niece, Amanda, who has just been put on the waiting list for another new heart. After 4 years with her first donor heart, her body is starting to reject it. She is only 40 years old, and has had heart issues her entire adult life. Please pray that Amanda’s body would stay well long enough for her to have another transplant. And also prayers for the family of this as-yet-unknown donor. Amanda knows full well what her receiving a new heart “means” to the donor family.
3/4 Update – Amanda still needs prayers. St. Luke’s cannot give her a second heart, so they have turned to Methodist in Houston, hoping that they will be able to handle her complex case.
3/1 – antisocial justice beatnik would appreciate some prayers for Mom, who is continuing to suffer terribly from a botched medical procedure back in mid-Dec. Mom was rushed from her rehab facility to ER on 2/28, then back to the hospital that botched her care in Dec. Antisocial justice beatnik and Dad are doing their best to support her and each other, but Dad has his own existing medical issues to worry about, and AJB’s FMLA is running out.
3/8 Update – Mom is stable but continues to suffer with a horrific bed wound and blood clots in her legs. She will be bedridden for the foreseeable future. Dad is still having medical issues but is still mobile. AJB and Dad still take shifts to visit Mom. AJB also figures s/he will be looking for another job soon, so has found a resume and will start applying.
3/15 Update – It was a rough week. For the first part of the week, Mom spent every waking moment groaning in agony from osteomyelitis due to her bed sores. The pain has been better controlled the last few days.
3/1 - thefritz requests prayers for his friend Jeff, his wife, and two children. Jeff’s pancreatic cancer has spread to his liver. They have stopped chemo and moved him to home hospice.
3/17 Update – Jeff succumbed to pancreatic cancer on 3/16. Please pray for his wife and two grown children.
3/6 – Bulg asked for prayers. He is planning to send a conciliatory letter to his only sister, who has been estranged for 20 years. There had been a family breakup over the parents’ estate. The sister has begun communicating with Bulg’s brothers, so he is going to try and reestablish contact. Prayers that his attempt will be successful are appreciated.
3/6 – Toad-O asked for prayers for a son-in-law, his mother, and the rest of the family. The mother is in the hospital with severe lung damage and her survival is uncertain. The mother’s mother just died of a similar illness. Also, her husband is also in the hospital with a ruptured colon. All of these things hit in the same week, and the impact has been devastating. A miracle is desperately needed.
3/8 Update – The mother passed away on 3/8, on her 61st birthday. As you can imagine, the family is devastated. Prayers for comfort in this time of sorrow are requested.
3/8 – Misanthropic Humanitarian offered a prayer. “Dear Father, Thank you for sparing Donald J. Trump’s life in Butler, PA. Thank you for a President who loves his country and is trying to do everything he can to improve our citizens lives. We often come to you with our troubles and not to you as often as we should when we should be thankful. We pray through Your Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.”
3/8 - Tonypete asked for prayers for K and Mr. X. K started dating Mr. X, and he is a very nice gentleman, but he mentions his late wife in every other sentence. It’s starting to wear on K.
3/8 – Ben Had asked for continued prayers for AZ deplorable as he works to get his strength back.
3/22 Update – AZ deplorable moron reports that he is on the mend after the stroke. His left side is still not up to snuff, but he is working on it. Thank you all for your prayers.
3/8 – Retired Buckeye Cop asked for prayers for his younger brother, J. He has been a police officer at a local Catholic university for 26 years. Due to internal politics, the police chief has informed J that his position (Captain) is being phased out as of 6/30 and he needs to seek employment elsewhere. May J find a new job soon.
3/8 – Piper asked for prayers for a close friend who has breast cancer. It’s already at stage 3 when it was discovered. She has chemo, surgery, and radiation coming up. She is a mom, with a son age 12. Her husband is being a trooper, but it’s hard.
3/8 – Cosda posted good news. Two years ago, we prayed for a sister who had colon cancer and was undergoing surgery and chemo. That was successful. On 3/7, her checkup showed that she was still cancer free. Thank you for the prayers and thank God for the healing.
3/13 – Teresa in Fort Worth’s health continues to improve with her cancer treatments. Her CA19-9 results continue to go down, which is great news.
3/15 – Grammie Winger updated that Rev is still weak, but he is eating and his spirits are good.
3/15 – Fenelon Spoke requested prayers for the daughter of their beloved, retired, organist. The daughter is a dear woman on her second bout of cancer and is having treatments. Thanks so much!
3/15 – Smell the glove sent thanks for the prayers. The aunt is doing well with her treatment for colon cancer.
3/15 – MkY asked for continued prayers for his wife, Judy, who was diagnosed with stage IV renal cancer 2 months ago. She is getting immunotherapy, along with another drug that is supposed to enhance immunotherapy. She is very weak, and they don’t know if the various issues she is having is due to the cancer(s) or the drugs. Probably both. In early April, she is due for another CT scan with contrast (which hurts). If the tumors have not shrunk, they will probably start alternative therapies.
3/20 – L asked for continued prayers for her daughter, Shannon. She is the Franciscan sister, who was traveling to Cleveland for surgery. The operation was a success! It involved replacement of two valves, and repair to aortic aneurysm. The surgery was 3/11, and she was released 3/18. She is staying with her aunt, a retired nurse, this week, and will go to her sister’s house for continued recovery next week. L and her husband have not seen her in person, since they came down with a bad flu, but have visited via a video call, and can see improvement. L sends her thanks for the prayers. Shannon appreciated it, L appreciated it, and it helped keep them all calmer.
3/22 – Eromero could use prayers. He was in ICU with double pneumonia, but is improving and out of ICU now. He is on a pegtube the rest of his life.
3/29 Update – Eromero sent his thanks for the prayers. He is in p/t, o/t, and eating real food, though mashed unrecognizable. He expects to be in for another 7-10 days. He also asks for the Lot’d blessing on all here who need physical or spiritual healing.
3/22 – vmom deport deport deport asked for prayers for her husband, because layoffs are expected at his company soon.
3/29 Update – Hubby is still working – the company laid off a bunch of employees but not him. He is hoping to hang on at least another year.
3/22 – screaming in digital got her mom moved into assisted living on Tuesday. There have been some rough spots, and no doubt will be more, but she is doing better than they dared hope. Many thanks for your prayers.
3/22 – J.J. Sefton posted that his latest MRI indicated no new tumor growth and the surgical wound is healing nicely. He took his final chemo pull last night, so fingers crossed, he thinks he is in the percentage of glioblastoma patients that ultimately outpace recurrence by greater than the expected timeframe. MRIs now every two months for the rest of his life. God bless you all for your prayers and kindness.
3/24 – FenelonSpoke requested prayers for a young friend, “C”, who was just in the hospital, probably for depression. Fen doesn’t have all the details yet. “C” has the intense job of being an addictions counselor and is a very bright, caring RC woman. She needs healing and the rough places made smooth. Thanks very much.
3/29 Update – Thanks so much for the prayers. “C” is out of the hospital and doing much better.
3/24 – Mister Ghost posted “Hospitals can kill you. Prayers are much better. I am stuck in a hospital in the Boston area for the 8th straight day and am starting to look like a concentration camp survivor. This is brutal and if there’s anyone who could say a prayer for me, I would be eternally grateful. Prayers carry a great deal of power. I’m not as sure about modern medicine….”
3/24 – Update on Jewell45. Her daughter posted an update, with approval to share: "Okay. Need to do a life update for mama. She hasn’t been doing so hot the last couple weeks. Like I said last month, the cancer has been spreading. She’s been declining quite a bit since then. Her energy level is very low and she’s struggling with breathing after the smallest tasks or even if shes talks too much. The decision has been made to transition to hospice care. I want to be clear here about a couple things. Number one, she is NOT in her final days although her oncologist estimates with how the cancer has progressed that she is probably down to several months, 6-9 maybe more. Number 2. She is up for visitors but not much. Please contact myself, dad or her first. She won’t last much longer than 15-20 minutes if you do stop by, so keep your expectations low. Other than that, continued prayers and good vibes are always appreciated. Much love to you all. If you have questions, feel free to contact me privately. This is obviously a difficult time as you can imagine but I’ll do my best."
3/24 – Ellipse (“…”) asked to enlist the prayers of the amazing horde, for a good friend’s wife, who is in need of a rather sudden biopsy.
3/27 Update – They are waiting on results from a mass that was somehow missed last month on a mammogram. They are understandably very scared and won’t know until 3/31. She has other symptoms too. The kids are older but not grown.
3/27 – Cosda asked the Horde to keep his wife in their prayers. She recently had a mole removed from her thigh and the biopsy report came back this morning as melanoma cancer. They will be seeing an oncologist the week of 3/31.
3/27 – Sponge sent an update. “Thank you, all of you, for your thoughts and prayers for the First Lady during this ridiculously difficult journey the last several months. Your kind words and heartfelt prayers really made a difference for her and we're eternally grateful for it. God is great and we've crossed over what should be the final big hurdle in this battle. She's over the moon excited and is feeling incredibly blessed today. God Bless you all and thank you so very much.”
3/29 – FenelonSpoke asked for prayers for “C”, the father of a friend. “C” has to have a benign tumor removed, which is pressing on his spine and making walking difficult.
3/29 – neverenoughcaffeine had requests: 1. Baby Isaac is now at Seattle Children’s Hospital with additional issues. He’s 2 months old and has spent lots of time in hospitals. 2. Bonnie, who was just diagnosed with a cancerous nodule in her lung. Thankfully it hasn’t spread and immunotherapy will start when she receives the drug specifically tailored to her need. 3. Charlie, who suffered a nasty fall that broke his back and cracked his skull. Two brain bleeds have incapacitated him. He has a long road to recovery.
3/29 – FenelonSpoke requested prayers for “J”, the grown son of a friend who is back living with his parents. He is having some mental health issues and other unspecified problems. He needs healing and rough places made smooth. Thanks.
3/29 – Our Country is Screwed asked to be kept in our prayers as he starts his chemo regimen this week.
4/1 – Sock Monkey’s family experienced a tragedy, and needs prayers. His brother-in-law and friend, chose to take his own life, in a moment of despair. Please pray for Sock Monkey’s sister-in-law, their 5 children, and their beautiful granddaughter, as they grieve.
For submission guidelines and other relevant info, please contact Annie's Stew, who is managing the prayer list. You can contact her at apaslo at-sign hotmail dot com. If you see a prayer request posted in a thread comment, feel free to copy and paste it and e-mail it to Annie's Stew. She tries to keep up with the requests in the threads, but she's not here all of the time, so she may not see it unless you e-mail it to her. Please note: Prayer requests are generally removed after four weeks or so unless we receive an update.
2 Corinthians 4:8-9
We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair, persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed.
First, of course, it makes little sense to make a totalitarian fascist dystopia your sole supplier of anything.
Second, rare earth elements are not rare. What they are is messy and annoying to extract and refine, a fact that China used to take over the market. Australia, Brazil, Canada, and, yes, the United States all have significant mineral reserves available. And studies suggest that a square mile of seafloor mud is enough to provide the entire world with these metals for a year.
Third, China of course does this kind of thing all the time, and has restricted or outright banned sales of rare earth elements to other countries before.
Fourth, and perhaps most interesting, China now only produces 10% of its own rare earth resources. The same problem with them being messy and annoying to extract led it to move production to illegal mining camps operating in Burma, bypassing what passes for the government and working with local militias.
They're a very minimal laptop dock, offering three USB ports, HDMI, and 2.5Gb Ethernet. I wanted them mostly for the 2.5Gbit internet, though the HDMI port is also handy. And they cost me about $16 each a couple of months ago, so it's hard to go wrong when many docks at ten times the price still only provide gigabit Ethernet.
So why did I buy three more? Three reasons: They support Linux. They work with the USB-C port on my Beelink SER5s, which only have gigabit Ethernet.
And not only have they come down in price 25% even from the previous discount, if I bought three I got another 20% off that.
An Arm Cortex M0+, 8MB of serial RAM, and a USB-to-serial adaptor, which also acts as the voltage regulator for the entire system. It supports a microSD card for storage; the chips are so small that it looks like a full-size SD card in the photo.
It can boot Debian Linux. Specifically it boots Debian Linux for MIPS using an emulator, but that's a software issue.
I'm not sure whether CNBC added that nonsense comparing annual productivity to market valuations or if it was in the original report, so I blame both of them.
Anyway, if you look up the combined market cap of publicly-traded companies pursuing AI software or hardware right now it comes to over $12 trillion so the UN may be a little late to the game.
Yes, that includes giants like Apple, Microsoft, and Google, who are very heavily invested in AI but not dedicated to it, as well as Nvidia, which makes most of its revenue from AI hardware but has a much smaller involvement with AI software or services. But on the other hand it doesn't include OpenAI, xAI, or Anthropic, because none of those are publicly traded.
"Shame on you," said Microsoft employee Ibtihal Aboussad, speaking directly to Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman. "You are a war profiteer. Stop using AI for genocide. Stop using AI for genocide in our region. You have blood on your hands. All of Microsoft has blood on its hands. How dare you all celebrate when Microsoft is killing children. Shame on you all."
If you don't uninstall Windows today you are complicit in genocide.
54% of Windows users are still on Windows 10, compared to a little under 43% running Windows 11. So the good news is that they've finally moved on from Windows 8, which has been unsupported for seven years.
Of course, we want to protect the privacy and cyber security at the same time; and that's why we have said here that now we have to prepare a technical roadmap to watch for that, but it's something that we can't tolerate, that we can't take care of the security because we don't have tools to work in this digital world.
The only reason that's not doublespeak is that it doesn't mean anything at all.
The rumoured specs would give it 48 GPU cores (compared to 64 on the 9070 XT) and 12GB of VRAM on a 192-bit bus (compared to 16GB on a 256-bit bus).
If it's three quarters of the hardware at three quarters of the price - $450 MSRP - it should sell. Nvidia's 5070, which also has 12GB of VRAM, starts at $550.
* Future-past perfect singular subjunctive. Time travel weirds language.
What the study shows is that the training operation made note of memorable word choices, exactly as a human would.
If it runs across the line Double, rubble, foil-wrapped Hubble it is more likely to remember that specific word sequence because that's not something it's ever likely to encounter.
What the study showed was that if you ask it what the next word after Double, rubble, foil-wrapped is, it gets it right, because it's seen that once before. And if it couldn't do that, it wouldn't work.
Okay, which third-rate vtuber did Business Insider drag into oh my god Minki!
Mint Fantôme a.k.a Maid Mint a.k.a Minto a.k.a Minki, formerly Pomura Inpuff, formerly Mint Fantôme a.k.a well you know that bit is one of my favourite vtubers. She is quiet and unassuming and very entertaining, with an infectious energy and a delight in all things but mostly Metal Gear Solid. And also Hamtaro.
(Via Foxu News. You can see the chat exclaiming "Minto!" when they realise who the article is about. She's very much loved by the vtuber community.)
Musical Interlude
Disclaimer: Every little thing she does is DRAGON SLAVE!
Lazy Tommy Pumpkinhead was a book that I loved as a kid about a boy who lives in an automated house. Everything is great...until he loses power for a week.
Well, I mean, it's not supposed to be, but dang if leftwing judges don't keep "discovering" that Akshually when a Democrat congressman libels you outside of Congress, there are Penumbras and Emanations that immunize him against suit.
New Hampshire teacher argues against a proposed parental bill of rights, telling parents that if they want to take control over their child's education back from viciously-stupid leftwing state teachers unions, they should just send their kids to private school.
We are, in fact, going to make school choice the rule almost everywhere, except in your blue state shitholes, and you will all lose your jobs as "teachers." You will finally see what your teaching degrees are worth in the private sector. You always claim you could be making $200,000 per year if not for your selfless devotion to teaching children how to have anal sex with drag queens; you will soon have that interesting theory put to the real-world acid test.
And the rest of us will laugh and laugh and laugh...
Elizabeth MacDonald
@LizMacDonaldFOX
Biden and Obama's abuse of taxpayers is truly shocking. Now Biden has a Solyndra problem. Just like Obama, Biden blew billions of your taxpayer $$ on energy companies now going bankrupt. Several energy companies that got big loans from the Biden administration's $400 billion green energy slush pot loan program are reportedly facing difficulties and potential bankruptcy. Li-Cycle Holdings, a battery recycling company, got a $375 million loan commitment but has warned investors about its potential bankruptcy. It got that loan within days of Biden losing to Trump, as part of the $20 billion in loans that were rushed out the door before Trump took office.
CEO Ajay Kochhar reportedly worried his company couldn't afford to repay, but Biden officials pressured him to take the money according to reports. Biden's green energy loan czar Jigar Shah according to the Wall Street Journal told its top officials to "get your ass to Pittsburgh" in order to get the loan. Sunnova Energy got a $3 billion loan guarantee, and is also on the verge of bankruptcy. Plug Power, another recipient of a $1.6 billion loan guarantee, has announced layoffs. The Energy Dept's Inspector General already warned about massive potential fraud in this energy loan program.
Testanero had spotted her personal demon. Not a man. Not even a policy. A hat. Not just any hat. The hat. The MAGA cap -- poly-blend, unironically worn, clashing perfectly with her curated contempt.
Alberta -- a Murray Hill progressive, Fashion Institute of Technology pedigree, luxury-brand whisperer -- had spent a career aligning handbags with identity. But here, aboard the late-night 6 train, she found a brand she could not abide: a brown-skinned young man wearing that red lid. He smiled. She snarled.
Testanero convened a focus group of one. "If you f--king voted for Trump, you're a racist!" she hissed, jabbing the air like a malfunctioning metronome.
The man looked up, startled, bemused -- always a dangerous move when a brimstone preacher's mid-sermon. "How can I be racist?" he asked. "I'm highly educated."
"Oh, are you?" she snapped, narrowing her eyes through layers of couture indignation. "Then why are you wearing that hat? Only uneducated people wear that." Again with the demographics -- a true marketing maven.
And there it was. The salon style of the curated class: where intelligence is not earned, it's worn. Like linen in July -- light, loud, and always label-forward.
But the crowd had turned. Straphangers bristled. One muttered, "That's why he won -- people like you." Alberta, undeterred, followed her prey off the train at 28th Street, hurling invective like confetti at a canceled pride parade. And then, in perfect dramatic symmetry, she lunged -- grasping for the hat like it was the last vote in Pennsylvania -- and went down hard.
Face-plant extraordinaire. Not a moment you want to remember, but....
The internet rejoiced. Five million views and counting. A user on X wrote the epitaph:
"A white liberal calls a brown Republican racist... then eats concrete. 2025, folks."
This wasn't politics -- it was performance art gone tragically slapstick. Alberta, whose LinkedIn brags of "maintaining the highest standards," modest to a fault, never even hinted thst she was talking about the broad jump. Thus proving there is no poseur that cannot be felled by a full-speed, late-night hat snatch.
Better days: Alberta Testanero, 55, an "agitated" creative director
Testanero's no stranger to edgy. A former colleague told The Post she'd gone "off the deep end" politically -- once a friend, now an "extremely liberal, very agitated" foe who'd spar with Republicans and brand them "racist" at the drop of a dime. "Nothing's changed," the coworker sighed, "except now she's extreme -- doing things like this."
As they say, she seems nice.
Kaizen D. Asiedu
@thatsKAIZEN
Something is seriously sick with many liberals right now.
I was walking my dog in LA and my neighbor, a college professor, was disgruntled over Trump's changes to funding of scientific research.
I was curious as to why and asked.
She assumed I aligned with her worldview.
Within 30 seconds of conversation she called him a fascist and hoped he'd "choke on a hamburger".
I said "let's not wish death on anyone" and she responded "well, maybe he'll be rendered incontinent".
The number of liberals getting violent is small, but the number who casually condone violence and wish death upon others is large.
If you wish pain on a person because of a policy, you are in the wrong.
This should be obvious, but evidently it is not.
I first started noticing comments like this when Trump was nearly assassinated.
It's the second time in a week I've witnessed deranged behavior like this.
The first was when a neighbor stormed onto my property because he didn't like what he heard in a video I was recording.
It didn't used to be like this. I've lived in liberal areas my whole life. I identified as liberal until a year ago.
"Trans Visibility" is the political delusion that if you just force transgenderism into people's faces 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 52 weeks per year for every year from now until the end of time, people will be forced by exhaustion and social coercion into accepting it as normal and preferred.
This strategy is actually backfiring, as more people oppose transgenderism now than when it was less visible and omnipresent, but the cultists will not stop.
HBO's Girls creator, American Horror Story star, and longtime Breitbart fan girl, Lena Dunham railed against "horrific government abuses" at a trans visibility rally on Monday. "Trans liberation is our liberation," the actress proclaimed.
"We must help protect the civil rights of our trans friends and family," Dunham declared at the first "Transgender Day of Visibility" in Washington, D.C. during President Donald Trump's second term in office.
Dunham went on to talk about the importance of standing strong "in the face of such hatred and misunderstanding," amid what she believes to be "dangers and traumas trans people face today, and the hard truths about how trans people are valued by the current leadership of this country."
"When my sibling came out as trans, I learned that I had never actually had a sister at all, but a wise, funny, resilient, powerful, remarkable brother," the Once Upon a Time in Hollywood star continued.
She was in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood for five minutes, mostly as a background presence. She played a dirty smell barefoot hippie who was a member of Charles Manson's ultraviolent leftwing race-cult.
How did Tarrantino get the idea to cast her? What a genius.
"The experience of going through my brother's transition has been a profound gift to our family," Dunham declared. "We have laughed, we have cried, we have learned, and re-learned."
The Scandal actress added, "I have seen my parents grow into a new understanding of their child, and I re-met my sibling as the truest version of himself -- the person that he already was as a child before society sent him so many signals about what conformity meant, and he had to shut away these beautiful and essential aspects of who he is."
Dunham also railed against "the horrific abuses that the government is attempting to commit and the rights they're attempting to take away and already in the process of doing."
"Trans liberation is our liberation. And without it, none of us are free," Dunham asserted.
And these are people who believe the rhetoric coming from @TheDemocrats � if politically ignorance was only coded in the ICD -10 cm! pic.twitter.com/4lfQwUXDE5
One "Teen" Stabs Another Teen In the Heart With a Knife With No Provocation, Killing the Victim Within Minutes; Media Hides Murder Because the Killer is Black and Victim is White
—Ace
The killer is a gentle giant who hoped to be a rapper and just got accepted to CUNY.
The victim was probably a white supremacist who deserves to have been stabbed in the heart.
Benjamin Crump is en route to the jail where the gentle giant is being held and will be suing the family of the victim for causing the killer emotional harm by dying.
Sarah Fields
@SarahisCensored
17-year-old 4.0 student stabbed in the heart at a high school track event in Frisco, Texas, dies in his identical twin brother's arms.
Austin Metcalf was attacked after telling a teen from a different school that he was sitting in the wrong spot.
Karmelo Anthony has been been arrested and charged with first-degree murder.
Just days ago, Metcalf shared a post on X where he said, "Faith that God got me and my work will pay off."
Metcalf reportedly didn't know the teen who stabbed him.
"They were twins, identical twins, and his brother was holding on to him, trying to make it stop bleeding, and he died in his brother's arms," Jeff Metcalf, the father, said.
"I rushed up there and I saw him on the gurney and I could tell... they said he wasn't breathing. I could see all the blood, and I saw where the wound was, and I was very concerned, so I had to find his brother, and we rushed to the hospital."
Austin Metcalf had a 4.0 GPA and was the MVP of his football team.
He was getting ready to go to college. What a SENSELESS death.
If I told you that a young man stabbed another young man to death for telling him that he was in the wrong seat, and then I told you that one young man in this altercation was white and the other black, and then I asked you to guess the race of the assailant, every single person�
FCC Commissioner Brandon Carr: If Our Investigation Concludes That Disney Is Using Racial and Sex Discrimination In Its Hiring (Which It Definitely Is), We'll Yank ABC's Broadcast License
FCC Chair Brendan Carr has opened a formal investigation into Disney over allegations that its DEI-driven hiring practices at ABC may violate federal equal employment regulations. If proven, the infractions could put ABC's broadcast license at risk, Carr said Monday during a Fox News interview. The move comes amid the 47th President Donald Trump's broader crackdown on DEI programs across government and private institutions.
Key Details:
Carr said hiring decisions allegedly made based on race and gender "go to the character qualifications" required for FCC licensing.
The investigation is focused on whether ABC's parent company, Disney, used racial and gender quotas or "race-defined affinity groups" in employment decisions.
This probe follows a similar FCC investigation into Comcast, the parent company of NBCUniversal, launched last month.
Diving Deeper:
Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr on Monday signaled that ABC's broadcast license could be in jeopardy if an ongoing investigation confirms that the network, through its parent company Disney, violated federal law by using race and gender-based hiring practices.
Appearing on Fox News's The Story, Carr stated, "If the evidence does in fact play out and shows that they were engaged in race- and gender-based discrimination, that's a very serious issue at the FCC, that could fundamentally go to their character qualifications to even hold a license."
The investigation, which Carr initiated Friday, zeroes in on Disney's internal DEI framework and whether it conflicts with FCC's equal employment opportunity (EEO) regulations. Under these rules, broadcasters are prohibited from making employment decisions based on protected characteristics such as race and gender. "The evidence we have so far indicates potentially that Disney and ABC were making employment decisions based on race and gender," Carr said, referencing alleged quotas and "race-defined affinity groups."
...
Carr also hinted that Disney may have rebranded some DEI programs without altering the underlying policies. In his letter to the company, he noted that the FCC's enforcement division would follow up on whether such changes were superficial attempts to evade regulatory scrutiny.
The probe into Disney mirrors a similar investigation the FCC launched into Comcast just weeks ago, raising questions about how widespread such practices may be within legacy media corporations. Carr emphasized in letters to both companies that the FCC's role is to ensure broadcast license holders are not promoting "invidious forms of discrimination."
Speaking of doling out high-paying gigs to people based not on talent but on skin color:
This is a good place to sneak in an update on Snow Woke.
The son of the film's producer defended his father's reluctant efforts to stop Rachel Zegler from tanking the film with her constant divisive political sloganeering by saying, "Narcissism is not something to be coddled or encouraged."
Well, coincidentally, a fellow actress who appeared with her in the similarly-disastrous West Side Storyposted that same quote.
On Tuesday, Ariana DeBose, 34, posted a now-deleted Instagram post slamming her "West Side Story" co-star Rachel Zegler, 23 over the latter's "Snow White" controversy.
The original post that the "Hamilton" actress displayed on her Instagram was a quote saying, "Narcissism is not something to be coddled or encouraged."
After that initial post, DeBose said in a follow-up, "I post quotes all the time and thought this one was meaningful. Will fully cop to the fact I did not do any research on where this quote came from, nor did I know of the connection until it was pointed out to me."
LOL shyeah sure, you didn't know the quote was about your West Side Story co-star when you posted it.
The actress won an Oscar for her supporting role as Anita in Steven Spielberg's 2021 adaptation of "West Side Story." Zegler starred as Maria in that film.
"I have no intention of inserting myself into a news cycle," DeBose added in her follow-up post. "This is not the first time I've posted about dealing with narcissism and it probably won't be the last, but next time I'll be sure to clarify its origins first."
Uh-huh.
Check out who's a big fan of Rachel Zegler: Hollywood's current favorite low-talent leftwing agitator Pedro Pascal.
...
On Sunday, Pedro Pascal, 49, posted a photo of Zegler on his Instagram Stories, tagging her and adding the caption, "icon." Meanwhile, John Lennon's son, Sean, slammed Zegler as a "brat."
I can't wait until Fantastic Four bombs so that Hollywood stops casting this flabby dadbod acne-scarred dead-eyed Charisma Vacuum in every damn movie.
How Do "Civil Servants" and "Non-Profit" Personnel Become So Insanely Rich? Simple, They're Just Stealing Public Money and Calling Themselves Heroes for It
—Ace
This goes on in every single NGO. Leftist government functionaries send billions of dollars to their leftist pals who run these embezzlement factories, knowing that when they exit government they will get put on the board of an NGO and get paid off themselves.
Minnesota food bank CEO steps down as legislators question her $721K salary
Second Harvest Heartland defended its executive compensation and financial stewardship, but some legislators are concerned by the "out of control" salaries at nonprofits requesting public dollars.
Minnesota's hunger crisis is growing--and apparently so is the appetite for big executive pay at one of the state's top food nonprofits.
"Nonprofit" just means that none of the money will go to shareholders. It will all be poured into the bank accounts of the principals running the "nonprofit."
Allison O'Toole, CEO of Second Harvest Heartland, earned $721,000 in total compensation in 2022--even as the nonprofit has lobbied for taxpayer funding and warned of rising hunger across Minnesota, where 26% of households with children are food insecure, according to its own research.
Now, as O'Toole steps down after six years at the helm, lawmakers are raising questions.
Now? Oh right, this is Communist-Held Minnesota, which, let's face it, we should just make officially part of Canada already.
Rep. Pam Altendorf, R-Red Wing, told Alpha News that O'Toole's salary issue first surfaced during a recent "food day" at the Capitol, when food shelf representatives, including O'Toole, testified before the House Children and Families Committee.
"Rep. Bjorn Olson pulled the 990 [tax form] and shared Allison O'Toole's salary with our committee members right before she testified," Altendorf said. "That's when the questions started."
Rep. Marion Rarick, R-Maple Lake, later raised the issue during a March 17 House committee hearing where a DFL lawmaker questioned why a GOP bill was reducing funding for Second Harvest Heartland in a proposed agriculture budget.
"It looks like the base funding for Second Harvest Heartland is $3.4 million and you reduce it by $900,000 in both the first biennium and the tails," said Rep. Zack Stephenson, DFL-Coon Rapids.
But Rarick said she thinks the organization "can handle it."
"They do have a $260 million, that's their gross revenue," she said during the hearing. "What's even more interesting, I think, is that their CEO, their top person, makes $721,000. Yeah, $721,000 is the top person ... and they have 10 people that make more than the governor, which is more than $150,000. So that's well over $2.6 million in their highest-paid people."
About a week after the salary figures were brought up at the committee hearing, Second Harvest announced O'Toole's resignation.
...
Altendorf also pointed to what she sees as a deeper issue. She says the nonprofit hired a "voter engagement coordinator" in 2024 to conduct get-out-the-vote efforts--something she calls "a huge conflict of interest" for an organization receiving taxpayer dollars.
"The public is waking up to the money funneling system happening within the Minnesota state government," Altendorf said. "And I'm hearing loud and clear--taxpayers have had enough."
The Trump administration's efforts to dramatically reduce the size of the federal workforce appear on pace to surpass the record workforce reductions under the Clinton administration. The rapid-fire restructuring of major federal agencies, mass terminations, buyouts, and resignations, however, could see him achieve in mere months more than Clinton did in eight years.
During the 1990s, President Bill Clinton reduced the size of the federal civilian workforce from roughly 2.2 million to 1.8 million, largely through federal buyouts. Upper estimates put the figure at 426,200 federal jobs eliminated. That reduction stands as the largest cut to the federal headcount since World War II.
Civilian workforce figures exclude military personnel and United States Postal Service (USPS) and most totals refer to executive branch employees, who make up the lion's share of the federal payroll. Those employees are also the administration's top priority for cuts as the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) under Elon Musk works to axe trillions in spending from the budget.
Early in this second Trump administration, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) coordinated a large-scale federal buyout, offering employees the option of resigning to secure pay through Sept. 30.
The administration said that about 75,000 employees took the offer, accounting for roughly 3% of the 2.3 million federal civilian employees. Trump had hoped for as many as 5%-10% to take the deal and several major agencies have begun to offer a second round of buyouts, hoping that the ongoing terminations will make employees less hesitant to accept.
...
Trump will still need to reduce the headcount by roughly 200,000 to break the Clinton record. Assessing the exact figure of firings under Trump thus far is difficult, in no small part due to the intervention of judges who have delayed or ordered the reversal of some.
March's Jobs Report crushed expectations, which was good news in and of itself BUT when you look at the report by the numbers, it's even better. Remember during the Biden years how they'd make a big deal about how many jobs they added and then we'd find out a couple of weeks later it was wrong or that the numbers added were government jobs?
Yeah.
That is not the case now under Trump.
Take a look:
Rapid Response 47
@RapidResponse47
JOBS REPORT by the numbers:
- 228,000 jobs added, beating expectations by 88,000.
- 459,000 increase in full time workers.
- 209,000 increase in private employment.
- 13,000 increase in construction jobs.
- 22,900 increase in transportation & warehousing jobs.
- 23,700 increase in retail trade jobs.
- 232,000 increase in the labor force.
- 4,000 decline in federal government jobs.
CBS Poll: Nearly 6 in 10 Americans Support Trump's Mass Deportations
A majority of Americans support President Donald Trump's mass deportation program, a new poll from CBS News finds.
About 58 percent of American adults told CBS pollsters that they approve of Trump's program to "find and deport immigrants who are in the United States illegally," while 42 percent said they disapprove.
Most significantly, 56 percent of swing voters support Trump's deportation program, as well as 93 percent of Republicans. Likewise, majorities of white non-college-educated Americans, 69 percent, and white college-educated Americans, 56 percent, support the deportations.
Hispanic Americans are a bit more split on the issue, with 47 percent approving of Trump's deportations and 53 percent opposing.
Trump's immigration policies, poll after poll has found, remain largely popular with Americans.
The left is pushing what is essentially a push-poll that asks: Do you support Trump illegally and mistakenly sending law-abiding American citizens to El Salvadoran torture prisons?
This juiced question basically boils down to "Do you agree that bad deportations are bad?" and forces the answer that the left wants to claim indicates that Americans oppose the deportations.
For the next story, keep in mind that the media routinely scolds Americans that they're not allowed to have opinions on major political questions of the day because they're not "experts." Also note that media personnel usually have degrees in liberal arts and crafts subjects, or in "journalism," which is not a degree that confers any expertise in any subject matter "journalists" routinely offer their opinions about, suggesting that those opinions are expert and authoritative.
Meanwhile, Jake Tapper will scold you for saying that Kamala Harris sounds drunk or Biden is exhibiting the signs of senility, insisting that you cannot judge what drunk people sound like without a degree in neurology and organic chemistry, and you cannot spot someone slurring their words and losing their train of thought due to age-related dementia without advanced degrees in neurology and elder care.
So, NBC wanted an Authoritative Expert to trash Trump's reciprocal tariffs, and they found a... nurse to render her expert opinion on tariff policy,.
Her great-grandfather was behind the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act -- which many economic historians believe worsened the Great Depression. She thinks Trump's tariffs are "terrible."
Speaking of spotting intoxicated people, Kamala Harris has "finally" spoke out against Trump, and the media is giddy. This, they deem, is a "stunning" event, almost as stunning as the Fiercely Heterosexual (TM) Cory Booker standing on his feet and blabbing for twenty-four hours.
And Kamala sounds like she knocked back a few schnapps before speaking.
In my Non-Jake-Tapper-Certified Expert Opinion on detecting slurring.
BREAKING: In a stunning appearance , Kamala Harris just spoke out for the first time against Donald Trump in his second term. This is amazing. pic.twitter.com/kTf1CJKdQ5
— Democratic Wins Media (@DemocraticWins) April 4, 2025
The DNC, Chuck Schumer, and Hakeem Jeffries are suing Trump over his EO to block non-citizens from voting.
Trump Fires NSA Director, His Deputy, and Six Other NSA Staffers; Speculation Is That Laura Loomer Showed Trump Evidence That They Were Disloyal Biden Holdovers Undermining His Executive Authority
The director of the National Security Agency, Air Force Gen. Timothy Haugh, reportedly was fired Thursday from his post as the head of the agency.
Haugh's removal as director of the NSA, the nation's primary cyber espionage and electronic eavesdropping agency, comes on the same day at least three White House National Security Council staffers reportedly also were shown the door.
The ousted NSA director's civilian deputy, Wendy Noble, was also let go Thursday, according to the Washington Post, citing current and former US officials.
Noble was reassigned to a role within the Pentagon's Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence, according to the outlet.
The reason behind the NSA shakeup is unknown, the US officials told the outlet.
Haugh, who also serves as the Pentagon's Cyber Command chief, had led the NSA since February 2024.
...
Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), the ranking member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, slammed Haugh's dismissal.
The fact that Mark Warner and, as you'll see below, Martha Raddatz are protesting these firings is all the proof I need they are eminently justified and critical.
"General Haugh has served our country in uniform, with honor and distinction, for more than 30 years. At a time when the United States is facing unprecedented cyber threats, as the Salt Typhoon cyberattack from China has so clearly underscored, how does firing him make Americans any safer?" Warner wrote on X.
The senator also took aim at President Trump -- referencing reports that the firings of National Security Council staffers came shortly after he took a meeting with right-wing influencer Laura Loomer.
"It is astonishing that President Trump would fire the nonpartisan, experienced leader of the NSA while still failing to hold any member of his team accountable for leaking classified information on a commercial messaging app -- even as he apparently takes staffing direction on national security from a discredited conspiracy theorist in the Oval Office," Warner wrote in a separate post.
Loomer is a loon but crazy people do sometimes use their obsessiveness to dig up facts. Once again, the left is sputtering about who brought the information to Trump as a way to attack the information. Musk isn't firing people at DOGE; he brings the info to Trump, and Trump fires them.
But they fixate on Musk "not being elected."
Seems like the same jive here with Loomer. If Loomer brought Trump this information, it was still the duly elected-and-sworn president who read it and found it credible and took appropriate action.
As promised, crag-faced Baba Yaga and weepy Deep State nostalgist Martha Raddatz broke out her quaking Cry-Voice over the firings, which pretty much cinches it that they all leak to her.
These people demented space aliens. They have no conception of how actual humans think.
Real humans do not go to Museums of Bureaucracy.
I used to laugh at conspiracy theories about "the Reptilians."
Now I want to know more.
EPA Museum -- Yes, One Actually Existed -- Shuttered After Zeldin Calls Out Massive Funding, Lack of Visitors
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), under Administrator Lee Zeldin, has decided to close the National Environmental Museum and Education Center, a project launched during the Biden administration, Fox News reports.
Despite its mission to "highlight environmental achievements," the museum struggled to attract visitors leaving taxpayers with a hefty bill for a largely empty space. Even with free admission, relatively no one could find any desire to walk through the doors. Although the lack of visitors is likely not surprising anyone, the money being poured into the museum just might.
The museum, located at the EPA headquarters near the White House, opened in May 2024 with the goal of celebrating America's environmental progress. Former EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan envisioned it as a space to honor bipartisan efforts to protect public health and the environment. However, the museum saw fewer than 2,000 visitors in its first nine months, which some may call pathetic.
Taxpayers had invested $4 million to bring the museum up to Smithsonian standards, with an additional $600,000 per year required for upkeep. That worked out to about $315 per visitor--a price tag that Zeldin and his team argue cannot be justified.
According to Zeldin's EPA, the museum leaned heavily on themes like "environmental justice" and climate change, which critics argued felt more like partisan messaging than an inclusive celebration of environmental progress.
"Environomental justice" is just another gayop propaganda word for "using environmental funding and arguments to move money to Democrats' minority grifter NGOs."
Maintenance expenses included everything from artifact storage and landscaping to security and audiovisual upkeep.
Artifacts?
Like halogen-filled display cases showing EPA regulations?
Pro-Tip: If nothing in your museum is worth Nick Cage's time to steal it, it's not a real museum.
According to Fox News, "a breakdown of estimated annual costs to operate the museum, which was provided to Fox Digital, shows taxpayers were expected to foot the bill for an estimated: $123,766.29 in annual cleaning and landscaping costs, $37,899 for audio and visual maintenance, $54,292.99 in annual 'artifact storage' costs, $8,900 for 'Magnetometer maintenance,' $46,000 for X-ray maintenance, an estimated $123,000 in utility costs, and $207,326 in annual costs to fund two security guards for the museum during operating hours. The total annual operating costs totaled just more than $600,000."
X-ray machines and magnetometers are expensive security apparatuses. So they're spending millions to protect a fake museum from all its literal ones of visitors.
More spending on "artifact storage." Now, I don't want to be a conspiracy theorist, but I just googled it and it turns out that the $52,292.99 spent on "artifact storage" just happens to be what it costs for a large incubator for Reptilian Eggs.
Coincidence?
Serious, and possibly controversial question:
Remember when we all thought Obama was the worst president ever?
My apologies, but personal obligations prevented time for much content today. But here are a few quick shots:
There are some conservative legal minds I follow on Twitter, whom I greatly admire, and I am very impressed at their efforts to document all the legal machinations going on with the rogue federal judges and their extra-constitutional interference in the Executive Branch. Unfortunately, documenting this nonsense is like trying to be the scorekeeper in a game of Calvinball. The Trump administration is trying to play by judicial rules that are constantly in flux, and outside the enumerated powers of the Constitution.
I assume the day is coming when Donald Trump will let John Roberts know that the Chief Justice had a chance to sit on that zoo judiciary of his, but now it’s too late, and those rogue judges will just be ignored going forward.
In fact, President Biden already set the precedent that the President can boldly ignore judicial rulings, including from the Supreme Court itself. In Biden’s own words, “The Supreme Court blocked me from relieving student debt. But they didn’t stop me.” Democrats, the media, and the Washington establishment were uniformly ecstatic at Biden for ignoring the Supreme Court.
Thanks to Joe Biden, President Trump has the green light to ignore not only the rogue federal judges, but also SCOTUS itself, and no one has any standing to complain. They didn’t think the new rules would ever come back to haunt them.
The Supreme Court tried to block me from relieving student debt. But they didn’t stop me.
I’ve relieved student debt for over 5 million Americans. I’m going to keep going. pic.twitter.com/m1yh6lYGph
I stumbled upon this quote from Donald Kingsbury’s book “Courtship Rites.” It is a brilliant and concise corollary to Chesterton’s Gate.
Tradition is a set of solutions for which we have forgotten the problems. Throw away the solution and you get the problem back.
*****
Throckmorton’s First Law of Live Music: “If There’s an Upright Bass in the Band, It’s Probably Going to be Good”
Ace of Spades reader “Average Guy” sent me some links to a band named “Over the Rhine” whom I was not familiar with. There is so much that is good in this song, “Beyond the Recognition.” The slide guitar and piano really create a mood.
Good morning kids. And so the big story this morning are the reactions to and predictions about President Trump's "Liberation Day" tariff regime. While I am certainly no economics expert, I certainly know enough to recognize what the offshoring of quite a large chunk of our manufacturing sector overseas has done to our economy and society in general going back now to the 1960s. The regulatory and bureaucratic factors as well as big labor unions were certainly factors that led to industry seeking cheap sources of labor as well as cheaper overhead by moving overseas.
Yes the usual suspects in the propaganda press, the Dems and globalists and/or Trump averse Rinos on our own side of the aisle are raising a huge stink about it.
Economist Thomas Sowell suggested that President Donald Trump may be taking a “ruinous” approach to tariffs and international trade. Sowell commented on Trump’s trade policies during an interview on April 1, a day before Trump enacted sweeping tariffs on dozens of countries. The “Liberation Day” announcement, as the White House billed it, put in place a system of “reciprocity” on international trade where foreign countries are tariffed in accordance with the trade barriers they impose on the United States.
“It’s painful to see what a ruinous decision, from back in the 1920s, being repeated,” the 94-year-old Sowell said on an episode of “Uncommon Knowledge with Peter Robinson.” “Now, insofar as he’s using these tariffs to get various strategic things settled and that he is satisfied with that.”
. . . “If this is just a set of short-run ploys for various limited objectives limited in time. Fine, maybe,” Sowell granted. “But, if this is gonna be the policy for four long years, that you’re gonna try this, you’re gonna try that, you’re gonna try something else. A lot of people are gonna wait.” Sowell noted the recent dips in the stock market that have followed many of Trump’s announcements on tariffs and said that “people are holding on to their money before they do anything because they don’t know where this is gonna lead.”
As I alluded, when Thomas Sowell speaks, people who know and respect his great intellect, listen attentively. Sowell makes reference to FDR and how his mistakes which exacerbated the '29 crash are being repeated by Trump. Yeah, everyone and their uncle are now screaming "Smoot Hawley" but the '29 crash became the Depression primarily because of the failure of the New Deal. Which, in a way DOGE is attempting to address.
“[W]e built a sustainable economy, we did this thing, starting with Alexander Hamilton, where we said it’s really going to matter that we make things in the United States. … Yeah, we’re going to import stuff, we [were] never not going to buy stuff from abroad, but we were going to make sure that the internal American economy was healthy, could produce a lot, provided jobs…not just for people with graduate degrees, not just for somebody who is going to work on Wall Street, but for people with less education…so that means you need an industrial base. We built that economy…behind a very high tariff wall…it built America into an economic powerhouse.”
People seem to not know or have forgotten that nations to this day protect their workers and their economies via tariffs. Also, 200 years ago there was no Federal government and bureaucracy nor a Federal reserve to screw around with our economy and interfere with the way people do business. But of course it took almost 200 years to build that economic powerhouse as well as the concomitant attitude of the people via the American work ethic, and the freedom to pursue one's dreams as well as to fail repeatedly before succeeding.
And regardless of Liberation Day, we're not going to suddenly become the great industrial powerhouse we once were overnight. It's going to take time. Sadly the one key element that is missing is anything even resembling a scintilla of national unity that we had at the time of Pearl Harbor that allowed American industry to kick into overdrive and finally get us out of the Great Depression that the New Deal created.
Now, is Trump correct in his assessment of the fundamental trade unfairness/imbalance that has been hammering us for decades? Absolutely. While the propagandists are shrieking about the Dow Jones tumbling, remember this creates an opportunity for investors to pick up stocks at bargain prices, if they are willing to hold onto them for the long term.
Moving beyond tariffs, here's an oldie but a goodie, how about significantly lowering taxes or exempting taxes altogether for an extended period of time in the interest of enticing manufacturers to either build new factories and re-shore jobs and manufacturing back to the States? That and cut the regulatory regime of the federal bureaucracy so investors and enterprises can compete and, here's a radical idea, actually make a profit.
Critics claim President Trump’s reciprocal—‘kind’—tariffs will destroy jobs. This could not be further from the truth. In reality, President Trump’s tariffs have the potential to create 15 million new jobs. Many of these jobs will be high-paying manufacturing jobs, jobs with employee benefits—the very sort of jobs that were lost over the last 50 years to offshoring and the “race to the bottom.” How?
Reciprocal tariffs are an olive branch. If foreign countries come to the table and lower their own tariffs, then Americans will benefit from freer—and most importantly, fair—trade. This will open up new markets potentially worth trillions of dollars to American businesses.
If not, then tariffs will level the playing field and protect American workers from foreign labor—who often work in slave-like conditions for next to nothing. This will reshore America’s factories, creating millions of jobs in the process. . .
. . . To begin with, we need to remember that America is not an economy. We are a nation bounded by blood and tradition. The Constitution does not give anyone a right to buy “cheap goods” from China or Bangladesh. The President is obligated to do what is in America’s best interests—even if this prevents liberals from buying imported European cars.
In 2024, America exported $3.19 trillion worth of goods and services. This is in spite of the fact that most of our trade partners impose massive tariffs—as well as other non-monetary barriers to entry such as Byzantine regulations—on American goods. This goes to show just how efficient and competitive America’s industries are. Nevertheless, the playing field is not level.
Let us assume that trading partners see the error of their ways and reduce their tariffs to reciprocal levels. This will allow American businesses to compete on even terms and will open foreign markets for American businesses like never before. If we assume that a 1% reduction in net tariffs results in a 1% increase in trade—which is a reasonable assumption based on current economic models—then America’s exports would increase by $1.6 trillion, bringing total exports up to $4.8 trillion.
Increasing America’s exports would create millions of good-paying jobs. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that every billion of GDP supports between 5,000 and 5,500 jobs. Based on this, these increased exports would support some 8.4 million new jobs. If we assume that only half of our trade partners play ball, we are still looking at over 4 million new jobs.
Elsewhere on the economic front, there is actual broad support for what Trump is trying to do, some of it bipartisan in nature, and unemployment filings plunged in March signaling a robust labor market, this with the full knowledge that Liberation Day was on the horizon. So, we shall certainly see.
Trump’s "Liberation Day" tariffs aim to create millions of U.S. jobs by reshoring factories and pressuring trade partners to lower barriers, prioritizing national strength over cheap imports. How Trump’s Reciprocal Tariffs Can Create 15 Million Jobs
If Trump’s approach works better than all those trade deals at bringing down other nations’ tariffs, who can complain? Certainly not free traders. If Trump’s Tariffs Work, It Will Be Epic
One of the things President Trump is predicating his tariff war upon is the idea that trade deficits are inherently bad. . . In reality, I think the Trump administration is likely to try and leverage headlines out of various foreign nations suggesting they’re going to invest in America to the tune of some billions of dollars before lowering the tariff rates again. I do have faith that President Trump actually responds to headlines and to the news. He lives in the world of reality and won’t simply ignore that the markets hate all of this. Liberation Day. What’s The Plan?
“NKE was last seen 11.3% lower at $57.62, as investors digest the long-term impact of rising supply chain costs on the company’s margins,” Schaeffer’s Investment Research reports. “The stock is set to snap a three-day win streak, extending its late-March post-earnings bear gap and hitting its lowest level since November 2017. Nike stock now carries a 23.5% year-to-date deficit.” Nike Stock Plunges as Low-Wage Factories in China, Vietnam, Indonesia Face Trump’s Tariffs
Antoni insisted, “Trump is being attacked for being anti-free trade or for starting a trade war, but the opposite is true. For most of the last half century, the global economy has become entrenched in a pseudo-free trade that artificially disadvantages American exporters.” He added, “In this sense, other nations declared a trade war on America decades ago, and our leaders never fought back.“ Trump’s reciprocal tariffs are meant to pressure other nations that do, in fact, rely on American trade and American consumers “to reduce their trade barriers and end a trade war that already exists.” Economist: Trump Isn’t Starting a Trade War; He’s Fighting to Win the Decades-Long War
President Donald J. Trump’s move to protect American businesses and workers from unfair trade has received widespread approval from various sectors, reflecting a significant shift in policy-making. Democratic Representative Jared Golden expressed his support, hailing the President’s tariff agenda as a necessary move to address economic challenges posed by globalization. Golden said President Trump’s tariffs align with proposals in the BUILT USA Act, underscoring the urgency of tackling trade imbalances and protecting American jobs. Support Swells for Trump’s America First Trade Strategy.
From the letter: “Under the directive, covered businesses must adhere to a set of ESG-focused compliance measures, many of which are aligned with political and ideological objectives that have not been approved by U.S. lawmakers. … Not only will many large U.S. businesses be forced under the CSDDD to adjust their internal operations to comply with these mandates, but they will also be required to ensure that their suppliers and business partners—no matter where they are based or the size of their operations—adhere to many of the same restrictive ESG standards.” Free-Market Coalition Urges Trump Administration, Congress to Counter Economically Ruinous European Union Law
“[W]e built a sustainable economy, we did this thing, starting with Alexander Hamilton, where we said it’s really going to matter that we make things in the United States. … Yeah, we’re going to import stuff, we [were] never not going to buy stuff from abroad, but we were going to make sure that the internal American economy was healthy, could produce a lot, provided jobs…not just for people with graduate degrees, not just for somebody who is going to work on Wall Street, but for people with less education…so that means you need an industrial base. We built that economy…behind a very high tariff wall…it built America into an economic powerhouse.” America Became an Economic Powerhouse Behind a Big Tariff Wall
The American labor market continues to defy skeptics and remain robust and stable despite market analysts predicting sizable layoffs across industries. Data released by the United States Department of Labor on Thursday shows that the number of initial claims for unemployment benefits fell last week, defying analysis forecasts that expected claims to rise. The filing for jobless benefits dipped by 6,000 to a total of 219,000 for the last week of March, coming in below forecasts, which predicted 226,000 new claims.The four-week moving average for claims, which provides a more stable view by minimizing the volatility of weekly reports, showed a decrease of 1,250, bringing the average to 223,000. While this suggests the labor market continues to remain strong, the number of individuals receiving unemployment benefits did increase by a small amount. For the week ending March 22, the total rose by 56,000, reaching 1.9 million. Number of Americans Filing for Unemployment Benefits Drops Again, Signaling Robust Labor Market Under Trump.
The Senate advanced a budget blueprint, including a permanent extension of the expiring 2017 Trump Tax Cuts, during a vote of 52 to 48 Thursday. GOP lawmakers have said that failure to extend the tax cuts would lead to roughly a $4 trillion tax increase on Americans’ pocketbooks in 2026. Senate GOP Poised To Deliver On Permanent Tax Relief In Trump-Backed Bill
The 25-hour speechifying New Jersey senator would rather no one dig up the horrific event that occurred on his watch as Newark’s newly elected mayor. Cory Booker and an MS-13 Massacre
“Under the leadership of President Trump and Secretary Noem, the administration has taken bold, decisive action to restore control at the border. Border Patrol agents are empowered like never before to shut down unlawful entry and protect American lives,” said Acting Commissioner Pete Flores in a written statement on April 1. “The message is clear: the border is closed to illegal crossings, and for those still willing to test our resolve, know this — you will be prosecuted, and you will be deported.” TRUMP EFFECT CONTINUES: March Border Apprehensions Fall to Historic Low Level — Down 95 Percent from Last Year
“You may very well disagree with the enforcement of our federal immigration laws, but it is inappropriate to suggest to the public that federal officers can be criminally prosecuted by your office or any other state or local prosecutor’s office for performing their official duties.” Boston DA Threatened With Felony Charges After Finding ICE Agent in Contempt
ISRAEL vs IRAN & GAZA/HAMAS . . . AND Democrats
Sanders has been one of the most vocal opponents of the Israeli government in Congress. Though he acknowledged the horror of the Hamas terror attack on October 7, 2023, and said Israel should be able to defend itself, he has also pushed for an arms embargo that would prevent Israel from doing so. Anti-Israel Bloc in Senate Declines from 19 to 15 as Sanders Arms Embargo Fails
Daniel Greenfield: Scratch a journalist, find a terrorist. Al Jazeera is Hamas
* * * * *
Robert Zimmerman: "Alverque is however merely another symptom of the mad hatred that now permeates the left and supporters of the American Democrat Party. Facts or rational ideas no longer matter. They hate Trump. They hate Musk. They hate Republicans. And if you oppose their allies, such as Hamas, they hate you too." Hamas and American leftists: both driven solely by mindless hate
Douglas Murray: And, as Khalil and his friends have made clear, Israel is only the first country in their sights. But it is by no means the last. These groups hate America more than anything. That is why they use this country, abuse this country, spit on this country, say they want to destroy this country and burn the American flag at any opportunity they get. This is a civilizational moment. And I believe Israel shows how we can win it. How did young people go so wrong they cheer killers and rapists of Hamas?
In February, Trump’s Education Department warned 60 institutions, including Brown University, that it would take action if they “do not fulfill their obligations under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act to protect Jewish students on campus.” Due to a previous federal civil rights investigation into the school, Brown is “currently subject to ongoing monitoring,” following an earlier agreement with the Department of Education. EXCLUSIVE: Trump Admin Freezes Hundreds Of Millions Of Dollars To Another Ivy League School
CIVIL WAR 2.0: J-6 FBI FALSE FLAG "RIOT" & AFTERMATH, LEFTIST PERSECUTIONS, DEMOCRAT PUTSCH, AMERICAN DISSOLUTION
“This decision has been made out of an abundance of caution and to ensure the safety of all within proximity to public demonstrations planned near the White House on Saturday, April 5, 2025,” the White House said, advising that the Saturday tours will be rescheduled to Sunday. . . The rescheduling of the garden tours could impact thousands of tourists who had tickets for tours scheduled on Saturday. Meanwhile, the mass demonstration is notable as it will be the first large-scale protest against Trump since he returned to the White House. Far-Left Demonstration Forces White House to Reschedule Staturday’s Spring Garden Tours.
During a committee meeting on Wednesday, she revealed, without even the slightest sense of shame, that she got her first legal job solely because of her race, not her experience or ability. I Can't Believe Jasmine Crockett Admitted This
“He probably didn’t even make the decision,” Dershowitz said about how the payments to former Trump attorney Michael Cohen were described. “The decision was made by some underling to simply list it as [a] legal expense. He didn’t deduct it. He just listed it. I think there was a chart, a fall-down thing where you can pick one or two [or] three or four, and one of them was legal experts. It was checked. It’s not a crime. That’s just not a crime. Again, Thomas Jefferson [said] for something to be a crime [that] the statute has to be so clear that a reasonable person could understand it if he reads it, while running.” Dershowitz Predicts Supreme Court ‘Liberals’ Will ‘Go Along’ With Halting Lawfare Against Trump
FIRST AMENDMENT ISSUES, CENSORSHIP, FAKE NEWS, MEDIA, BIG BROTHER TECH
A number of Big Tech giants are intensifying their efforts to acquire the social media app TikTok as the deadline for its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to divest itself from the company or face its banning in the United States looms. While Oracle has long been considered the most likely serious buyer to acquire TikTok, the multinational software company may now face significant competition, with Amazon showing interest in purchasing the app. President Donald J. Trump has mandated that TikTok must be sold to a non-Chinese company by April 5, or the app will be banned from being downloaded in the United States due to national security concerns. Amazon Enters TikTok Acquisition Fray as Sale Deadline Nears.
The Chinese government is calling the shots, as it does when you’re dealing with China Inc. You have to convince the apparatchiks there to give up control — but not total ownership rights — to a majority-owned US investor group. President Xi & Co., have refused to sell TikTok’s key component, its algorithm that keeps people glued to the app by supplying an endless stream of videos based on user preferences. Why Trump isn’t keen on Amazon being involved in US’ TikTok deal
RED-GREENS, CLIMATE CHANGE HOAX, DEMOCRAT-LEFT WAR ON FOSSIL FUELS,
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) is hammering Republicans in the state legislature over their embrace of the latest green agenda policy scam that purports to reduce the impact carbon emissions have on climate change. While DeSantis works to push his plan to eliminate Florida’s sales tax, he contends the Republican legislative supermajority is wasting time and political capital on creating a far-left state task force charged with developing a framework to implement a carbon sequestration program in the state. RINO Lawmakers in Florida Are Using Their Supermajority to Impose the Latest Green Agenda Scam.
In a slobbering Vanity Fair profile lauding Stanley’s brave and stunning decision to run away from what he characterizes as an existential threat to his own country in order to secure another lucrative, cushy teaching position in another First World country where he can continue his self-aggrandizing sophistry about fascism or whatever for money and clout, the distinguished professor repeatedly likened Trump to — you’ll be shocked to learn — Hitler. Yale ‘Fascism Professor’ Flees Country to Escape Trump’s Fourth Reich
Republican Utah Sen. Mike Lee’s Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act would mandate proof of citizenship during the voter registration process. Schumer threatened to filibuster the bill Wednesday evening if Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune were to bring it to the floor despite previously voting to eliminate the Senate procedural rule requiring 60 votes to advance most legislation. (RELATED: Georgia Democrats Walk Out In Support Of Taxpayer-Funded Sex Changes For Inmates) Chuck Schumer Threatens To Use Tactic Democrats Once Called ‘Jim Crow Relic’ To Block Bill Securing American Elections
In the lawsuit, attorneys general from 19 states called to block provisions of Trump’s executive order, alleging the president is attempting to “seize control of elections” in an unconstitutional manner. The lawsuit was filed by Arizona, California, Connecticut, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin. Guess How Many Democratic Party State AGs Are Now Fighting Trump’s Executive Order To Stop Voter Fraud
DEMOCRAT/LEFTIST AND RINO SCANDALS, MESHUGAS, CHUTZPOCRISY
Victor Davis Hanson: A Ukraine-Russia ceasefire looms, with Trump pushing deals, Zelenskyy negotiating leverage, and Putin weighing risks—while the West quietly concedes it never had a real plan to win. All the Ukrainian Known Knowns
President Donald J. Trump has extended an invitation to El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele for a visit to the White House. The April 14 invitation was outlined in a letter, which Bukele shared on the social media platform X.The invitation acknowledges Bukele’s participation in U.S. initiatives to combat illegal immigration. It also highlights his administration’s use of the newly built prison facilities for housing criminals from notorious gangs such as Tren de Aragua. Trump praised Bukele’s handling of these security matters as a model of leadership.“Yo text
Activist Laura Loomer visited the Oval Office on Wednesday and presented Trump with research she had on staffers, pushing him to fire them, Axios first reported, citing a U.S. official. A day later, Trump fired several staffers from his National Security Council, according to Axios. The outlet could not confirm whether the firings were tied to the meeting. One of CNN’s three sources said the firings were a direct consequence of Trump’s conversation with Loomer. (RELATED: Trump Admin Intel Officials Say No Classified Information Was Leaked In Signal Messages) Trump Reportedly Fires Several Staffers From National Security Council
The American Cancer Society states that your risk of developing a brain tumor at all during your lifetime is less than 1%. According to Healthline, your risk of developing a brain tumor is low, though the risk increases as you age. 80% of primary brain tumors are diagnosed in people over the age of 40, with 61 years old being the average age to receive such a diagnosis. . . A nurse, who wishes to remain anonymous, from the hospital's maternity ward claims that she, along with at least nine other nurses who also work or have worked in the same ward on the fifth floor over the last few years have all been diagnosed with brain tumors. Most are reportedly benign, but she claims some are cancerous. (I should point out that others are reporting that the number might be greater than 10 nurses, as well as the fact that some of the group have developed other health concerns beyond the brain tumors.) Why Do 10 Nurses at the Same Hospital Have Brain Tumors?
From May 1940 to November 1944, about 30,000 people, including disabled individuals, mental patients, prisoners, and laborers, were killed in gas chambers at Hartheim Castle and burned. (May their memories be for a blessing - jjs) Mass grave of Nazi victims found at Hartheim Castle in Austria
ALSO: The Morning Report is cross-posted at CutJibNewsletter.com if you want to continue the conversation all day.
Oracle staff informed some clients this week that the attacker gained access to usernames, passkeys and encrypted passwords, according to the people, who spoke on condition that they not be identified because they're not authorized to discuss the matter.
Note that this is the same company that very recently proclaimed:
There has been no breach of Oracle Cloud. The published credentials are not for the Oracle Cloud. No Oracle Cloud customers experienced a breach or lost any data.
Basically, the data that was stolen in the breach that Oracle so strenuously denied ever happened is real, but old, and likely useless.
Speaking of Oracle, in MySQL 8.0.17 and later you can create multi-valued indexes on JSON arrays if - and this is important - all the indexed data is in the form of unsigned integers.
This index is automatically used for comparisons like MEMBER OF and JSON_CONTAINS if... Something. I don't know what, because in my case it can't see the index at all and the end result is somehow slower than before I did all that.
? [1/9] I recently had a passionate debate with a German friend about whether Islam lies at the root of the dysfunction in Islamic societies and whether it can be reformed. Like many of my privileged Western liberal friends, his understanding of the Islamic world seems to rest… pic.twitter.com/19I1WEWfPv
Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett has become a sort of enigma among avid Supreme Court observers.
After filling the vacancy left by deceased Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in late 2020, many conservatives were hopeful that the former clerk to Justice Antonin Scalia would offer a much-needed dose of originalism to the high court’s majority of Republican appointees. With Barrett joining Associate Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and (on his good days) Neil Gorsuch, the prospects for decisions abiding by the Constitution as written would be far more likely, or so the conventional thinking went.
To her credit, Barrett has shown the potential do just that. During her time as a justice, the former Notre Dame law professor has been instrumental in overturning Roe v. Wade and Chevron deference, upholding certain religious liberty protections, and several other high-profile matters that have come before the high court in recent years.
However, what continues to stump constitutionalists and Barrett hopefuls alike is the associate justice’s abject failure to consistently apply originalist doctrine in her rulings.
Safety in rural areas. Our dream is to buy a farm and live peacefully, but where I live, it's so dangerous it's unreal. When I see movies or programs about people living on ranches or farms in some town in the US, it looks amazing. We could never.
And of course, they didn't forget the important stuff:
My country never would have thought of replacing the bread in a KFC chicken sandwich with TWO PIECES OF CHICKEN. Genius. Keep 'em coming.
USA! USA! USA!
Say Dave, How Drunk Have You Seen People Get On The ONT?
Students are not absolutely illiterate in the sense of being unable to sound out any words whatsoever. Reading bores them, though. They are impatient to get through whatever burden of reading they have to, and move their eyes over the words just to get it done. They’re like me clicking through a mandatory online HR training. Students get exam questions wrong simply because they didn't even take the time to read the question properly. Reading anything more than a menu is a chore and to be avoided.
They also lie about it. I wrote the textbook for a course I regularly teach. It’s a fairly popular textbook, so I’m assuming it is not terribly written. I did everything I could to make the writing lively and packed with my most engaging examples. The majority of students don’t read it. Oh, they will come to my office hours (occasionally) because they are bombing the course, and tell me that they have been doing the reading, but it’s obvious they are lying. The most charitable interpretation is that they looked at some of the words, didn’t understand anything, pretended that counted as reading, and returned to looking at TikTok.
Has anyone seen any of those social media posts displaying things like eight grade exams from 100 years ago? Inevitably, the questions are more detailed and harder than many people get in college today. Here's an example.
For the first time, a team of Israeli archaeologists has uncovered ancient artifacts at northern Israel’s “Armageddon” site that might offer proof of an epic battle documented in the books of Kings II and Chronicles between a king of Judah and an Egyptian pharaoh.
Two academic papers published earlier this year explained how an unprecedented amount of 7th-century BCE Egyptian pottery was found in recent excavations at Megiddo, suggesting that Egyptian soldiers were indeed in the right biblical place at what could be the right biblical period.
“Megiddo is the only site in Israel and the neighboring countries mentioned in the Bible and in all great records of the Ancient Near East,” said Prof. Israel Finkelstein, head of the School of Archaeology and Maritime Cultures at the University of Haifa and long-time director of the Megiddo Expedition.
Weird how they keep finding 10,000 year old artifacts in Israel from the people who “colonized” the poor Palestinians. Very strange.
Perfect Your Racism!
Actually, this is a fun little website. It shows you two pictures, a male and a female, typical of different ethnic groups from around the world. You have to click on the map where you think they're from, and then it tells you how far off you were.
Google's terrible AI describes the smell of the durian fruit this way:
The durian fruit is notorious for its pungent, often described as "stinky" smell, which has led to its ban in public places in some areas, though many find the taste delicious.
Here's a more detailed look at the durian smell:
Descriptive comparisons:
The smell has been likened to a mix of rotten onions, turpentine, raw sewage, gym socks, stale vomit, skunk spray, and even pig excrement.
Trump's Department of Education Orders Schools to Certify That All DEI Programs Are Defunded, As a Precondition of Receiving Any Future Federal Funding
Because all of the leftwing school administrators are already lying, renaming DEI officers as just "Officers" while keeping them on the payroll (yes, the Air Force did that).
As a condition for receiving federal money, the Trump administration is ordering K-12 schools to certify that they are following federal civil rights laws and ending any discriminatory diversity, equity and inclusion practices.
A notice sent Thursday by the Education Department gives states and schools 10 days to sign and return the certification. It's the latest escalation against DEI policies, apparently giving the Republican administration a new lever for terminating federal money.
"Federal financial assistance is a privilege, not a right," Craig Trainor, acting assistant secretary for civil rights, said in a statement. He said many schools have flouted their legal obligations, "including by using DEI programs to discriminate against one group of Americans to favor another."
The certification asks state and school leaders to sign a "reminder of legal obligations" acknowledging their federal money is conditioned on compliance with federal civil rights laws. It also demands compliance with several pages of legal analysis written by the administration.
"The use of certain DEI practices can violate federal law," the administration wrote in the certification, adding that it is illegal for programs to advantage one race over another.
Schools and states that use illegal DEI practices can face a loss of federal money, including grants and contracts, and can be held liable under the False Claims Act, according to the certification. It specifically threatens Title I funding, which sends billions of dollars a year to America's schools and targets low-income areas.
That hints that maybe prosecution is in the offing for those who fraudulently sign the certifications while keeping renamed DEI policies and departments in place.
...
It follows a Feb. 14 memo declaring that any school policy that treats students or staff differently because of their race is illegal. It aimed to fight what the memo described as widespread discrimination in education, often against white and Asian American students.
It wouldn't be an AP "news" article without now giving the left, and only the left, the chance to attack the policy, with zero comment from anyone supporting the position that Racism Is Bad.
The certification letter drew blowback from critics who said it conflicts with Trump's promise to return education to schools and states.
"Is this what the Trump administration calls local control? You can't say you're giving control back to states and then dictate how they run their schools," said Keri Rodrigues, president of the National Parents Union.
And of course it wouldn't be an AP "News" article without giving Randi "Shutdown" Weingarten the last word, to let everyone know what they're supposed to think:
The union's president called the certification requirement illegal, saying federal law prohibits the White House from telling schools and colleges what to teach, and that federal money cannot be withheld without due process.
"He's wielding a cudgel of billions in federal aid to tens of millions of children, of all races and ethnicities, to force educators to kowtow to his politics and ideology," said Randi Weingarten, president of the AFT.
This system where we spend a lot of taxpayer money to subsidize "women's" sports but then allow random dudes to crybaby their way in has got to go.
A female fencer is speaking out after she was disqualified from a tournament in Maryland for taking a knee and refusing to compete against a transgender-identifying male opponent.
Stephanie Turner, 31, was black-carded and booted from a tournament this past weekend for refusing to compete against Redmond Sullivan, who is male and identifies as transgender. Sullivan formerly competed against males and was permitted by USA Fencing to compete in the women's tournament, the organization confirmed to The Daily Wire.
"I want to thank God for trusting me with this mission to fight for female exclusive sports and putting me in a place to effectively protest," Turner told The Daily Wire in a statement.
"I also want to add that I am grateful to the Independent Council on Women's Sports (ICONS) for their encouragement and support," she added. "They have helped me and so many other women who have been put in this unfair and confusing situation."
...
The transgender did what transgenders usually do when women refuse to support their delusions: He told her that he had the backing of a liberal member of the board of directors and threatened to use his power to squash her.
"Redmond says to me, 'Well you know, there is a member on the board of directors here who supports me, and there is a policy that acknowledges me as a woman, so I am allowed to fence, and you will get black-carded,' and I said, 'I know.'"
Sometimes backlash is unfortunate.
It's not in this case. The backlash is well-earned and justified.
Podcast: CBD is joined by journalist and film critic Christian Toto, and Jim Lakely of The Heartland Institute. We discuss Hollywood's contempt for its customers, in particular the catastrophe of Snow White, and whether its failure is a signal of a sea change in Hollywood.
Forgotten 80s Mystery Click: I Can't Believe It's Not Bryan Adams Edition
Well I saw you on the avenue
And as usual you're with someone new
I guess there's nothing left for me to do but turn away
I'm growing tired of all your alibis
There ain't one you can justify
I ain't gonna take it anymore and I'll tell you why
You know, I wrote "I Can't Believe It's Not Bryan Adams" and then realized, "Wait, this is so blatantly a Bryan Adams-style song this might actually be a genuine Bryan Adams song, let me look this up." In fact, yes, it's co-written by Bryan Adams and Jim Vallance. And I guess I would have realized that if I just watched the video, in which Bryan Adams plays guitar and contributes backing vocals.
Jason Statham's Working Man beat Snow Woke at the box office this weekend. The Chosen, a movie made up of three episodes of a show available on TV, almost beat Snow Woke too, cashing in $11 million over the weekend.
I't's time to let go. Actor Val Kilmer dies at 65. Doc Holiday in Tombstone was his ultimate role, but I'll always love his comedic turns in Top Secret! and Real Genius. RIP. [Weirddave]
Forgotten 80s Mystery Click I see the problem start
I watch the tension grow
I see you keeping it to yourself
And then instead of reaching conclusions
I see you reaching for something else
Podcast: CBD and J.J. Sefton babble on about the tempest in a teapot that is the Goldberg files, the economy, including tariffs, that is improving, deportations are lovely, Crockett2028, the deep state hanging on like leeches, and more!
I feel bad about this but I'm going to have to post about Rachel Zegler again...
Masih Alinejad "Where are @AOC, @IlhanMN, the left-wing activists who called me an Islamophobe, and the campus protesters chanting "I am Hamas"? The killers sent by the Islamic Republic to assassinate a woman on US soil were convicted in federal court, You're silent. Why?" [CBD]
