Hi Ho! Hi Ho! It's ONT We Go!

—WeirdDave

Greetings, Horde! Welcome to Thursday night. Say, anyone know what's going on in Florida?

They Want Us Dead

So, today on X a PHD student at George Mason University published the following manifesto on his substack:

When Must We Kill Them?

I do not wish for this essay to be a mere catalogue of outrages. The conduct of the present administration is as well known to you as it is to myself, and can be understood by any sensible person. On it, no further comment is ventured.

What remains for us to decide is when we fight. If the present administration wills it, it could sweep away the courts, it could sweep away democracy, and it could sweep away freedom. Protest is useful only insofar as it can effect action. Our words might sway the hearts of men, but not of beasts.

If the present administration chooses this course, then the questions of the day can be settled not with legislation, but with blood and iron. In short, we must decide when we must kill them. None of us wish for war, but if the present administration wishes to destroy the nation I would accept war rather than see it perish. I hope that you would choose the same.

There's more, but the grievances are imaginary leftist talking points. That doesn't really matter. What matters is that there is a real and growing movement on the left to normalize political violence. I am very much afraid that there is not much we can do to stop it at this point. GuerrillaLogistician has some thoughts:

Bleeding America

Just like in the past, our politicians and population decided the best way to fix the problems of our nations was to compromise.  Where in the past, Kansas was allowed by popular vote to either allow or prohibit slavery, we have done the same with ludicrous socialist agendas like DEI.  As many of you know, DEI is the modern way to separate the bourgeoisie and the proletariat to create the flames of revolution they want.  How do you compromise with people who are generally out to murder you over erroneous politics that don’t affect them as much as they think it does? Sure, you cannot believe me, you can feel that all of these little issues are dispersed over time and space enough that it’s just the media hyping up events because blood sells.  You aren’t entirely wrong, either. This happens all the time, and we have to be cautious of that, but there is a point of no return, and there’s a point where you need to start looking at how things are shaping up.

The two assassination attempts on Trump alone should have been a sign to everyone where this was going, then the car bombing in Vegas. With all this going on, what has happened is that the media downplays everything that doesn’t fit the narrative they are seeking to reinforce. They will do anything to mitigate the political differences that an ordinary person would see in these actions. The leftists and socialists out there will defend everyone they can who is politically aligned with them and will wholesale lie to achieve their goals. This does not mean that the conservatives have not done the same thing; however, they have been highly scrutinized since Trump has been in office. I think it is a good thing until you consider that both sides are not being treated equally.

Spend any time looking at the troubles of Northern Ireland. You’ll see that the Catholics and Protestants probably could have lived together and coexisted with minimal issues if the political machine hadn’t started to treat the Catholics differently from the Protestants. What ultimately happened was a conflict in Ireland that never should have occurred in the first place. So, can we compromise with an ideological group that doesn’t see reality like the general population? That said, most of the general population isn’t even looking at the issues and probably won’t until it affects them. The reality is, though, the problems continue to grow daily, city by city.

Now, I see folks on the right scoff at leftists like this little twink all the time, and one-on-one he's not much of a threat, the guy looks like he'd lose a fight with toast. But it won't be a one-on-one fight. It will be random attacks like the one on the congressional softball game. And it'll be bombs, the left loves their bombs. It's already started with Tesla dealerships. You say you're armed, and you can take any pinko punk who comes at you, and even if that's true, how are you going to defend against a Molotov cocktail tossed into the store you're in because the leftist propagandists made it the target of this week's two-minutes of hate for whatever reason? How do you defend your kids against an Antifa drive-by at their Catholic school because religion is bad, m-kay? How will you react when we're living through “the troubles” in Northern Ireland or Bosnia in the mid-90s? It's not going to be the Battle of Manassas. If the dam breaks, it's going to be way worse. It's worth thinking about.

Related: Reality Isn’t Nice. It’s a 2×4 to the Teeth.

RIP 4-Chan

No link, but 4-Chan was hacked and taken down this week, and it looks like it's not coming back. The software is a decade out of date, and a surprising number of the admin accounts had a .gov email address (Hmmm. Was it always a psyop?). In any event, they were always good fodder for ONT posts, and I find it hilarious that this may very well be the final post ever made on 4-Chan:

Heart Flight

This happened in 1986, but it's still a feel good story.

Honoring the F4 Hooligan's heart flight

His name is Andrew De La Pena, and he is now 32 years old. He was born in California, but has significant ties to North Dakota. At just 5 months old, Andrew was in desperate need of a heart transplant. Word came from Fargo through the Red Cross that a 4 month old had died from crib death....his heart had been resuscitated. This opened the door for a life saving organ donation for Andrew. The challenge was getting the heart to California within hours. It was a few days before Christmas. The Lehrjet parked at Hector International Airport in Fargo, that was supposed to take local doctors and the heart west, wouldn't start. That's when a desperate early morning call was made to then Governor George Sinner. Sixteen minutes after Governor Sinner was notified, a call went out to the North Dakota National Guard base in Fargo. An F-4 fighter jet with the North Dakota Air National Guard was scrambled. Brig. General Bob Becklund, who was a first lieutenant at the time and on duty, would be the pilot.

Fargo to San Fran in just over an hour and a half, all to save a life. That F-4 jockey was burning holes in the sky, God bless him.

Bibliophiles Unite!

Hundreds of Volunteers Form a Human Chain to Get 9,000 Books to New Location for Indie Bookstore

Serendipity Books and its owner Michelle Tuplin had a problem: it was moving day, and 9,100 books needed to be packed up and sorted in the new location. She faced the prospect of closing down for several days at least—never a good thing on the tight margins of a bookstore. Taking to social media and putting out a call for volunteers among her many followers and customers, Tuplin received an overwhelming response, as 300 people showed up to lend a hand. That’s when Tuplin came up with a novel idea: a human chain, or rather, two. “It was just a joyful experience,” Donna Zak, one of the volunteers, told NBC News. “We were passing the books and noticing and commenting to each other, ‘Oh, have you read this one? I really enjoyed this one!’” Fortunately for everyone involved, the new space was just 350 feet from the old one, and in just 2 hours, the entire collection had been moved and stocked—in alphabetical order no less.

Good for them.

Yuck!

Me: When I travel, first thing I do is find the local street food.

India: Challenge accepted

Me: Uhhh.... pic.twitter.com/VG5EQDw8d0

— Dave's Not Here (@Weirddave0) April 17, 2025

House Comes With Dungeon, A Real “Handyman's Special”

I discovered a ‘torture dungeon’ of hidden rooms and passageways under my house

“Found a network of tunnels and rooms under my house,” the gobsmacked fellow wrote in a viral Reddit post alongside screenshots of his spine-tingling find.

The photos depict stairs leading down into a basement, various dark passageways, and a maze-like area with multiple doorways.
Also shown are some very macabre-looking quarters, including a dingy, cell-like room with a grate on the floor and a shaft of light poking through the ceiling.
Another chamber features exposed piping and a single LED light illuminating the shambolic surroundings.
“The tunnels just keep going,” exclaimed the Redditor, who estimated there were five rooms in total, some of which featured running water while others had power.
The purpose of these subterranean chambers is unclear, but he pointed out that there were “many stained blankets, with perhaps blood.”

Looks like a basement to me, but Reddit never found anything it couldn't sensationalize.

Tonight's ONT has been brought to you by doggles:

Close it up

Husky Serenade Cafe

—Ace

by @BenStraussPhoto

A Japanese commercial for Mouse. I didn't know what "Mouse" was before the commercial and I don't know after, either.

A drone gets a little too close to the action (IG).

These homeless bum squatter bears are out of control (IG).

Forest firefighters dump water on to a blaze as a fan watches. (IG)

Jealous doggos (IG).

Cool looking magic trick, but the technique, as usual is dumb. (IG). This is why they say "never tell your magic secrets." It's because the secret is usually dumb.

FDC Willard, the world's greatest scientist who is also cat. (IG)

BTW, I know some of you don't like Instagram (IG) posts. I'm linking them, though, because it's hard to find good photos on Twitter now. Most searches for "photography" turn up videos and pictures of Japanese "models" and likely prostitutes. (Who are not hot -- so don't bother looking.)

So I go to Instagram to find photos, and wind up finding videos I don't want to waste, so I post them. It's hard to find photos on IG now, too, unfortunately.

Sure he's only benching an empty bar but you gotta admire the focus.

In Sweden, it's Moose Migration Season. Remember to set your clocks back, Mooses.

Four-year-old plays Beethoven.

Rescued lioness touches grass for first time.

Emotional support photo.

The family that bikes each other likes each other.

Double-O Seven Month Old.

The CIA's former head of disguise -- who is coincidentally married to the CIA agent who ran the "Argo" op -- always claims that the CIA have these "five-second disguises" you can just put on and fool people so long as they're not closely inspecting you. She claims these masks can fool a person even if he's "within three or four feet of you."

I kinda thought she was exaggerating, but I guess not. Some guy posted his own latex disguise on X, and dang, it's pretty convincing.

Second look at Mission: Impossible?

A tree so huge that people had to build supports for its massive limbs.

More, more!

Quick Hits

—Ace

Oh, no! Greedy corporations are going to make a "shoplifting desert" in Chicago!

Another BB story about senior astronaut Katy Perry.

Oh my: Shakedown artist Joe Biden is advertising his availability to give you a rambling incoherent speech for -- get this -- $300,000 a pop, but it turns out that oligarchs no longer so eager to pour money into his pockets.

It's not just Biden family artwork that's struggling to sell these days.

Former President Joe Biden's attempt to bill $300,000 per speaking appearance is finding few takers, The Post has learned -- as some of his own former aides say it's time for the 82-year-old to leave the spotlight for good after reminiscing about "colored kids" Tuesday in his first public address since leaving office.

A source familiar with Biden's faltering speaking career said that the 46th president's standard pitch is $300,000 -- 25% below Barack Obama's $400,000 asking price upon leaving office in 2017.

It's unclear how negotiable Biden's rate is.

If travel is required, a private jet and expenses for five staffers also is expected for Biden, who has been repped since leaving office by the Creative Artists Agency.

"CAA is having trouble booking gigs, which isn't surprising," the tipster said.

A second source said they had heard of people close to Biden floating an even higher desired speaking fee, despite the ex-commander in chief having a history of peddling glaring inaccuracies before his political career came to a crashing end when he delivered incoherent debate remarks that prompted a Democratic mutiny.

Biden's use of "colored" to refer to black people while speaking at a disability conference in Chicago earlier this week has some former aides hoping he will spend more time at his Rehoboth Beach house.

"This was hard to watch," said one former White House official. "It felt like seeing someone you care about start to regress. We just wanted him to enjoy retirement like other presidents -- not go out like this."

Boy, remember the old days, Joe? When you could just tell a country to fire a prosecutor investigating your son's influence-seeking business and they'd comply?

Trump commented on the Biden Presidency: "Worst administration in our country's history. Jimmy Carter died a happy man. You know why? Because he wasn't the worst president, Joe Biden was."

Rubio announces that he's shutting down the State Department's censorship program. If this sounds familiar, that's because he already shut it down, but the Deep State kept it going under a different name. (Stop me if you heard this one before.)

Now he's shutting it down under its new assumed name.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has announced the closure of a State Department effort that he accused of spending millions on censorship.

"I am announcing the closure of the State Department's Counter Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (R/FIMI), formerly known as the Global Engagement Center (GEC)," Rubio said in a statement issued on Wednesday.

"Under the previous administration, this office, which cost taxpayers more than $50 million per year, spent millions of dollars to actively silence and censor the voices of Americans they were supposed to be serving," Rubio asserted.

The GEC closed in December, according to an archived State Department website content that is still viewable online.

Rubio asserted in a piece published on The Federalist that the GEC had not actually ended, but was simply re-branded.

"When Republicans in Congress sunset GEC's funding at the end of last year, the Biden State Department simply slapped on a new name. The GEC became the Counter Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (R-FIMI) office, with the same roster of employees. With this new name, they hoped to survive the transition to the new administration," Rubio wrote. "Today, we are putting that to an end. Whatever name it goes by, GEC is dead. It will not return."

The Deep State is so corrupt that even its agencies have criminal aliases.

Ed Morrissey reports that a new Politico poll shows that some voters are getting tired of the Democrats' endless "resistance" to democratic choices made by the public.

Those voters? California Democrats.

In a dual survey of California voters and political professionals who are driving the state's agenda, the electorate is strikingly more likely to want a detente with the White House. Voters are also more divided on issues like immigration and climate change, where Gov. Gavin Newsom and Democratic state lawmakers have asserted progressive ambitions that rebuff the president's agenda.

A plurality of voters is skeptical of legal immigration, and less than half think the state should be able to set its own strict standards on vehicle emissions, an authority California has used for more than half a century.

The results suggest a disconnect between the policymaking class and voters in an overwhelmingly blue state where Trump made broad inroads in 2024 amid widespread frustrations over crime and a prohibitively high cost of living. Registered Democrats, however -- who comprise nearly half the electorate -- are more enthusiastic about progressive policies and more eager to challenge Trump's Washington.

The poll shows that even Democrats want moderation, not more extremism and election-denial.

Bernie and AOC understood the assignment, and the assignment was Grift 'em Until Their Eyes Spin.

Sen. Bernie Sanders has crisscrossed the country on his nationwide Fighting Oligarchy Tour to rail against billionaires and supposed "oligarchs" like Elon Musk--while traveling like an oligarch himself.

Campaign expenditures released Tuesday and reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon show Sanders's main campaign committee, Friends of Bernie Sanders, spent $221,723 chartering private jets during the first quarter of 2025, with the first payment coming just days before the launch of his tour in February.

"We will not accept a rigged economy where working people struggle while billionaires become richer," Sanders said during the tour's latest event in California on Tuesday. "We have got to create an economy that works for working people, not just Mr. Musk and the billionaire class." But Sanders has had no issue splurging on private jets far beyond the means of working people, even as he has ramped up his attacks on the rich.

The revelation is just the latest contrast between his socialist rhetoric and his millionaire lifestyle....

Contrast? His socialist rhetoric is how he earned his millionaire lifestyle!

The Vigilant Fox @VigilantFox

NEW: Scott Jennings torpedoes Democrat shill's entire MS-13 gang member defense--with one devastating question.

It didn't feel like a CNN panel.

It felt like a National Geographic nature documentary--where a predator stalks its prey, just waiting for that one fatal misstep.

Democrat strategist Julie Roginsky tried to defend deported MS-13 gang member Abrego Garcia.

Her argument? That he wasn't a gang member and he was "disappeared" without due process.

"There's due process that exists in this country for everybody," she said. "And the fact that this man received no due process--he was effectively disappeared to a foreign country, a country which he came from."

Then she slipped: "He got asylum--"

@ScottJenningsKY
pounced.

"That's not a foreign country. He lives there."

"Excuse me! No, he does not live there," Roginsky snapped.

"He's a citizen of El Salvador," Jennings replied.

"Excuse me! No, he does not live there!"

"He's a citizen. Does he have asylum?" Jennings pressed.

She backpedaled: "Excuse me! Let me finish. No, sorry. No, it's not that he got asylum. He got a judge to say that he could not be--"

Jennings closed in: "Does he have a deportation order?"

"Excuse me! He could not be--can you let me finish? He could not be rendered back to El Salvador," she said, "because he was at risk of being harmed in El Salvador."

Jennings went for the jugular:

"By who? By who?! By who? I'm asking you!"

"Who was he at risk of?"

Roginsky froze. "Who could he be at risk by? I don't know..."

Then came the kill shot:

"A rival gang. A RIVAL gang."

Jennings turned to the camera and grinned like a lion licking its chops after a fresh kill.

Argument over. Her narrative? Obliterated--by her own words.

Video here.

Mark Penn @Mark_Penn

Runaway Judge

Judge Boasberg reminds me of Merrick Garland -- well educated and intelligent and yet partisan to the core.

Boasberg did nothing when the rights of officials were being violated under FISA warrants that should not have been issued and gave a slap on the wrist to the FBI attorney who deliberately changed an email from the CIA that said Carter Page was a source they worked with and he deliberately added "NOT" to reverse the meaning and used the fake email to get a secret warrant to issue illegal wiretaps.

Now he is threatening criminal prosecutions of Trump officials and says he might even settup a special prosecutor under his own authority so he could become both prosecutor and judge.

The Supreme Court said his orders were null and void -- that they never should have been issued and that he had no jurisdiction. And now he says that even "erroneous" court orders must be followed. Really.

He has now gone overboard in his attempt to reassert his authority when he had none in the first place. So judges can make erroneous rulings, be completely overturned, and then keep going anyway? In this case, it's Boasberg who needs a restraining order on his now clearly partisan behavior here.

Kurt Schlichter @KurtSchlichter

"I am shocked, shocked I say, by the total lack of due process involving these undocumented immigrants!"

"You mean how there was no due process to allow them into the United States in the first place?"

"No, not that kind of due process. That kind of due process is bad. You know, the kind that protects Americans?"

Race-Murderer Karmello Anthony Is Given $500,000 In Donations for Killing an Innocent White Kid

—Ace

He's now renting a luxurious $900,000 home in a gated community.

Oh, so now he knows the meaning of people having their own reserved space.

The Texas teen accused of fatally stabbing a high school football star at a track meet allegedly lives in a $900,000 home with his family inside a luxurious gated community -- despite requesting that a judge lower his $1 million bond because of financial difficulties, according to a report.

Karmelo Anthony, 17, is holed up with his family at the pricey home inside the gated community of Richwoods in Frisco, Texas, after he was released from jail Monday on a reduced $250,000 bond for allegedly killing Austin Metcalf earlier this month, the Daily Mail reported.

The home -- where rent is estimated to be $3,500 a month -- had a white Suburban, a black Acura, and a third sedan in the driveway on Tuesday, according to the outlet.

A neighbor said the family had just bought a new ride.

"He got a new car," the resident told the outlet. "If you look at the license plate, it's got a paper tag and it says it expires June 4."

Richwoods is about a mile from Centennial High School, where Anthony went to school and ran track.

Residents in the gated community were allegedly unaware the family was living at the home until Anthony was released Monday, and have voiced concerns about having the accused killer in their exclusive neighborhood.

"Not good. Not good. I don't think he should be out," an anonymous mother in the neighborhood told the Daily Mail.

Don't say that to him or he'll stab you in the heart with a Mostly Peaceful Knife.

...

The home has also been getting flooded with deliveries, allegedly for Anthony, with Amazon trucks being seen making multiple drop-offs at his home, the outlet reported.

"The best thing they can do is move," said another neighbor. "I think that would be best for everyone."

...

Initially, he was being held on a $1 million bond until a Collin County judge slashed it to $250K and ruled that he may await trial at home with an ankle monitor under 24-hour supervision from his parents or an "adult designee."

The lowered bond came one week after Anthony's attorney said they would ask the court to reduce the "excessive" $1 million bond and asked the local district attorney to make "a better determination" of the charges.

"Given that Karmelo has no prior criminal history and given that this young man has not been in any sort of trouble before, $1 million is not necessary," Howard said.

Except that he's an admitted murderer. He admitted he killed the victim. And of course witnesses saw it.

He is a major flight risk, has a stack of cash thanks to his fellow Helter Skelter revolutionaries, and you only reduced this psycho killer's bail because he's black.

Two tiers of justice. It's not just for the UK.

"Journalist" Gayle King Thinks She's an Astronaut Now, Attacks Sexism for Denying Her Credit

—Ace

Some of you are probably tired of this story. I'm not. I'm just getting warmed up.

This energizes me.

But I do know this is now three days old so I'll only have this post up for 40 minutes before I post another one.

"Journalist" Gayle King is now also an "astronaut," the talentless, corrupt hanger-on now claims.

CBS host Gayle King responded to the backlash over the Blue Origin space flight on Tuesday and suggested the all-female crew was being held to a different standard than men who've been to space.

The journalist and talk show host was part of a historic flight on Monday that also carried Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos' fiancée, Lauren Sánchez; pop star Katy Perry; film producer Kerianne Flynn; NASA rocket scientist Aisha Bowe; and civil rights activist Amanda Nguyen.

Nothing says Scientific Flight like "civil rights activist" or "film producer" or "pop star" or "Jeff Bezos' Current Slam-Piece."

The rocket landed safely after roughly a 10-minute flight. The high-profile trip drew some criticism from those who questioned if the brief flight was a worthwhile use of resources.

Leftwing critics are bemoaning the use of resources and filling the air with carbon dioxide (the Invisible Killer, longtime readers will remember).

Other people are just laughing at them for spending three minutes in "space" after two days (!!!) of "training." And oh, the "training" was about how to enter and exit the capsule and how to secure your seatbelts.

That's needed "training" but... I don't think that if I'm on a plane and they give me a demonstration of how to put on an oxygen mask I'm a pilot.

They were space tourists, period. The "training" is legally required. Yes, they did show some amount of bravery -- barely -- by chancing the trip, but people take greater risks waiting for NYC subways every single day.

The criticism is not about what they did -- which was fine -- but over the inordinate amount of praise they're pouring on themselves and demanding others repeat.

Everyone knows that if you do something praiseworthy, you're supposed to say thank you, but deflect the compliment and say "It was no big deal, it was really all thanks to my fellow team-members and also, most of all, thanks to God."

You're not supposed to say "I'm awesome for being a passenger for 10 minutes! I'm a Space Astronaut and I touched the Divine Feminine," which is what these loopy broads all did.

King responded to the backlash in comments to Entertainment Tonight on Tuesday, where she compared the Blue Origin flight to the historic space flight taken by American astronaut Alan Shepard in 1961.

"Please don't call it a 'ride,'" she added, claiming people don't use this term when talking about men going into space.

"We duplicated the same trajectory that Alan Shepard did back in the day, pretty much. No one called that a 'ride,'" King said. "It was called a flight, it was called a journey."

Shepard was trained to take control of his capsule if necessary.

Were you? Did your two days of training include five years of pilot training?

"There was nothing frivolous about what we did," she added.

People take cruises and do not usually call themselves mariners.

What you did was a pastime, not "science." I don't begrudge you a pastime but we also don't hand out Medals of Honor to people who kill 100 Germans via head-shot in Call of Duty.

"I'm very disappointed and very saddened by it," the CBS host continued. "And I also say this, what it's doing to inspire other women and young girls, please don't ignore that."

Inspiring girls to do what? Make friends with Oprah and turn that into a career so you can take one of three diversity slots in a billionaire's space tourism capsule?

She also addressed liberal critics who complained about the environmental impact, saying that Bezos' mission with Blue Origin was to discover if the rocket would be able to take waste from Earth into space to "make our planet cleaner."

"Space is not an either/or. It's a both/and. And because you do something in space doesn't mean you're taking anything away from Earth," King argued.

...

King previously told critics at a press conference on Monday that anyone bashing the flight "doesn't really understand" the historical significance of the space flight.

"We can all speak to the response we're getting from young women, from young girls about what this represents," she added.

I've flown in a plane a few times. I'm a pilot! I'm just like Chuck Yaeger!!!

She's basically claiming that going on Space Mountain makes you a part of Star Fleet.

Bonus: This may shock you, but "journalist" and "astronaut" Gayle King was spreading disinformation when she claimed men are never said to have merely "taken a ride."

From the Wikipedia entry on Hamish Harding, the British billionaire who died when the OceanGate Titan imploded:

Harding flew to space as part of the suborbital Blue Origin NS-21 mission, on 4 June 2022, on the fifth crewed spaceflight of the New Shepard rocket. After travelling to space, he advocated for space tourists (paid recreational spaceflight passengers) to be called astronauts.

Why is this relevant? Because Harding, like King, chafed at being described as what he was: a tourist.

Not just a man, but a billionaire white man! *He* was a tourist, too, Gayle, and he wasn't happy about his trip being called what it was: tourism. But it *was* called that, and so was he.

So stuff it.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!)

Noted Feminist Megy Kelly does not feel inspired or empowered by these astronauts' immense accomplishments.

As Megyn lamented on Monday's show, the narrative surrounding this trip was one of "female empowerment," but she did not see much to celebrate. "I don't feel empowered. If there had been six female astronauts going up, then, yes, okay," she said. "But what did these women do? The one gal is engaged to a billionaire, and these are a bunch of celebrities she wanted to befriend."

...

Amy Schumer also took to Instagram to poke fun at the mission in a bit Ungar Sargon called the funniest the comedian has been in years. "So I'm going to space, and I'm so excited," she said in a video. "Lauren Sánchez, Katy Perry and Amanda Nguyen have been my guiding lights through this whole journey, which I just got called to be part of this space team this morning. And I'm loving it. I've always wanted to go to space, and also I just have to say, How high were the people who came up with the name for space? Were they like, 'What should we call it? It's got so much, like, space.'"

Jeff Bezos' Current Slam-Piece, who is such a super-astronaut she had two industrial-strength flotation devices bolted on to her rib-cage, demands you respecc her.

The Blue Origin crew has not taken kindly to the blowback, with Sánchez and King, in particular, trying to defend the excursion. The former said she gets "really fired up" when she hears the criticism.

"I would love to have them come to Blue Origin and see the thousands of employees that don't just work here but they put their heart and soul into this vehicle," Sánchez said. "So when we hear comments like that, I just say, 'Trust me. Come with me. I'll show you what this is about, and it's, it's really eye-opening.'"

What do they have to do with you? No one's attacking the people who really achieved something by putting your useless ass into "space" (for three minutes).

This is the typical liberal politician move -- "How dare you attack the children!"

We're not attacking the children, we're goofing on you.

King, meanwhile, suggested misogyny could be at play as she likened her experience to -- wait for it -- that of astronaut Alan Shepard, the first American to travel to space.

KING: Please don't call it a 'ride' that is not a friggin ride. Whenever a man goes up, you have never said to an astronaut, 'Boy, what a ride.' You know, we duplicated the same trajectory that Alan Shepard did back in the day. Pretty much. No one called that a ride. It was called a 'flight.' It was called a 'journey' because a 'ride' implies it is something frivolous or something that's light hearted. There was nothing frivolous about what we did, and the machine that we were on, and what it took for the people to get that machine up and running, to get us up, and get us back down safely. So, you know, I'm very disappointed and very saddened by it.

She also claimed the trip was an inspiration to many. "What it's doing to inspire other women and young girls, please don't ignore that," King continued. "I've had so many women and young girls reach out to me -- and men too, by the way, men too -- that say, 'Wow, I never thought I could do that, but I see you doing it at this stage in my life. Who would have thunk it? Not me' and how inspired they are."

The Disconnect

Megyn said the attempted defense reveals just how out-of-touch the women are. "I'm still stuck in the fact that Gayle King actually used the word 'astronauts'... You are there on a vanity project of Jeff Bezos and his fiancée, you've done absolutely nothing to deserve this," she noted. "You're sitting next to Katy Perry, and if you don't want people to think it's frivolous, Gayle, then don't have the f-cking Kardashians and Oprah [Winfrey] craftside as you take off... That might have something to do with our reaction to this as a non-serious event and a PR stunt."

I don't mind that tourism isn't "serious" and I don't mind that this is a "PR stunt." It is that -- it's an ad for future Blue Origins space tourism jaunts, and that's fine. Show off your wares to the world.

It's the credit-grabbing and "Stolen Valor" of it all. I think either Megyn Kelly or Greg Gutfeld said that.

None of this would have happened if you just did what every well-mannered person knows to do, which is to refuse any praise of yourself and deflect it on to "the Real Heroes."

But leftwing feminist women are all about seizing credit for other people's (mostly men's) work. Their whole "careers," all of their "achievements" are based on making extravagant claims about yourself and then daring any Sexist Misogynists from contradicting you.

Well, dare taken. You did nothing more than a eight-year-old kid does when he rides his first "adult," "42 inches or taller" rollercoaster. I can't fault that kid for feeling excited about his big ride, but I'm also not going to praise him or nominate him for a Nobel Prize.

By the way, Gayle King also claims that someone aboard the capsule did "science" experiments or something.

On an 10 minute ride. With only three of those minutes in what people are calling "the very lowest level of what can charitably called 'space.'"

Can't wait to see the data that this experiment generated.

Also, once again, this has nothing to do with Gayle King. But like all "reporters," she believes that just by talking to a scientist she becomes, for all legal purposes, a scientist herself.

What exactly is the "first" they're claiming? Matt Walsh ran down possible claims.

Are they the first female "astronauts"? No, of course not, other women have been trained as actual astronauts and have flown in space.

The first female space tourists? No, other women have flown on Blue Origin before.

The first all-female crew in space? Or, "space"? No, Walsh pointed out that a female cosmonaut was shot into space by the Russkies. She flew solo, making it an "all-female crew."

I also think the Space Dog Laika was a female dog, so.

Laika probably was more qualified to seize the controls, too.

DHS Secretary Noem Announces the Freezing of $2.7 Million in Grants to Harvard

—Ace

I know I've reported that this was in the offing, but this makes it official.

These new cuts are in addition to the $2.2 billion (with a b) that Trump already froze.

DHS Sec. Kristi Noem announces $2.7 million of Harvard's grants are canceled

Quick Hit:

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has canceled more than $2.7 million in federal grants to Harvard University, citing the school's alleged tolerance of pro-Hamas extremism and anti-American ideology on campus.

Key Details:

Noem rescinded two DHS grants totaling over $2.7 million.

Harvard is accused of enabling antisemitic and extremist behavior.

The Trump administration has frozen $2.2 billion in multiyear federal grants and is scrutinizing the school's nonprofit tax status.

Diving Deeper:

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced Wednesday the cancelation of two Department of Homeland Security (DHS) grants to Harvard University, citing national security concerns and the university's failure to confront what she called "anti-American, pro-Hamas ideology" on its campus.

The decision revokes a combined $2.7 million in federal funds. One of the grants, valued at $800,303, reportedly supported a study that characterized conservatives as "far-right dissidents." The second, totaling $1,934,902, was described by DHS as financing "public health propaganda." The department's press release stated that both projects "undermine America's values and security."

"Noem's move is a clear signal from the Trump administration: institutions that benefit from taxpayer dollars must uphold American principles, not promote hostility toward them," the DHS said. In a separate letter, Noem also demanded records from Harvard detailing any foreign student visa holders involved in "illegal and violent activities."

Her blunt assessment of Harvard's trajectory struck a nerve.

"Harvard bending the knee to antisemitism -- driven by its spineless leadership -- fuels a cesspool of extremist riots and threatens our national security," Noem said. "With anti-American, pro-Hamas ideology poisoning its campus and classrooms, Harvard's position as a top institution of higher learning is a distant memory."

Did you know that American universities rely on foreign students for their funding? It's true. They love admitting rich foreign students because they pay the full nominal cost of tuition, no scholarships, no breaks for coming from a low-income family.

I mention this because Trump is also looking to block any foreign Harvard student from obtaining an educational visa to come get "educated" at Harvard, which will also badly damage Harvard's finances.

He wants Harvard to turn over disciplinary records for its foreign agitators so that the government can review their visa status. Harvard is refusing -- and might get their ability to enroll any foreign student terminated.

Vice Chair of the DNC David Hogg: I'm Really Fighting for the Great Progressive Cause So If You See Some Sick Scandalous Claims Made Against Me, That's Just My Enemies Trying to Stop My Crusade for Justice

—Ace

Shyeah, okay.

What did you do, David? What did you do?

I know everyone wants to say "He's a gay!" but that's not a scandal in the Democrat Party. They throw parades for that.

And how dare you bigots even think such a slander.

So close to Pride Month. So close to Pride Month.

Hogg is doing something that will earn him some enemies -- targeting Democrats he considers insufficiently zealous for primary challenges.

David Hogg, a controversial Democratic National Committee vice chair, is pledging to upend Democratic primaries by funding candidates who will challenge "ineffective, asleep-at-the-wheel" Democrats.

The move puts Hogg, the now 25-year-old who first gained national stature as an outspoken survivor of the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, on a collision course with his own party and some Democratic House members.

Leaders We Deserve, which Hogg co-founded in 2023, announced plans on Tuesday to spend $20 million in safe-blue Democratic primaries against sitting House members by supporting younger opponents. In an interview with POLITICO, Hogg said the group will not back primary challenges in battleground districts because "I want us to win the majority," nor will it target members solely based on their age.

"We have a culture of seniority politics that has created a litmus test of who deserves to be here," Hogg said. "We need people, regardless of their age, that are here to fight."

It's an unprecedented, and controversial, move from a national officer within the Democratic Party that will enrage some insiders. Democratic Party committees, like the DNC, have traditionally not opposed incumbents in their own party, focusing instead on attacking Republicans, while the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is explicitly set up to protect incumbent members by providing resources, fundraising and strategy.

This is the sort of thing Republican agitators should be doing. Clear out the dead wood. Elect new wood. Increase our number of wood.

That wasn't the greatest analogy I've ever made. I'd say it's "David Hogg Level."

DOJ Releases More Evidence Against "Maryland Man"

—Ace

Maryland Man is Bestest Man.

The Department of Justice released new documents with evidence of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia's membership in the MS-13 gang, amid ongoing legal efforts to return him to the U.S. after his deportation.

Key Details:

Abrego Garcia, who entered the U.S. illegally in 2011, was deported to El Salvador in March after courts found him to be a public danger due to gang ties.

A Board of Immigration Appeals ruling in 2019 upheld findings that he was a "verified member" of MS-13, despite his attempts to dispute the classification.

DOJ and DHS documents cite gang-related clothing, testimony from a reliable informant, and even a domestic violence restraining order filed by his wife.

Diving Deeper:

The Department of Justice on Wednesday released documents showing what immigration officials, police, and federal judges have long alleged: that Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, a previously deported illegal immigrant, is a member of the violent MS-13 gang.

Abrego Garcia, who was removed from the U.S. in March and sent back to his native El Salvador, had long denied his gang affiliations. But the newly released files paint a different picture--one of a man embedded in MS-13's criminal network, known by the moniker "Chele" and reportedly holding the rank of "Chequeo" within the gang's Westerns clique.

Included in the dossier is a 2019 ruling by the Board of Immigration Appeals that upheld an immigration judge's determination of Abrego Garcia's gang ties, stating he had failed to prove he was not a "danger to property or persons." That judgment followed his 2019 arrest in a Home Depot parking lot in Prince George's County, Maryland. Police noted his attire--specifically a Chicago Bulls hat and a hoodie with images of cash-covered faces--as gang-related symbols. A trusted informant corroborated his gang affiliation during that arrest.

Adding to the DOJ's case, the Department of Homeland Security released records showing that Abrego Garcia's wife had sought a domestic violence restraining order against him, further undermining his claims of being no threat to the public.

It gets worse, reports David Strom.

@MrAndyNgo

In 2022, Kilmar Abrego Garcia was detained in Tennessee on suspicion of human trafficking. The TN Highway Patrol was instructed to release him and the seven other people in the car by Biden's FBI. Garcia was transporting them from Texas to Maryland.

The Tennessee Star's report on the human trafficking allegation:

The Tennessee Star learned on Wednesday that Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an alleged member of the Central American gang Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) who was deported to El Salvador under President Donald Trump amid legal action claiming the removal was by mistake, was suspected of being engaged in human trafficking by a Tennessee Highway Patrol (THP) officer who detained him in December 2022, leading the THP to contact the FBI for guidance. Within two hours, the FBI ultimately requested the THP release Garcia and the passengers in his vehicle. THP complied with the request.

The Star learned from sources familiar with the incident that Abrego Garcia was stopped for an unknown reason on December 6, 2022, and that the THP officer responsible for the stop immediately discovered Abrego Garcia was transporting seven passengers, with eight individuals inside the vehicle.

During a nearly two-hour traffic stop, the THP officer determined that Abrego Garcia (pictured above) was operating the vehicle without a valid driver's license and began searching for information about him.

Something about the traffic stop caused concern in the mind of the THP officer that other law enforcement agencies should be alerted. One source told The Star that THP ultimately discovered Abrego Garcia was on a terrorist watch list, but could not locate Abrego Garcia on a deportation list. Another source told The Star that THP did not discover Abrego Garcia on a terrorist watch list but that another one of the seven passengers in the vehicle may have been on a terrorist watch list.

So why wasn't he and the passengers in the car arrested and deported?

Because Christoper Wray's FBI ordered the cops to release them all:

THP subsequently called the FBI, which was then led by former Director Christopher Wray under the Biden administration. The FBI instructed the THP officers at the scene to capture photographs of all eight people in the vehicle and document its contents.

Once the photographs were captured, this source told The Star that the FBI requested THP release all eight individuals and that the THP officers complied with this request.

Kilmar Abrego Garcia's wife testified that he beat her while she was holding their baby: "the baby started to cry because he was putting pressure on him, my immediate reaction was to push him off us and then he punched."

This is the guy Dems are going all out for right now https://t.co/KdlqooDRka

— Peter J. Hasson (@peterjhasson) April 16, 2025

I can do this all day, Jay. pic.twitter.com/PAYlWXiA9q

— Tricia McLaughlin (@TriciaOhio) April 15, 2025

.@PressSec lays out the FACTS: "Kilmar Abrego Garcia is an illegal alien MS-13 gang member and foreign terrorist who was deported back to his HOME COUNTRY." pic.twitter.com/onwoSVYyqE

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) April 16, 2025

Chris Van Hollen was told by El Salvadoran officials to go piss up a rope.

Is this the biggest idiot in Congress ever or just this decade? Chris Van Hollen was turned away without even a phone call ! Thank you @nayibbukele ! pic.twitter.com/lOzbTlurzV

— Joyreaper (@joyreaper) April 17, 2025

Even El Salvador's president Nayib Bukele sees that Democrats care only for killers and rapists:

Raise your hand ✋️ if you want the @FBI to arrest Chris Van Hollen (D) the minute he steps foot back in this country for violating the Logan Act @FBIDirectorKash Patel k@FBIDDBongino

pic.twitter.com/1vOyY9n8AK

— @Chicago1Ray 🇺🇸 (@Chicago1Ray) April 16, 2025

Close it up

UK Supreme Court Rules That Women-Only Spaces are For Biological, Not "Trans," Women

—Ace

There's such a thing as a "woman." Apparently being a woman is not just down to "whether I'm feelin' cute today."

Who knew.

The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom unanimously ruled Wednesday that a woman is someone born biologically female, a move that now excludes transgender women from the legal definition of a woman.

Trans women can be excluded from some single-sex spaces and groups under the U.K. Equality Act, the five judges of the top court ruled. These spaces and groups include changing rooms, homeless shelters, swimming areas and medical or counseling services provided only to women.

The ruling means that even a transgender person with a certificate that recognizes them as female should not be considered a woman for equality purposes.

But Justice Patrick Hodge said its ruling "does not remove protection from trans people," who are "protected from discrimination on the ground of gender reassignment."

Oh wonderful.

Hannah Ford, an employment lawyer, said that while the judgment will provide clarity on the controversial issue in the U.K., it would be a setback for transgender rights and there would be "an uphill battle" to ensure workplaces are welcoming places for trans people.

"This will be really wounding for the trans community," Ford told Sky News.

Oh no, a wounding.

The Morning Rant: Minimalist Edition

—CBD

It's the culture, stupid! Or more elegantly, as Andrew Breitbart famously said, "Politics is downstream from culture." And the progressives understand that very well, as they have taken control of most of the levers of American culture! Academia, media, entertainment, and even the national repository of our history: The Smithsonian!

Gone are the days when the Smithsonian was a place where we could celebrate American Exceptionalism, and see for ourselves the grand and glorious country that we have created. It is now a focal point for the left's vicious hatred of America, and its desire to drag us down into the muck of their American Original Sin: slavery. No matter that we fought a civil war in part to end it. No matter that our society was, until recently, pretty much color blind. Never mind that black integration into the larger American society is complete.

No...we must prostrate ourselves in submission to the insanity that our great country is irredeemable, that it is structurally racist, and it must be torn down!

Trump's Smithsonian Counter-Revolution

On March 27, President Trump issued an executive order arguing that there has been a “concerted and widespread effort to rewrite our Nation’s history” and promote a “distorted narrative driven by ideology rather than truth.” This “revisionist movement” casts American “founding principles and historical milestones in a negative light.” A White House fact sheet calls for “revitalizing key cultural institutions and reversing the spread of divisive ideology.” Vice President JD Vance, a member of the Smithsonian Board of Regents, is tasked with leading the administration’s efforts.

Critics of the executive order responded quickly. They maintain the Trump Administration wants to “whitewash the past and suppress discussion of systemic racism.” The Smithsonian, the critics contend, is led by non-partisan professionals whose aim is to be truthful and inclusive and tell the whole story of America, including groups that have been neglected in the past. Professor David W. Blight of Yale, who is president of the Organization of American Historians (OAH), complained that the executive order is a “laughable thing until you realize what their intent actually is and what they’re doing is trying to erode and then obliterate what we have been writing for a century.”

The purpose of the Smithsonian and other museums is to teach...not to preach a particular perspective, especially when that perspective is antithetical to everything upon which this country is based. We don't need cheerleaders for the 1619 Project and other initiatives that are designed to destroy the very concept of American Exceptionalism and replace it with a miserable devotion to guilt, reparations, and a demeaning view of our country.

But that's what we have in too many museums and cultural institutions, and President Trump is absolutely correct in his efforts to change it. We are owed a certain amount of respect for America by the people who are charged with preserving its history, and men like David Blight (of Yale!) do not deserve that responsibility.

Read the whole article...it is sobering that America Hate is so embedded, but it is tremendously gratifying that President Donald Trump is doing something about it! And I think he has chosen exactly the correct person to spearhead the effort. Vice President Vance is not a child of privilege; he understands how complex our history is. But he also appreciates America, and will bring that attitude to the Smithsonian.

[Crossposted at CutJibNewsletter and X/Twitter] And the Apple and Spotify feeds for CJN's podcast should be working!

Mid-Morning Art Thread

—CBD

The Morning Report — 4/ 17 /25

—J.J. Sefton

Good morning kids. As you peruse the links, you'll note so many "shocking" headlines that you'll pull a Claude Rains inspector Renault face. Sadly without collecting any winnings from the roulette wheel. Meh, another day ending in "Y."

For example,

The suspect behind an arson attack on the headquarters building of the New Mexico Republican Party and the firebombing of a New Mexico Tesla dealership has been revealed to be an Antifa supporter.

And then we have,

Isra Hirsi, the daughter of "Squad" member Rep. Ilhan (Bro-Fo) Omar (D., Minn.), promoted a fundraiser supporting Mohsen Mahdawi, the Columbia University student activist facing deportation over his support for Hamas.

She's her daughter, she's her niece, she's her daughter and her niece! Meh, forget it, it's Chinatown.

And speaking of immigration fraudsters it turns out the violent bestial criminal illegal alien from El Salvador who must be returned to America or else it'll be the worst stain on our history since 9/11, the Civil War and January 6 combined, is indeed a violent bestial criminal illegal alien:

Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin revealed on Wednesday that deported illegal alien and alleged MS-13 gang member Kilmar Abrego Garcia was with two other MS-13 members when he was arrested in 2019, and was found to have  “rolls of cash and drugs” on him. Garcia crossed the border into the United States illegally in 2012 and when he was arrested in 2019, claimed he had to flee El Salvador as a teenager to escape gang violence.

Of course ancient alta cocker communist Bernie Sanders flying all over the place on private jets is no big deal. He is after all using other people's money, so that's not shocking in the least. Ditto Letitia James, the Lavrenty Beria of Tomas Torquemadas, who persecutes innocent people for crimes, real and mostly imagined that she herself is guilty of.

New York’s Democrat Attorney General, Letitia James, is launching a new lawfare campaign against President Donald J. Trump, insinuating potential insider trading instances linked to the White House’s recent pause of reciprocal tariffs. Confirmed to be underway on April 16, the New York AG’s inquiry purports to determine whether Trump or his associates had prior knowledge of the tariff actions, which preceded a significant upturn in the stock market. However, there is mounting speculation that James’s investigation of Trump is meant to distract from her own criminal referral to the Department of Justice (DOJ) over allegations of mortgage fraud.President Trump’s announcement of the tariff pause, to allow bilateral trade negotiations with over 70 nations to take place, was preceded just hours before by two posts on Truth Social where the America First leader stated, “BE COOL! Everything is going to work out well. The USA will be bigger and better than ever before” and “THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!! DJT.” The subsequent surge in the financial markets—with several trades logged just before the pause was announced—make up the core of the newest allegations underpinning the lawfare effort.

So, she is under a huge cloud of suspicion for both mortgage fraud and that she claims her primary residence is in Virginia while serving as NY State's AG? Nothing to see here, right folks? But President Trump performing his duties as President in directing national foreign and economic policy and boom, the fake charges go flying.

Funny how scum and vermin like Harry Reid and Malig-Nancy Pelosi start their political careers with net worths of maybe a few hundred thousand dollars and either die or retire worth multiple tens of millions, yet not a peep from anyone about that. Again, not shocking at all.

Moving away from the shockng/not shocking theme, and Speaking of the 9/11 attack,

Al Qaeda boss and 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden spent months living and receiving treatment in Iran, according to a bombshell interview on the Tucker Carlson Show this week. Carlson sat down with former Pennsylvania congressman Curt Weldon (R.), who made the revelations, and also said that nosing around about the issue played a role in his being run out of Congress.

While Iran's involvement had been suspected, if not actually proven, from day one, not to mention the obvious but diplomatically toxic connection to the Saudis, the focus of our attention was Afghanistan and Iraq, and the rest as they say is history.

Considering President Trump's discussions, via his envoy Steve Witkoff, with the Mullahs, as well as Trump's increasingly loud and tough talk vis a vis both their race towards getting the bomb as well as their alliance with Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis, this interview raises an eyebrow.

As CBD and I discussed on the latest episode of the podcast (linked here and in the sidebar)

Iran cannot be allowed to acquire nukes for they will no doubt use them against Israel, Western targets and if they could deploy them, against the American mainland itself. That said, getting into a shooting war with them involving American forces is far and away the least desirable option for a whole host of reasons. Blockades and other moves against their infrastructure to say nothing of military action a la the Gulf Wars would only serve to alienate the very put upon Persian people we want and need to do the job of overthrowing the Mullahs, or otherwise assisting in that ultimate result.

And the last thing we need is like what happened in Syria and Afghanistan is to have an even more dark age Islamic totalitarian theocracy than we had since 1979, this time with a populace pissed off at the West and unwilling or unable to liberate itself.

I'd like to think that this whole Witkoff gambit is just some sort of a misdirection play on the part of the President. I would think he knows that it's long past time for the Mullahs to go. My concern is how he intends to pull it off. Despite Marco Rubio's presence, Foggy Bottom and the intelligence and military bureaucracies are still infested with Deep State holdovers and saboteurs who are steeped in anti-American, anti-Israel and anti-western animus yet are charged with developing the tactics and strategies to implement the very policies that they themselves have been working against their entire professional careers.

Obviously, this can be applied to every agency, department and bureau in DC.

Moving on . . . yesterday or the day before there was a report that millions of dollars (and it has got to be a hell of a lot more than that figure) in social security and other benefits were to be reinstated to illegal aliens. While at the same time Joey Sponge-Brain Shits-Pants was wheeled out to shriek out the tired old bromide about Republicans destroying Social Security.

All of this makes my blood boil, over and above its inherent outrageousness, but because it hits too close to home. Someone very close to me has found it impossible to sign up for let alone collect social security as well as sign up for medicare (because of a suspected identity theft that occurred a number of years ago). And yet foreigners here illegally can get all sorts of assistance to get our hard-earned money while bureaucrats and apparatchiks send my dear one on a paper chase for years hoping we die before they are forced to intercede.

And lastly, a quick shout-out and thank you for your continued support in hitting our tip jar. It truly is appreciated more than you can know. 

ABOVE THE FOLD, BREAKING, NOTEWORTHY
• If history has taught us anything, it is that government power, once claimed, is rarely surrendered.
  Is Real ID a national security tool or a trojan horse for tyranny?
  
• A state-level bill will make de facto government schools out of every private, religious, and home education environment.
  Ready for Your Home to Become a Government School?
  
• 'It is unconstitutional … to force healthcare professionals to choose between their careers and submitting to ideological indoctrination,' dentist's attorney says
  Michigan Dentist Sues Gov Wretched Whitmer's Administration Over Mandatory 'Implicit Bias Training'

Daily Tech News 17 April 2025

—Pixy Misa

• Nvidia's RTX 5060 Ti 16GB edition is here and it's eh. (Tom's Hardware)
  
  The other two cards announced today, the 5060 Ti 8GB edition and the 5060 non-Ti, are nowhere to be found.
  
  If you're not using ray tracing, it's about 10% slower than my Radeon 7800 XT and costs about 25% more at retail. Retail prices may settle down eventually, but they haven't been great so far in Nvidia's 5000-series launch.
  
  If you are using ray tracing, it's about 5% faster than my Radeon 7800 XT - but still 25% more expensive.
  
  That retail price places it just 10% cheaper than AMD's new 9070 (non-XT) card, which averages 50% faster at 4k resolution.
  
  It does better at Stable Diffusion (AI image generation) and runs acceptably cool and quiet, but you should definitely wait to see what the Radeon 9060 delivers if you're in the market.
  
  
  

Wednesday Overnight Open Thread - April 16, 2025 [TRex]

—Open Blogger

Good evening Horde. The time has come for mid-week shenanigans of the overnight variety.

This is the Wednesday night ONT. Fair warning: the ONT is random and scattered tonight. That is either a feature or a bug.

[Top photo: Wall of fire and a Lockheed F-35B, USMC Beaufort Air Show. MAGTF demo. Not AI.]

***

Prayers up for Mrs. Salty:

Continued prayers for Jim NSD:

Prayers in general for strength and wisdom for the Horde and those Horde adjacent.

***

The Yellow Footprints are the first stop for new Marine recruits arriving at Parris Island:

USMC Parris Island mission statement:

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Ummm... Outback Steakhouse: just push the button and gift cards emerge?

***

Anyone want to buy a refueling tanker? KC-10 Extender Tankers Are Up For Auction

Ten tankers are up for sale on the GSA surplus website. Eight are missing an engine and none come with a refueling boom, so you'll have to supply your own or work with Boeing. Auction closes on May 6. First bids of $500,000 each have already been placed.

***

True, true.

***

One for the A-10 fan club:

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Great moments in marketing:

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Because the ONT knows you were curious to know how bowling balls are made:

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Rolling chaos:

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Big penguin strikes back: Unsecured Penguin Causes Helicopter Crash After Getting Its Adorable Widdle Feet All Over The Controls

Hat tip: blaster

***

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Pittsburgh police scanner monitoring - highlights since April 5:

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The Guinness Book of World records tackles the hard questions of life:

***

Classic ZZ Top for our big ONT finish:

***

Written correspondence can be sent to moronhobbies at protonmail dot com. Are you lurking? Come out and play. Unless you're intoxicated and swinging safety cones around at a construction site in Pittsburgh. If that's you, carry on.

Close it up

Mid-Week Cafe

—Ace

Via Eyes of Infinity

Orca bumps into diver, then... offers him some of the fish it's eating?

Dog says "no" to a pedicure.

Capybaras at the beach.

Capybara hides from an alligator.

Chilled cat.

The very weird "Black Sea hare." What is it? Who can say? Take your guesses before clicking on the answer. No, it's not this.

Bird crossing.

Seagull ice cream heist.

Shark has a new tactic for attracting prey.

Dalmatian puppy watching his favorite movie.

Squirrel goes bonkers playing with a ball.

Rescuing pets stranded after a town is flooded.

Evil (?) otter hangs out with his pet-brothers.

Quick Hits

—Ace

CNN reports the IRS is preparing to rescind Harvard's tax-exempt status:

The Internal Revenue Service is making plans to rescind the tax-exempt status of Harvard University, according to two sources familiar with the matter, which would be an extraordinary step of retaliation as the Trump administration seeks to turn up pressure on the university that has defied its demands to change its hiring and other practices.

A final decision on rescinding the university's tax exemption is expected soon, the sources said.

Via Ed Morrissey, who notes the Supreme Court voted 8-1 to uphold the stripping of tax-exempt status from Bob Jones University for failing to act in "the public interest" (there, alleged discrimination against non-whites).

Surprise! The leftwing socialist BLM supporter who fire-bombed the residence of the Jewish governor of PA -- not that you'd know that from the media -- turns out to have acted as a terrorist to support the Palestinians.

ABC "News:"

The suspected arsonist who allegedly tried to kill Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro decided to firebomb his official residence because of "what he wants to do to the Palestinian people," according to a search warrant signed by Pennsylvania State Police.

Investigators obtained several warrants as part of the investigation into the early Sunday morning arson attack, including for suspect Cody Balmer's storage unit, electronic devices and parents' home, where he told a Dauphin County judge he had recently been living.

Balmer, 38, targeted Shapiro "based upon perceived injustices to the people of Palestine," one of the warrants said, law enforcement sources told ABC News.

That'll give the New York Times another chance to hide highly-relevant information.

The FBI agent arrested for attempting to take top secret information overseas -- and who tried to frame Giuliani as a Russian agent -- is being defended by Hunter Biden's law firm.

An arrested FBI agent who had publicly alleged Trump ally Rudy Giuliani may have been compromised by Russia and who had denied the FBI had mishandled its investigation of Hunter Biden is now represented by a law firm that defended Joe Biden's son.

The agent, Jonathan Buma, who had handled confidential human sources (CHSs) for the bureau and whose home had been raided by the FBI back in 2023, was arrested at JFK Airport in New York City in March for the alleged illegal disclosure of confidential information. He is being prosecuted in California, where he was based as an FBI agent.

Buma, whose previous claims to Congress and the media alleged that he was involved with helping special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into debunked claims of Trump-Russia collusion and who has repeatedly taken aim at Giuliani while defending the bureau's slow walking of the Hunter Biden investigation, is now being defended by a high-profile law firm that defended Joe Biden's son and attacked the federal investigation into him, Just the News has learned.

Serpentine spinner James Carville tells the progressive wing to leave the Democrat Party.

Democratic strategist James Carville suggested in a Tuesday video that far-left individuals should formally break away from the Democratic Party.

Among Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents, 45% would prefer the Democratic Party become "more moderate," according to Gallup polling published in February. Carville, in a Politicon video, argued that far-left elements are hurting the party's appeal and proposed "a schism" as a possible solution.

"The only thing I'd ask is just don't use the word 'Democratic' in any title that you have, because most Democrats that I know that are running for office don't want your name, don't want you to be part of the deal," Carville said. "Yeah, sure, they would be glad to take your votes. Who wouldn't? Everybody wants to get as many votes as they can. Maybe you come up with your own name."

"And by the way, nothing against -- after the election, we can sit down and do like is done in parliamentary governments or governments around the world," he continued. "You sit down and you say, 'Okay, we want to be part of a governing majority. And we have these things that we want you to do to bring us in.' And we have negotiations and we figure a way that we can live with different parties, different titles, but under the same general philosophical roof."

While Carville said he agrees with most of the "faculty lounge and identity left" policy goals, he drew a line on what he called "pronoun politics."

"I think that if this election did not teach you how damaging that is, I don't think there's anything that I can tell you. And you say, 'This guy is stuck in another century -- not another decade -- and he represents nothing to do with the future of our movement.' I can accept that," he said. "You're not really going to hurt my feelings. So maybe we could have a kind of amicable split here and we go to post in 2026. Because you don't ever run. They never run against a Republican. Okay? All they do is run against other Democrats."

"I don't quite understand why you're so anxious to have the word 'Democrat' in the description of what you do. But maybe we can have an amicable split here and you go your way and we go our way," he continued. "And after the election, we come together and see how much common ground we can find. I know this is of heresy. It's always been -- the Democratic Party has always been the coalition. People said we have to work hard in the coalition."

For instance, the Democratic strategist said he recalls when the party attempted to unite "southern segregationist Democrats" and "more progressive Democrats" under the Democratic label.

"Maybe it's just not worth it anymore ... maybe what I think is that what you are proposing -- which are stupid fucking buttons with jackass pronouns on it -- is something that no one in the country really wants," Carville said. "And in fact, it turns people off and costs us votes."

Carville also asserted during a Thursday podcast that the Democratic Party will no longer choose its candidates based on their gender, race or ethnicity.

"No one gives a shit anymore in the Democratic Party what gender you are, what race you are, what ethnicity you are," he said. "They just want to win."

Moreover, he said during an April 3 discussion that Democratic swing-state senators felt that overcoming their party's brand was their most significant challenge as candidates, particularly noting Arizona Sen. Ruben Gallego and Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin, who both were elected in 2024.

"If you talk to, like, Senator Liz Slotkin or Ruben, they'll tell you the hardest thing they had to overcome was a 'D' after their name, okay?" Carville said. "That was the one thing that they had to -- we have created a party for people to run from, not to run on."

Democrat Senator Chris Van Hollen Flies to El Salvador to Spring Credibly-Accused MS-13 Gang Member and Domestic Abuser from Prison and Bring Him Back to the US

—Ace

All of the Democrats are competing to be the nominee in the wide-open race to be the doomed 2028 nominee. They're all engaging in publicity-grubbing stunts, from The Fiercely Heterosexual Cory Booker storing up for his next Pee Party and now to Chris Van Hollen doing the country the service of importing an MS-13 gang member.

Meanwhile, the rest of the country sees day after day after day after day of the Democrat Party showing that they would rather see one thousand dead US citizens than to see one of their illegal alien future voters deported.

Eddie Scary:

All the big problems in America have apparently been solved, so now Democrats, out of the goodness of their hearts, are heading to El Salvador in hopes of being helpful there. If you happen to need any of them, leave a message and they'll get back to you upon their return -- if they can find the time. (Probably not.)

Maryland Democrat Sen. Chris Van Hollen flew 2,000 miles on Wednesday from Washington, D.C., to San Salvador, arranging a meeting with local and American officials there. Van Hollen isn't facilitating the rescue of a wrongly imprisoned U.S. citizen or engaging in diplomatic relations with a foreign nation. He's literally there conducting a welfare check on a Salvadoran. As in, a foreign national. Not an American.

"I just landed in San Salvador a little while ago," Van Hollen proudly wrote on X, "and I look forward to meeting with the team at the U.S. embassy to discuss the release of Mr. Abrego Garcia."

I guess there weren't any actual U.S. citizens in need of Van Hollen's time. If there are, surely they can wait while he addresses the needs of a Salvadoran first.

Please, President Bukele, lock this son-of-a-bitch up.

The foreigner in question is Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, the "Maryland father," as the anti-American media are fond of describing him, who was deemed by a court to be an affiliate of a violent Latin gang and was residing in the U.S. illegally. As everyone knows now, thanks to hysterical news coverage, Garcia was recently sent to the now famous terrorist confinement prison in El Salvador, though a judge had previously ordered that, while he could be deported, he was not to be sent back to his home country out of concern for his safety.

It was an illogical mandate to begin with. If he can't be sent back to where he's from, what other country was expected to volunteer to take him? Why would they?

Now that Van Hollen has trumped his stunt, what's the Fiercely Heterosexual Cory Booker going to do now?

Van Hollen won't be the last Democrat to embark on the holy journey for noncitizens who broke the law by trespassing our borders. Politico on Tuesday reported that New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker is planning a trip, potentially with additional colleagues. Reps. Maxwell Frost of Florida and Robert Garcia of California also said they want to go.

Oh. He's just going to copy his homework.

It is now reported that the wife of the "Maryland father" sought a restraining order against him for domestic violence.

The wife of Kilmar Garcia, a man who was deported from Maryland to his native El Salvador in March 14, has spoken out publicly to ask that he be returned to the US and their family. A GoFundMe crowdsourcing campaign has raised over $165,000. What Jenniefer Vasquez did not mention, however, is that she petitioned for a domestic violence protective order against him in 2021.

Revealing the information about the protective order in a post, Andy Ngo said "The wife of deported suspected gang terrorist Kilmar Abrego Garcia either lied to the court when she petitioned for a domestic violence protective order against him or she is lying now on the GoFundMe claiming he is an excellent husband as over $162K has poured in." The case detail shows that it was brought by Vasquez against Garcia in May 2021 for domestic violence. The case has since been closed. Garcia has been referred to by many media outlets as a "Maryland man" or "Maryland dad."

Per The Chesepeake Today, "Jennifer Vasquez filed for a protective order due to domestic violence from her husband on May 13, 2021, and a final order was issued on June 17, 2021, by Prince George's County District Court Judge LaKeecia Allen. Judge Allen was elevated to the Circuit Court on Aug. 1, 2024, by Maryland Governor Wes Moore. Judge Allen previously served as a prosecutor in the Prince George's State's Attorney's Office."

The Anti-Trump Judge Who Gets All Anti-Trump Lawsuits Assigned to Him to Hold Contempt Hearings Against Trump

—Ace

Enough of this.

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg ruled Wednesday that "probable cause exists" to hold Trump administration officials in criminal contempt after they violated his orders by continuing deportation flights, according to CNN. The ruling follows the Supreme Court determining that Boasberg's court was in an improper venue for the case altogether.

He's still exercising authority over the case that the Supreme Court specifically told him he had no authority -- jurisdiction -- over.

Boasberg halted the administration's use of the Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelans that were allegedly gang members.

...

Boasberg ordered the administration to stop the flights in an oral decree from the bench, but the administration refused on the grounds that it wasn't in his written order.

John Sexton reports that even CNN has problems with this judge continuing to assert his jurisdiction in defiance of the Supreme Court.

CNN legal analyst Steve Vladeck said these moves are rare.

"Holding federal executive branch officials in criminal contempt is just about unheard of, once in a blue moon," said Vladeck, a professor at the University of Georgetown School of Law. "Part of why Chief Judge Boasberg is moving cautiously is because he's trying to walk a tightrope, not letting the government off the hook for its misbehavior, but also not provoking pushback from either the DC Circuit or the Supreme Court."

Sexton continues -- the judge actually acknowledged he had no jurisdiction in the case, but then asserted that Trump needs to Respec My Authoritah anyway:

Early on in his 46-page decision, Boasberg acknowledges that the Supreme Court already vacated his temporary restraining order. How then can the Trump administration be held in contempt for something that was already dismissed by a higher court?

One might nonetheless ask how this inquiry into compliance is able to proceed at all given that the Supreme Court vacated the TRO after the events in question. That Court's later determination that the TRO suffered from a legal defect, however, does not excuse the Government's violation. Instead, it is a foundational legal precept that every judicial order "must be obeyed" -- no matter how "erroneous" it "may be" -- until a court reverses it. If a party chooses to disobey the order -- rather than wait for it to be reversed through the judicial process -- such disobedience is punishable as contempt, notwithstanding any later-revealed deficiencies in the order...

So that's his argument. It doesn't matter that his TRO was wrong, it matters that the administration didn't obey it before it was vacated. From there, Boasberg eventually gets to the payoff, which is that he's giving the administration a week to "purge" its contempt, something it can do by obeying the TRO which the Supreme Court has already vacated.

At some point, Trump has to deploy the nuclear option and just declare he will not submit to this judge's authority, and if any higher court orders him to submit to this judge, then he will ignore that court's authority going forward as well.

The New York Times Hides the Socialist Party Registration of the Pennsylvania Governor's Mansion Arsonist from Its Readers

—Ace

Pic from the New York Post

Whoops. One of those inadvertent omissions, I'm sure.

While Balmer's Facebook profile also reportedly contains posts and comments lauding the Black Lives Matter movement and claiming that he's a "registered socialist," The New York Times highlighted posts of his criticizing former President Joe Biden, ignoring ones recognizant of left-leaning politics.

"Mr. Balmer's social media suggested not a particular ideology so much as a deep cynicism, in some posts espousing a libertarian bent bordering on anarchism, in others praising violence. His Facebook posts included rants about big pharma, women and the government," the outlet wrote.

The New York Times did note Balmer exhibited "little sign of any loyalty to any party," but omitted coverage of his posts praising BLM and admitting to socialism.

Some social media users speculated Balmer's apparently self-admitted socialism was simply sarcasm. One such tongue-in-cheek example is a post in which Balmer claimed to have received 27 mail-in ballots.

"The post in which he says he's a socialist, if you actually read it, is clearly sarcastic," Facebook user "Mary Pratt" wrote in response to a post highlighting his apparent confession.

There are, however, other signs pointing towards Balmer's apparent left-leaning radicalism, including a post touting Molotov cocktails, an incendiary device which he allegedly used to set fire to Shapiro's home, according to the complaint. The post displayed a picture of a flaming bottle with the caption, "Be the light you want to see in the world."

While the Molotov cocktail has been used by agitators and protesters linked to both political wings, in recent years it has become a calling card for radical leftists linked with Antifa.

Other left-leaning media figures have also excluded key context surrounding Balmer's apparently left-linked political posts.

"The man being charged with attempted murder, and aggravated arson of Governor Shapiro is Cody Balmer. He has had anti-Biden posts on social media. Another right-wing extremist? MAGA? Hopefully he gets life in prison," left-wing social media creator Ed Krassenstein posted on X.

Trump bought into the first round of first reports, echoing the media's claims that the antifa/BLM arsonist was "just a wackjob" who wasn't attached to either party. I hope he'll be correcting that.

Never, ever believe the media -- about anything.

When I first mentioned this, I assumed this was a failed case of arson, with this antifa/BLM socialist terrorist merely hitting the exterior walls of the mansion with Molotov cocktails.

Nope -- it was serious case of arson. Antifa and BLM have no useful skills, but they are very good at burning buildings.

In case you're wondering why the Josh Shapiro arson story has completely disappeared in less than 24 hours 👇 pic.twitter.com/Lan8konG2p

— Vince Langman (@LangmanVince) April 14, 2025

Close it up

A Confused Old Man Wanders On To a Stage and Begins Yelling About "Colored Kids"

—Ace

Biden is back, baby.

Former President Joe Biden referred to black children as "colored kids" Tuesday as he explained what motivated him to get involved in politics during his first public remarks since leaving office.

Biden, 82, used the outdated and offensive term while telling an anecdote about his childhood move from Scranton, Pa., to Wilmington, Del., in which he noted that before his family relocated to The First State, he'd "never seen hardly any black people."

"I was only going in fourth grade," he said as he recalled his mother driving him to Catholic school in Wilmington. "And I remember seeing kids going by, at the time called 'colored kids,' on a bus go by -- they never turned right to go to Claymont High School."

Biden said learning that black children were not allowed to attend public school with white students "sparked my sense of outrage as a kid."

Biden's origin stories have as many variations as the Joker's.

Remember when he was six years old, in 1941 or whenever, and he and his dad saw two guys kissing (in the border state of Delaware) and Biden claims his dad told him that that was what loved looked like?

Biden famously argued against integration in schools when he was an adult serving and voting in Congress.

But sure, he was "outraged" that black kids went to another school in 1946.

...

"Social Security is more than a government program. It's a sacred promise," Biden argued, before accusing Republicans in Congress of wanting to "cut and gut" the program that provides benefits to retired Americans.

"Who the hell do they think they are?" an enraged Biden said before pulling back.

"I will not go further. I'll get in trouble," he said.

He was yelling. As usual.

Remember when we had to endure that? Biden showing his "passion" by yelling like a decrepit lunatic?

...

The speech got off to an awkward start, as Biden took the podium and spoke for several seconds as a Bruce Springsteen track -- his introduction music -- blared in the background, drowning out his opening lines.

When he wrapped up his remarks, a wide-eyed Biden stood at the podium and looked at both ends of the stage before identifying the stairs, pointing at them, and making his exit.

That's my Biden. He's not just cogent -- this is the best version of Biden, mentally, intellectually, that we've ever seen.