The FBI Is Not Exactly Covering Itself With Glory

    The FBI seems to be doubling down on corruption and showing it is not worthy of trust. First up, if you have been wondering why the AG's release of Epstein papers yesterday was such a nothing burger, you need look no further than the FBI's New York office. The New York Post reports that "FBI withheld ‘thousands of pages’ of Jeffrey Epstein docs, Pam Bondi says — and she’s demanding they be turned over." 

    Attorney General Pam Bondi revealed Thursday that “thousands of pages” of documents in the FBI’s investigation into the sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein were withheld from her.

    And she’s demanding that they be turned over by Friday morning.

    Bondi, 59, disclosed in a letter to FBI Director Kash Patel a tipster said that all but “approximately 200 pages of documents” were still being kept secret at the FBI’s office in New York — despite her repeated requests for the “full” Epstein files.

    The initial batch included flight logs, phone numbers and the names of victims, but a source in the FBI’s New York office reached out and said that hundreds additional documents were not included. 

Another whistleblower, an ex-agent named Garret O’Boyle, recently stated that the FBI has whole servers filled with data which they are rushing to destroy. 

    Second, the New York Post also reports that "Would-be Trump assassin Thomas Crooks may have had accomplice, data show, as investigators say FBI is suppressing info." An excerpt:

    A veteran private investigator from Erie, Pa., who was hired shortly after the fateful July 13 event at the Butler rally to look into Crooks by a private client, told The Post he believes a “criminal network” was operating with him at the time of the assassination attempt, is still in existence and still wants to kill President Trump.

    Doug Hagmann, whose team of six other investigators have been working the case for months and have interviewed more than 100 people, said they also conducted extensive geofencing analysis of cellphones and tablets not belonging to Crooks that were found with him at his home, at the rifle range where he took target practice, at the rally and at Bethel Park High School, where he graduated in 2022.

    “We don’t think he acted alone,” Hagmann told The Post. “This took a lot of coordination. In my view, Crooks was handled by more than one individual and he was used for this [assassination attempt]. And I wouldn’t preclude the possibility that there were people at the rally itself helping him.”

    Hagmann said one of the electronic devices geolocated with Crooks at several different places at the time of the shooting is still pinging today — at Bethel Park High School.

It is a lengthy article and goes on about other oddities about the case and it investigation, so check it out.

Gruesome Deaths and Attacks #2

 Just some macabre news stories I've come across over the past couple of months: 

• "Hunter becomes the hunted: Shocking moment wounded elk turns the tables and charges huntsman, stomping him to the ground as his terrified friends watch on"--Daily Mail. This was in Russia. No information on how badly injured was the hunter.
• From last November: "Mother is torn apart by pack of wild dogs on her walk to work after making desperate last phone call begging for help"--Daily Mail.  This incident occurred in the Russian city of Kazan. She was mauled to death by the dogs. She was not found until several hours after the attack.
• Also from this past November: "Horrifying moment gang of four masked gunmen shoot dead 10 people in bloody bar room massacre before fleeing in a pick-up truck and setting it alight"--Daily Mail.  This incident occurred in Santiago de Querétaro, Mexico. 
• From December: "180 Dead: Haitian Warlord Orders Massacre Of Elderly For Using 'Sorcery' To Sicken Son"--Zero Hedge. The lede pretty much sums it up: "Yet another gruesome gang horror has played out in Haiti, as at least 184 people -- most of them elderly -- were variously slashed, hacked or shot to death on the orders of a warlord who'd been advised that aging slum residents had used sorcery to give his son a severe illness."

Members of the gang surrounded the neighborhood, then proceeded to search the shacks for people over 60 years old, who were then hacked with machetes, slashed with knives and shot with guns. The victims included some younger people who tried to defend the gang's elderly targets. Bodies were dragged into the streets where they were mutilated and torched, filling the neighborhood with a foul stench of death. Felix's ailing son died as the massacre was being carried out.  

• Moving into January of this year: "Papua New Guinea is rocked by 'horrific acts of cannibalism' as bow and arrow-wielding gang poses with body parts vowing to 'cook and eat it'"--Daily Mail. Yet we are told that it was only guns, germs, and steel that allowed Europeans to be more advanced than the inhabitants of New Guinea:

    In grisly photos published Monday on the front page of the nation's largest newspaper, the Papua New Guinea Post-Courier, a group of machete-wielding men dangle what appears to be a severed human foot.

    Although the men are not filmed eating the body part, one of them appears to make a licking gesture while holding it up for the camera, while others around him smile and point to the chopped-off limb.

•  Another case of "domesticated" not equating to "harmless": "Ohio woman, 75, 'killed and eaten by neighbor's pigs on Christmas Day'"--Daily Mail.

    An elderly Ohio woman was mauled to death and partially eaten by her neighbor's ravenous pigs near her home on Christmas Day.

    Rebecca Westergaard Rigney, 75, was found dead with injuries to her leg on the front steps of her home on Mink Street in Pataskala.

    The senior lady's niece raised the alarm of her disappearance after Rigney failed to show up at her home in Norton, Ohio for celebrations. 

• "Dog-lover is eaten by her pet pugs after dying in her apartment and lying undiscovered for days"--Daily Mail. Sounds like her dogs really loved her.

    Adriana Neagoe, 34, had not been heard from for five days before police made the harrowing discovery at her home near Bucharest, Romania.

    Officers arrived at the flat in Târgu Jiu with a relative to find Adriana, who went by Anda Sasha, lifeless with her two pugs beside her.

    They said that it was clear the unfed dogs had already begun to eat at her corpse.

• Some like it hot: "Vesuvius’ Scorching Eruption Turned a Man’s Brain Into Glass"--Smithsonian Magazine (via Get Pocket).

    When Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 A.D., hundreds of people in the nearby town of Herculaneum fled to waterfront chambers in hopes of seeking shelter from the catastrophic explosion—a desperate plan that failed to save them from meeting gruesome ends. Among the few who stayed in the town was a roughly 25-year-old man whose ash-covered remains were discovered in a wooden bed during the 1960s.

    Now, a new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine suggests a shiny black fragment found within the victim’s skull represents remnants of the man’s brain, which was subjected to such searing heat that it turned into glass.

•  "At least 86 killed in central Nigeria after fuel tanker explodes"--France 24.

At least 86 people were killed in central Nigeria on Saturday when a fuel tanker that had overturned burst into flames, burning those who had rushed to collect the gasoline. The price of gasoline has increased fivefold in 18 months, leading many to risk their lives to recover fuel during tanker truck accidents which authorities say are common in Nigeria.

The article also notes that "In October, more than 170 people died in a similar accident in Jigawa State, in northern Nigeria."

• "Hundreds of women are raped then burned alive after rebel group breaks into prison and forces its way into female ward"--Daily Mail. 

    Hundreds of women were raped and then burnt alive after Rwandan-backed rebels stormed into the Congolese city of Goma, it has emerged.

    The atrocity took place during a mass jail break from the Munzenze jail last week, as M23 fighters clashed with the Congolese army during deadly gun battles.

    According to the UN, female inmates were butchered in their wing in the notoriously overcrowded prison after men forced their way in and went on a rampage. 

• More: "Rwanda-backed rebels flout ceasefire by rampaging through Congo as death toll nears 3,000 including scores of female prisoners who were raped and burned alive with their children - with international arrest warrant issued against leader"--Daily Mail. 
• More: "Horrifying video shows charred bodies inside female prison block where hundreds of women were raped before being burnt alive"--Daily Mail.  

• "A Frozen Graveyard: The Sad Tales of Antarctica’s Deaths"--BBC Future (via Get Pocket). The article begins:

    In the bleak, almost pristine land at the edge of the world, there are the frozen remains of human bodies – and each one tells a story of humanity’s relationship with this inhospitable continent.

    Even with all our technology and knowledge of the dangers of Antarctica, it can remain deadly for anyone who goes there. Inland, temperatures can plummet to nearly -90C (-130F). In some places, winds can reach 200mph (322km/h). And the weather is not the only risk.

    Many bodies of scientists and explorers who perished in this harsh place are beyond reach of retrieval. Some are discovered decades or more than a century later. But many that were lost will never be found, buried so deep in ice sheets or crevasses that they will never emerge – or they are headed out towards the sea within creeping glaciers and calving ice.

    The stories behind these deaths range from unsolved mysteries to freak accidents. ...

Measles Outbreak at LAX?

The Daily Mail reports that "Health officials have warned of a potential measles outbreak at Los Angeles International airport." 

    A passenger arriving on a Korean Air flight from Seoul to the US tested positive for the highly contagious respiratory illness, which is currently ripping its way through Texas with two reportedly dead in its wake.

    Travelers who were in Terminal B on February 19 during the hours of 1pm to 4pm have been warned that they could be at high risk of the virus. 

    The airport is working with the CDC to notify passengers on the flight who might have been close enough to the infected traveler to contract the disease.

    Passengers who believe they were exposed to the virus at Los Angeles airport have been advised to confirm if they have been vaccinated against measles. 

It reminds me of this recent piece from Sam Faddis at AND Magazine: "Deporting Illegals Is A Good First Step, But Unfortunately The Microbes They Brought With Them Will Stay." Faddis writes:

    Customs and Border Protection is now moving rapidly to put in place expedited removal options to get illegals carrying deadly diseases off our soil. That is welcome news, but it is too late. Epidemics don’t start as roaring fires. They start slowly and then expand, gathering speed as they go. Multiple such epidemics are already underway, and we are far behind in our efforts to control them.

    The largest tuberculosis outbreak in American history is in progress in Kansas. As of Jan. 17th, public health officials reported that they had documented 66 active cases and 79 latent infections in the Kansas City, Kansas, metro area since 2024. Most of the cases have been in Wyandotte County, with a handful in Johnson County.

 * * *

    Public health officials in Kansas continue to attempt to downplay the danger posed by the spreading contagion. They should not. TB is highly contagious. It can be spread through the air. One-third of the people on the planet are infected with tuberculosis. If left untreated fifty percent of those infected will die.

    Tuberculosis, however, is not the only disease with which we need to be concerned. There are current outbreaks of measles and varicella (chickenpox) on both sides of the Texas-Mexico border. In Piedras Negras, Coahuila, the border city across the Rio Grande from Eagle Pass, Texas at least 60 young children have tested positive for varicella. In South Plains, Texas there have been at least 90 cases of the measles. That outbreak has apparently now spread to New Mexico.

    According to a Concho Valley News report, sixteen patients in Texas have been hospitalized. Five of the cases are reported to have been vaccinated against the disease. The remainder of the cases were unvaccinated or had a vaccination status listed as unknown.

    Keep in mind that this is what has been reported to date. We detect outbreaks of a disease when people seek medical care. That means they are already sick and they have likely already passed on the disease to others, who themselves have already infected yet more individuals. We are always running behind even as the rate at which the disease is spreading is increasing.

 And its not just diseases that immigrants and international travelers bring with them. The author of "Bed Bugs Epidemic in the United States" published Entomology, Ornithology & Herpetology: Current Research, noted that "the reason for this resurgence of bed bugs is the less use of pesticides and the international immigration where foreign people carry bed bugs with them into the country." It also relates "that immigrants and guest workers play a significant role in transmitting bed bugs. This is clear especially in some large cities where people translocate frequently and occupy a place briefly such as hotels or motels. New York, California, and Florida have the highest rates of bed bugs’ infestation. These states have also higher rates of immigrants and frequent transportation rates."

The Issue of Afrikaner Refugees

Although Trump has generally cracked down on accepting refugees there is one notable exception: on February 7, 2025, President Trump issued an executive order stopping the provision of aid or assistance to South Africa, and that the United States "shall promote the resettlement of Afrikaner refugees escaping government-sponsored race-based discrimination, including racially discriminatory property confiscation." A couple videos that go into more detail on the issues facing Afrikaners and white South Africans more generally:

 VIDEO: "The Truth about White South African Refugees"
serpentza (17 min.)

VIDEO: "Why White People in South Africa Deserve to Suffer"
serpentza (24 min.)

Another Asteroid 2024 YR4 Update

 Some new information on 2024 YR4. Notwithstanding Michael Moore's caterwauling that some deported illegal alien might have saved us from the asteroid hitting the Earth in 2032, NASA still believes that the odds of it impacting the Earth is only 0.0017%, while the ESA puts it at  0.001%. In other words, its not going to hit the Earth. 

    What has increased, though, are the odds of it striking the Moon. NASA now places those odds at 1.7%.

The Curse Noah Laid On Ham's Son Canaan

This video is from a religious scholar named Dan McClellan who very much hews to what I presume to be standard or widely accepted academic positions on the translation or interpretation of biblical texts. Meaning that you probably won't agree with him on many things--I don't. 

    I believe this video, though, is genuinely helpful in understanding the strange occurrence where Ham saw Noah naked and thereafter, when Noah learned about it, cursed Ham's son. McClellan does not believe that there was anything licentious about the occurrence, and discusses how the text does not support such a conclusion. Rather, Ham (or, McClellan proposes, Canaan) saw Noah naked and rather than cover him with a sheet or blanket, went out to his brothers and basically tattled or made fun of Noah, whereas the other two brothers showed respect for their father. In other words, it was an issue of respect and honor.

VIDEO: "What Did Ham Do to His Father Noah in Genesis 9:20–27?"
Dan McClellan (13 min.)

Germans Voted For The Status Quo

In my Monday post about the German elections, I concluded that the results demonstrated "more of the same Euro-technocratic managed decline and Islamification of the country." Ace of Spades seems to confirm my take, writing:

    The fake "center right" party won the election. They made noises about cracking down on illegal immigration, but, as you can see in the video below the fold, their leader and the next German PM vows that "no one is talking about closing the borders."

    The "far right" party, AfD or Alternative for Germany, came in a strong second at 20%, receiving its highest vote share ever, will have... zero participation in the new government.
    
    That's because the CDU vowed to not form a government with the "far right" (they're far right because they oppose unlimited eternal mass migration from the third world) AfD.

    The "Center right" party, the Christian Democrat Union or CDU, is the party of Andrea Merkel, whose "Wilkomen" policy of allowing mass migration without even the most basic vetting has plunged Germany into crisis.

    Note that they do not have a majority of the seats in Parliament, or the Bund I guess the huns call it, so that means they will have to form an alliance with another party to secure a majority and form a government.

    Because the CDU abides by the "cordon sanitaire" or "firewall" policy that all the Euro Regime countries do, refusing to form governments with any party that's "far right" (again, meaning "against unlimited mass migration from Islamic countries"), that means that this "center right" party will form a coalition government with... either the German Socialist Party and/or the German Green Party, who are themselves big champions of unlimited third-world mass migration. 

In Europe, even the "center right" or "conservatives" are socialists.

Gun & Prepping News #21

 Just some articles that caught my attention for one reason or another: 

• First up, don't forget to visit Active Response Training's website for the Weekend Knowledge Dump from this past weekend.  Lots of great linkage including Greg Ellifritz's thoughts on different brands of pepper spray, a review of a knife using a G10 blade (i.e., non-metallic), a comparison between M855 and M193 5.56 ammo, the best shotgun ammo for home defense, an article on mounting standards for red dot sights (including the different "footprints"), and more. I will note as to the latter article that you need to read the fine print before you purchase a red-dot because even if a red-dot is listed as working with a particular footprint, it may use an adapter plate to do so. 
• Speaking of red dot pistol optics: "Burris FastFire C Pistol Optic"--Guns Magazine. It uses an RMSc footprint, and the MSRP is $276. 
• And speaking of defensive shotgun ammo: "Federal’s Flite Control vs. Hornady’s Versa-Tite"--That Shotgun Blog. You might think that because Hornady uses virtually the same shotgun wad as Federal, you would get similar patterning, but that isn't the case:

The Hornady load, even though it has the same basic wad design, does not shoot nearly as tight as the Federal Flite Control. I think this is largely due to using standard lead pellets, a higher muzzle velocity, and lack of buffer material. Even though the wads of both loads probably fall off the payload at about the same distance, odds are the Hornady pellets have more deformation than the Federal pellets. This causes more fliers, and explains the uneven pattern density. 

On the other hand, "Federal uses a copper plated shot and fine buffering material to keep the shot from deforming when it is accelerated down the barrel of the shotgun."

• "UPDATED: A Deep Dive into Cases Where Civilians Stopped Active Shooters. Did they accidentally shoot bystanders, get in the way of police, get their gun taken away, or create other problems? How does it compare to police who stopped these attacks?"--Crime Research.  Key bits:

    ... During the ten years from 2014 to 2023, there were 180 active shooting cases (as defined by the FBI) where a concealed handgun permit holder stopped an active shooting attack. We decided to do a deep dive to see how many cases there were out of those 180 cases where a concealed handgun permit holder accidentally shot a bystander (one case, 0.56%), got in the way of police (zero cases, 0.0%), had the handgun taken away (one case, 0.56%), and got themselves killed (two cases, 1.1%). What was more common were cases where the permit holder was injured in saving the lives of others (44 cases, 24%). Fifty-eight of those cases were instances where a mass public shooting was likely prevented. ....

    While civilians with concealed handgun permits stopped 51.5% of the active shootings in non-gun-free zones, police stopped 44.6% of the cases (124 arrested or killed by police, 32 committed suicide when police arrived = 156/350 = 44.57%). Interestingly, police officers were much more likely to lose their lives or be wounded in stopping these attacks than armed civilians. Twenty-seven officers were killed in 19 attacks (7.7% and 5.4%, respectively). That is 5.94 times the rate that permit holders were killed. One hundred officers were wounded in 48 attacks (28.6% and 13.7%, respectively). That rate is 17% higher than for civilians. In four cases, the police shot and killed the wrong person — twice they accidentally shot fellow police officers (Prince George’s County Police Department District 3 Station on March 13, 2016 and Borderline Bar and Grill on November 7, 2018) and twice they accidentally shot civilians (Galleria Mall in Hoover, Alabama on Nov. 23, 2018 and Highlands Ranch, Colorado on May 7, 2019). The bottom line is that the rate of police shooting the wrong person is very low, though it is slightly more than twice the rate that civilians shoot a bystander (1.14% versus 0.56%). The police accidentally shot other police officers at very slight higher than the rate that civilians shot bystanders.

• "The Pros and Cons of Cross Draw Carry"--Galco Blog. An excerpt:

    In a variety of situations, cross draw is much more comfortable than a strong-side hip holster. Reaching across the torso is easier when seated than reaching for the strong-side hip.

    Bodyguards, long-distance drivers, people who use wheelchairs, and anyone else who spends a good amount of time sitting may prefer cross draw to other holstering methods.

    Outdoorsmen and hunters may prefer the crossdraw position because it keeps the handgun clear of other gear like pack straps and rifle stocks.

    Older shooters who have joint problems often also like crossdraw holsters, because of the lesser shoulder rotation required to draw compared to a strongside holster.

While there are benefits, be sure to also consider the downsides discussed in the article. I've used crossdraw and have liked it. But it is a method for an untucked shirt, a sweater, or a closed jacket.

• "SPECTRE’s Vega IB333: One Year Review"--Commando Bond. This is a somewhat different blog on concealed carry and EDC in that the author has modeled his EDC equipment and practices off of the James Bond films. In this particular post, he reviews a soft suede leather IWB holster apparently manufactured (at least at one time) by Vega, and which was used by Daniel Craig's version of James Bond in a few movies. It's rare to see long term product reviews, but the author notes after a year of wearing this holster it seems to have held up pretty well and is generally comfortable, although he is not a fan of the plastic clip. However, I noticed in a subsequent post that he switched to a Kydex holster that he wrapped in suede to make it look like this holster but would not have issues with the mouth collapsing when trying to reholster.
• "GLOCK 43X Handgun, Maximum Concealment & It Shoots – Review"--Ammo Land. Apparently a reprint of an article originally published in 2019. The reviewer gave the 43X high marks. Of course, at the time of the review only 10-round single stack magazines were available. There are now some third-party 1.5 stack magazines available that boost capacity to 15 rounds, including the PSA Dagger Micro 9mm 15 Round Magazine which has the advantage over its competitor of not needing a different magazine catch installed. 
• "Colt Python 2.5 Inch – Cadillac Of Snubs"--Guns America Blog. An excerpt:

Range time with the new Python was a lot of fun. Given that it weighs 35 oz., it soaked up the recoil of the .38 Special rounds with ease. Magnums were another story! Unlike the previous models, the new 2.5” Python comes with service stocks that follow the contour of the frame. These were too small for my hands, and when shooting, my middle finger knuckle took a beating against the back of the trigger guard. I reached out to my friend, John Harrison, who was kind enough to loan me an original Tyler T-Grip adaptor.  

The author also carried out some gel tests of different ammo. As between Hornady’s Critical Defense 125 gr. FTX and Critical Duty 135 gr. Flex Lox, both in .357 Magnum, the Critical Duty round performed better, with the nose of the Critical Duty projectile collapsing in on itself. As between the Hornady Critical Defense 110 FTX load and Federal’s 120 gr. +P Punch JHP, both in .38 Special, the Punch had more expansion.

• "Open Carry v. Doofus Carry"--Tactical Wire. An analysis of a recent video that made the rounds of the internet showing someone that openly carried a pistol in the back pocket of his jeans; and who, of course, had it promptly snatched away.
  
• "How Has ATF Weaponized Its Facial Recognition Capability Against Lawful Gun Owners?"--Shooting News Weekly.  

This major revelation [the use of an ATF facial recognition data base to quickly identify Thomas Matthew Crooks] follows years of speculation that the ATF has been expanding its surveillance infrastructure well beyond its intended role.

•     In 2023, leaked documents exposed that the ATF was working with state and local governments to deploy facial recognition at gun stores, shooting ranges, and firearm-related events.
•     The FBI has also admitted to using facial recognition on concealed carry permit holders in multiple states—often without a warrant.
•     The ATF’s “Zero-Tolerance” policy against gun stores has resulted in thousands of gun dealers losing their licenses—often for minor paperwork errors—further consolidating government control over firearm transactions.

This means law-abiding citizens exercising their constitutional rights may be secretly added to watchlists—without probable cause or due process.

• "Historic Pocket Pistols: The World’s First Concealed Carry Firearms"--Outdoor Life.  A look at some early pocket pistols (keeping in mind that coat pockets were often more capacious than now) such as the Queen Ann's flintlock pistol, the Henry Deringer percussion cap pistol, the later Derringer pistols, and the early Browning semiautomatic pocket pistols; as well as early regulations on pistols and concealed firearms.
• "The Horror of Cow Attacks: ‘I Told My Husband to Leave Me to Die’"--The Guardian (via Get Pocket). This may be more of an issue in the UK which apparently has laws allowing hikers to traverse privately owned fields. In any event, it clearly dispels the notion that just because an animal is "domesticated" and an herbivore, it is not dangerous. I haven't had any issues when I've come across grazing cattle (knock on wood) but I definitely keep a weather eye out for any issues if they are nearby. Unfortunately, whether its out of curiosity or their associating it with people, cattle seem drawn to gun fire; or, at least, they do not seem afraid of it. I have, on occasion, had to move to a different target shooting location because of cattle wondering too near. 
• "The 5 Best Portable Power Stations of 2025"--Popular Mechanics. The author notes:

    While gas generators are useful, especially as full backup power for your home, but portable power stations are often the more convenient, more portable option. These large generator-sized batteries are more versatile and have a lot to offer: For starters, they're quieter. If you are hosting a party or tailgating, the noise of a gas engine won't drown out the conversation and music around you. Or if you're recharging essential electronics at night while camping, a quieter environment obviously makes for easier sleeping.

    You can also run a power station indoors, unlike a gas- or propane-powered portable generator. If you are trying to power a small appliance in your house during an outage, you can plop the power station right next to it. 

• "Pro Tips For Your Car Camping Adventure"--Country Living (via Get Pocket). From the article:

While regular camping is more common, car camping in your SUV has been trending now more than ever. During the pandemic, people made more summer travel plans around road trips as they avoided airplanes to flatten the curve. If you’re planning a road trip, consider car camping. Benefits include saving time (you’re not pitching a tent at every stop), avoiding hotel rooms, and being able to store your belongings right in your car. If you’re experienced or if it’s your first time, here’s what you should know before you go on a car camping adventure.  

The author then discusses some tips on selecting a vehicle to use, recommends sleeping with your head toward the front of the car, goes over a list of essentials to bring, taking advantage of the car carrying everything to pack a more comfortable bed, cracking windows at night for ventilation (as well as tips for keeping the bugs out when you do), and more.

• "Pemmican Recipe: How to Make This Nutrient-Dense Trail Food"--Outdoor Life. Some background on Pemmican, how to make it (including different ingredients you can use), etc.
• "Article 94"--Dive Medic. Some rumors and thoughts about possible coup discussions among top military brass prior to Trump's inauguration and applicable portions of the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
• "What would REALLY happen if Russia nuked Britain and the US. DEEP DIVE"--Daily Mail. Fairly in-depth look at one possible nuclear attack scenario. Sort of like a big infographic with information on the submarines, missiles, etc., as well as how Russia could sneak its submarines from port to a launch location, how the attack might be carried out, how Britain (or the U.S.) might react or try to defend itself, how the President would be saved, the alert and advice that would go out to civilians, and a bit on the aftermath. 
• "Flu is out of control in the United States: Could a long-term immunosuppressive effect of repeated mRNA Covid shots be part of the reason? Don't expect the media to ask"--Unreported Truths.

    Most people do not know that the “m” in mRNA Covid jabs doesn’t really stand for “messenger.” It stands for “modified,” because the RNA in the jabs is not identical to the RNA in nature.

    mRNA is a thread of four types of “nucleotides,” simple carbon-based molecules linked in a long chain. But the mRNA in Covid shots contains a slightly different kind of nucleotide, one that tamps down our immune systems and makes them less likely to recognize the vaccine as a foreign body and attack it.

* * *

    But even after the clinical trials of mRNA Covid shots in 2020, which covered more than 70,000 people, we had no way of knowing if the downregulation that the shots produce might somehow in the long run lead our immune systems to be less aggressive against other foreign invaders, such as flu. How could we? We effectively ended the trials in early 2021 by giving mRNA shots to almost everyone who had received the placebo in the trials.

    Nor could we know if giving people a third, fourth, fifth, or even more “booster” mRNA Covid shots might cause immune dysregulation in ways that the first two shots did not. How could we? The companies ran much smaller and shorter trials on the third shot and have barely run any on subsequent boosters.

    What we do know now is that mRNA shots cause an unexpected shift towards a less effective form of antibodies against Covid in people who have received at least three.

Kathleen Kennedy: Mission Accomplished

For those who don't know, Kathleen Kennedy has headed Lucas Film and the Star Wars franchise since Disney acquired the company and the IP from George Lucas. But if one were to argue that her sole mission has been to destroy the Star Wars brand, you would be hard pressed to find evidence otherwise. Kenney has pushed the whole "the Force is Female" project, while supporting projects whose primary purpose seems to alienate fans. Some of her infamous acts include:

• Her assertion that "the Force is Female"--that is, that male characters and male fans were no longer welcome. Something echoed by other producers, directors, and actors and actresses in the franchise.
• Killing off or emasculating popular male characters: turning Han Solo into a dead beat dad before he was killed by his estranged emo son; revealing that Luke Skywalker had also become a bitter, selfish old man before killing him off; turning the Mandalorian into a secondary character in his own show; making Obi Wan Kenobe into an incompetent and coward who was outclassed by little-girl Princess Lea; and killing off the entire Skywalker line.
• Firing Gina Carano--a very popular actress in the Mandoloria series--because, while the force may be female, that doesn't include conservative females.
• And an endless stream of Mary Sue/girl boss characters.

     The most recent abomination to come from the Star Wars franchise was the streaming series The Acolyte--one of Kennedy's pet projects that dialed the DEI to eleven--and wound up with an audience score of only 19% on Rotten Tomatoes. Which, when you consider the weighting and bias in favor of a film or show, is the equivalent of 0. Other projects outside of the Star Wars franchise have also flopped under her leadership. For instance, the streaming series Willow was so bad that Disney pulled it from its catalogue so no one can ever see it again. And she produced Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny which bombed at the box office, losing $134 million (although even this figure probably understates the full amount of the loss suffered by Disney).

    But now, after Musk said mean things about her turning the Star Wars franchise woke, Kennedy has announced that she will step down later this year and retire. The article relates:

    Elon Musk had last year attacked the Lucasfilm boss for pushing what he called a 'woke' agenda in The Acolyte.

    Kennedy acknowledged the criticism of Star Wars' direction in November, telling the New York Times that 'women who step into Star Wars struggle' with the expectation.

    'Because of the fan base being so male-dominated, they sometimes get attacked in ways that can be quite personal,' she said. 

     'My belief is that storytelling does need to be representative of all people. That's an easy decision for me.'

And it shows by the destruction of the legacy white male heroes and the lack of any new white male heroes. 

    But she won't be exiting without leaving at least one more turd. According to the article, Lucasfilm is will be releasing a new Star Wars film entitled Star Wars: New Jedi Order which "is set after the most recent Star Wars sequel, 2019's The Rise of Skywalker, and will be centered on Daisy Ridley's character Rey." 

    Two-time Oscar winner Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, set to become the first woman and person of color to direct a feature film for the franchise, doubled down on the franchise's direction, saying it was 'about time' a woman shaped a Star Wars film.

    'I like to make men uncomfortable. I enjoy making men uncomfortable,' she said during a panel, which she participated in after winning the Oscar for a documentary about acid attacks against Pakistani women.

    'It is important to be able to look into the eyes of a man and say, I am here, and recognize that, and recognize that I am working to bring something that makes you uncomfortable, and it should make you uncomfortable,' she added.

It shouldn't be hard to predict how this will turn out: Obaid-Chinoy directed three episodes of the 2022 Ms. Marvel series which fared poorly on Disney+ and when introduced on ABC, was a "huge failure for network TV and suffered the worst ratings in the timeslot and the worst ratings of any Marvel show on ABC."

The Diversity Report #20

 A selection of articles showcasing the benefits of diversity, equity and inclusion: 

• "Deport Them All. The Immigration Consensus Collapses Across the West"--Elizabeth Nickson. The author begins:

    There has been no greater betrayal than that of our priest class, which is to say our so-called knowledge elite and public servants. They sold us down the river. And far too many got very very rich while doing nothing but sleazy paperwork. The depth of the theft, its reach, the numbers paid off, the mechanism of the bribes, have not been plumbed. But without doubt, the quickest route to wealth for the ungifted is public service.  

    Trump is right about Canada. At this point the country’s security has been so corrupted by its immigration policy, that China and the CCP are generally recognized as the most powerful influence in the country. Our west coast is now a staging ground into the U.S. for Triad and Cartel crime, human trafficking, meth and fentanyl. Vancouver and Toronto are the principal money laundering centres in North America. As detailed in the linked interview above and this piece by Sam Cooper — the acknowledged (by the police) expert on CCP and fentanyl — we export enough fentanyl in one month to kill every American. CCP influence and funding is tied to the Prime Minster’s office, and China’s United Front is behind Mark Carney’s campaign.

    This, below, is 100% caused by politicians and the CCP.

• Diversity is France's strength: "Algerian Migrant on Terror Watch List Arrested as Suspected Islamist Mass Stabbing in France Leaves One Dead, Several Injured"--Breitbart. 
• More: "Rampaging knifeman kills one and leaves police officers seriously injured in France horror - as Macron says there is 'no doubt' it was terrorism"--Daily Mail. 
  
• Diversity is Germany's strength: "Chechen Migrant Arrested Over Plot to Attack Israeli Embassy in Berlin"--Breitbart. 
• Germany welcomes refugees: "‘Plan to Kill Jews’ — Syrian Asylum Seeker Arrested After Tourist Stabbed Near Berlin Holocaust Memorial"--Breitbart. 
• The UK only likes certain types of diversity: "UK Quran Burner in Jail as His Stabber Is Released on Bail"--PJ Media.  
• And Austria enjoys some diversity: "Syrian asylum seeker was 'laughing' as he stabbed 14-year-old boy to death and knifed several others in Austrian rampage before hero bravely mowed him down - as Elon Musk slams European leaders for latest 'Islamist' attack"--Daily Mail.
  
• "Trump signs most explosive executive order yet as he pulls all federal funding to illegal migrants"--Daily Mail. 

    The order directs federal department and agencies to identify and end all federally funded programs currently providing any financial benefits to illegal immigrants.

    'It ensures that Federal funds to states and localities will not be used to support "sanctuary" policies or assist illegal immigration,' according to a White House fact sheet about the order.  

    The order also includes a mandate to improve benefit eligibility verification to make sure benefits are not going to immigrants in the US illegally.

• Not everyone is happy with this: "Catholic Bishops Sue Trump for Cutting Migrant Welfare Funding"--Breitbart.

    The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) sued the Trump administration Wednesday over the loss of tens of millions in federal funding for its services for illegal migrants.

    The Catholic organization claims its loss of millions in U.S. taxpayer dollars is a violation of the Refugee Act of 1980, Fox News reported. 

 

    “For decades, the US government has chosen to admit refugees and outsourced its statutory responsibility to provide those refugees with resettlement assistance to non-profit organizations like USCCB,” the lawsuit alleges.

    “But now, after refugees have arrived and been placed in USCCB’s care, the government is attempting to pull the rug out from under USCCB’s programs by halting funding,” the suit adds.

    The filing goes on to insist that Trump does not have the authority to choke off aid that was approved by Congress.

• "Notorious migrant hotel that cost Americans $220million will be empty 'within months'"--Daily Mail. Nothing to see here: "The Roosevelt Hotel shelter has cost the American taxpayer $220 million - after the city signed a three-year contract in 2023 with owners Pakistan International Airlines to generate the eye-watering sum, reports Fox Business." Amazing what cutting off FEMA funding is able to do.
  
• "DOGE NEWS- Department of Government Efficiency on X: "🚨BREAKING: Whistleblower reveals she was encouraged to approve long-term disability for illegals, essentially securing lifetime Social Security benefits for each approval." I have a friend whose mother had worked at a Social Security office in California in the 1980s and '90s who basically said the same thing: immigrants would get off the boat or plane and immediately head to the Social Security office to claim benefits.
• "HHS splurged more than $22B on grants for migrants — including cash for cars, home loans and startups"--New York Post.
  
• "Rally held on Saturday in support of Idaho's Hispanic community amid rising tensions"--KIVI. And to show how assimilated they are, the protestors had a Mexican flag front and center. Only 50 people at the rally. 
• "Antifa uses anti-ICE protests to recruit, radicalize new members in Oregon"--Post Millennial.
  
• "Honduran migrant charged with drugging, sexually assaulting woman at NJ eatery is held on ICE warrant"--New York Post.
• "Trans migrant charged with raping 14-year-old boy in NYC bathroom"--New York Post. 
• "Chilean migrants charged in $2 million burglary spree targeting Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, star athletes"--New York Post.
  
• "Ilhan Omar DID marry her brother and said she would 'do what she had to do to get him "papers" to keep him in U.S.', reveals Somali community leader"--Daily Mail.
  
• "Skyrocketing healthcare budget for illegal immigrants haunts blue state taxpayers"--Fox News.  The key part: "Guadalupe Manriquez, the California Department of Finance program budget manager, told the state Assembly Budget Committee Monday the state is 'spending $9.5 billion total funds' to 'cover undocumented individuals in Medi-Cal' in the current year."
• More: "Fire-Ravaged California Spending Nearly $10 Billion on Health Care for Illegal Aliens"--Breitbart.
  
• "ICE Raids Donut Shop near Texas Border — Arrest Owners for Harboring Aliens"--Breitbart. The article reports that "U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and agents arrested the owners of a donut shop after finding eight illegal aliens working in the business. The owners of Abby’s Bakery in Los Fresnos, Texas, allegedly admitted to investigators they knew the migrants were unlawfully present in the United States." I would think that farms would be easy pickings for these types of raids.
• "Texas CBP officer arrested for human smuggling was allegedly moonlighting as member of Mexican drug cartel"--New York Post. "CBP Officer Manuel Perez Jr., a 32-year-old US citizen originally from California, is allegedly a member of the La Linea, more commonly known as the Juárez drug cartel, investigators said during his arraignment hearing last Thursday," the article reports.
• "Revealed: The astonishing secrets of the cartel people smugglers. Corrupt US border officers, how they REALLY smuggle 'customers' across the border - and why Trump is GOOD for the business"--Daily Mail.  An excerpt:

    As the Mexican trafficker, nicknamed Memo, told me this week when spilling the secrets of a business that has made him very wealthy, the first part of his plan went smoothly.

    Alerted by a contact that two illegals would be landing at a nearby airport, he had collected them in his inconspicuously battered saloon car and given them falsified passports that had belonged to dead US citizens.

    Then they had waited for a text from one of two corrupt US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers who, so Memo claims, collude with him.

    He says this bent agent, stationed at the immigration desk, can manoeuvre a facial recognition camera in the middle of the bridge, where the two countries meet, so that Memo and his charges are not filmed.

    ‘My guy can only do this for 10 or 20 seconds, so if he says you must pass by the camera at 10.30, it must be exactly 10.30, not 10.29 or 10.31,’ he rasps, a burly hustler straight from central casting with his crude humour, peaked leather cap, and shades.

    When they reached passport control, another of the officers with whom Memo is ‘friendly’ waved them through, without checking their documents.

    Now they were in El Paso. The final hurdle was to pass one of several internal immigration checkpoints on a highway inside the US.

    Memo drove them there in a waiting rental car (stopping off for a McDonald’s) where, he claims, he placed them in the charge of a second corrupt CBP agent in his pay.

    This man had fixed their transport to a small airport in Albuquerque, New Mexico, from which they vanished to who knows where, beginning their new life among the United States’s estimated 11.7 million illegal aliens.

    After escorting his customers across the border, Memo usually returns to Mexico the same day, nodded back through immigration by his co-operative American amigos. Last weekend, though, he says he was tipped off that they had been replaced by zealous new CBP officers likely to make rigorous checks.

    The word was, Memo says, that these ‘untouchables’ had been sent because, in a sector of the border where an astonishing 427,000 illegals crossed into the US in 2023, the old guard were failing to meet Trump’s target of turning back 1,000 every day.

• "REPORT: 80-90% Illegal Venezuelans at Hyundai Plant, Is This Why Kemp, Carr, Burns and General Assembly Turned A Deaf Ear to Videos of Illegal Aliens Being Trafficked Through Hartsfield Airport?"--Georgia Record.
  
• Going after the Indian companies: "Trump’s EEOC Chief Threatens Civil Rights Lawsuits Amid H-1B Hiring"--Breitbart. 

Companies that prefer migrants and H-1B visa workers over Americans will face federal investigations and discrimination lawsuits, says Andrea Lucas, who President Donald Trump picked to serve as acting chair of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

• "Former Staffers Say India’s Biggest IT Firm Was Gaming the US Visa System"--Bloomberg. 

Although studies have shown immigration has been a net positive for the US economy and for government budgets, Kini’s story along with allegations in the other lawsuits, internal company documents, emails and federal data obtained by Bloomberg, suggest TCS has used L-1A manager visas in ways that echo Trump’s earlier concerns about undercutting American workers. The data, which is previously unreported, shows that the number of L-1A approvals the company has received far exceeds the number of managers it disclosed employing in mandatory federal reports to the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. It also shows that TCS, which works with some of the largest US tech companies, has obtained far more manager visas than any other employer in recent years. 

 

Per the article, "[t]he manager visas, known as L-1As, are easier for employers to obtain and have fewer guardrails; for example, they lack even the minimal pay requirements that Congress has imposed for H-1B holders."

• "Mexican President Pushes Changes to Constitution to Protect Cartels from U.S. Government"--Breitbart. I've said it before and I will say it again: Mexico has essentially been at war with the United States since the mid-1800s. From this article:

 Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum filed a controversial series of changes to the country’s constitution that would essentially block any investigation or action by foreign law enforcement agencies without their permission. The provisions could enable Mexico to criminally pursue anyone involved in those investigations. The changes come after the United States designated six Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations and announced the intent to eradicate them.

• Related: "Mexico’s President Threatens More Lawsuits Against U.S. Gunmakers if Cartels Designated as Terrorist Groups"--Breitbart.
  
• "Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers Supports Bill Replacing ‘Mother’ with ‘Inseminated Person’"--Breitbart.
• "Urgent hunt for murdered fire captain's WIFE as cops reveal chilling new crime scene details"--Daily Mail.  "The wife of California Fire Captain Rebecca Marodi has been identified has a suspect in her murder." The wife's name is Yolanda Marodi nee Olenjniczak, and she apparently has a history of killing people, having "previously been guilty of felony voluntary manslaughter charges after she killed someone in 2000."
• Related: "When Intimate Partner Violence Meets Same Sex Couples: A Review of Same Sex Intimate Partner Violence"--Frontiers in Psychology. Intimate partner violence (IPV) is higher among the LGBTQ than normal people: 

Life-time prevalence of IPV in LGB couples appeared to be similar to or higher than in heterosexual ones: 61.1% of bisexual women, 43.8% of lesbian women, 37.3% of bisexual men, and 26.0% of homosexual men experienced IPV during their life, while 5.0% of heterosexual women and 29.0% of heterosexual men experienced IPV. When episodes of severe violence were considered, prevalence was similar or higher for LGB adults (bisexual women: 49.3%; lesbian women: 29.4%; homosexual men: 16.4%) compared to heterosexual adults (heterosexual women: 23.6%; heterosexual men: 13.9%)

• Tax dollars shouldn't be for hate speech: "Education Department Slashes $600 Million In Funding For ‘Social Justice Activism’ Teacher Training"--The Federalist.  

    The U.S. Department of Education announced Monday it cut over $600 million in grants spent on training teachers in “social justice activism,” critical race theory, and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) ideology.

    The grants were used to fund institutions and nonprofits involved in training teachers on concepts like “anti-racism” and claims about white privilege and white supremacy. The grants also helped fund discriminatory staff recruiting strategies that targeted candidates based on their race.

• DEI in action: "Former Marvel exec claims ex-Disney boss denied him promotion because he was ‘another old white guy’: lawsuit"--New York Post. Per the article, "Instead, the job was given to a woman of 'ambiguous ethnicity' after Perlmutter allegedly told Steffens that the company couldn’t award the position to 'another old white guy,' the complaint said."
• What life is like in a low trust society: "Social media erupts after McDonald's goes to extreme measures to stop crime"--Daily Mail.  A McDonald's franchise in Brooklyn has banned anyone under the age of 20 from entering the store unless accompanied by a parent or guardian. The restaurant "took the drastic move this week, after kids wearing ski masks attacked a security guard and broke a glass door." The manager, who herself is only 19, told reporters that "every day she works there, some 15 to 20 teens 'trash the store'," including attacking customers and stealing food from delivery drivers.
• "Ebola virus panic in NYC after multiple suspected cases spark emergency response"--Daily Mail. 

    Officials suspected they may have Ebola infections because the patients had recently traveled from Uganda where there is a current outbreak of the disease, according to the New York Post.

    FDNY confirmed that the patients were taken to Bellevue Hospital where Department of Health officials determined they did not have Ebola.

Odds Of 2024 YR4 Asteroid Striking Earth Drops To Near Zero

 From a 1 in 32 chance last week, "[a]ccording to NASA's Sentry impact monitoring system, the odds of the asteroid hitting Earth on December 22, 2032, are now just one in 26,000." Or 0.0039%. More observations allowed scientists to better predict its path.

The German Elections

 Germany held its elections and preliminary results are in. According to Deutsche Welle, "preliminary results show the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) led by chancellor candidate Friedrich Merz and its sister Christian Social Union (CSU) won the election," with "[t]he far-right [sic] Alternative for Germany (AfD) was projected to finish second." 

    The big winner of the election in terms of voter gains was the right-wing populist AfD, which nearly doubled its vote share.

    The center-left Social Democrats (SPD), led by current Chancellor Olaf Scholz, recorded not only its worst result in a federal election but also its largest loss of votes compared to previous elections.

    The neoliberal Free Democratic Party (FDP), whose withdrawal from the coalition triggered the snap election, also suffered heavy losses. The party won't enter the Bundestag after failing to meet the 5% threshold.

But the CDU/CSU did not win enough seats to hold a majority in the Bundestag and will have to form a coalition with another party. Per the article, however, "[t]he CDU has ruled out a coalition with the AfD, insisting that it is the 'firewall' to the far right. That leaves a two-way grand coalition with the SPD or a three-way coalition that includes the Greens as the most likely options, depending on the final seat distribution." Or as I would term it, cutting off their nose to spite their face.

    As for the CDU and what it portends, the BBC reports that "Merz, 69, has never held a ministerial job, but he has promised if he becomes the next German chancellor to show leadership in Europe and beef up support for Ukraine." The article also indicates that "Friedrich Merz's first priority will be to try to form a coalition made up of his Christian Democrats (and their Bavarian sister party, the CSU) and Scholz's centre left, despite the Social Democrats' worst-ever showing of 16.4%." 

    Merz's victory was quickly welcomed by leaders across much of Europe. France's Emmanuel Macron spoke of uniting at a time of uncertainty to "face the major challenges of the world and our continent", while the UK's Sir Keir Starmer sought to "enhance our joint security and deliver growth for both our countries".

    Friedrich Merz's Christian Democrats continue to rely on older voters for their success, while voters aged 18-24 appear to be far more interested in both the AfD and another party, the Left, which surged in the polls in recent weeks. 

In other words, more of the same Euro-technocratic managed decline and Islamification of the country.

Democrats Are So Cute Thinking Nothing Has Changed

I'm just kidding: they are just as ugly and evil as before. But it is amusing to see how some still do not understand what has happened. Case in point: Maine's Democratic Governor Janet Mills got into a war of words with President Trump over Maine's refusal to block biological males from competing in women's sports after Trump threatened to cut off federal funds to the state. Maine's response, according to the Daily Mail, was one of defiance.

    In a Friday statement, Mills said her state 'will not be intimidated by the president's threats.'

    'If the president attempts to unilaterally deprive Maine school children of the benefit of federal funding, my administration and the attorney general will take all appropriate and necessary legal action to restore that funding and the academic opportunity it provides,' she said, Maine Morning Star reported.

    The state's AG said any funding linkage would be 'illegal and in direct violation of federal court orders.'

    'Fortunately, the rule of law still applies in this country, and I will do everything in my power to defend Maine's laws and block efforts by the president to bully and threaten us,' AG Aaron Frey said, calling it 'disturbing that President Trump would use children as pawns in advancing his political agenda.'

It's true that the President Trump might not be able to cut off all funding to the state, but that doesn't mean that the federal government can't pull some of the funding.

    As I've noted before, what the federal government can't accomplish directly, it often can accomplish indirectly through provision of federal funds which, always, come with strings attached. It is a carrot and stick approach to financing. As eloquently explained in this essay on "Fiscal Federalism":

    ...  The national government’s primary means of influencing state governments is giving money to states in the form of grants-in-aid. Grants-in-aid have a long history in the United States, dating back to the Confederation period. The nation’s leaders originally designed them to help fund agriculture, land grant colleges, and farm-related education. They grew to encompass many other types of funding such as public housing, urban development, and school lunch programs.

    States often need funding from the federal government to implement projects and programs for citizens, but with federal funding comes the requirement of federal regulation. To use a common metaphor, the national government uses the need for fiscal assistance as both a carrot and a stick. The carrot is the federal dollars needed by the state, which come in the form of grants-in-aid. As citizens’ needs expand, the states look to the national government to assist in meeting the financial aspects of fulfilling those needs. The stick comes in the form of regulation and compliance with federal mandates to receive the money or to continue to obtain grants-in-aid. Regulations such as minimum wage, speed limits, and handicap accessibility are examples of “sticks,” or mandates, that states must comply with to receive the national funds.

    States can choose to reject the regulations, but then they reject the funds as well. ...

In the past, Maine probably could have relied on a liberal federal bureaucracy to shield Maine from the use of the "stick" by making sure funds continued to flow. But with the bureaucracy in fear of losing their jobs, this may not be an option.

    What Maine is proposing to do is resort to the courts to force the federal government to continue providing funds. But even here, the traditional paradigm might be breaking down because of the Democrats and Leftists continual use of lawfare and the stick of fiscal federalism. 

    Richard Fernandez writes in his piece entitled "The Arrival of Kash Patel":

It's important to follow the rule "do unto others as you would have them do unto you" before it becomes "do unto others as they did unto you." What prevents justice from degenerating into vengeance is the law. The law theoretically protects all parties in society. To the extent one side burns it down is the extent that they should fear the uninhibited return stroke. 

But, as he explains, what has cut down the laws that would have protected Democrats has been lawfare.

    ... The worst aspect of lawfare is that it undermined the neutrality of the law itself by turning it into a political tool. The activists who promoted lawfare undermined their own protections—and everyone else's. Lawfare occurs when supposedly impartial institutions are deliberately ideologized, infiltrated, and weaponized. Examples abound in "international law" and the open installation of partisan district attorneys. Once trusted, now they are not. The resulting collapse of impartiality leaves only revenge as a tool.

    Everyone is potentially at the mercy of his enemies once his grip on power is lost. ...

Democrats rightly should fear a "return stroke," as Fernandez terms it, because it is long overdue. The Democrats and Leftist used federal regulations, the federal bureaucracy, and the courts, to push their agendas and programs over the objections of not just political opponents but the will of the people. But now the shoe is on the other foot, as the saying goes.

    In the case of the bureaucracy, the Democrats engineered their own loss of control by using the courts to gut the restrictions on removing certain appointees. Back in 2021, newly minted President Biden decided to fire all of Trump's appointees, including those to nonpartisan boards. One of those fired was Sean Spicer, who had been appointed as a member of the Naval Academy Visitor’s Board. 

    ... In September 2021, with only three months left in his Congressionally-defined term, Biden sent Spicer an email notifying him that he’d been fired. He thought, well, that’s that.

    It turned out that Joe Biden made history by firing all Trump’s appointees to nonpartisan service academy boards before their statutory three-year terms ended. It was unprecedented. It had never happened before.

    Then Spicer got a call from America First Legal. They asked him to join a lawsuit intended to force Biden to argue he has the absolute authority to fire anyone in the Executive Branch, including appointees to boards with statutory terms.

    The District Court dismissed the case, interpreting the statute in a way that allowed Biden to fire Spicer despite this three-year term. They appealed. In the meantime, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled, in a parallel case (Severino v. Biden), that a presidential appointee in a similar position was removable at will by the President.

    And it was done.

* * *

    While corporate media was busy calling Biden’s historic 2021 firings a routine housecleaning, President Trump’s legal teams were already laying a legal landscape for his second term. Spicer’s case wasn’t about getting his job back—it was about setting a legal precedent to let Trump clean house on day one of his second term.

    Biden fired Spicer, AFL sued, and the far-left DC courts predictably ruled Biden could fire termed federal employees at will. Now Trump can fire them at will, too.

    And as for Maine? The same regulations that have allowed agencies to force local and state governments to allow transgender males participate in sports formally reserved for girls and women will be used now to force other local and state governments such as Maine to ban transgender males from female sports. It is better than they deserve.

    Keep in mind, however, that notwithstanding the caterwauling of the Left, Trump is not seeking revenge (well, maybe just a little bit) but a return to the center, to moderation. Trump historically was a moderate Democrat. He is truly an example of someone who did not leave the Democrat party, but was left by the Democrat party as it lurched ever leftward. In fact, it would not surprise me if at least half of Trump's base are made up of the type of people that even just 20 years ago would have been Democrat. Trump is the best the Democrats could hope for when the pendulum began to swing the other way. It could have been much worse for the Leftist and their allies.

Zelensky: Ukraine Elections Possible If Impossible Conditions Are Met

 Radio Free Europe reports: "Zelenskiy: Ukraine Elections Possible This Year If Martial Law Ends." That all well and good, but what would it require for Zelenskiy to lift martial law? 

“When it comes to 2025, should we manage to achieve the end of the hot phase of the war for Ukraine; once we manage to achieve it along with a strong army, strong weaponry package, and strong security guarantees, then this [elections] will happen," Zelenskiy said in the interview where he was accompanied by his wife, Olena.

So maybe it will end after the U.S. pumps billions more into Ukraine, its population has recovered enough it can actually have a strong army, and there is a security treaty between Ukraine and the U.S. and/or Europe that allows the Ukrainian tale to wag the Western military dog.

USAID's Cairo Blacksite

 Peter Grant posted an interested thread at his Bayou Renaissance Man blog from a guy that went to see USAID's military like compound in Cairo. In his thread, journalist Larry Taunton decided to visit USAID's facility in Cairo, Egypt. At first, he was allowed inside the compound and finally found the correct entrance (there was no signage), went in, and asked if they were complying with the President's order to shut down. He says it was a dangerous question (without more explanation) and promptly left. The next day, however, he drove passed the compound and his car was stopped by guards who demanded his phone and passport. When Taunton refused they tried to convince his driver to bring the vehicle inside the compound. When that didn't work, they called Egyptian Police who then, in turn, called in the Egyptian National Security Agency who again try to bully him into turning over his passport and telephone. Fortunately, Taunton was able to upload his photographs off his phone and delete them from his phone, before finally having to turn it over to authorities. 

    I understand that terrorism and anti-American sentiment is a danger in Egypt, so perhaps this is just the norm for anyone that takes too much interest in a U.S. government building. Perhaps Taunton is making a mountain out of a molehill. Nevertheless, you have to wonder if the reaction was driven because of Taunton's questioning whether the facility should even still be open and operating.

Science #4

 

Source

Some more "sciency" articles that have caught my attention, some from last year and some more recent:

• "When AI Thinks It Will Lose, It Sometimes Cheats, Study Finds"--Time Magazine. The article reports that advanced AI models like OpenAI’s o1-preview and DeepSeek R1 will, on their own, cheat: "When sensing defeat in a match against a skilled chess bot, they don’t always concede, instead sometimes opting to cheat by hacking their opponent so that the bot automatically forfeits the game." 

The models’ enhanced ability to discover and exploit cybersecurity loopholes may be a direct result of powerful new innovations in AI training, according to the researchers. The o1-preview and R1 AI systems are among the first language models to use large-scale reinforcement learning, a technique that teaches AI not merely to mimic human language by predicting the next word, but to reason through problems using trial and error. It’s an approach that has seen AI progress rapidly in recent months, shattering previous benchmarks in mathematics and computer coding. But the study reveals a concerning trend: as these AI systems learn to problem-solve, they sometimes discover questionable shortcuts and unintended workarounds that their creators never anticipated, says Jeffrey Ladish, executive director at Palisade Research and one of the authors of the study. “As you train models and reinforce them for solving difficult challenges, you train them to be relentless,” he adds. 

Just wait until they are released into the real world.

• "Egypt announces discovery of the lost tomb of King Thutmose II"--CBS News (via Yahoo). 

Egyptian officials announced Tuesday the discovery of the tomb of King Thutmose II, the last of the lost tombs of the kings of ancient Egypt's Eighteenth Dynasty, which reigned for over two centuries between about 1550 BC and 1292 BC. It's the first royal Egyptian tomb to be discovered since King Tutankhamun's final resting place was found in 1922.

The entrance to the structure was discovered in 2022 with interior excavations following. It was initially believed to be the tomb of one of wives of a pharaoh Thutmose III, but "[a]s the excavation work and examination of artifacts continued, the mission found new evidence that identified the owner of the mysterious tomb as King Thutmose II, suggesting also that his burial rites were carried out by Queen Hatshepsut, who was his wife and half-sister." Note that this discovery was of the tomb. During the 21st Dynasty of Egypt, roughly between 1077 BC and 950 BC, priests took the royal bodies from their original tombs to protect them from tomb robbers and relocated them to secret caches near Deir el-Bahri. Thutmose II's mummy was discovered in the 19th Century at the Deir el-Bahari Cachette. 

• "A Bronze Age Family Tree"--Archaeology Magazine.  An excerpt:

The adult women buried in the mound were more genetically diverse than the men, indicating they may have moved to the area—perhaps from different locations—to get married. “Our findings suggest that the people buried at the site were part of a wider mating network, indicating female migration for marriage purposes,” says Blöcher. This may also explain why the men had no sisters buried in the kurgan. These women may have left the settlement at an early age to seek a match.

• "Face of Jesus? AI recreates stunning likeness of Shroud of Turin image that many believe to be Christ"--New York Post. The image was of a man with shoulder length hair, a beard, and wounds on his torso.
• "Scientists make 'astonishing' discovery while studying 7,000-year-old underwater city"--Daily Mail.  

    A 'beautifully preserved' sunken landscape, complete with a network of rivers and estuaries, has been mapped in 3D surrounding a submerged 7,000-year-old city.

    The scanning effort follows last year's discovery of a nearby Stone Age road 13-feet beneath the Adriatic Sea, which once connected this ancient city to the mainland.

    The city, known as Soline, was built on an artificial landmass by the ancient Hvar culture — but began to slowly sink off the coast of what is now Croatia as sea levels rose with the melting glaciers of the last Ice Age, starting around 12,000 BC.

• "Fascinating method ancient humans used to slay enormous beasts 13,000 years ago"--Daily Mail.  From the article:

... a new study indicates ... that early humans may have braced the butt of their pointed spears against the ground and angled the weapon upward in a way that would impale a charging animal such as a mammoth, bison or saber-toothed cat.

• "Archaeologists discover remains of decapitated ‘vampire children,’ believed to be ‘demonic’ beings"--New York Post.  The burials were found in Poland and date from the 13th Century. 
• "A Metal Detectorist Found a Bunch of Ancient Gold Coins. It Turned Out to Be ‘Devil’s Money’"--Popular Mechanics.  

    According to a new study published in Medieval Archaeology, the coins, which sat buried for 1,300 years in the Netherlands, were likely used in cult rituals, and further around the site, archaeologists uncovered the remains of a seventh-century open-air cult site. It’s more than plausible that the cache of coins was what was known as “devil’s money,” coin offerings common at pagan cult sites.

    The metal detectorists made the find near Hezingen, a hamlet near the Netherland’s border with Germany. The coins are from around 700 A.D.—including some rare finds from the mints of the Frankish Empire—and were found along with metal jewelry in 2020 and 2021.

• "What Researchers Learned From the World’s Oldest Cookbook"--Atlas Obscura. Per the article, "[a] set of four cuneiform clay tablets unearthed in what was once Mesopotamia contain the etched ingredient lists for dozens of aromatic stews, pies, and soups. Three of the tablets date back as far as 4,000 years." One of the recipes--for lamb stew--is included in the article. 
• "Mega meteorite tore up seabed and boiled Earth's oceans"--BBC. 

    A huge meteorite first discovered in 2014 caused a tsunami bigger than any in known human history and boiled the oceans, scientists have discovered.

    The space rock, which was 200 times the size of the one that wiped out the dinosaurs, smashed into Earth when our planet was in its infancy three billion years ago.

According to the article, the meteorite was 40-60 km (25-37 miles) in diameter and left a crater 500 km (311 miles) across.

• "Scientists Uncover Ancient Salt Deposits on Asteroid Ryugu – Was There Water?"--SciTech Daily. 

Scientists have uncovered salt minerals in samples from asteroid Ryugu, pointing to a past with liquid water. The presence of these salts suggests that Ryugu’s parent body once hosted a warm, saline environment before the water vanished. This discovery could help us understand the role of water in shaping planets and moons across the Solar System. 

The article reports that "[e]xperts believe the asteroid was once part of a larger parent body that existed about 4.5 billion years ago, shortly after the formation of the solar system. This parent body would have been heated by radioactive decay, creating an environment of hot water below 100°C," and that the salt crystals "could only have precipitated within highly saline water and in conditions with a limited amount of liquid."

• "Why Birds Survived, and Dinosaurs Went Extinct, After an Asteroid Hit Earth"--Smithsonian Magazine (via Get Pocket).  The hypothesis is that beaked birds had an advantage that dinosaurs and teethed birds didn't have:

By the end of the Cretaceous, beaked birds were already eating a much more varied diet than their toothed relatives. These birds weren’t specialized on insects or other animal food, and so they were able to pluck up hard food items like seeds and nuts. And in the aftermath of the extinction, when animal life was severely cut back, those hard, persistent little morsels got beaked birds through the hard times. Beaked birds were able to feed on the seeds of the destroyed forests and wait out the decades until vegetation began to return.

• "Yale scientists link Covid vaccines to alarming new syndrome causing 'distinct biological changes' to body"--Daily Mail. From the lede:

    Experts from Yale University have discovered an alarming syndrome linked to the mRNA Covid vaccines.

    The previously-unknown condition - which has been dubbed 'post-vaccination syndrome' - appears to cause brain fog, dizziness, tinnitus and exercise intolerance.

    Some sufferers also show distinct biological changes, including differences in immune cells and the presence of coronavirus proteins in their blood, years after taking the shot.

    The condition also appears to reawaken a dormant virus in the body called Epstein-Barr which can cause flu-like symptoms, swollen lymph nodes and nerve issues.

• "Dr. Birx Admits Young and Healthy People Didn’t Need COVID Vaccine"--Legal Insurrection. Dr. Deborah Birx has a long history in government health and research agencies, including as part of the White House Coronavirus Task Force from February 2020 to January 2021 where she served as the Covid-19 response coordinator, before leaving government for a plum job in the private sector. While complaining in an interview with Piers Morgan about increased vaccine hesitancy for all types of vaccines, she admitted:

    The messenger RNA vaccine should have been rolled out for the people that were at risk for severe disease because that’s what the vaccine was developed for. But when we say that we’re following the science and the data, we need to follow the science and the data. And the science and the data, said people, primarily over 65, or people with significant comorbidities were at risk for severe disease. Those are the individuals that should have been immunized first, and we should have put our science behind our immunization schedule and protected those most at risk.

    It went into young people in hospitals before it went into our elderly and nursing homes. That is not following the science and the data. So I am all who are following the science and the data, but it shouldn’t just be a statement, it should be a reality.