Immigration: The Gift That Keeps On Giving

The New York Post warns: "Deadly, brain-liquifying fungus is on the rise in the US — and scientists don’t know why." Some items noted in the article:

• "Cladophialophora Bantiana is a dark or black mold and found in soil and decaying matter around the world."
• "C. Bantiana has been thought of in the past as a tropical infection associated with warmer climates and high average humidity — but is now acknowledged to be found worldwide."
• "While the number of cases [in the U.S.] ranged from one to five per year between 2009 to 2023, they rose to eight in 2024 — then jumped to 14 in 2025." According to another report, this represents an approximately fourfold increase from 2023 to 2025 and, per the same report, "[t]he largest numbers of cases originated in California (six), Florida (five), Texas (five), and Pennsylvania (four); the state of origin was unavailable for three cases."
•  "One study showed that C. Bantiana cases similarly jumped in France in 2022 ...."

The article suggests that its appearance in the U.S. and France is due to global warming because global warming causes everything, but the increase in occurrence tracks jumps in illegal immigration under the Biden Regime. And it is notable that illegal immigration into the EU increased dramatically between 2021 and 2022--up 59% according to this report. And, frankly, the ties to immigration--a well known source for the spread of pathogens--seems more likely an explanation than an imaginary climate crisis. 

Life Under The Biden Regime

The New York Post: "Major banks closed accounts of MAGA, pro-life and other conservative groups disfavored by Biden admin: bombshell report." From the lede:

    Major banks closed accounts and refused credit to MAGA merchants, pro-life causes, religious groups, conservative organizations and sectors disfavored by the Biden administration, such as firearms, oil and gas, and private prisons, a bombshell report from the federal banking regulator has found.

    The Debanking Review by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) investigated 100,000 complaints and scrutinized 50,000 internal bank records to reveal how customers were “debanked” based purely on their political, social, or religious beliefs.

    JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citibank, Wells Fargo, U.S. Bank, Capital One, PNC, TD Bank, and BMO Bank were found to have discriminated against American consumers, citing “reputation risk” as a reason to deny service between 2020 and 2025. 

A Sad Reminder Of Hollywood's Hypocrisy

Hollywood types love to lecture the rest of us about needing to be more diverse, caring, inclusive, etc., but then we come across news articles like this--"‘Breaking Bad’ star RJ Mitte claimed Hollywood didn’t want him on screen in heartbreaking texts before death at 34"--and it again reminds us that Leftists are just a bunch of hypocrites.

If you don't know who is RJ Mitte, he played the handicapped son of the character "Walter White" in the show Breaking Bad.  Mitte reportedly took his own life a few days ago. The article relates:

    RJ Mitte was frustrated at having a hard time finding work following his success on “Breaking Bad,” his personal text messages reveal.

    The actor died Monday by suicide, Page Six confirmed. He was 34 years old.

    Mitte, who had cerebral palsy and was a disability rights advocate, said he was facing obstacles from landing meaningful acting gigs in text messages to a close friend obtained by the Daily Mail.

[snip]

    In a text message from April 2022, Mitte wrote, “Looking for interesting stuff to do, getting a lot of scripts where I would be a prop and they don’t want to give any depth, 3 lines if that. I’m writing my own s—t now.”

    The situation didn’t improve four months later, when he wrote, “Just doing animation, no one wants me on screen… it’s annoying as f—k.”

    He also detailed getting overlooked by casting directors because of his disability.

    “When I go for a part, they sometimes tell me that it’s not a character with a disability, and I’m like why can’t the character be disabled?” he wrote in April 2017.

    “They get real uncomfortable when I say that,” he added.

    He also called some casting agents “a—holes” who “won’t even look at me.” 

The Matinicus Rock Light

The New England Folklore blog has a ghost story for us. The author relates:

Matinicus Rock isn't very big (only about 30 acres), but there has been a lighthouse on it since 1827. For many years there were two towers with lights, one each on the north and south ends of the building. When Beck visited only the south light was in use. The north tower had been decommissioned and the door was locked tight.

As the telling goes, Horace Beck--from whose account the article was drawn--had asked about the reason the door was locked and was told that many years prior a lighthouse keeper had hung himself in the north tower and, ever since, his ghost would roam through the tower, but also broke dishes, slammed doors, and caused equipment malfunctions; and that the only way to keep the ghost under control was to keep the door shut and locked. Beck was further told that a few years earlier a Coast Guard officer inspecting the facility had ordered that the door be unlocked, and that night all the lights had failed. After that, the door remained locked at all times. 

Red Cross: "Nuclear Explosion and Radiation Emergencies"

The Red Cross has a page with checklists and advice on surviving a nuclear explosion and subsequent sheltering from fallout: "Nuclear Explosion and Radiation Emergencies." 

Although intended for emergency managers and first responders, you might find the following 105 page FEMA guidance to be interesting: "Nuclear Detonation Response Guidance: Planning for the First 72 Hours."

Clearing The Round Over Bolt Jam

 Those of you running an AR style rifle should find this useful. 

 VIDEO: "Clearing round over the bolt "Death Jam" under 30 seconds."
Modern Tactical Shooting (3 min.)

Soros' County-By-County Invasion Plan

About a week ago, I published a post concerning a "bipartisan" bill called The State-Sponsored Visa Pilot Program Act of 2026 (S. 5197), sponsored by U.S. Senators John Curtis (R-UT) and Mark Kelly (D-AZ). The purpose of the bill was, ostensibly, to make it easier for small businesses, farmers, and ranchers to import cheap foreign labor. But is there more to it than just that? Lawrence Person's Battle Swarm blog discusses "County-By-County Soros Invasion Plans," noting that part of Soros' plan to turn red states into voting Democrat involved  plans to “enable local governments and private entities to sponsor immigrants directly”--which is what it appears Sen. Curtis' and Sen. Kelly's proposed bill would do. 

Israel Becomes Involved In Spying Scandal In Poland

Anonymous Conservative mentioned this in today's news brief.  "Israeli producer had access to data harvested by Poland using Pegasus spyware, say prosecutors"--Notes from Poland. According to the article, in 2017, Poland, under the government of the Law and Justice (PiS) party, purchased Pegasus cell phone spy software from an Israeli company, NSO Group. PiS used the software to spy on Poles, including its political opposition. But it has been discovered that "[d]ata harvested from mobile phones by the Polish authorities using Pegasus spyware were transmitted outside Poland and were accessible to the tool’s Israeli producer, Polish prosecutors have revealed as part of an investigation into the use of Pegasus under the former government." Also:

Prime Minister Donald Tusk says that the case is “one of the biggest scandals in Polish history since the fall of communism”, and that it is “beyond any doubt” that the Israeli firm behind Pegasus, NSO Group, cooperates with Israeli intelligence.     

The article goes on to explain that "Pegasus is a powerful and controversial tool that allows the extraction of large amounts of data from mobile phones without users’ knowledge. A number of countries have been found to have used it to spy on opposition figures." 

    Today, the National Prosecutor’s Office released its latest findings, based on analysis by experts at the forensic research office of Poland’s Internal Security Agency (ABW).

    The experts confirmed that Pegasus allowed the harvesting of emails, instant messaging and text messages; the content of telephone conversations, both via mobile networks and internet calls; browsing histories, calendars and contact lists; photos, videos and other files; and location data.

    “Additionally, Pegasus allowed the use of the device’s built-in microphone and cameras to record audio and video in real time and take screenshots,” reports the National Prosecutor’s Office.

 It's bad enough that the Polish government was using the spyware against its political opponents, but the disturbing part was that NSO and, by extension, the Israeli military and/or intelligence services also had the data:

    The ABW experts also highlighted serious concerns over management and security of the harvested data, noting that Poland’s Central Anti-Corruption Bureau (CBA), which was responsible for using the spyware, “did not have full control over the Pegasus system”.

    “The CBA did not have passwords to access some accounts with administrative privileges and some system components remained under the control of the manufacturer [NSO],” wrote the prosecutor’s office. “The server module responsible for infecting mobile devices remained under the manufacturer’s exclusive control.”

    Data transmitted through the Pegasus system travelled outside Polish territory, through “servers located in various parts of the world”, in a network managed by NSO and “beyond the CBA’s control”, found the experts.   

 NSO is currently on a U.S. blacklist from U.S. government purchases (although this does not apply to other entities), but that hasn't stopped government agencies using other spyware. 

• See also: "What is Pegasus spyware, and how to detect and remove it"--Norton. 
• Related: "Georgia Bought a $954,578 Chevy, but Officials Won’t Say What’s Inside"--PJ Media. While Georgia officials are keeping mum about what it can do, it is believed to include equipment to surveil web activity, extract the contents of cell phones and track cell phone locations.
• Related: "Texas Police Bought Chevy Tahoes That Can Track Your Phone on the Highway"--Yahoo. An excerpt:

Four Chevy Tahoes do not cost $4.5 million. The vehicles themselves ran about $600,000 combined — roughly $150,000 each. The remaining $3.9 million bought something far more interesting: FalcoNet, an Israeli-built surveillance app from Cognyte that impersonates a cell tower and forces every phone in range to connect to it. Your phone can't tell the difference. Neither can anyone else's. This isn't about reading your texts — it's about knowing exactly where you are. 

(See also this article from The Drive). Undoubtedly, this information will also find its way to Israel. 

• Related: "Do Dealerships Put Trackers on Cars?"--GPX. The article also lists some of the common places dealerships will hide GPS trackers. 

The NFA Changes--Is It A Trap?

While the ATF's guidance indicating that it would no longer be enforcing certain NFA provisions is a welcome change, we all know that it could change on a political whim. So what happens if we get that SBR or sound suppressor using a standard 4473 form and a few years down the road a new administration changes its mind? Will we face criminal prosecution for having relied on the ATF's new guidance? In the video below, Washington Gun Law President and attorney William Kirk discusses the case law that suggests that we should be protected from prosecution based on reliance on the ATF's pronouncement.  

 VIDEO: "Are Gun Owners Stepping Into an NFA Trap?"
Washington Gun Law (13 min.)

Diversity Is Our Greatest Weakness

If you were to Google whether diversity is a strength or a benefit, you would find countless articles indicating that diversity improves efficiency or output or is otherwise beneficial. But a recent paper published in the journal Theory & Society debunks that claim. The paper is entitled "The diversity hypothesis: A rapid scoping review of diversity and scientific output and impact in the natural and social sciences," and the author conclude: "Based on over 100 scientific articles, we find that only between 15% and 28% of results reported in the literature are consistent with the hypothesis, with the balance of the results not being consistent with it. Based on this, the scientific evidence implies that the Diversity Hypothesis should be rejected." That is, studies that had considered diversity based on sex, nationality, race, age, LGBT, institution, and geography, overwhelmingly were inconsistent with the diversity hypothesis--that diversity is our greatest strength. The only type of diversity where it did not hold true--but even here showed mixed results--was diversity of disciplines.