“The WSJ editorial denouncing the search of John Bolton’s home is example gazillionty of the once great paper’s sad decline into satire.
“It’s hard to see the raid as anything other than vindictive,” the editors claim before seeing any evidence as to the nature of the search.
While speculating the inquiry has something to do with Bolton’s 2020 book, the WSJ continued to opine and misrepresent the facts:
“The President then claimed Mr. Bolton had exposed classified information, though the book had gone through an extensive pre-publication scrub at the White House for classified material.” (A federal judge, and one who is no friend of Donald Trump, concluded Bolton’s memoir indeed contained national security secrets but failed to block release because the books had already been published and shipped. The prepublication review also was not finished.)
Trump’s DOJ subsequently opened a criminal investigation into Bolton’s mishandling of classified info but that investigation “faded away under President Biden,” the WSJ laughably described the closing of the case.
And this is LOL: “It’s unlikely that Mr. Bolton broke any laws on national secrets, and he certainly didn’t share any with us over our long association with him.” OK THEN THAT IS ALL THE EVIDENCE WE NEED, WSJ!
WSJ editors are also outraged that the president pulled Bolton’s taxpayer-paid security and “has to pay for legal counsel…his family has to endure the anxiety of being under federal government siege.
“UNDER SIEGE, they say.
WSJ editors call Trump’s advisors “minions” who “don’t serve as the check on his worst impulses the way grown-ups did in his first term.”
“The presidential id is now unchained.”
Then the closer: “The real offender here is a President who seems to think he can use the powers of his office to run vendettas. We said this was one of the risks of a second Trump term, and it’s turning out to be worse than we imagined.”
What a facile editorial, petulant and largely fact-free, indistinguishable from a Rachel Maddow rant.”
“The only way that politically motivated lawfare will end is for the Trump team to dish it out as aggressively as it was directed at Trump/Giuliani and others. If the Trump team does not do this, then the left will have learned the lesson that they can get away with it.”
“I was never consulted about, nor did I ever agree to, rejecting the ancient conservative principle of retribution for wrongdoing. Punishing wrong doers is part of the foundation of a civilized society. For some reason, people pretending to be conservative, have declared that we’re not doing that anymore. Again, nobody asked me. Accordingly, I reject this ridiculous idea and fully support making bad people pay for what they have done.”
“I will be your retribution” , I heard Trump say in one of his speeches.
Retribution: noun. the act of taking revenge (harming someone in retaliation for something harmful that they have done) especially in the next life. “the swiftness of divine retribution” synonyms: payback, vengeance. retaliation
He also said, ” I am your justice”. Is that all there is left of justice now: revenge, payback, retribution? Is that the kind of justice we want going forward? I don’t.
“These people really thought they were going to be able to throw all the punches they could and then tap out when it was our turn. I can’t even figure out this mentality. Stupidity? Arrogance? Whatever it is, we’re at war now. You declared war. Now, war it is.”
“The only way to prevent you and your friends from targeting the rest of us with bullsh*t is to guarantee a cost for that behavior. That looks like revenge to you, only because you don’t like it.”
“Jacksonian jurisprudence is the very embodiment of the actual rule of the made-up game based on the comic strip of Calvin and Hobbes. It often seems like there are no fixed rules, only fixed outcomes.”
“For some of us who have followed Jackson’s interestingly controversial tenure on the court, it was crushingly ironic. Although Jackson accused her colleagues of following a new rule that they must always rule with Trump, she herself is widely viewed as the very embodiment of the actual rule of the made-up game based on the comic strip of Calvin and Hobbes. In Jacksonian jurisprudence, it often seems like there are no fixed rules, only fixed outcomes. She then attacks her colleagues for a lack of integrity or empathy.
To quote Calvin, Jackson proves that “there’s no problem so awful that you can’t add some guilt to it and make it even worse.”
“Jackson has attacked her colleagues in opinions, shattering traditions of civility and restraint. Her colleagues have clearly had enough. She now regularly writes diatribes that neither of her fellow liberals — Justices Sonia Sotomayor or Elena Kagan — are willing to sign on to. Indeed, she has raged against opinions that her liberal colleagues have joined.”
“Devin Nunes just sat down for an interview with Lara Trump, and it’s a reminder that he is the real hero of Russiagate. While nearly all his colleagues postured about being deeply concerned over Trump–Russia collusion and called for special counsels, Devin stood alone from the very start, pushing back against the narrative when it was most dangerous to do so. If this story has a hero, it’s him and him alone. The fact that he remains so humble about it only makes him all the more deserving of the title.
At the same time, it’s exasperating to watch people crown themselves as the ones who led the charge. The truth is that aside from Devin’s leadership, the unraveling of Russiagate was a massive group effort. Uniquely in the history of journalism, dozens, if not hundreds, of researchers, writers, and citizen investigators chipped away at it, even as they were smeared by the legacy media whose job should have been to do the digging.”
There is apparently no more armed engagement in Gaza anymore from Hamas. None reported that I can find. And I haven’t seen reports of any Israelis killed recently. Just the continued daily bombing, shooting, killing of civilians by Israeli forces. Yesterday they killed 20 by bombing a hospital. Just another day in the one sided genocide we’re currently funding.
“@VP on illegal aliens in the Census: “They do go in the congressional apportionment. That’s why California has so many more seats is because they count illegal aliens… They end up getting congressional representation that ought, by right, go to American citizens.”
“Woman explains the profound cleanup at Union Station in DC, particularly “the underpass bridge where people would throw their waste” and there was always trash.
People talked about cleaning this up for a decade. President Trump did it in weeks.”
“The fatal attraction of the government is that it allows busybodies to impose decisions on others without paying any price themselves. That enables them to act as if there were no price, even when there are ruinous prices paid by others.”
— Thomas Sowell”
——
Well now such acts will require a price be paid. Justice demands it, as do the rights of those they targeted.
“The Civic Hotel in Seattle was rented by the city and county since 2020 to house homeless people.
When the property was vacated and returned last year, the owners found their building contaminated all over with deadly fentanyl and meth residue. A baby that stayed in the hotel died with fentanyl in his/her system. The group the city enriched to manage the hotel-turned-shelter apparently didn’t do anything to prevent drug abuse in the taxpayer-funded rooms.
The hotel owners are now suing the city and county.”
“GAZA is only 25 miles long and 5 miles wide. The weather is perfect and it’s on the Mediterranean Sea where every year, 2 million tons of fish are harvested. 1.8 million people live in GAZA and they’ve received $20 billion… that’s twenty thousand million dollars… in charity over the last decade. The culture is ancient and by their own account the people are brilliant. Yet, despite living in a land of abundance, the people of GAZA are impoverished and starving. I’ll give you three reasons why…
“Last November, MAGA voters gave the Senate a majority. They just took the entire month of August off while leaving 140 of President Trump’s nominees unconfirmed. To add insult to injury, Chuck Grassley is blocking Alina Habba’s nomination for US Attorney for New Jersey. What is the matter with these corrupt, machine politicians?”
“Last night in DC: 86 arrests. 10 illegal guns seized.
That brings the total to 1007 arrests and 111 illegal guns off the streets.
We are on our 12th day with no homicides. Under President Trump’s leadership, increased law enforcement is helping restore safety in DC. The goal is clear: a safer city for all.”
I wonder how local businesses are faring. Are people on the streets in numbers now that the military is out in force or has it dampened spending in restaurants and other establishmens?
Here’s another view on the Cracker Barrel “controversy” by Jonah Goldberg.
BTW, his quips about capitalism may seem anti-capitalist, but are meant ironically. His real point is that this is how capitalism actually works. That, I think, is more obvious in the rest of the piece, but I’m not sure if non-subscribers of The Dispatch can access it, so I have quoted more than I usually do.
(Sharing this here and on the daily thread because the subject came up on both threads.)
“The Cracker Barrel Crack-Up“
~ “I bring all of this up to provide some broader context to a particularly stupid controversy about Cracker Barrel. The company was launched in 1969 by a Shell Oil representative as a kitschy gas station eatery and Southern tchotchke joint. Fill up on some chicken-fried steak after you fill the tank, and maybe pick up a fun apron for Grandma that says, “Kiss My Grits.” It became successful, expanded, left the gas stations behind, and eventually went public.
[…] The funny thing about Cracker Barrels is that they’re little capitalist temples to faux authenticity. This is not some grand institution with deep cultural roots in the South, or any place else. Cracker Barrels in New York sell Reuben sandwiches, and Cracker Barrels in Texas serve salsa.
You know why? To make money. And consumers in Texas apparently want salsa, and customers in New York want Reubens. Indeed, as it expanded outside of the South, the decorations changed to fit the locales, too. It has an industrial-scale décor warehouse to provide “local flavor” to each restaurant.
Now, Cracker Barrel is updating its décor and branding—slightly. The bulk of the update is a brighter, less cluttered interior design, but the “controversial” decision is to change its logo. The company removed the old white guy in overalls sitting by a barrel, and now just has a text-only sign that reads “Cracker Barrel.”
And people are losing their minds, claiming that it has gone “woke.” What seems to have sparked this brouhaha is a tweet saying that the store has “scrapped a beloved American aesthetic and replaced it with sterile, soulless branding.” […]
Now, it’s true that Cracker Barrel has done some LGBT marketing stuff, probably as a result of being criticized for alleged discriminatory policies in the 1990s. But maybe also because gay people—and people who aren’t particularly horrified by gay people—might like good, affordable breakfasts, too. They’ve also tried to cultivate Hispanic customers. I’m not sure this means they’ve been taken over by the Latinx reconquista. […]
Oh, one last thing about all of these lovers of American heritage and culture—since, uh, 1969—Cracker Barrel’s new logo is actually pretty similar to its original logo, which was text-only.” ~
~ “Cracker Barrel’s core customer base is what demographers and marketing gurus call “old.” Lots of chain restaurants change things up to deal with the fact that old people have a high propensity to die in the near future, while young people have more prospective CLV (customer lifetime value). This is why McDonald’s sells more salads and snack wraps these days.
Many businesses and products are incapable of updating to new market demands, so they die. You know why no one drinks Tang anymore? I mean, aside from it being meh. The Baby Boomers stopped drinking the NASA-inspired elixir, and younger generations never touched it. Jell-O will never recover its glory days, because tastes change and chunks of fruit in aspic-like globules are gross. Ovaltine went the way of the Dodo when the generation raised on it died out. Ditto the once wildly popular Postum, which I’d bet most readers of this “news”letter have never even heard of. (Editor’s Note: This 25-year-old editor had to Google it.) When was the last time you had a burger at Howard Johnson’s? I loved that place as a kid.
So Cracker Barrel is trying to fend off similar forces of economic entropy. Maybe it’s a bad idea. Maybe not. But heaven forbid anyone blame capitalism, not when the bogeyman of wokeness is available.” ~
“You just know this flag order is going to result in lots of video of Democrats burning and cheering on the burning of American flags for future GOP ads.”
“BREAKING: Hamas terrorist Mohammed Salama, who is also an Al-Jazeera “journalist” and who invaded Israel on October 7th, has been eliminated by the IDF.”
This is hilarious! The most propagandized “news” channel in Colorado and the Democrats are panicking. They are so stinking transparent in their objections over the sale of their favorite news source !!😂
Leading Colorado Democrats condemned the proposed consolidation of local TV news stations in Colorado, which would see Fox31’s owner buying its rival Tegna, owner of Denver’s 9News.
“Colorado is stronger when reporters have the independence to ask tough questions and keep us all informed,” U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet said in a statement emailed to The Colorado Sun. “An FCC-approved merger of 9News and KDVR’s parent companies would greatly weaken Colorado’s civic infrastructure.”
Nexstar Media group, owner of Fox31, announced this week that it is acquiring Tegna for $6.2 billion. The sale is expected to close in the second half of 2026.
Opponents of the deal, including Bennet and Denver Mayor Mike Johnston, worry that consolidation will give corporate owners more sway over programming, weaken important investigations by cutting staff and resources and strip news of its local voice by distributing syndicated programs. Johnston posted to Instagram Wednesday that allowing the merger would be “bad for journalism and bad for Denver.”
Statistics work better over time and are also more accurate after time has past. Crime stats are usually revised to reflect new findings often months later — a suicide might be reclassified as a murder or vice-versa, a car accident could be changed to vehicular manslaughter, etc. Violence also occurs in short bursts and then averaged over a longer period of time. My neighbourhood is extremely violent on Saturday yet extremely peaceful on Monday. One family murder-suicide can ruin a small citys violent crime rate for a whole year. After a socialist summer youth camp was shout up by a right wing lone gunman in Norway; Norway joined the list of the most violent countries until that blip passed through the time period and it returned to the list of the most peaceful countries. Thus, any claims of lower violent crime rate need to wait til the year is over and we can average out the statistics, firm up the causes of death, etc.
There is of course no doubt that if you bring in the military and patrol the streets with tanks violent crime will decline. If Mike Johnson is concerned for his constituents currently suffering twice the violent crime of Chicago, perhaps he should ask Trump to divert the troops his way. Personally, I think a million dollars a day can be better spent on crime prevention rather than using the military.
I have to question the SNAP statistics in the X tweet, is there a link to the actual data. I also have to ask what is the definition of ultra-processed?? It always struck me as strange the US uses food stamps and now controlled debit cards as opposed to just giving out the money. Can you imagine giving the rich subsidies with stamps and controlled debits? The amount of scrutiny over a single mother’s grocery list as opposed to Musk’s exploding rockets is definitely one DOGE should investigate except of course there’s a conflict of interest as the elites control their own level of scrutiny.
Over 35 years ago, living in Iowa I was struck by the cost of poor quality produce compared to processed food, why is produce more expensive, you’d think processing food would add expense to the product. When my brother moved back to Iowa, the cost and poor quality convinced him to turn his entire backyard into a garden and my sister-in-law to learn how to can produce. In urban areas, food deserts make it almost impossible to buy produce at all forcing SNAP recipients to be reliant on fast food and processed meals at the corner store. And yes that increases Medicaid costs. Now the solution might be to have the city gov’t provide incentives to open up markets and stores in the “food deserts” but apparently that’s socialism
But given the US gov’t taking over 10% of Intel, socialism should no longer be a dirty word. Mamdani’s proposal to have a few city owned grocery stores is socialism but hey the federal gov’t can nationalize a chip manufacturer. So is Trump now not only a nationalist but also a socialist??? ……….
Ah, yes, Socialism was the word I was looking for. Although if he keeps going in the same direction, I think Fascism might apply. (Also not a dirty word any more apparently ).
My pro-Israeli friends informed me months ago that Hamas was done as a fighting force. I then asked why Bibi didn’t stand down and bask in the victory. The simple reason is victory for Bibi is genocide. Hamas has already offered the hostages back in exchange for prisoners and a ceasefire but Bibi want’s his final solution. Yet as Debar points out they bombed a hospital — not only did they bomb the hospital they double tapped it coming back to hit it again when rescuers starting searching the rubble. This isn’t much different than U-boats strafing life boats after they sink a ship — a war crime.
Hamas is corrupt, so is Fatah. Both are incredibly corrupt, but so were many regimes the West supported during the Cold War. We only care about corruption when we want to cast disparaging remarks about others. When “our” allies and leaders are corrupt we look the other way. Tim Cook of Apple walked into the White House and gave Trump a gift of gold and in exchange Apple was exempt from tariffs. Qatar gave Trump a new air plane which will become his post-presidency. Meanwhile his family runs a crypto exchange and issues meme coins. There’s a tale about a speck and a log in people’s eyes that could be applied here.
Sure, some leaders of Hamas are wealthy individuals living in Qatar where they were first contacted by Mossad to set up a rival to the PLOs leadership and they’ve grown wealthy ever since. However, Hamas on the ground in Gaza created a well run Health Ministry and its that ministry that gave them the initial support of Gaza Palestinians.
Gaza should be economically feasible but hasn’t been for years. The offshore fish is not available due to an Israeli ban on fishing boats and an embargo on all foreign trade. The orchards it used to be famous have destroyed over and over, The only goods allowed are via Israeli controlled checkpoints. Gaza is a ghetto. And the guards are to blame not the residents. As a city of 2 million, a budget of 2 billion a year is not that much — it’s about average for a city of its size.
To be fair, taking August off is the standard for the western world. Nobody should work in August and if they are in the service sector they should work very slowly and reluctantly. It’s August.
However, why did the US Congress take an early recess?? What were they avoiding?? The Epstein files were released by the DOJ or should I say re-released as it appears 97% of the files handed over were already public…..I hate conspiracy tales but sometimes it just makes more sense to go with a conspiracy
Meanwhile, Maxwell is enjoying her new digs in a minimum security prisoner and is petitioning for a pardon. Her DOJ testimony was released and of course she had nothing to say about Trump Clinton and Prince Andrew…..nothing to see there. Not sure why the royal family paid damages to the young girl then. I think we safely say Maxwell has motivations to lie.
Thanks Kizzie I wondered what the Cracker Barrell memes were all about. For a group who claim to many people get too easily offended, right wing social conservative Trump supporters are easily offended
So Trump issues an EO prohibiting flag burning except for how its allowed under the constitution — so nothing changed and its mere performance. I’m always curious how the flag as an article of clothing isn’t an issue; not to mention slight alternations and additions — blue line, gun drawings, etc.
Speaking of the constitution, it also directs the census to count persons not citizens. Mind you if you only count citizens both Texas and California would lose representatives — more new maps will be needed.
NJ; So Trump basically followed Obama in how he dealt with the auto industry during the bail outs……and what did the Repubilcans call Obama’s auto policy ….. socialism
Debra …..I always saw Trump as a Mussolini like figure. For some Hispanics, its more about Franco and the usual collection of Latin American tin pot dictators. And yes fascism seems to have been made acceptable again…… A conservative Austrian friend who supports the Freedom Party (fascist roots) theorises American politics is turning Hispanic and thus fascism will be acceptable. If North America is searching for new political systems, can Canada become Nordic…..
Wandering Views 
“This is what Trump’s racist fascism gets you. Fewer dead DC residents. Is there any limit to his cruelty?”
https://x.com/megynkelly/status/1959612772712317140?t=kl48jyyw14My3IVJVw0qaQ&s=19
https://x.com/megynkelly/status/1959612772712317140?t=HDthMfn954iNC0bgGwFN1w&s=19
“It has been nine days without a murder in Washington, D.C.”
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“We spend double the amount on SNAP as we do on the Marines each year.
The budget of SNAP is 12 Times higher than ICE.
And 70% of the program goes to buy soda and ultraprocessed food.
This leads to hundreds of billions in Medicaid costs.
Public policy insanity.”
https://x.com/calleymeans/status/1959452380644470845?t=mgruabO3jrVMIH-4nz-oZA&s=19
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The NTer 🤡🤡🤡🤡 be big mad. 😁
https://x.com/julie_kelly2/status/1959702598740525555?t=qc5SplnQiSXWDze_3UgFdw&s=19
“The WSJ editorial denouncing the search of John Bolton’s home is example gazillionty of the once great paper’s sad decline into satire.
“It’s hard to see the raid as anything other than vindictive,” the editors claim before seeing any evidence as to the nature of the search.
While speculating the inquiry has something to do with Bolton’s 2020 book, the WSJ continued to opine and misrepresent the facts:
“The President then claimed Mr. Bolton had exposed classified information, though the book had gone through an extensive pre-publication scrub at the White House for classified material.” (A federal judge, and one who is no friend of Donald Trump, concluded Bolton’s memoir indeed contained national security secrets but failed to block release because the books had already been published and shipped. The prepublication review also was not finished.)
Trump’s DOJ subsequently opened a criminal investigation into Bolton’s mishandling of classified info but that investigation “faded away under President Biden,” the WSJ laughably described the closing of the case.
And this is LOL: “It’s unlikely that Mr. Bolton broke any laws on national secrets, and he certainly didn’t share any with us over our long association with him.” OK THEN THAT IS ALL THE EVIDENCE WE NEED, WSJ!
WSJ editors are also outraged that the president pulled Bolton’s taxpayer-paid security and “has to pay for legal counsel…his family has to endure the anxiety of being under federal government siege.
“UNDER SIEGE, they say.
WSJ editors call Trump’s advisors “minions” who “don’t serve as the check on his worst impulses the way grown-ups did in his first term.”
“The presidential id is now unchained.”
Then the closer: “The real offender here is a President who seems to think he can use the powers of his office to run vendettas. We said this was one of the risks of a second Trump term, and it’s turning out to be worse than we imagined.”
What a facile editorial, petulant and largely fact-free, indistinguishable from a Rachel Maddow rant.”
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The fact is if none if these criminals are punished, the criminals will continue to commit the same crimes against the next R president too.
Bury them.
Crime deserves, no, requires, punishment.
https://x.com/FischerKing64/status/1959640829565260222?t=XI83M9CN2JwfqnJJWyf6IA&s=19
“The only way that politically motivated lawfare will end is for the Trump team to dish it out as aggressively as it was directed at Trump/Giuliani and others. If the Trump team does not do this, then the left will have learned the lesson that they can get away with it.”
LikeLiked by 1 person
The Colonel is once again, correct.
——-
“I was never consulted about, nor did I ever agree to, rejecting the ancient conservative principle of retribution for wrongdoing. Punishing wrong doers is part of the foundation of a civilized society. For some reason, people pretending to be conservative, have declared that we’re not doing that anymore. Again, nobody asked me. Accordingly, I reject this ridiculous idea and fully support making bad people pay for what they have done.”
https://x.com/KurtSchlichter/status/1959722965010116987?t=egipPqYt7LjRTCWH9Uou_A&s=19
“What you call revenge, the rest of us call deterrence.”
https://x.com/bonchieredstate/status/1959710482568225201?t=3hQS4VU4qN94xzl7Zhym3A&s=19
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“I will be your retribution” , I heard Trump say in one of his speeches.
Retribution: noun. the act of taking revenge (harming someone in retaliation for something harmful that they have done) especially in the next life. “the swiftness of divine retribution” synonyms: payback, vengeance. retaliation
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“Deterence” is not a synonym for retribution. Just a thought for those who still think.
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He also said, ” I am your justice”. Is that all there is left of justice now: revenge, payback, retribution? Is that the kind of justice we want going forward? I don’t.
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Exactly, Debra. God’s word calls for justice, which can include mercy, and adds that any retribution belongs to God.
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No crying now Chuckie. You were complicit in this criminal conspiracy. Just be happy they aren’t looking at you…. yet.
—–
“The virus killing democracy right now is this “two wrongs make a right” mindset. Revenge over principles.”
https://x.com/chucktodd/status/1959600433166512307?t=VT2L9Kk9aaTYG0n3vWzrWA&s=19
—-
https://x.com/JesseKellyDC/status/1959659864130535783?t=uNVk9I1EDAxxlGgH-s_gGw&s=19
“These people really thought they were going to be able to throw all the punches they could and then tap out when it was our turn. I can’t even figure out this mentality. Stupidity? Arrogance? Whatever it is, we’re at war now. You declared war. Now, war it is.”
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Another response to Chuckie’s whining.
https://x.com/greggutfeld/status/1959683165192114340?t=YyzVhmyDyW_PP9REnzg18g&s=19
“The only way to prevent you and your friends from targeting the rest of us with bullsh*t is to guarantee a cost for that behavior. That looks like revenge to you, only because you don’t like it.”
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She’s basically a cartoon character anyway…
https://x.com/JonathanTurley/status/1959617959904571577?t=xwR0ylbG795_9nRD2s-iVg&s=19
“Jacksonian jurisprudence is the very embodiment of the actual rule of the made-up game based on the comic strip of Calvin and Hobbes. It often seems like there are no fixed rules, only fixed outcomes.”
https://thehill.com/opinion/judiciary/5466931-the-chilling-jurisprudence-of-justice-ketanji-brown-jackson/
“For some of us who have followed Jackson’s interestingly controversial tenure on the court, it was crushingly ironic. Although Jackson accused her colleagues of following a new rule that they must always rule with Trump, she herself is widely viewed as the very embodiment of the actual rule of the made-up game based on the comic strip of Calvin and Hobbes. In Jacksonian jurisprudence, it often seems like there are no fixed rules, only fixed outcomes. She then attacks her colleagues for a lack of integrity or empathy.
To quote Calvin, Jackson proves that “there’s no problem so awful that you can’t add some guilt to it and make it even worse.”
“Jackson has attacked her colleagues in opinions, shattering traditions of civility and restraint. Her colleagues have clearly had enough. She now regularly writes diatribes that neither of her fellow liberals — Justices Sonia Sotomayor or Elena Kagan — are willing to sign on to. Indeed, she has raged against opinions that her liberal colleagues have joined.”
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“Devin Nunes just sat down for an interview with Lara Trump, and it’s a reminder that he is the real hero of Russiagate. While nearly all his colleagues postured about being deeply concerned over Trump–Russia collusion and called for special counsels, Devin stood alone from the very start, pushing back against the narrative when it was most dangerous to do so. If this story has a hero, it’s him and him alone. The fact that he remains so humble about it only makes him all the more deserving of the title.
At the same time, it’s exasperating to watch people crown themselves as the ones who led the charge. The truth is that aside from Devin’s leadership, the unraveling of Russiagate was a massive group effort. Uniquely in the history of journalism, dozens, if not hundreds, of researchers, writers, and citizen investigators chipped away at it, even as they were smeared by the legacy media whose job should have been to do the digging.”
https://x.com/HansMahncke/status/1959656652153786846?t=5s6p5ZQ0kSXYSRE0xmCv1g&s=19
X is the media now….
Let the pearl clutching over that fact commence.
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Here’s your quote for today….
https://x.com/Shytownboy/status/1959752283811676201?t=mF-aBq2oJ9EYb9eSK3NG1w&s=19
“I’m starting to feel unburdened by what has been. You?”
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“Is everyone enjoying their entire month of August off work with full pay?
Oh yeah, I forgot, only Congress gets to do that.”
https://x.com/catturd2/status/1959597574509166788?t=gwncLH-E27eee3eYxxAllg&s=19
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Correct. And it’s up to 10 days now.
https://x.com/briannalyman2/status/1959763793158001033?t=A-CceQysgha-TLtHMRSpEg&s=19
“D.C’s leaders accepted crime as inevitable — but Trump didn’t. He acted, and the results are undeniable—7 straight days without a homicide.
That proves crime isn’t inevitable; it’s the product of weak, spineless leadership.
And that’s why the left is upset —not because the Guard failed, but because it exposed Democrats as failed leaders.”
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There is apparently no more armed engagement in Gaza anymore from Hamas. None reported that I can find. And I haven’t seen reports of any Israelis killed recently. Just the continued daily bombing, shooting, killing of civilians by Israeli forces. Yesterday they killed 20 by bombing a hospital. Just another day in the one sided genocide we’re currently funding.
https://www.bbc.com/news/live/cn725ny0ryjt
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“@VP on illegal aliens in the Census: “They do go in the congressional apportionment. That’s why California has so many more seats is because they count illegal aliens… They end up getting congressional representation that ought, by right, go to American citizens.”
https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/1959619304350945548?t=bZ2rPkjPCM756xvX3jlyHg&s=19
Time to end that nonsense.
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Just another disgusting issue dem run city creates thru stupidity and bad policy, but someone else needs to clean up.
https://x.com/Bubblebathgirl/status/1959835339864015096?t=hQRtyrSZcKFhntlQHG83aw&s=19
“Woman explains the profound cleanup at Union Station in DC, particularly “the underpass bridge where people would throw their waste” and there was always trash.
People talked about cleaning this up for a decade. President Trump did it in weeks.”
LikeLiked by 1 person
“The fatal attraction of the government is that it allows busybodies to impose decisions on others without paying any price themselves. That enables them to act as if there were no price, even when there are ruinous prices paid by others.”
— Thomas Sowell”
——
Well now such acts will require a price be paid. Justice demands it, as do the rights of those they targeted.
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It’s a shame no one saw this type of thing coming…. 🙄
https://x.com/MrAndyNgo/status/1959886126027555154?t=KZiBTn6VBrWnCip_sTrH3Q&s=19
“The Civic Hotel in Seattle was rented by the city and county since 2020 to house homeless people.
When the property was vacated and returned last year, the owners found their building contaminated all over with deadly fentanyl and meth residue. A baby that stayed in the hotel died with fentanyl in his/her system. The group the city enriched to manage the hotel-turned-shelter apparently didn’t do anything to prevent drug abuse in the taxpayer-funded rooms.
The hotel owners are now suing the city and county.”
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Facts.
https://x.com/RepClayHiggins/status/1959728935622902106?t=3v73vvOJ-aw4odKZPQ66hg&s=19
“GAZA is only 25 miles long and 5 miles wide. The weather is perfect and it’s on the Mediterranean Sea where every year, 2 million tons of fish are harvested. 1.8 million people live in GAZA and they’ve received $20 billion… that’s twenty thousand million dollars… in charity over the last decade. The culture is ancient and by their own account the people are brilliant. Yet, despite living in a land of abundance, the people of GAZA are impoverished and starving. I’ll give you three reasons why…
Hamas. Hamas. Hamas.
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“Last November, MAGA voters gave the Senate a majority. They just took the entire month of August off while leaving 140 of President Trump’s nominees unconfirmed. To add insult to injury, Chuck Grassley is blocking Alina Habba’s nomination for US Attorney for New Jersey. What is the matter with these corrupt, machine politicians?”
https://x.com/lsferguson/status/1959942535649939485?t=gKUjc9QFfp6VDyCHJ0w8eg&s=19
NTers can’t help it. Their TDS has rotted their brains.
This is why they’re unfit to weild power, because they don’t know how to use it in meaningful or useful ways, or they’re just chosing not to.
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They’ve been money laundering PACs for Democrats for decades. They just stopped pretending otherwise, or caring that you noticed.
https://x.com/AGHamilton29/status/1959988502265024536?t=FBjdX9XCLCyy4eFwxhDa5w&s=19
“A new report shows the nation’s 2 largest teachers unions funneled nearly $50M to left-wing groups.
The NEA spent less than 10% of its budget on activities related to actually representing teachers. “
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Not bad for someone who the media insisted was merely a Fox News host, and not an actual judge.
https://x.com/JudgeJeanine/status/1959966725870370861?t=rfb5wDGxtRiN72ALcpQPfQ&s=19
“Last night in DC: 86 arrests. 10 illegal guns seized.
That brings the total to 1007 arrests and 111 illegal guns off the streets.
We are on our 12th day with no homicides. Under President Trump’s leadership, increased law enforcement is helping restore safety in DC. The goal is clear: a safer city for all.”
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I wonder how local businesses are faring. Are people on the streets in numbers now that the military is out in force or has it dampened spending in restaurants and other establishmens?
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Here’s another view on the Cracker Barrel “controversy” by Jonah Goldberg.
BTW, his quips about capitalism may seem anti-capitalist, but are meant ironically. His real point is that this is how capitalism actually works. That, I think, is more obvious in the rest of the piece, but I’m not sure if non-subscribers of The Dispatch can access it, so I have quoted more than I usually do.
(Sharing this here and on the daily thread because the subject came up on both threads.)
“The Cracker Barrel Crack-Up“
~ “I bring all of this up to provide some broader context to a particularly stupid controversy about Cracker Barrel. The company was launched in 1969 by a Shell Oil representative as a kitschy gas station eatery and Southern tchotchke joint. Fill up on some chicken-fried steak after you fill the tank, and maybe pick up a fun apron for Grandma that says, “Kiss My Grits.” It became successful, expanded, left the gas stations behind, and eventually went public.
[…] The funny thing about Cracker Barrels is that they’re little capitalist temples to faux authenticity. This is not some grand institution with deep cultural roots in the South, or any place else. Cracker Barrels in New York sell Reuben sandwiches, and Cracker Barrels in Texas serve salsa.
You know why? To make money. And consumers in Texas apparently want salsa, and customers in New York want Reubens. Indeed, as it expanded outside of the South, the decorations changed to fit the locales, too. It has an industrial-scale décor warehouse to provide “local flavor” to each restaurant.
Now, Cracker Barrel is updating its décor and branding—slightly. The bulk of the update is a brighter, less cluttered interior design, but the “controversial” decision is to change its logo. The company removed the old white guy in overalls sitting by a barrel, and now just has a text-only sign that reads “Cracker Barrel.”
And people are losing their minds, claiming that it has gone “woke.” What seems to have sparked this brouhaha is a tweet saying that the store has “scrapped a beloved American aesthetic and replaced it with sterile, soulless branding.” […]
Now, it’s true that Cracker Barrel has done some LGBT marketing stuff, probably as a result of being criticized for alleged discriminatory policies in the 1990s. But maybe also because gay people—and people who aren’t particularly horrified by gay people—might like good, affordable breakfasts, too. They’ve also tried to cultivate Hispanic customers. I’m not sure this means they’ve been taken over by the Latinx reconquista. […]
Oh, one last thing about all of these lovers of American heritage and culture—since, uh, 1969—Cracker Barrel’s new logo is actually pretty similar to its original logo, which was text-only.” ~
https://thedispatch.com/newsletter/gfile/cracker-barrel-capitalism/
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And on demographics:
~ “Cracker Barrel’s core customer base is what demographers and marketing gurus call “old.” Lots of chain restaurants change things up to deal with the fact that old people have a high propensity to die in the near future, while young people have more prospective CLV (customer lifetime value). This is why McDonald’s sells more salads and snack wraps these days.
Many businesses and products are incapable of updating to new market demands, so they die. You know why no one drinks Tang anymore? I mean, aside from it being meh. The Baby Boomers stopped drinking the NASA-inspired elixir, and younger generations never touched it. Jell-O will never recover its glory days, because tastes change and chunks of fruit in aspic-like globules are gross. Ovaltine went the way of the Dodo when the generation raised on it died out. Ditto the once wildly popular Postum, which I’d bet most readers of this “news”letter have never even heard of. (Editor’s Note: This 25-year-old editor had to Google it.) When was the last time you had a burger at Howard Johnson’s? I loved that place as a kid.
So Cracker Barrel is trying to fend off similar forces of economic entropy. Maybe it’s a bad idea. Maybe not. But heaven forbid anyone blame capitalism, not when the bogeyman of wokeness is available.” ~
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And they fall for it every time. 😁
https://x.com/KurtSchlichter/status/1960047745735295343?t=XyB83nmnz2UsTrv0biBTKQ&s=19
“You just know this flag order is going to result in lots of video of Democrats burning and cheering on the burning of American flags for future GOP ads.”
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It looks like the government is taking an ownership stake in Intel and maybe in some other companies.
There used to be a name for that but I’m not quite sure…
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2025/08/22/trump-intel-strikes-deal-with-u-s-for-10-percent-equity-stake/
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“BREAKING: Hamas terrorist Mohammed Salama, who is also an Al-Jazeera “journalist” and who invaded Israel on October 7th, has been eliminated by the IDF.”
https://x.com/VividProwess/status/1959896194630434989?t=UHWilnNKssSgFNyQbloNNA&s=19
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Now before all the pearl clutching and gnashing of teeth begins, actually read what the EO says.
https://x.com/kristenmag/status/1960012591608254549?t=WwfKKc0tS7KFxMCFNJOp5w&s=19
“Ok let’s clear this up. I was opposed to Trump’s Executive Order at first, but then I read the full text…
It does NOT criminalize burning the American flag. And it does NOT infringe on our freedom of speech.
It criminalizes flag burning *only* when it’s intended to incite violence or when it’s accompanied by other lawless action.”
https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/08/prosecuting-burning-of-the-american-flag/
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Think of it simply as an enhancement charge to a criminal complaint.
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Huh.
Well that’s strange, given his “people” are starving…..
https://x.com/EYakoby/status/1959783692362269047?t=fOsIAO3u-vYo2fJ1TNqsNg&s=19
“Congratulations to Hamas leader Khaled Mashal for hitting a net worth of $5 billion!
All of that American and European taxpayer money hard at work.”
—–
There seems to be a pattern here….
Yet Trump is supposed to stop these corrupt leaders and even more corrupt and incompetent UN?
How the hell did anyone come to the conclusion this is America’s problem?
https://x.com/DefiyantlyFree/status/1928330952637317504?t=23HCp3VTou9y0fyGkHxcnA&s=19
“The leaders of Hamas live in Doha, Qatar. They are worth $11 billion dollars.
Do you know how many people $11 billion could feed in Gaza?”
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That could feed a lot of people, but who wants to run the IDF gauntlet to deliver it, or the truck loads rotting behind Israeli guarded fences.
Israel is bombing hospitals. You would think they could do this without US funding.
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This is hilarious! The most propagandized “news” channel in Colorado and the Democrats are panicking. They are so stinking transparent in their objections over the sale of their favorite news source !!😂
Leading Colorado Democrats condemned the proposed consolidation of local TV news stations in Colorado, which would see Fox31’s owner buying its rival Tegna, owner of Denver’s 9News.
“Colorado is stronger when reporters have the independence to ask tough questions and keep us all informed,” U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet said in a statement emailed to The Colorado Sun. “An FCC-approved merger of 9News and KDVR’s parent companies would greatly weaken Colorado’s civic infrastructure.”
Nexstar Media group, owner of Fox31, announced this week that it is acquiring Tegna for $6.2 billion. The sale is expected to close in the second half of 2026.
Opponents of the deal, including Bennet and Denver Mayor Mike Johnston, worry that consolidation will give corporate owners more sway over programming, weaken important investigations by cutting staff and resources and strip news of its local voice by distributing syndicated programs. Johnston posted to Instagram Wednesday that allowing the merger would be “bad for journalism and bad for Denver.”
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Statistics work better over time and are also more accurate after time has past. Crime stats are usually revised to reflect new findings often months later — a suicide might be reclassified as a murder or vice-versa, a car accident could be changed to vehicular manslaughter, etc. Violence also occurs in short bursts and then averaged over a longer period of time. My neighbourhood is extremely violent on Saturday yet extremely peaceful on Monday. One family murder-suicide can ruin a small citys violent crime rate for a whole year. After a socialist summer youth camp was shout up by a right wing lone gunman in Norway; Norway joined the list of the most violent countries until that blip passed through the time period and it returned to the list of the most peaceful countries. Thus, any claims of lower violent crime rate need to wait til the year is over and we can average out the statistics, firm up the causes of death, etc.
There is of course no doubt that if you bring in the military and patrol the streets with tanks violent crime will decline. If Mike Johnson is concerned for his constituents currently suffering twice the violent crime of Chicago, perhaps he should ask Trump to divert the troops his way. Personally, I think a million dollars a day can be better spent on crime prevention rather than using the military.
hrw
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I have to question the SNAP statistics in the X tweet, is there a link to the actual data. I also have to ask what is the definition of ultra-processed?? It always struck me as strange the US uses food stamps and now controlled debit cards as opposed to just giving out the money. Can you imagine giving the rich subsidies with stamps and controlled debits? The amount of scrutiny over a single mother’s grocery list as opposed to Musk’s exploding rockets is definitely one DOGE should investigate except of course there’s a conflict of interest as the elites control their own level of scrutiny.
Over 35 years ago, living in Iowa I was struck by the cost of poor quality produce compared to processed food, why is produce more expensive, you’d think processing food would add expense to the product. When my brother moved back to Iowa, the cost and poor quality convinced him to turn his entire backyard into a garden and my sister-in-law to learn how to can produce. In urban areas, food deserts make it almost impossible to buy produce at all forcing SNAP recipients to be reliant on fast food and processed meals at the corner store. And yes that increases Medicaid costs. Now the solution might be to have the city gov’t provide incentives to open up markets and stores in the “food deserts” but apparently that’s socialism
But given the US gov’t taking over 10% of Intel, socialism should no longer be a dirty word. Mamdani’s proposal to have a few city owned grocery stores is socialism but hey the federal gov’t can nationalize a chip manufacturer. So is Trump now not only a nationalist but also a socialist??? ……….
hrw
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Ah, yes, Socialism was the word I was looking for. Although if he keeps going in the same direction, I think Fascism might apply. (Also not a dirty word any more apparently ).
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My pro-Israeli friends informed me months ago that Hamas was done as a fighting force. I then asked why Bibi didn’t stand down and bask in the victory. The simple reason is victory for Bibi is genocide. Hamas has already offered the hostages back in exchange for prisoners and a ceasefire but Bibi want’s his final solution. Yet as Debar points out they bombed a hospital — not only did they bomb the hospital they double tapped it coming back to hit it again when rescuers starting searching the rubble. This isn’t much different than U-boats strafing life boats after they sink a ship — a war crime.
Hamas is corrupt, so is Fatah. Both are incredibly corrupt, but so were many regimes the West supported during the Cold War. We only care about corruption when we want to cast disparaging remarks about others. When “our” allies and leaders are corrupt we look the other way. Tim Cook of Apple walked into the White House and gave Trump a gift of gold and in exchange Apple was exempt from tariffs. Qatar gave Trump a new air plane which will become his post-presidency. Meanwhile his family runs a crypto exchange and issues meme coins. There’s a tale about a speck and a log in people’s eyes that could be applied here.
Sure, some leaders of Hamas are wealthy individuals living in Qatar where they were first contacted by Mossad to set up a rival to the PLOs leadership and they’ve grown wealthy ever since. However, Hamas on the ground in Gaza created a well run Health Ministry and its that ministry that gave them the initial support of Gaza Palestinians.
Gaza should be economically feasible but hasn’t been for years. The offshore fish is not available due to an Israeli ban on fishing boats and an embargo on all foreign trade. The orchards it used to be famous have destroyed over and over, The only goods allowed are via Israeli controlled checkpoints. Gaza is a ghetto. And the guards are to blame not the residents. As a city of 2 million, a budget of 2 billion a year is not that much — it’s about average for a city of its size.
hrw
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To be fair, taking August off is the standard for the western world. Nobody should work in August and if they are in the service sector they should work very slowly and reluctantly. It’s August.
However, why did the US Congress take an early recess?? What were they avoiding?? The Epstein files were released by the DOJ or should I say re-released as it appears 97% of the files handed over were already public…..I hate conspiracy tales but sometimes it just makes more sense to go with a conspiracy
Meanwhile, Maxwell is enjoying her new digs in a minimum security prisoner and is petitioning for a pardon. Her DOJ testimony was released and of course she had nothing to say about Trump Clinton and Prince Andrew…..nothing to see there. Not sure why the royal family paid damages to the young girl then. I think we safely say Maxwell has motivations to lie.
Thanks Kizzie I wondered what the Cracker Barrell memes were all about. For a group who claim to many people get too easily offended, right wing social conservative Trump supporters are easily offended
So Trump issues an EO prohibiting flag burning except for how its allowed under the constitution — so nothing changed and its mere performance. I’m always curious how the flag as an article of clothing isn’t an issue; not to mention slight alternations and additions — blue line, gun drawings, etc.
Speaking of the constitution, it also directs the census to count persons not citizens. Mind you if you only count citizens both Texas and California would lose representatives — more new maps will be needed.
hrw
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A comment on the Intel situation seems to sum it up no??
Well, let’s unpack this. The Biden gave away $10 billion with no strings to Intel. That was the government picking winners’ original sin.
Trump and his team said, great..you can either give the money back or give us equity.
Intel, being a poorly run company for over a decade couldn’t give the cash back.
So here we are.
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NJ; So Trump basically followed Obama in how he dealt with the auto industry during the bail outs……and what did the Repubilcans call Obama’s auto policy ….. socialism
Debra …..I always saw Trump as a Mussolini like figure. For some Hispanics, its more about Franco and the usual collection of Latin American tin pot dictators. And yes fascism seems to have been made acceptable again…… A conservative Austrian friend who supports the Freedom Party (fascist roots) theorises American politics is turning Hispanic and thus fascism will be acceptable. If North America is searching for new political systems, can Canada become Nordic…..
hrw
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