Year 250

Big Beautiful Bill

2A – When President Trump signs the One Big Beautiful Bill — today, July 4th, it will eliminate the excise tax on suppressors, short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns, and AOWs — he will have delivered the most significant blow to the National Firearms Act since its passage nearly a century ago. We thank President Trump for his leadership and every member of Congress who fought for law-abiding gun owners throughout the reconciliation process.

Americans have the right to own firearms and to bear arms. The population IS the militia. The Second Amendment states that the government has no right to infringe on that right. The Federal Government still infringes on the rights of people who own firearms, and there is a long way to go, but it is a step in the right direction. (Glass half full, everybody)

I’m concerned about the deficit and some provisions added to the Bill by the US Senate, but overall, it’s good that it passed.

 

Chinese Election Interference in US Elections

Former FBI Director Christopher Wray’s Albany field office uncovered credible intelligence in September 2020 suggesting that the Chinese government produced counterfeit U.S. driver’s licenses—possibly using TikTok data—to facilitate mail-in voting for tens of thousands of ineligible individuals in favor of Pedo Joe Biden.

A related intelligence report was issued but then abruptly recalled by FBI headquarters. Officials cited concerns that it would contradict Wray’s sworn testimony to Congress, denying evidence of coordinated voter fraud.

Field agents expressed alarm at the politicization of intelligence to align with leadership statements. Despite re-interviewing the source and obtaining corroborating context, HQ refused to republish the findings. In response, a new policy was enacted requiring all election-related intelligence to undergo headquarters review.

Sen. Chuck Grassley criticized the move as politically motivated and damaging to national security and institutional integrity. Current FBI Director Kash Patel declassified the documents, handing them over to Congress, and pledged increased transparency moving forward.

 

Mossad is still operating in Iran!

 

 

Not much of a Secret

 

Bullet Points:

** Then and now.

** (Financial Times) The world’s leading economies have agreed a deal to spare the US’s most prominent companies from paying more corporate tax overseas, throwing into doubt the status of the biggest global tax deal in over a century. The agreement between Washington and other members of the G7 group of leading countries could fundamentally alter a landmark 2021 accord aimed at establishing a global minimum tax to combat tax avoidance by multinational corporations.

The G7 announced on Saturday that it had agreed to a “side-by-side solution” of taxation, which would exempt American companies from certain aspects of the new global tax regime due to the taxes they already pay in the US. The G7 added that the agreement would “facilitate further progress to stabilise the international tax system”, including “constructive dialogue” on preserving “the tax sovereignty of all countries”.”

The deal occurred because the original 2021 blueprint collided with American domestic politics, industrial policy subsidies, and the threat of retaliatory tariffs. Rather than risk the total collapse of the first global tax accord in a century, the G-7 opted for a face-saving workaround that allows U.S. companies to count their home-country taxes and credits as deductions. At the same time, everyone else hopes that something workable emerges from the next round of OECD talks.

** Do we know each other? Your face is familiar.

** Claudio’s new look (right). No, I’m not making this up. Best wishes for a speedy recovery.

** Retro Arizona – A western-themed Phoenix-area steak restaurant, Pinnacle Peak Patio (1957–2015), located northeast of Scottsdale, would serve an old cowboy boot to anyone ordering a steak well done. They also enforced a casual dress code for men by cutting off neck ties. Every waitress had a holstered pair of scissors attached to her waist. Note the trimmed tie in the photo. The cut portion would be added to the tens of thousands of ties hanging from the ceiling. Adding a business card to the tie was optional. When I was young, it was my favorite place to eat.

** The fault is not in our stars, but in ourselves.

**It’s still a few days until Sunday, so you need a sermonette!

** Russia (h/t Claudio) Russia is losing its war in Ukraine and trying to put a positive spin on this defeat and the damage done to the Russian economy. Russia is beaten but undeterred in its continued effort to rebuild the empire that the Tsarist monarchy created four centuries ago. Russian leaders are aware that most Russians support this empire-building and are willing to endure considerable hardship to achieve it. Russian leader Vladimir Putin expects setbacks, but the Russian people remain willing to pay the price to overcome them.

** Norks – Again: According to an indictment from the District of Massachusetts, a crew of North Korean IT workers allegedly partnered with coconspirators in New York, New Jersey, California, and overseas to steal the identities of more than 80 U.S. people, get remote jobs at more than 100 companies—many in the Fortune 500—and steal at least $5 million. According to the second indictment, a four-person team of North Korean IT workers allegedly traveled to the United Arab Emirates where they used stolen identities to pose as remote IT workers, get jobs at American companies for themselves and unnamed coconspirators, and then systematically steal digital currency to fund North Korea’s nuclear-weapons programs, authorities claimed in the five-count federal charging document.”

 

The Zorhan Rap

I know what you’re thinking: “Zohran” is a good name for a Mongol raider, or a Martian emperor, or perhaps something from Pfizer that you can use to treat your dermatitis. (“Ask your doctor about extra-strength Zohran. Side effects may include racial tension and economic palpitations, and in rare situations, rectal bleeding and civilizational collapse.”)

It’s not a good name for a New York City mayor. And unfortunately, his name is the least objectionable thing about him.

He’s a 34-year-old trust-fund socialist Muslim Jew-hater who’s never had a real job. He graduated from Bowdoin (unexpectedly!) with a degree in Africana studies (unexpectedly!), where he also co-founded the school’s chapter of “Students for Justice in Wakanda.”

Sorry, that should be “Students for Justice in Palestine.” Got my non-existent countries mixed up there. Since graduation, he has followed a career path as a professional volunteer, activist, and agitator. You know your resume is thin when the most prominent job you’ve held is “failed rapper.”

And by the way, how the hell does someone fail at rapping? Lose your rhyming dictionary? I’m almost as white as Liz Warren, and even I can rap.

Here you go:

Zohran’s bad, he makes me mad,

my dog is sad, no one’s glad.

He oughta be mayor of Islamabad.

Beeyotch!”

Now watch one of Zohran’s old rap videos, and tell me my rap wasn’t just as good.

Tomorrow morning, I’m going to take a whack at writing my Grammy acceptance speech. And while I can’t tell you precisely what that will entail, I can tell you the last lines right now: “Shout out to Tom Petty, Rest in Power! Thank you for your attention to this matter.” Just kidding. If any of you ever hear me say, “Rest in Power,” you have my permission to shoot me in the face with whatever firearm is closest to hand.

Anyway, Zohran is terrible in many ways. As someone has noted in the past, NYC is already Sodom, but with Soviet Economics. And ZM said to himself, “Why not go for the trifecta and throw some Jew hatred in there too? See how that goes?”

But Zohran the Merciless doesn’t just hate Jews. He hates whitey and rich people too! Like most innumerate socialists, he’s promising the world to poor people: free buses, free healthcare, nearly free grocery stores (Yay, USSR!), and rent control forever!

Ironically, the majority of the poor and black voters went for Cuomo, while it was the woke white college graduates who went strongest for Zohran. Unexpectedly!

Or, as the Babylon Bee also put it, “Dems Discover Innovative Strategy of Promising Free Stuff to Stupid People.”

Zohran was dumb enough to say that he specifically wants to raise taxes on those in “richer and whiter neighborhoods,” and crunchy granola AWFLs were dumb enough to say, “Thank you, sir, may I have another?” Thus proving that racists who hate minorities are dead wrong. Because there is nobody on God’s green earth dumber than a white, leftist, blue-city resident at the ballot box.

But the suicide-vest cherry on this intifada sundae is that Zohran has vowed that NYC is going to defy ICE deportation efforts. After referring to the recent arrest of an illegal alien at Federal Plaza by ICE agents, Mamdani vowed that “those days are going to come to an end when I’m the mayor.”

In one corner, it’s wimpy Zohran with his history of accomplishing nothing and nearly crying when he talks about mean tweets he’s received (he did that), as he enters the ring waving copies of his grievance studies diploma and Mao’s Little Red Book. In the other corner we have Hulk Homan™, with his bulldog head, Popeye forearms and gravelly voice, who almost certainly has chunks of MS-13 gang members in his stool, and who enters the arena waving a copy of the US code saying that illegals can be deported forthwith.

Not since Mike Tyson in his prime took on that malnourished pre-teen suffering from asthma, spina bifida, rickets, and childhood macular degeneration… And just when I thought I couldn’t respect Zohran less, he took a page from the playbooks of Cankles McPantsuit (“Ah ain’t noways tie-uhd.”) and Que Mala (“Ya bettuh thank ah union membuh!”), and got caught adopting different accents to pander to different crowds. Videos of him from his rapping days, as well as more recent ones, show him doing an Indian accent so pronounced that he makes Apu from The Simpsons sound like Professor Henry Higgins. During an interview, a New York reporter called him out on the issue. Unexpectedly! No, this time I’m being serious. Because this time, it really WAS unexpected!

Zohran said – in perfectly unaccented English — “New Yorkers, more than they hate someone they disagree with, hate someone they can’t trust.” (By the way, you had us at “they hate.”)

The reporter said, “On the issue of trust, you’ve adopted different speaking accents in different scenarios. Is there one that’s real and one that’s affected?” He lamely replied, “There are different parts of my life. Here in New York City, this is how I speak.”

Will the Democrat base never learn? Normal people like authentic people. One of the greatest compliments you can hear about a celebrity is “he’s the same person when the cameras are off as when the cameras are on him.” Even if a politician or celebrity has some rough edges, we like to know that they are genuine. For example, I’d bet my house that grade school Tom Homan was the same as Tom Homan now, only smaller.

And Donald Trump sounds like Donald Trump, for good and ill, wherever he is. Trump at supper, age 8:

“Mom, this was a fantastic meatloaf. Fantastic! Nobody’s ever had meatloaf like this. Other people say that meatloaf is their least favorite meal. They’d rate it at the bottom of all foods, if it even got a rating at all. And yet, this one was terrific! Frankly, you have made meatloaf great again.”

The same guy, 70 years later, meeting with the Pope: “Hey, Your Holiness, I want to apologize for our last guy. I know you’re too righteous to say it, but I’m not: he was our worst president, even before he came here and sh*t on the guy before you, pardon my French—just a disgrace. Anyway, I’d appreciate it if you’d put in a good word for me with the Man Upstairs, because I am surrounded by the lowest IQ Democrats ever. Just between you and me, they don’t know what the f**k they are doing, you know? Hey, do you still get to ride around in the Popemobile?”

 

Because there needs to be a commemorative Challenge Coin

 

MikeW sent a hat for my grandson, Mikey.

It’s a Thai Police Colonel’s cap.

And my daughter (his mother) likes it too.

Thanks MikeW!

What, No Muslims Worshiping It?

I realize that it’s not a meteorite, but it’s better. Should you worship the cube of stone? As of 2020, Pew Research Center (PEW) data suggests there are approximately 1.9 to 2.0 billion Muslims worldwide. This represents about 25.6% of the global population.  They worship a rock. Yes, they also worship a black rock in Iraq – pun intended.

Tucked within the ruins of ancient Hattusa — the former capital of the mighty Hittite Empire in modern-day Turkey — lies a single stone that continues to captivate visitors and scholars alike: the enigmatic Green Stone.

Its polished green surface glows quietly in the heart of the Great Temple, a place once filled with rituals, offerings, and divine presence. No one knows exactly where the stone came from, or why it was placed there, but its presence is anything but ordinary.

Experts believe it may be made of serpentine or a jade-like material, although its precise composition remains a topic of debate. What’s even more fascinating is that the stone doesn’t match the local geology, suggesting it was brought in with great care, perhaps for a sacred purpose.

Despite centuries of weather and ruin, the Green Stone has remained intact, untouched, and unmoved — a silent witness to history. Locals have long regarded it as a “wishing stone,” believing that touching it brings good luck or grants a heartfelt desire.

 

Identify the Aircraft

1

312 built

 

2

The top and bottom aircraft are of the same design – 28 built. The top aircraft was modified.

 

Identify the Armor

3

three photos

12 units built circa 1960

 

Parting Shot

When she turned into a Trump hater, all the evil oozed to the surface, and she became a hag. You can’t make this up. She looks like an ugly vampire.

 

End