Revealing, yes; embarrassing? That would require self-awareness. Donor class holds canape summit to address its lack of appeal to working men

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”More ads on video games — yes, that’s exactly the ticket!”

Top Democratic operatives and donors have been hobnobbing in “luxury hotels” while trying to figure out why the party is shedding men and the working class — moves that have liberals have slammed as out of touch. 

In one instance, liberal super PAC Future Forward hosted a gathering in the Ritz-Carlton resort in wealthy Half Moon Bay, California, to apprise donors on what went wrong in 2024. Prominent figures such as California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D) were reported in attendance.

Some of the elite gatherings featured appetizers like short-rib tostones, mini lobster rolls, beef tenderloin and other expensive hors d’oeuvres, according to reporting from the New York Times. 

Among the strategy discussions was a $20 million effort codenamed SAM, “Speaking with American Men: A Strategic Plan,” which is working toward stemming Democrats’ hemorrhaging of young men.

Some of its recommendations include purchasing more ads on video games and changing the party’s language towards men. SAM really underscored the need for Democrats to stop having such a “moralizing tone” toward men, according to the report.

UPDATE:

I can't imagine anything that would please me more, or residents who deserve this more; gooder and harder, please

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I’d have thought the Episcopal flag alone would suffice to signal their virtue, but, belts, suspenders and all that ….

What better neighborhood in which to demonstrate the merits of the liberal agenda than the West Village?

West Village residents blast church’s plans to build mission for junkies, vagrants: ‘We’re losing the Village’

West Villagers are up in arms over a church’s plan to build a new $11 million mission at a historic NYC street corner, arguing it would lure even more junkies and vagrants to the already besieged area.

The Church of St. Luke in the Field’s plans to erect a 4,400-square-foot building on the iconic corner of Christopher and Hudson streets — on the same block as a swanky school — complete with Narcan kits and free meals, to serve up to 300 hobos and drug addicts.

Some fear the mission will devolve into a shooting gallery for junkies in broad daylight.

“There is absolutely no way to justify a safe injection site within blocks of three schools,” raged West Village resident Kathleen Walters.

Not only is there a school on the church’s grounds — St Luke’s elementary and middle school — but there are two other schools around the corner — PS3 Charrette school across the street on Hudson and the West Village Community School one block away.

And that’s got parents fuming.

“What’s been frustrating is that multiple parent groups and neighbors have tried to open a dialogue with the church about safety, scale, and transparency — especially given the proximity to several schools —and those efforts have been met with silence,” said Cameron Neilson.

Crime in the West Village skyrocketed 80% in 2022, continuing to climb through 2024, when major felonies surged to 1,789, up 16% from 2019. Residents have since begged for more cops from the 6th Precinct to patrol the streets.

The church plans to have Narcan — used to reverse opioid overdoses — readily available for potential overdoses, train staff on dealing with addicts and give out free lunches.

It currently serves about 40 people a week, most of them vagrants and junkies.

“It would greatly enhance our service to these weekday guests if there was a dedicated outreach space with a direct street-level entrance and space to wait beyond the stoop,” rector Mother Caroline Stacey said in a letter to parishioners

“Could this statement serve as an invitation to ‘weekday guests,’ when schools are in session, to shoot up near St. Luke in the Fields because along with Narcan, the church states elsewhere in the letter that it also provides ‘a sandwich, two snacks, bottled water along with some food for later and often individualized clothing …?’ ” concerned neighbors said in the petition.

The planned space could potentially hold up to 300 people.

Vanessa Warren, president of the Washington Place Block Association, said the mission helps create an environment that “welcomes addicts.”

“To help addicts, you don’t provide an abundance of resources that make it easy for them to continue using. However, the point of St. Luke’s new mission is exactly that.”

She continued: “The village is going to become an enclave of enablers if we don’t stop confusing compassion with enabling. Anyone who has real experience with friends or family in active drug addiction knows that this is the absolute opposite way to behave, it is alien to common sense.”

For decades, West Villagers have provided money and support to the very people who espouse these policies; and the true cost of what they’ve demanded is now coming home. Sniff.

Too late smart, too soon stupid.

You can blame Trump

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The Democrats' Anti-Electoral College Scheme May Be Imploding

The liberal dream of circumventing the Electoral College might be crumbling faster than anyone expected. Maine, one of the 17 states that joined the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, is now poised to become the first state to exit the agreement—and it's sending shockwaves through the left-wing coalition that thought they'd found a clever workaround to the Constitution.

Just last year, Maine opted to join the compact, which would award all participating states' electoral votes to whoever wins the national popular vote. 

But now the state is having serious second thoughts.

The Maine House passed a bipartisan bill on Tuesday to withdraw from the compact, and it's headed to the state Senate.

Let’s be honest—this reversal is no coincidence. The National Popular Vote compact has always had a partisan flavor, pushed hardest by Democrats who’ve long been frustrated by Electoral College outcomes they don’t like. The 2000 election was clearly a factor, and Trump’s 2016 victory over Hillary Clinton only supercharged the movement. Liberal states such as California and New York signed on, bringing the total to 209 electoral votes—still 61 short of the 270 needed to activate the compact.

Flashback: The Case Against the National Popular Vote Compact

….

Maine's experience perfectly illustrates why the compact was always a bad idea [for both parties— Ed]. The state joined when Democrats figured Trump could never win the popular vote again. But Trump's decisive popular vote victory in 2024 changed everything. Had the compact been in effect with current members, Trump would have carried a whopping 520 electoral votes, instead of the 312 he actually won.

The irony is delicious. Democrats pushed this compact because they thought it would permanently benefit their party’s candidates.

"We were the first state in the nation to split our Electoral College votes by congressional district—a system that reflects our political diversity and values, every voice, whether rural or urban," said Maine state Rep. Barbara Bagshaw, who sponsored the withdrawal bill. "By joining the National Popular Vote Compact, we have undermined that."

Bagshaw's got a point. Maine and Nebraska are the only two states that split their electoral votes by congressional district rather than winner-take-all. This system actually gives rural and urban voters meaningful representation—something the popular vote compact would completely destroy.

Talk about buyer's remorse.

Now that Trump has proven he can win both the Electoral College and the popular vote, blue states are scrambling for the exits. Make no mistake about it—if Maine successfully withdraws, other states may follow. The compact was built on the false premise that Republicans couldn't win the national popular vote, and Trump just shattered that illusion completely.

Is this the beginning of the end of the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact? 

They've banned lots of chemicals on data far more tenuous than this: COVID vaccines and population control. "That's not a bug, it's a feature!" Bill Gates

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Extrapolating effects on humans from experiments with rats, even when using human-equivalent doses, is not a sure thing — what’s toxic to a rat may not be toxic to humans, and vice versa — but it’s certainly evidence that should be considered, not, as our COVID masters did, ignored.

COVID Vaccines Reduce Fertility Significantly

David Strom:

“According to a peer-reviewed study published in Vaccines, mRNA COVID vaccines destroy 60% of female ovum supplies, which are non-renewable. 

“Granted, the studies were conducted in lab rats given human-equivalent doses of the vaccines, so the effects in human beings may be different, but this sure blows a hole in the claims that the COVID vaccines posed no risks to women's fertility. 

“The claims made by all those "experts" were made with absolutely no scientific evidence to back them up, and the evidence to the contrary is now overwhelming.”

Our findings suggest that both mRNA and inactivated COVID-19 vaccines may detrimentally impact ovarian reserve in rats, primarily through accelerated follicular loss and alterations in apoptotic pathways during folliculogenesis. Given these observations in a rat model, further investigations into the vaccines’ effects on human ovarian reserve are needed.

“It has long been known that women who were administered the COVID-19 vaccines suffered from menstrual changes--this effect was noticed early on and is now well-established--so it shouldn't be shocking that the vaccines had a detrimental impact on fertility itself. 

“Despite this fact, public health officials went on a campaign to reassure women that there was no danger at all to their fertility and that any suggestion that there might be was misinformation--misinformation that was, of course, censored for quite a while. 

“Oops. 

“Here’s what the study found in simple terms:”

Severe Destruction of Ovarian Reserve

  • Rats injected intramuscularly with a Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 mRNA vaccine — at a human-equivalent dose — experienced a >60% reduction in primordial follicles, the foundational egg supply for future fertility (p < 0.001).

  • The inactivated vaccine (CoronaVac) also caused loss, but to a lesser extent.

  • The primordial follicle pool is finite and non-regenerating — females are born with all the eggs they will ever have.

  • Destruction of this pool is irreversible, leading to permanent fertility loss if translated to humans.

  • AMH, a hormone reflecting ovarian reserve, dropped significantly in the mRNA group — both in serum and in ovarian tissue (p < 0.001).

  • Lower AMH is associated with poor fertility outcomes and earlier menopause.

  • Increased expression of caspase-3 (a cell-death enzyme) and inflammatory markers like TGF-β1 and VEGF were found in vaccinated rats.

  • These biomarkers are linked to ovarian atresia, fibrosis, and long-term tissue damage.

  • Compared to the inactivated vaccine, the mRNA group had:

  • Fewer growing follicles (primary, secondary, antral, preovulatory)

  • More dying follicles (atretic)

  • Greater reductions in hormone markers of fertility

Strom:

“It can't be repeated enough that the claims that the vaccine wouldn't impact fertility were entirely unfounded by even the most cursory scientific study. No evidence at all. 

“Yet public health officials performed a full-court press to gaslight people into believing that they were "following the science," even though no science had been done, nor could it have been in the short period of time between the creation of the vaccine and its wide-scale distribution. 

“Worse, since the mRNA vaccines were fundamentally different in kind from prior vaccines, it wasn't even possible to extrapolate from prior experience to make a decent guess whether there was a danger. mRNA technology isn't remotely similar to traditional vaccines. 

I”f these findings indeed apply to humans, the implications for global fertility rates are profound. This kind of damage — to a woman’s lifelong egg supply — is biologically irreversible.

“Unfortunately, a recent study by Manniche et al indicates that these ovarian reserve destruction findings likely DO translate to humans. Among ~1.3 million Czech women aged 18–39, those vaccinated against COVID-19 had ~33% fewer successful pregnancies compared to unvaccinated women:

“While I doubt that any of the people pushing these vaccines knew that they would cause a loss in fertility--there was no data to go on or, as far as I know, a reason to predict that this would happen--we do have reason to believe that it wouldn't be seen as a tragedy by many of them. They are, as a class, if not all individually, in favor of reducing the population. This may explain their indifference to the possibility. 

“Or it could just be groupthink and excessive zeal. 

“Whatever the case, almost no childbearing age women were at risk from COVID itself, so there was no urgency to get the vaccine out to this cohort. By any reasonable cost/benefit calculation, it was a terrible idea. 

“One could even say a crime against humanity.”

RELATED:

Senate Report Alleges that Biden Officials Downplayed Covid Vaccine Myocarditis Risks

I inadvertently buried the lede: read this article that summarizes that Senate hearing. Devastating.

Little Rocket Man announces massive new hiring plan for North Korea's shipbuilding industry as hundreds of top positions are suddenly vacated

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t’wasn’t meant to be

We knew this was coming when news of the mishap hit the airwaves Thursday:

Kim Jong Un left fuming after North Korea's new destroyer damaged in failed launch

North Korean dictator Kim Jung Un was left fuming this week when he attended the botched launch of a new 5,000-ton naval destroyer.

The launch, at the northeastern port of Chongjin, was intended to tout the communist nation’s military advancement, but ended in embarrassment for Kim after the ship slid off a ramp and became stuck, state media reported.

The flatcar failed to move alongside the ship, throwing it off balance and crushing parts of the ship’s bottom, North Korean news agency KCNA reported. Its stern slid down the launch slipway, while its bow section failed to leave the ramp.

The total extent of the damage was unclear and it isn’t known if there were any injuries.

North Korea did not release photos from the scene, although satellite imagery released by South Korea on Thursday indicated that the ship was lying on its side in the water after the failed launch.

According to KCNA, Kim, who was present at the ceremony on Wednesday, blamed military officials, scientists and shipyard operators for a "serious accident and criminal act caused by absolute carelessness, irresponsibility and unscientific empiricism." 

Kim warned that the errors caused by the "irresponsibility of the relevant officials" would need to be investigated at a ruling Workers’ Party meeting slated for late June.

…. Moon Keun-sik, a navy expert who teaches at Seoul’s Hanyang University … suspected that the incident likely happened because North Korean workers aren't yet familiar with such a large warship and had been rushed to put it in the water.

It was the second naval destroyer the secretive nation launched in a month after Kim attended the successful launch of another 5,000-ton destroyer from Nampo, a port on the west coast of North Korea. Kim later watched missiles fired from the ship, with experts saying that it appeared to have been built with Russian technology.

A report by the North Korea-focused 38 North website assessed last week that the destroyer in Chongjin was being prepared to be launched sideways from the quay, a method that has rarely been used in North Korea. The report said the destroyer launched in Nampo, in contrast, used a floating dry dock.

And sure enough: all you young, ambitious Hermit Kingdom engineers and dockyard workers, put down your slide rules, put aside your lunch boxes, and start polishing your resumes.

North Korea vows to arrest those responsible for failed ship launch

North Korea has begun steps to arrest and investigate those responsible for a failed launch of its second naval destroyer this week

It’s a good bet that everyone involved, however peripherally, with this fiasco will not live to regret it.

Money, elections and judges (Updated)

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Joe Biden's $93 Billion Scandal That No One's Talking About Yet

[T]he Department of Energy handed out a staggering $93 billion in loans and commitments during the final 76 days of the Biden administration, a figure that more than doubled the loan total from the previous 15 years combined.

Kennedy, in classic fashion, drilled in with precision. “The 76-day period you’re talking about, that’s the period between the time that President Trump was elected and President Biden left office. Is that right?” 

“That is correct,” Wright confirmed.

Kennedy didn’t mince words when he asked how any agency could properly vet such massive spending in such a short window. “How do you do due diligence on one loan, much less $93 billion?” he asked. 

Wright’s answer was damning.

“I think it’s probably pretty clear it wasn’t done in many cases,” he said. “There were commitments made from businesses that provided no business plan, no numbers about their own financial solvency, or how this project actually worked.”

The senator appeared almost incredulous and asked for clarity: “So, so you're telling me that the Department of Energy in the 76-day period before their boss was gonna leave office, gave or loaned money to, to entities that had no business plan?” 

“Correct,” Wright replied bluntly.

“No financials?” Kennedy asked.

“Correct,” Wright told him. “I've come in with great concern about how this institution, this great American institution, has been run and how American taxpayer money has been handled.”

Wright also acknowledged that his department is now conducting a sweeping review of those loans and grants. 

“We are… and yeah, my blood pressure is rising just thinking about what we have seen and what did happen at the department.”

“Does anybody ever come to the Department of Energy to get some of this free money and lie to you?” Kennedy asked. 

While Wright said he hadn’t experienced that yet, he said it was “a reasonable assumption that that has happened.”

Kennedy raised concerns about the nature of applicants who sought these funds, pointing out the potential for fraud. 

“Is it conceivable that some of these folks… came to you with a half-baked idea?” 

“Very conceivable,” Wright told him. “In fact, I’ve seen such plans… that didn’t have a business plan — just a promise to develop one later.”

What shocked Kennedy most wasn’t just the lack of oversight but the arrogance of it all: “They were spending money at the Department of Energy like it was ditchwater,” he said, noting the department’s ballooning budget. “Their budget went from $60 billion to $160 billion since fiscal year 2021.”

Wright didn’t defend the indefensible. He pledged to turn down wasteful projects and refer “the thieves” to the Department of Justice. “They shouldn’t be upset,” he said. “They should be ashamed.”

This “discovery” isn’t completely new; the DOE’s been trying to claw back billions of the dollars shoveled out by the Biden cabal between the election and eviction, it’s just that the size of that perfidy continues to grow as the investigation proceeds. Unfortunately, for so long as the Democrats’ judicial branch operates to thwart those efforts, the chances of ever recovering any of the money is nil, and, so far, it’s succeeding in doing just that: Here are three of dozens (hundreds?) of examples:

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UPDATE: The Week in Pictures is up, and I see that someone beat me to the punch on the ATM angle. Worse, theirs is better than mine.

Who'd have guessed this was next?

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VDH nails it:

Here’s that moral paragon conducting an indoctrination class at George Washington University in 2018:

Jake Tapper Stresses Moral Courage, Decency in Politics

The CNN anchor spoke about his new book, “The Hellfire Club,” and the media’s coverage of Donald Trump during the 2016 campaign.

Mr. Tapper noted similarities in how the media covered both Mr. Trump’s rise and Mr. McCarthy’s rise. Journalists covered Mr. McCarthy without much analysis early on, publishing his baseless smears and inflammatory rhetoric without challenging the facts. The media also over-covered Mr. Trump’s political ascension in 2015, he said.

“You see the compromises come and eventually... you do see a lot of people just selling off little bits of their soul until there is nothing left,” Mr. Tapper said. “You take one step into the swamp, and then another, and then another, and the next thing you know, you’re up to your eyeballs in swamp water.”

Mr. Tapper credits Jeff Zucker, president of CNN, for acknowledging the wall-to-wall coverage of Mr. Trump’s early primary rallies was too much. He wishes Fox News and MSNBC leadership would come out and say the same.

Mr. Tapper sees himself as one of the tougher journalists who covered Mr. Trump as a candidate.

During a June 2016 interview, Mr. Tapper pushed Mr. Trump on his assertion that a Hispanic judge could not fairly preside over a case against Trump University because the candidate touted plans to build a wall between the U.S. and Mexico. It was the last time he would interview the future president.

“Could I have been tougher? Yeah, I’m sure that there were times I could have been tougher, but I feel like I did a lot of tough interviews,” he said. “I feel like if my children study this era the way I studied the ’50s, I think I’m going to look OK.”

His children may think he was courageous and brave during his career, but history will judge him, at best, as a mewling lickspittle tool of his Democrat overlords, and at worst, a co-conspirator.

Because electricity is generated from hot unicorn farts and NPR mouth-breathers' emissions, not natural gas and coal

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One New York politician got the message:

And this one just contributed her own pile of excrement:

A guaranteed prescription for backyard neighborhood fun