Oh, just fly away, would you?

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Fortunately, there’s a way for Ford to atone for his sin of amassing a fortune during his climb from simple carpenter to superstar: sell his Wyoming ranch, his jets, helicopters and California mansion, and give it all back to the people he seems to think he stole it from:

NPR: This obscure program lets Americans donate to help pay off the national debt

…. 1961, the government set up another account, a special account for what it called gifts to reduce the public debt. And it meant that the money in that account could only be used for that purpose. It wouldn't get swallowed up by the general fund.

And as of this past Friday, it’s even easier to do!

Americans can now use Venmo to help pay off US debt

Method of payment a recent addition as US treasury gives kind-hearted citizens chance to help reduce $36.72tn debt

Ah, the power of symbolism

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after a hard day of doing it to the world, professional global warmists check in for an evening busman’s holiday

Brazil's Erotic 'Love Motels' Are Getting Ready for UN Climate Change Summit, Report Says

The erotic motels, normally reserved for "lunch-hour trysts, clandestine affairs and passion-struck lovers seeking a few hours of privacy away from cramped family homes," are now getting ready for hosting "diplomats and climate scientists, civil servants and environmental activists," arriving in November for the U.N. climate conference, the Times reported.

The news comes as the 12-day summit, set to draw tens of thousands of attendees [45,000 up to 90,000 all, no doubt traveling by foot and solar-powered bicycles — Ed] to Belém, Brazil, has left the Amazonian city scrambling to meet lodging demands amid unfinished construction and soaring hotel prices. "With less than four months to go, much of the new lodging is still not complete and the city is thousands of beds short of its target," according to the Times.

Local officials faced scrutiny earlier this year for paving over tens of thousands of acres of protected Amazon rainforest to build a four-lane highway aimed at easing traffic to the climate conference. The deforestation undermines the very purpose of the summit, critics said.

The estimated attendance figure I cite came from an Associated Press article. Day in and day out, the AP spews some of the most duplicitous and often just downright wrong propaganda to be found in the nation’s press. In fact, AP content makes up the bulk of almost all of our local papers’ “news” coverage.

Here’s an example:

This year nearly every nation — the United States, the No. 2 carbon dioxide emitter and historically biggest polluter, withdrew from the accord earlier this year — has to submit their first plan update.

What’s missing from this? The identity of the No. 1 carbon dioxide emitter, and the proportionate contribution of each.

Blame the Department of Education for this, not NOAA

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Responding to frantic inquires from the heartland, NOAA has tried to reassure the public

Inland Tsunami Warning? National Weather Service Gives All Clear to North Dakota - No Wave Worries

I hadn't thought of this approach to soliciting blog donations, but that's because I'm just not current; I'll try to fix that (Updated)

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Well, they weren't January 6 protestors, were they?

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A suspect, whom authorities have identified as Robert Jacob Hoopes, is seen holding a rock during a chaotic protest at a federal immigration facility in Portland, Oregon, on June 14, 2025. (Image courtesy of the Department of Justice)

Blue State [Federal] Judges Refuse To Jail Leftists Charged In Violent Attacks

Democrat-appointed federal judges in Oregon have repeatedly refused to jail suspects charged with violence at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility and an Elon Musk-owned Tesla store.

A court on Monday ordered Robert Jacob Hoopes to be released pending trial after he allegedly tried to ram his way into an ICE facility in Portland and injured an ICE officer’s eye with a rock, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ). Between July 8 and July 11, two other Oregon defendants accused of armed assaults on federal agents and a Tesla store were also given supervised release despite the Trump administration’s objections, according to court records and local media reports.

Hoopes, 24, allegedly threw rocks at the ICE building among a crowd of protesters on June 14 and struck an officer “in the head, causing a significant laceration over the officer’s eye,” according to the DOJ. “Later that same day, he and two other individuals were seen using an upended stop sign as a makeshift battering ram, which resulted in significant damage to the main entry door to the ICE building,” according to the department.

A suspect, whom authorities have identified as Robert Jacob Hoopes, is seen holding a rock during a chaotic protest at a federal immigration facility in Portland, Oregon, on June 14, 2025. (Image courtesy of the Department of Justice)

Judge Youlee Yim You, appointed by former President Barack Obama, said she decided to release Hoopes with a GPS ankle monitor in part because some in the community showed up to support the defendant in the courtroom, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported.

Before Hoopes’s release, two federal judges rejected the DOJ’s pleas to detain transgender suspect Adam Lansky, who is accused of throwing Molotov cocktails at a Tesla dealership in January, aiming a rifle at a witness who drove away and returning the next month to fire shots into the building, court documents show.

The DOJ warned in court that Lansky was “a competitive shooter” and former member of the Socialist Rifle Association, a left-wing firearm education and training group with chapters across the U.S. “The [improvised explosive devices] used by Lansky were all manufactured by him using everyday items, empty glass bottles, gasoline, fabric, etc., all these items remain easily accessible to Lansky in the community if released,” prosecutors wrote in a July 9 filing.

Obama-appointed Judge Stacie Beckerman nonetheless ordered Lansky’s release to a halfway house, where individuals receive more freedom to pursue employment and other activities than in jail. Beckerman argued in court that Lansky’s alleged behavior was an “outlier event,” according to The Oregonian.

The DOJ appealed the decision to Judge Adrienne Nelson, who also rejected its request. Former President Joe Biden appointed Nelson as the first black woman to serve on Oregon’s U.S. District Court.

Judge Beckerman also moved anti-ICE defendant Julie Winters on July 8 to a halfway house, The Oregonian reported. Winters tried to light an incendiary device next to a Portland ICE building, threw a large knife at a federal officer without hitting the officer and pulled a second knife on officers who were restraining him at an anti-ICE protest on June 24, the DOJ has alleged.

…. Beckerman said Winters, who identifies as transgender, should be released from jail because officers put him in solitary confinement rather than house him with male or female inmates, according to The Oregonian. The DOJ, however, said his behavior is “extraordinarily concerning” because he is also charged in a state case with assaulting a police officer in December.

Not bad for an easy afternoon’s work

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Sotheby’s pieter-luuk and assistant daphne looking pleased

In a deal brokered by Daphne-Lamsvelt Pol and Rob Johnson, 24 Rock Ridge closed in a non-MLS sale on the 25th for $21 million. Built in 2015 by Doran Sabbag/Jim Hoffman of Sound Beach Partners Homes (SBPHomes), it sold that year for $13 million, so some decent appreciation here. Unfounded rumors have it that Daphne, having closed $450 million in deals the past 12 months, personally purchased this as a downsizer, but then again, Rob’s been selling up a storm as well, so perhaps they went halfsies; certainly there’s room enough for two families, if our zoning board will allow it.

Here’s a bit more detail from the 2015 listing: