Aggregator

Police are hunting for the man whose alleged attempts to sexually assault two women were thwarted by a loyal paw patrol.

Of Marxists And Morons

Authored by Eric Utter via American Thinker,

Most of us have heard the horrific figures: Communism/Marxism was responsible for more than 100 million deaths in the 20th century alone.

There are two preconditions necessary for people to accept or even welcome Communism: one, frustration with current economic and/or political conditions, and two, a moral decay that generates a disdain for work and an excessive entitlement mentality that demonizes others' success, accomplishments, and wealth. For far too many, this demonization of what others have leads not unto desire to make the right decisions and work hard enough to earn it yourself, but unto envy, greed, wrath and sloth, four of the Seven Deadly Sins. And a demand that much of what others' have be confiscated and handed over to one's self and one's demographic group...without one having to work for it. This, as history clearly shows, is an automatic death sentence for a society. Every time. In every case. Whether it be the erstwhile Soviet Union, its satellite in Cuba, Pol Pot's Cambodia, or, more recently, previously wealthy Venezuela.

It could not possibly be otherwise. If I work hard, say, for 60-hour weeks, and I and my family are not going to be very appreciably better off than someone who is unemployed and able to sit on his couch all day because of my tax money, it would literally be immoral, as well as against human nature, for me to continue to do so. Why? Because I would not only be allowing the excessive and arbitrary taxation of my earned labor, while robbing myself of precious time with my family, but quite possibly, in the long term, degrading my health. And subjecting myself to various opportunity costs/losses.

Margaret Thatcher famously said, "The problem with Socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money." That in itself is spot-on, but there is far more to it than that.

Ayn Rand: "There is no difference between Communism and Socialism, except in the same ultimate end: Communism proposes to enslave men by force, Socialism by the vote. It is merely the difference between murder and suicide."

When people address this issue, they almost always start by saying, "Capitalism with all its faults..." I am not willing to do that. This is life. This is Earth, not heaven. In this sense, Capitalism doesn't have any faults. True Capitalism does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, sex...or anything else. The supply and demand curve determines what price any given product can bear. Charging less than that is not altruistic, but stupid and fraught with possible bias. Nothing can be truly worth other than what people will pay for it. That is why art is so subjective. One person looks at a painting and thinks, "I'd pay anything for that masterpiece," another says to herself, "You couldn't pay me to take this ridiculous piece of crap home."

In command (Communist/Marxist/Socialist) economies, one or a very few people determine what the cost of any given item "should be." Since there is no market feedback, their biases come into play. Lots of them. Shockingly, these biases always lead to a handful of leaders living well, and everyone else being paupers and puppets.

It is anything but a coincidence, a fluke, that the United States quickly became the largest and most innovative economy on planet Earth. Entrepreneurship explodes when people are potentially rewarded for their effort, creativity, and dogged determination. All ships do rise with the tide. The "poor" in America are still better off than all but the rich of many nations today. But supporters of Communism would rather everyone be less well off but closer in income than everyone being far better off with a greater income disparity. There is a word for that. It's called evil.

Capitalism pulled countless millions - perhaps even billions - out of poverty in recent decades. Even China, Laos, and Vietnam were forced to go to market economies, despite their Communistic social policies.

Younger members of today's Democrat Party - or should I say, the Democrat-Socialist Party - have recently and rather suddenly embraced the "teachings" of Karl Marx's The Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital.

That kind of ignorance and immorality does not just show up organically. It has to be very carefully inculcated. And that is what our colleges and universities are for.

The U.S., under JFK and Ronald Reagan, ultimately won the Cold War, essentially without firing a shot. Now it appears a Cold Civil War may be looming at some point in the future. One that, sadly, would have to be fought and won if this nation were to survive. Because, as Churchill said, "It is better to perish than live as slaves." And make no mistake, if you are living under Communism, you are a slave...to the state.

(Highly recommended reading: The 5000 Year Leap - The 28 Great Ideas That Changed the World, by W. Cleon Skousen and the National Center for Constitutional Studies)

Tyler Durden Wed, 07/15/2026 - 16:20

CENTCOM released footage showing the first combat use of U.S. sea drones, saying three Corsair unmanned surface vessels struck a submarine and ship maintenance facility at Iran’s Bandar Abbas Naval Base during a broader wave of strikes targeting Iranian military infrastructure.

Nick was arrested by Los Angeles Police Department officers shortly after his dad and mom were found stabbed to death inside their Brentwood home.

Nick was arrested by Los Angeles Police Department officers shortly after his dad and mom were found stabbed to death inside their Brentwood home.

Tiana Bender-Santiago is doing what cancer said she couldn’t.  The 28-year-old, diagnosed with Ewing sarcoma, an aggressive form of bone cancer, at age 13, was told she’d likely never have children. An oafish fertility doctor even deemed her ovaries “dusty.” But now, the brunette and her bellyful of baby are laughing all the way to labor...

Video footage showed airstrikes hitting the runway at Sanaa International Airport on July 13, with Yemen’s Houthi authorities accusing Saudi Arabia of carrying out the attack and vowing retaliation. The footage, shared by Al Masirah TV, showed smoke rising near the airport’s control tower.

“The pants don’t lie, the pants don’t lie.”

“The pants don’t lie, the pants don’t lie.”

One laid off employee said restructuring effectively dismantles News 12's standalone operations in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Westchester and Connecticut.

Scholars and scribes from the Poetry Society of America have chosen the most beautiful word in the English language: “diaphanous.”

An "SNL" star takes over hosting as the ESPYs return to NYC.

Find out who's who in Anya Taylor-Joy's new show Lucky.

Obama-Appointed Judge Halts US Visa Restrictions On Disinformation Gurus Accused Of Censorship

Authored by Owen Evans via The Epoch Times,

A federal judge on Tuesday blocked the Trump administration from enforcing a policy that denied visas and ordered deportations of “disinformation” expert foreign nationals whom it accused of being leading figures in the global “censorship-industrial complex.”

Last year, the United States issued a visa policy targeting foreign nationals whom it claimed censor Americans’ free speech abroad.

“For too long, Americans have been fined, harassed, and even charged by foreign authorities for exercising their free speech rights,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on X at the time.

In Washington on July 14, Chief U.S. District ‌Judge James Boasberg sided with the Coalition for ⁠Independent Technology Research (CITR) in finding that the administration’s policy likely “burdens” the speech of noncitizen researchers in the United States in violation of the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment.

The group’s lawsuit alleged that ​the U.S. State Department had been engaged in a campaign of censorship against anti-disinformation advocates.

“What began as a visa-restriction policy later expanded, according to plaintiff Coalition for Independent Technology Research, into a broader campaign against noncitizens who work on misinformation, disinformation, fact checking, content moderation, compliance and trust and safety,” the judge wrote.

“The Department has since invoked that policy to bar individuals from the country or seek their removal, including leaders of CITR member organizations.”

In December 2025, ​the State Department imposed visa bans on five Europeans, including a former European Union commissioner, and ​anti-disinformation activists whom ⁠Rubio called “leading figures of the global censorship-industrial complex.”

“But when you turn disinformation into a weapon, a political weapon, a label that you can use to go after people you don’t like, and say, oh, anything that person’s saying is disinformation—well, listen, I read mainstream newspapers every day, or I watch mainstream broadcasts—mainstream broadcasts every day that I know are disinformation, okay?” Rubio said in a May 2025 conversation with free speech activist Mike Bentz.

Among those hit by the visa ban were Imran Ahmed, the British CEO of U.S.-based Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), and Clare Melford, co-founder of Global Disinformation Index.

Their groups are members of the Coalition for Independent Technology Research, according to the lawsuit.

Rubio accused them of having “led organized efforts to coerce American platforms to censor, demonetize, and suppress American viewpoints they oppose.”

CCDH, a British nonprofit, researches what it calls “online hate and disinformation,” which it defines as online lies “weaponized by movements and individuals for their own political, social and economic ends.”

For example, in one report, it partnered with a major abortion provider, MSI Reproductive Choices, and highlighted what it described as “false claims” online that abortion drugs pose high risks to women.

CCDH also produced its 2021 “Disinformation Dozen” report targeting 12 individuals, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Joseph Mercola, and Sherri Tenpenny, as “top spreaders“ of COVID vaccine ”misinformation.”

It urged social media platforms and governments to ban private groups that traffic primarily in “vaccine disinformation” and to prevent groups requiring a Facebook disclaimer from existing as private or secret groups.

A 2023 Republican-led congressional investigation by the House Judiciary Committee and the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government into the Election Integrity Partnership detailed how “disinformation” efforts disproportionately flagged conservative content.

This included posts from President Donald Trump, Speaker Newt Gingrich, and other Republicans, often to justify censorship.

Carrie DeCell, a lawyer for the coalition at the Knight ​First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, welcomed the judge’s ruling, which she said “recognized the serious constitutional harms this policy ‌is already ⁠causing.”

“This policy punishes researchers for work the public needs, and the First Amendment protects,” DeCell said.

In a May 26 statement, CITR said that the policy “has created a chilling effect” across disinformation researchers.

“Researchers have dropped out of conferences and opted out of travel to meet with colleagues, shifted research topics entirely to avoid negative attention, and in some cases, even stepped back from affiliating with the coalition out of fear for their safety,” it said.

“The policy is affecting researchers in how they live and labor, with the fear of being detained or deported from the United States because of their work helping people navigate social media and AI safely.”

A State Department spokesperson told The Epoch Times by email:

“The Trump administration believes that aliens who are or were involved or complicit in censoring American citizens must face appropriate consequences.

“An American visa is a privilege, not a right. Specific questions about this lawsuit should be referred to the Department of Justice.”

Tyler Durden Wed, 07/15/2026 - 15:45

Permanent Switch To Daylight Saving Time Easily Passes US House

The movement to liberate Americans from changing their clocks twice a year cleared a key hurdle on Tuesday, as the US House of Representatives advanced the Sunshine Protection Act by a lopsided 318-117 margin. While many Americans would like to stop the spring and fall time changes, not all of them are on board with the Sunshine Protection Act's specific approach, would would make daylight saving time permanent. 

President Trump has backed the proposal, and the White House issued a statement as the House vote was looming: “This bipartisan legislation represents a popular, common-sense reform and would benefit Americans by protecting precious daylight during the evening, when people are most likely to be awake and active." Party affiliation didn't play much of a part in Tuesday's House voting: The aye votes included 193 Republicans, 114 Democrats and one independent. An AP-NORC poll conducted last year found 47% of Americans oppose the current clock-switching, compared to only 12% who like it.  

Proponents tout the ability to enjoy more sunlight in the later part of winter days. The bill is popular among operators of golf courses, restaurants, retail shops, professional sports teams and theme parks.but that comes at the cost of later sunrises on those days:

This will be such a nightmare. pic.twitter.com/qrD03wxEdl

— Julian Mille☈ (@ATLAreaWx) July 14, 2026

Opponents of permanent DST include the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, which says permanent standard time better matches natural circadian rhythms, which affects immune system function and other aspects of personal health. The group, along with some concerned educators and parents, say permanent DST would have particularly harmful effects on children.  "Permanent daylight saving time would delay morning light exposure, making it harder for children and adolescents to wake, learn, and travel safely to school during dark winter mornings," the group said in a statement.  

The legislation allows states to exempt themselves or an area of their state from the permanent switch, provided they do so before it is enacted. Hawaii and Arizona (other than the Navajo Nation in the northeast part of the state) opted out of daylight saving time in the late 1960s. Federal legislation currently allows states to opt out of DST, but they don't have the authority to choose permanent DST. Eager to get a jump on things, 19 states have passed laws that would switch their citizens to permanent DST if the federal government gives states a choice. However, the Sunshine Protection Act would make it the default.  

remember folks: it’s daylight saving, not savings pic.twitter.com/TynurJXKCZ

— Grace Panetta (@grace_panetta) July 15, 2026

The drive to end clock-switching has a long history of sputtering out. Last time around -- in 2022 -- it was the Senate that approved the Sunshine Protection Act, not even using a recorded vote but passing it by unanimous consent. Then it died in the House as legislators grappled with constituents who were wary of ill effects on health. It won't pass the Senate by unanimous consent this time: Oklahoma Sen. Tom Cotton blocked such passage last fall and remains an ardent opponent. A Senate staffer told NBC News that Cotton will urge Senate Majority Leader John Thune to let the bill gather dust on his desk.  

Some Capitol Hill proponents aren't enthusiastic about its prospects. “I’m kind of digging the fact that we’re going to fix it, I hope,” Tennessee Rep. Tim Burchett told NBC. “See if the Senate takes it up. They probably won’t, but we’ll see.”

Tyler Durden Wed, 07/15/2026 - 15:25

In an attempt to inject some energy into her Senate campaign during a recent campaign stop, Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., inadvertently created a moment that sparked online mockery.

Anthony Mantha made his career year count. The 31-year-old forward signed a two-year, $9.5 million contract with the Devils, the team announced on Wednesday. The forward will make $5.4 million next season and $4.1 million in 2027-28 with an average annual value of $4.75 million. Pittsburgh Penguins’ Anthony Mantha (39) moves the puck against the...

Blakeman rallied against the aggressive environmental law after a federal appeals court upheld it two weeks ago.

Folks who shelled out as much as $46 for an exercise class are going home with more than a post workout glow — some are reporting they've picked up a nasty fungal infection, too.

Say goodbye to shower slips!