[Townhall] The recent wave of targeted action by the WNBA, players, and even coaches against the league’s biggest star Caitlin Clark continues. In the most recent development, Clark was left off of the league’s 30th Anniversary commemorative poster.
#5
....Boomer Esiason - someone who, as a Browns fan I NEVER thought I'd agree with - said the other day that when Clark's contract is up, she needs to go play in Europe, where she'll get the money she deserves and the respect she's owed. Let the WNBA rot into oblivion.
#7
If I ever watched the WNBA, which I don't, then I might be outraged by this. My best advice for Ms. Clark would be to start looking into other careers, you know, the kind where the business makes an actual profit so she could make some actual money.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
06/29/2026 12:24 Comments ||
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#8
Caitlin time to leave Planet of the Apes
Posted by: Regular joe ||
06/29/2026 12:43 Comments ||
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#9
Caitlin is straight, white, and talented. Of course the Mean Girls hate her. Likely, #2 is also a factor.
The WNBA is probably too high on unaccustomed fan interest and dollars to notice where they are headed. May the crash be spectacular!
#13
She'll make WAY more money as an Onlyfans model than she ever did in the WNBA. Lots of athletes do. A Kazakh olympian just joined. Athletic, nice buns, she'll make a mint for the owners of OF and some for herself, too.
Scott Weiner is a perverted abomination and deserves every bit of hate he receives from his fellow travelers...this time it's over Israel.
He actually accused Israel of genocide a few months ago, so the claim it is is a lie. It’s that he is Jewish, which for the abominations moves him firmly beyond the Pale. Otherwise, some are heard regretting, he is absolutely perfect. See also here.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] California protestors were heard turning on their own Democratic lawmaker at the San Francisco trans march, as they heckled him over policy surrounding Gaza.
State Senator Scott Weiner, 56, was filmed by an attendee of the pride event at Dolores Park on Friday, as many fuming locals berated the lawmaker for his 'policy on the genocide in Gaza.'
'I think your policy on genocide is terrible,' Dimitry Yakoushkin, who shared the footage on X, was heard telling Weiner. 'I think you do not belong here.'
As the state senator continued walking, more attendees got in his face, including one who raised his middle finger to Weiner.
'You've been terrible on Gaza! You do not belong here anymore Scott and it breaks my f***ing heart,' Yakoushkin was heard yelling.
'It breaks my heart that someone who wrote good legislation for queers is so f***ing terrible on Gaza.'
More hecklers continued to yell at the senator, as the crowd could be heard condemning him as a 'piece of s***' and a 'lowlife Zionist.'
'You stopped being queer the moment you started supporting Israel,' one protestor was heard screaming at Weiner, who is openly gay and Jewish.
Yakoushkin filmed Weiner for just over two minutes as the senator walked through the march, before the video was posted online.
'Scott Weiner showed up to the trans march and for the first time we kicked his a** out,' Yakoushkin wrote alongside the post. 'It's sad because while he's written some good legislation for queers, he's ultimately a genocidal-supporting center right shill.'
'Trigger warning: broken man walking away defeated. Vote Connie!'
Weiner is currently in the middle of a race against San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan to succeed Representative Nancy Pelosi in the House of Representatives.
The video quickly racked up thousands of views and attracted attention from the likes of failed Los Angeles mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt, who wrote on X: 'See the look on the Wiener guy's face? That's the realization that his Frankenstein ain't going back in the grave.'
'Every communist revolutionary thinks they'll have a seat at the table of power...in reality, they're always the first against the wall,' Pratt added.
In a statement on X, Weiner condemned the confrontation and said: 'Last night I attended the trans march, as I’ve done each year for the past 22 years since the first march in 2004. I attend each year in solidarity with our trans siblings, who are facing existential threats from right wing extremists, including the President.'
'It has been a deep honor to partner for many years with trans people to advance legislation and budget requests to support the community. As I walked through Dolores Park to participate in a trans-led Pride Shabbat service in connection with the trans march, a group of people began screaming at me, ran up to me, surrounded me, and began harassing me, both verbally and physically, including physical contact.
'They made statements about my ‘Israeli handlers,’ among many other inaccurate, extreme, and vile statements. They were so physically and verbally aggressive that it was impossible for me to safely remain in the park. As a result, I left the park and, for the very first time, did not participate in the trans march.'
The incident at Dolores Park followed another confrontation on Wednesday night during a World Cup game, after a man 'accosted' Weiner in the corner of the bar and 'screamed abuse' at him before he was thrown out.
'After being ejected, the man remained outside the bar, shouting my name and pounding on the side of the bar near where I was sitting for several minutes. The same individual, in December 2023, stalked me on a plane and in an airport, shouting at me about my "tainted bloodline,"' Weiner's statement continued.
'I have no objection whatsoever to anyone disagreeing with me, opposing me, or protesting me. All of that is core to democracy. I also have no issue when people talk to me on the street and ask questions or express opposition. That’s democracy, even when the people engaging in this conduct misrepresent my views.
'But when opposition and disagreement transition to harassment, including cornering me, touching me, or trying to physically bully me out of a public event, that crosses a line. We’re living in a time when violence is all too often threatened or used against people in public life. In San Francisco, we’re better than that.'
Yakoushkin, however, further slammed Weiner on X after users jabbed 'the hate-filled left' for turning on one of their own. Yakoushkin instead claimed that the senator is 'no leftie.'
'Bro Scott isn't left. He's definitely not progressive. He's liberal on one (popular in SF) social issue and is a deregulating, tax-break-for-the-wealthy, pro-genocide Log Cabin Republican. He's center-right on a good day and not "one of our own,"' they wrote.
Weiner has championed a number of legislative accomplishments in the California Senate, focusing on issues such as housing and health affordability, immigration and public safety, transportation, mental health, the climate crisis and LGBTQ+ issues.
The pressure on the senator at the recent pride event was met by some with confusion, as just months ago the lawmaker publicly condemned Israel for committing 'genocide.'
Weiner posted a video on social media on January 11 earlier this year, accusing Israel of genocide just days after hesitating to do so during a congressional candidate forum.
'For many Jews, associating the word genocide with the Jewish state of Israel is deeply painful and frankly traumatic, but despite that pain and that trauma, we all have eyes... and we all have ears,' he said in the video posted on X.
'To me, the Israeli government has tried to destroy Gaza and to push Palestinians out, and that qualifies as genocide.'
The video also received large amounts of backlash, including groups such as the Jewish Community Relations Committee of the Bay Area, the American Jewish Committee and a local Holocaust education center.
'Unfortunately, Senator Weiner's newly stated position is both incorrect and lacks moral clarity,' the groups said, according to The Times of Israel.
'The devastation throughout this war - including the loss of life in Gaza and Southern Israel - has been felt by us all. Yet framing this conflict in reductionist and inflammatory terms fuels further hostility toward our community.'
Sam Yebri, a Persian Jewish pro-Israel attorney and Los Angeles influencer, wrote on social media that Weiner has 'no business being co-Chair of the CA Legislative Jewish Caucus.'
I had no idea that my support for the "Leopards Eating People's Faces" Party might result in leopards eating my face. pic.twitter.com/9AyY8wfecn
#2
Scott Wiener
Candidate for U.S. House
CA-11 [D]
AIPAC Total: $60,000
Connie Chan
Candidate for U.S. House
CA-11 [D]
AIAPAC Total: $475,000
This is kayfabe, slop for the masses. Both candidates can say whatever they like for public consumption and this is understood. When the doors close both will do what's right for the national interests of America.
Posted by: Jack Guelph2611 ||
06/29/2026 2:16 Comments ||
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#3
Ok, then why did those idiots go after Senator Weiner instead of Ms Chan?
#4
It's kayfabe. They know it's fake, the candidates know it's fake, and the audience knows it's fake too and plays along.
Professional wrestling isn't real, you know?
But everyone loves it anyway.
Posted by: Jack Guelph2611 ||
06/29/2026 8:46 Comments ||
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#5
At least professional wrestling is unsubsidized professional stunt entertainment.
#6
That's exactly what this is! A performance in which everyone involved decides to be fooled voluntarily.
Did you enjoy Annie Hall? But you know Brooke Shields wasn't actually a child prostitute, right?
Posted by: Jack Guelph2611 ||
06/29/2026 9:26 Comments ||
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#7
"In San Francisco, we’re better than that."
Assumes facts not in evidence.
Posted by: James ||
06/29/2026 10:01 Comments ||
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#8
To conclude, they went after him not because he isn’t anti-Zionist enough, nor because he took AIPAC money, but simply because he is an icky Jew.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Former President Joe Biden's return to the campaign stage was disrupted by heckles and jeers from the audience on Saturday night as he launched a wide-ranging attack on President Donald Trump.
Biden accused his successor of undermining America's alliances, pursuing vanity projects and profiting from the presidency.
Speaking to Democrats gathered at the Maryland Democratic Party's Fight Back & Win Summit at Live! Casino & Hotel in Hanover, the 83-year-old repeatedly criticized Trump while delivering remarks from a teleprompter.
Biden was forced to pause several times as hecklers interrupted portions of his speech, which was also punctuated by the former president coughing several times.
The appearance marked one of Biden's highest-profile public speeches in recent weeks as he continues making political appearances while battling Stage 4 prostate cancer.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] As summer heats up, many are frying up hot dogs, throwing towels down in the sand, and enjoying the relaxing sound of the ocean crashing against the beach, but River Williams is pulling on his bright pink gloves and marching into the marsh to noodle.
Noodling is the sport of fishing for catfish with no tools but your bare hands and a little bit of bravery.
And every day between May and July, the 17-year-old and his father, Nate Williams, 39, pull on their bathing suits, slip on hot pink gloves, and go into the Oklahoma rivers in search of hefty catfish.
'It's when the catfish go to lay their eggs, they get in a hole, and you got to try and grab them out,' River, who recently won the Okie Noodling Competition on June 20, told the Daily Mail.
'You're wrestling big catfish, and you don't have a pole or anything, you're just grabbing them,' he explained.
At the June 20 competition, the skinny teen managed to catch a monstrous 71-pound catfish, which he proudly displayed over his shoulder, his back arching to balance the weight, as he presented his prize winner to viewers.
'I had a lot of nerves going up there. Every year it's a little nervous, like a little bit of stage fright, but you're just excited to go show what you caught,' he told the Daily Mail.
The victory carried extra meaning after River missed last year's competition following a crash on the way to a noodling trip.
This year, he returned to win the title.
River has been noodling since he was three years old after his dad got him into the sport, which can be dangerous, as colossal fish can pull a noodler underwater.
Catfish teeth lack the strength to tear through flesh, but the beast can still cause bruising, minor cuts, and in rare cases, sprain the wrist.
'Their teeth feel like sandpaper, if that makes any sense,' River said. 'The bite, it hurts sometimes.'
'If you get a flathead, it kind of pulls you in like a vacuum,' Nate told the Daily Mail. 'If you get a blue cat, it basically feels like you're getting your hand smashed in a car door.
Despite wrestling massive catfish from their nests, the Williams family says they release nearly every fish they catch.
'We let go like 99 percent,' Nate said. 'It's mostly for fun.'
On the rare occasions they keep one, they either cook it at home or donate it. Last summer, the family cleaned and fried catfish for a homeless shelter after one of their trips.
However, one of River's favorite memories of the sport was when he waded into a hole behind a big boulder and netted a 48-pound catfish.
'Dad helped me pull him out,' River, who was featured on the show River Monsters, told the Daily Mail.
River and his father have a noodling team named Adrenaline Rush and they document their antics on their YouTube channel. The moniker represents the rush of emotions they get 'every time you catch a catfish,' the teen said.
[FOX] President Trump is eyeing foreign shipbuilders to establish operations in the United States as part of an effort to rapidly expand the Navy's fleet, Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao said Sunday, arguing the move could create roughly 540,000 American jobs while bolstering the nation's defense.
"Right now, we're held with two manufacturers in the United States that are building ships, so what the president wants to do is look at other builders," Cao told "The Big Weekend Show."
"We're not building foreign ships. What we're doing is having them invest in the United States," he said.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited
[REGNUM.RU] The largest sunspot group of 2026 has formed on the Sun. This was reported on June 28 by the Solar Astronomy Laboratory of the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Solar-Terrestrial Physics of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
The sunspot group has been designated 4478. Its area is 1190 m.s.p. (a unit of measurement for sunspot area). However, there is no actual activity in the area yet.
The sunspot group occasionally ejects weak plasma clouds into space. There have been no major explosions so far, the institute reported on its Telegram channel.
Earlier, the largest sunspot cluster in five months emerged on the Earth-facing side. Scientists noted that the region exhibited moderate activity. Over the past three days, there were only 11 Category C flares. However, the active center is classified as hazardous due to its constant plasma emissions.
On June 5, a plasma cloud from solar flares reached Earth. According to the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, a second and third cloud later reached Earth. They caused a moderate-intensity magnetic storm that ended on the night of June 6.
Earlier, Sergei Bogachev, head of the Solar Astronomy Laboratory, noted that solar activity would continue to decline, with numerous magnetic storms expected for at least the next two years. By 2028–2031, they should cease altogether.
The Pacific's notorious 'Ring of Fire' has delivered another jolt amid a recent burst of seismic activity around the globe's most earthquake-prone region.
A magnitude 5.5 earthquake struck roughly 140 miles west of the Oregon coast at around 7.35am ET Monday, according to officials.
The earthquake struck deep beneath the Pacific Ocean and there were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
No tsunami warning was issued, although residents in Salem and Rockaway Beach reported feeling the shaking.
The latest jolt comes amid a busy stretch for the Pacific Ring of Fire, where a series of moderate-to-strong earthquakes has rattled regions from Japan and the Philippines to Papua New Guinea, California and South America over the past several days.
According to the US Geological Survey (USGS), the recent activity is consistent with the Ring of Fire's frequent seismic behavior.
The Swift Observatory is a critical instrument because, as its name suggests, it is able to turn quickly and catch fleeting events like supernova explosions.
However, in 2024, the sun reached the peak of its 11-year solar cycle, triggering a period of intense space weather that was far more severe than expected.
This space weather caused Earth's atmosphere to slightly expand, increasing the drag on satellites and pulling them back down to Earth.
[DM] Luis Romero, a resident of Duarte, California, is currently recovering in the hospital after a chaotic and terrifying shooting unfolded in the middle of a massive crowd.
The violence erupted during a heavily attended outdoor public watch party for the South Korea vs Mexico World Cup group stage game in Los Angeles' Koreatown.
Romero was enjoying the match alongside his son, Leon, when an armed individual suddenly began opening fire towards the gathered spectators.
The father successfully managed to tackle the gunman to the ground, but during the violent struggle, the suspect managed to fire a round directly into Romero's leg.
The bullet severed a major artery in Romero's thigh, causing him to collapse to the pavement and bleed out at an incredibly rapid and life-threatening rate.
Amid the panic and stampede of fleeing fans, LAPD Officer Helen Zhang rushed toward the gunfire and found Romero lying in a massive pool of his own blood.
The four-year department veteran immediately put her training to use and tightly applied a tourniquet directly to Romero's leg, in order to stop the bleeding.
After footage of the terrifying incident went viral on social media, Romero has since offered a heartfelt thank you to Officer Zhang for helping save his life on the day.
In an interview with ABC7, Romero said: 'Thank you for saving my life [and] for helping me.'
Meanwhile, son Leon said: 'I fell in love with her because she helped my dad out. That's a beautiful thing to do.'
Posted by: Skidmark ||
06/29/2026 00:30 ||
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Link ||
[1768 views]
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Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited
[REGNUM.RU] A helicopter belonging to the state-owned oil company Saudi Aramco crashed in eastern Saudi Arabia, killing 14 people. This was reported on June 28 by the local press agency, citing a source in the Ministry of Energy.
"On June 28, a Saudi Aramco helicopter crashed in Ras Tanura. The accident killed 14 people on board, all of whom were Saudi Arabian nationals," the source noted.
The circumstances and causes of the tragedy are being determined. A special commission is working at the scene, conducting an investigation to determine all the details of the incident.
Earlier that day, June 28, a light aircraft crashed in northeastern France, killing 11 people. The aircraft, a Pilatus registered in Germany, was carrying people for a parachute jump. The victims were preliminarily identified as private nurses from Nancy, who were scheduled to make their first parachute jump.
Another air disaster occurred in late April at Parafield Airport in South Australia. A twin-engine aircraft crashed during landing. The aircraft struck a hangar and burst into flames. Two people were killed and 11 others were injured.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited
[REGNUM.RU] All of the UK's nuclear-powered attack submarines are at anchor, and none are on patrol at sea. This was reported on June 27 by the UK Defence Journal (UKDJ) after reviewing publicly available data.
Choices have consequence. Consequences limit choices. In this case, it’s as well the would-be conquerers will not have the tools to advance their jihad beyond Britain’s borders, assuming they get to grasp them at all before being driven out.
Of the Astute-class nuclear submarines currently in service, two are based at Faslane on the River Clyde, effectively decommissioned after an extended period out of the water. Two more submarines are undergoing maintenance at Devonport, the only shipyard in the country capable of performing such maintenance on nuclear submarines. Only one submarine has been at sea in recent weeks, but it is undergoing post-deployment maintenance at Devonport and is not ready for a new deployment.
It is noted that this situation is not unprecedented; most of the fleet spends significantly more time at berth than at sea.
The UK Ministry of Defence declined to comment on the state of the submarine fleet, but indicated that the country's territory is protected by other means.
In December 2025, the British government announced that London had allocated £6 billion to develop nuclear submarine construction infrastructure. Britain had expressed its intention to build up to 12 new SSN-AUKUS-class nuclear attack submarines. The investment was intended to modernize infrastructure in Barrow and Derby and launch one new submarine every 18 months.
[NYP] A Mexican vigilante dubbed “Batman” is wanted by police for allegedly chasing down suspected motorbike thieves around town and taping them to lampposts, according to a report.
At least five men were discovered helplessly duct-taped to street poles over 10 days, beginning on June 13 in the area of Lagos de Moreno, Jalisco, The Sun reported.
Many of the alleged thieves also had mustaches, cat whiskers and the Spanish word for “thief” scrawled on their faces, according to several images posted by Mexican journalist Luis Cárdenas on X.
The vigilante — which Cardenas referred to as the “Batman of Lagos de Merono” — left the allegedly stolen bikes near the men to show off their crimes, the outlet reported.
Police are treating the tied-up men as victims and are attempting to catch the vigilante, State Security Secretary Juan Pablo Hernández said, according to the outlet.
Posted by: Skidmark ||
06/29/2026 00:51 ||
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[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Rescuers sifting through rubble left by collapsed buildings in Venezuela recorded a video showing that the structures were built with what appears to be Styrofoam.
The country was rocked by a devastating 7.2 and 7.5 double-earthquake on Wednesday. The official death toll has risen to 1,430 despite foreign and domestic rescue teams pouring into coastal La Guaira, near the capital Caracas, the hardest-hit state.
Top lawmaker Jorge Rodríguez has called it 'the most disastrous event' the country has suffered in the last 123 years, with whole swathes of towns and cities across the country reduced to rubble.
The government has said more than 3,000 people were injured and a similar number were living in shelters, but just under 50,000 people were listed as unaccounted for on a website promoted by the country's political opposition on Sunday.
A video posted to TikTok on Saturday by a Venezuelan rescuer with the handle @maximilianohernan36 indicates that buildings in the country were not built to withstand natural disasters.
In the video, a man can be seen recording himself pulling away pieces of what appears to be collapsed walls with just his hand. The outside of the wall has a thin layer of concrete, while the inside is clearly Styrofoam or a similar material.
If many of the buildings have similar construction, clean up will go much faster than expected.
'Look at this sh**,' the man recording can be heard saying in Spanish as he pulls away chunks of Styrofoam and digs his finger into the material without resistance.
'No wonder everything crumbled like cardboard,' he later said before he and a fellow rescuer could be heard criticizing the government for the shoddy construction.
Hundreds of people reacted to the video, with many calling the ordeal a 'socialist scam.'
Wednesday's double-earthquake leveled entire neighborhoods and blocks of buildings, many of which were constructed as part of socialist revolutionary president Hugo Chavez's 'grand housing mission.'
The program came in response to previous natural disasters that killed and displaced tens of thousands of people in 1999, the first year of Chavez's tenure.
The government built apartment complexes for thousands of families to move into, but it only loosely followed its own laws and codes meant to prepare the buildings for future natural disasters, an earthquake risk-reduction specialist who worked for Chavez's government, Alejandro Linayo, told the Washington Post.
After Chavez died and Nicolas Maduro took power in 2013, the project was accelerated, and construction was rushed to meet a political deadline.
At a four-building apartment complex in La Guaira that was constructed as part of the 'grand housing mission,' three of the buildings were leveled by the earthquakes, destroying at least 960 apartments and burying countless people.
Although it is unclear where the TikTok video of the alleged Styrofoam walls was recorded, it offers insight into the cheap construction methods that the Venezuelan government appears to have used for its socialist housing program.
That cheap construction has come with a high cost of life. The US Geological Survey estimated more than 10,000 deaths were possible from the magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 quakes, which would place them among Latin America's deadliest of the last century.
Families and volunteers spent days pulling survivors and bodies from the rubble before more than 1,600 foreign rescue workers arrived.
Additional teams from Europe have been trying to make it to Venezuela to provide assistance, but Simon Bolivar International Airport, the only international airport that serves Caracas, was also ravaged by the earthquakes, so travel into the country is 'severely affected.'
Rescuers complained of scant heavy equipment and a limited official presence as hundreds of aftershocks deepened damage and kept residents on edge.
Years of socialist mismanagement under Chavez and Maduro, as well as US sanctions, gutted Venezuela's private construction sector, which has left the country ill-equipped to respond.
The government - headed by interim president Delcy Rodriguez since her predecessor was removed by the US in a January raid - thanked civilian volunteers ferrying aid to La Guaira soon after the earthquakes.
But since then, the port city has been declared a disaster zone, and Rodriguez has heavily tightened access to the road, saying traffic was preventing efficient movement of emergency vehicles.
Officials said anyone who wants to enter would now have to seek official permits, but provided few details of who would be allowed in.
Meanwhile, the clock is ticking for rescuing people still living amid the rubble.
'There exists a window of roughly three days, 72 hours, where the probability afterwards decreases that you can save people alive,' Sebastian Eugster, the leader of a Swiss rescue team in the country, said on Saturday.
In Caraballeda on Saturday, US rescuers worked alongside remaining civilian volunteers, some of whom were searching for their own family members.
Rescuers had originally spray-painted the rubble with the name of the apartment building that used to stand there. By Saturday evening, they had marked debris with coding indicating they believed no living person remained in the ruins.
European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on X that the EU had mobilized 5 million euros ($5.7 million) in emergency assistance and that its Copernicus satellite system is helping map the damage and direct assistance to the areas most in need.
A senior U.S. official said on Saturday that a funding package worth hundreds of millions of dollars is expected to be announced within the next day or so, in addition to $150 million that the Trump administration had already committed.
The disaster could have political consequences for Rodriguez, who has portrayed herself as an agent of change even though she served as vice president under predecessor Nicolas Maduro.
Courtesy of badanov:
The death toll from the Venezuela earthquake has risen to 1,450 Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited
[Regnum] The death toll from the Venezuelan earthquake has risen to 1,450, National Assembly Speaker Jorge Rodríguez announced on June 28.
"In today's update, we must report that the death toll has reached 1,450 people – women and men who have lost their lives as a result of the worst natural disaster our country has ever experienced," Rodriguez said during a briefing.
According to him, there are 3,150 wounded in hospitals in the state of La Guaira and seven other affected regions.
Earthquakes measuring 7.2 and 7.5 magnitudes struck Venezuela on the evening of June 24. The epicenters were in the state of Yaracuy, 16 km from the city of Morón and 24 km from San Felipe. The epicenters were located at a depth of approximately 10 km. A state of emergency was declared in the country. The tremors were felt throughout the country, as well as in neighboring Colombia, Brazil, and the Caribbean islands.
Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed his condolences in connection with the devastating earthquake in the northwest of the country.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova stated that Russia is exploring the possibility of providing humanitarian aid to Venezuela. She also expressed condolences to the families of the victims and wished a speedy recovery to the injured.
#3
Spray on insulation is not put inside cement walls.Don't you think that would kinda hinder the integrity of the cement?
Posted by: Chris ||
06/29/2026 1:42 Comments ||
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#4
There is a facade product system called 'STO' that includes a Styrofoam like insulation material used here on some larger buildings. I'm pretty sure that there are other similar systems.
It is not structural in itself, just a covering up of the structural support elements.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
06/29/2026 5:29 Comments ||
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#5
I'm sure we'll see similar things in US. I'm not sure if it'll be California or NY first.
#7
Mullah's right at #4 - STO Dryvit is a common exterior insulation, non-structural
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/29/2026 8:02 Comments ||
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#8
1430 is a number that gives hope. But 50K missing. The 72 hour window has passed. That number is just the tip of the iceberg. Very sad loss of life.
#9
Re#4 this stuff wasn't on the facade though, it was inside.
Posted by: Chris ||
06/29/2026 13:51 Comments ||
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#10
On a pedestrian bridge at the Excaliber Hotel and Casion in Las Vegas I saw a spot where the veneer was peeling away and revealing that the material under it was styrofoam. The veneer was supposed to look like stone I think, like a medieval castle. Seeing the styrofoam under it wasn't shocking because, after all, it was Vegas. Dunno what was under the styrofoam.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
06/29/2026 15:34 Comments ||
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#11
Chris - STO goes on the exterior. If they put it into the Concrete, that's evil corruption
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/29/2026 17:38 Comments ||
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#12
There's video of someone breaking off some with their hand and it's mixed in with the concrete.
Posted by: Chris ||
06/29/2026 17:45 Comments ||
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[FoxNews] California alone could lose $123B under the Online Platform Fairness Act backed by far-left President Lee Jae-myung
A new model shows devastating economic losses for U.S. companies if South Korea adopts controversial legislation that would regulate transactions with some American firms, and lawmakers warn that the country’s leadership is now "closely aligned with China."
The Online Platform Fairness Act, which is spearheaded by the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC), has gained steam in the Asian nation and is backed by far-left South Korean President Lee Jae-myung.
A Competere Foundation model estimates a $525 billion loss in economic activity in U.S. states over the next decade, including a $123 billion loss for California, a $48.7 billion loss for Texas, a $33.9 billion loss for New York and a $27.4 billion loss for Washington.
"South Korea is an American ally and an economic success story, which is why its recent and continuing actions restricting American companies — like its 20-year ban on Google Maps — are so troubling," Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., told Fox News Digital. "I remain concerned that its current trade commission resembles the worst of Lina Khan’s FTC, not the free market tradition that has helped to bring Seoul and Washington together."
Issa told Fox News Digital in April that South Korean leadership and the nature of the Democratic majority in the country is "closely aligned with China."
Yoon Suk-yeol, a conservative from the People Power Party, was elected president of South Korea in 2022 but was impeached in December 2024. His decision to impose martial law was a key factor in his ouster.
Lee narrowly lost to Yoon in the 2022 presidential election but won the presidency in 2025. The Democratic Party in South Korea already holds a substantial majority in the National Assembly. The country is now operating at a full Democratic majority.
The Democratic Party is the main liberal force party in the country and favors progressive domestic policies as opposed to the conservative beliefs that have previously reduced political engagement with North Korea and promoted relations with the U.S.
The proposed bill, which remains pending in South Korea's assembly, would broaden the power of the KFTC, the same agency members of Congress are criticizing for unfairly treating U.S. companies.
Shanker Singham, international trade and competition economist and CEO of the Competere Foundation, said, "Korea is already an increasingly unfriendly place for U.S. companies to do business," adding the "looming regulations will make that environment even worse."
Former Utah Republican Rep. Chris Stewart also warned of South Korea’s posture to increase regulatory burdens for U.S. companies, telling Fox News Digital it could be devastating for more than just tech companies.
"South Korea's campaign against American companies isn't just a trade issue. It's a strategic mistake that benefits China," Stewart said. "Every time Korean regulators make it harder for U.S. innovators like Coupang, Google or Meta to compete, they create more room for Chinese companies to gain market share and influence in one of the world's most important digital economies."
Stewart noted that the cost would affect more than just Silicon Valley, tying the economic losses to a Chinese win, since Beijing would likely take up lost market share in South Korea if American companies were to reduce investment.
In early June, foreign policy experts Nicholas Eberstadt and Lawrence Peck published an editorial in the Wall Street Journal titled, "South Korea Takes a Hard Left Turn Against America," which alleged that South Korean officials "stormed" U.S. air force bases as part of a domestic investigation.
The investigation focused on Coupang, a U.S. tech company similar to Amazon. In early June, South Korea fined Coupang roughly $410 million for a data breach, the largest fine the country has ever issued for a similar charge.
South Korea's science ministry said a Chinese national and former Coupang employee stole data and customer information from the American company, including information about South Korean citizens.
"The investigation into the case of Coupang is proportionate to the nature of the data breach and consistent with those applied to Korean companies in comparable cases," South Korean embassy spokesperson Minseong Seo told Semafor.
In April, 50 members of the House of Representatives expressed their concern in a letter to Republic of Korea (ROK) Ambassador to the United States Kyung-wha Kang over what they deemed to be "discriminatory" business practices.
[Breitbart] DuckDuckGo’s AI search feature has been caught spreading the outrageous claim that President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance both died earlier this month from rabies, in what appears to be a successful campaign by internet pranksters to manipulate artificial intelligence systems using a technique known as “poisoning.”
Futurism reports that the false claim that Trump and Vance both died from rabies in early June represents yet another instance of AI systems amplifying misinformation without critical verification. According to the AI feature’s fabricated narrative, Trump had been deliberately bitten by Vance following advice from Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who supposedly claimed the deadly infection could confer “superpowers.”
The misinformation traces back to a coordinated effort by the Reddit community r/poisonai, a group of approximately 45,000 users dedicated to posting absurd falsehoods in an attempt to trick AI systems into repeating them. The group’s self-described mission is providing “Accurate, Verified and Trusted information,” though this is itself part of the satirical nature of the operation.
The favored false narrative among these “AI poisoners” has been that JD Vance died of rabies on June 5, 2026. Community members have posted dozens of fabricated tributes and expressions of mourning, with some sharing fake screenshots of supposed Trump Truth Social posts eulogizing the vice president. The performance extends to comment sections, where participants maintain the fiction by expressing outrage at AI systems that correctly identify the claims as false.
“Google should really do something about this,” one participant wrote. “It is extremely insensitive for their AI to be treating this tragedy as something ‘fake’ or ‘satirical.'”
The campaign has achieved measurable success beyond DuckDuckGo. The browser Brave’s AI feature also began repeating the false claim about Vance’s death from rabies, which reporters were able to confirm independently.
A spokesperson for Brave defended the company’s approach and placed responsibility on users to verify information. “Search engines, with or without AI, are not oracles of truth,” they said. “If there is a planted story (including articles planted to prove the point that AI can be poisoned), they will build a result-set and that result-set will adapt as articles discussing this story as an experiment to poison AI start to pop up.”
The spokesperson continued: “We encourage users to check claims and Brave Search responses include links to content sources when they are available, so that users can verify claims and sources. And it should go without advising some good old common sense, do not believe everything you read; that is true now as it was before AI and before the Web.”
DuckDuckGo initially did not respond to requests for comment, but later addressed the situation through its official Reddit account after the story gained attention. “Ok, we got ducked on this one,” the company wrote. “We’re on it.”
The company added: “Thanks for bringing this to our attention; it has been resolved. We strive for accuracy in Search Assist and, in this case, it was deliberately tricked. We’ll be making updates to improve how Search Assist operates in situations like this.”
The misinformation ecosystem has developed an additional layer of complexity through what appears to be AI-generated content websites. DuckDuckGo’s AI feature cited an article from WKNA News, ostensibly a local West Virginia broadcaster, but which appears to be a “pink slime” publication — a site masquerading as a legitimate local news outlet while publishing fabricated content. This outlet’s articles appear to be generated by AI and draw directly from the r/poisonai subreddit, creating a self-reinforcing cycle of artificial falsehoods.
WKNA published headlines including “Rabies awareness and prevention highlighted following death of JD Vance,” and even incorporated screenshots from the subreddit showing Google’s AI Overview correctly identifying the hoax. The WKNA article then framed this accurate assessment as an error, stating that “automated systems struggle to reflect what witnesses described as a visible and widely publicized medical crisis.”
The ADL AI Index evaluates leading large language models (LLMs) on their ability to detect and counter antisemitic and extremist tropes and narratives. As people increasingly interact with LLMs, it is essential that these tools do not perpetuate hate and harm and have safeguards in place to effectively counter misuse.
For the purposes of testing and analysis, the Index breaks antisemitism into distinct subcategories: "anti-Jewish," which includes classic antisemitic themes, and "anti-Zionist," which analyzes antisemitism that targets Zionists or Zionism. Another category, "extremist," assesses how LLMs engage with biases, narratives, and conspiracy theories that show up in extremist movements across the political spectrum, some of which are also inherently antisemitic.
#1
Sci-fi novel Dune, chapter 1: “Once men turned their thinking over to machines in the hope that this would set them free. But that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them.”
Posted by: Jack Guelph2611 ||
06/29/2026 2:08 Comments ||
Top||
#2
AI strikes again.
Just think an AI Mis-Info NEWS posting could actually start a war. IF it believed itself.
[BB] Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese signed the so-called Nakamal Agreement with his Vanuatu counterpart, Jotham Napat, in the Australian capital nine months after the Vanuatuan government rejected an earlier draft. Vanuatu had feared the deal would limit its ability to attract infrastructure investment.
“Our agreement reflects and confirms Australia’s role as Vanuatu’s largest and most comprehensive economic, security and development partner, a responsibility that we take seriously,” Albanese told reporters.
Natap said the pact “reaffirms our shared commitment to continuing and strengthening the comprehensive partnership between our two countries, founded on mutual respect, trust and our common vision for a peaceful, stable and prosperous Pacific.”
Under the agreement, Vanuatu will not allow any foreign military base or infrastructure in its territory and will keep its critical infrastructure free from militarization, foreign interference or unauthorized access, a government statement said.
The agreement is one of several Australia has struck or is negotiating with regional neighbors to prevent China from gaining security influence in the region.
[RedState] The Great American State Fair appears to be going swimmingly, despite the TDS-riddled naysayers and detractors who cannot bring themselves to celebrate our great country because of who holds the office of the President of the United States.
A White House press email touted the successful launch:
The nation’s 250th birthday countdown is underway — and President Trump is making sure it matches the moment. The Great American State Fair kicked off on the National Mall, and Trump announced he will personally headline the Mount Rushmore fireworks celebration on July 3rd — the first time fireworks have lit up the Black Hills since 2020.
However, 10 states declined to represent the nation with their displays: Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington. Nine are blue states with Democrat governors, of course. What's even more egregious: four of them are a part of the original 13 colonies.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Former President 
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] As summer heats up, many are frying up hot dogs, throwing towels down in the sand, and enjoying the relaxing sound of the ocean crashing against the beach, but River Williams is pulling on his bright pink gloves and marching into the marsh to noodle. 
[FOX] President Trump is eyeing foreign shipbuilders to establish operations in the United States as part of an effort to rapidly expand the Navy's fleet, Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao said Sunday, arguing the move could create roughly 540,000 American jobs while bolstering the nation's defense.
[DM] Luis Romero, a resident of Duarte, California, is currently recovering in the hospital after a chaotic and terrifying shooting unfolded in the middle of a massive crowd.
[FoxNews] California alone could lose $123B under the Online Platform Fairness Act backed by far-left President Lee Jae-myung
[Breitbart] DuckDuckGo’s AI search feature has been caught spreading the outrageous claim that President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance both died earlier this month from rabies, in what appears to be a successful campaign by internet pranksters to manipulate artificial intelligence systems using a technique known as “poisoning.”
[BB] Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese signed the so-called Nakamal Agreement with his 
