[Federalist] Judge Tony Graf fully admitted the now-released three-page testimony on Charlie Kirk’s religious beliefs by pastor, TPUSA board member, and friend of Charlie Kirk, David Engelhardt, on July 9. The statement details Kirk’s "orthodox-Christian position on marriage, family, gender, and sexual being, which find their basis in various Biblical scriptures."
Defense attorney Richard Novak disputed the admission for more than 30 minutes on the second day of the preliminary hearings because the document does not reveal accused assassin Tyler Robinson’s views on Kirk and "this is not a case about religion."
However, because Graf ruled that the document is admissible as evidence for Kirk’s political beliefs, he bolstered the prosecution’s case for the victim-targeting enhancement, which could increase Robinson’s punishment if he is found guilty.
As the preliminary hearing in the case of Charlie Kirk’s alleged assassin continues this week, Judge Tony Graf has effectively blocked Erika Kirk’s request that the victim’s family be able to “meaningfully observe” evidence as it is presented before the court.
In a Supplemental Notice filed July 8, Kirk family attorney Jeffrey Neiman requested that all exhibits that have been admitted into evidence be made available to everyone in the courtroom, and that all evidence presented in the remainder of the hearing be “displayed openly and in real time.”
If he was allegedly assassinated because of his beliefs, then there are a lot of TV evangelists who'd better watch their back (but I don't buy this story).
#6
He took his beliefs to college campuses and debated with everyone. In other words, he invaded the Progressives’ sacred space. And in front of large crowds he won his points, challenger after challenger, converting college kids to conservatism and in some cases Christianity.
There are endless videos of it. Short clips have been showing up in my Facebook Reels feed, but there is also a YouTube channel here.
[Townhall] Labor Department Inspector General Anthony D'Esposito told Fox Business that the Trump administration has launched its first major investigation into the displacement of American workers through abuses of H-1B and PERM visas and labor trafficking. The move comes as the Administration continues its anti-fraud initiative, spearheaded by Vice President JD Vance, who is scheduled to speak on fraud later today in Milwaukee.
D'Esposito said dozens of subpoenas have been issued, and the Labor Department is investigating potential human trafficking cases as a result of visa fraud. "This is another example where fraud is fueling violent mostly peaceful crime. Much of the visa and human trafficking that we see when it comes to this foreign labor is tied to cartels, is tied to transnational gangs, and this is the work that we should be doing, not only to make America safe again, but to make America more affordable again," he said.
H-1B work visas allow U.S. companies to hire skilled foreign workers for an initial three years with the possibility of another three-year extension. The visas have become points of legal and political contention after a judge struck down the Trump administration's imposed $100,000 application fee to discourage the displacement of American workers by cheap foreign labor.
D'Esposito, a former NYPD detective, said he and his team are prepared to exhaust every lead to crack down on the fraud, adding that they have whistleblowers discussing some of the most heavily involved companies, such as Cognizant Technology. About 65 percent of all H-1B visa holders are employed in the tech industry, with other dominant industries including accounting and management, higher education, and the medical industries.
"The Trump Administration's goal is to ensure Americans are not seeing their jobs taken away by foreigners or people who are gaming the system or financially benefiting from bringing these individuals into America and putting them into jobs that, quite frankly, they are not qualified to do," said D'Esposito.
The investigation marks the largest federal crackdown on H-1B visa fraud, weaving together investigations into both the displacement of American workers and the links between H-1B visas and criminal activity.
Somebody tell them how generations work.
[FoxNews] The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation's (GLAAD) latest report on LGBTQ representation in film on Thursday revealed that the percentage of "LGBTQ inclusive films" has decreased for the third year in a row.
In 2023, GLAAD reported a record 28.5% —or 100 out of 350 films released in 2022—featured LGBTQ characters. The number dropped to 27.3% for 2023 films before plunging to 23.6% in 2024.
In 2025, the number dropped to only 20.4%, or 46 out of 225 films, featured LGBTQ characters with a total of zero transgender characters across theatrical and streaming releases.
GLAAD also found that out of the 19 films on the list classified as animated/family films rated PG and under, there were zero LGBTQ characters, compared to two "inclusive" films out of 26 one year prior. The organization called this finding "particularly concerning" as the "Federal Communications Commission (FCC) under this administration opened a public inquiry about whether to create new TV ratings that would apply warning labels to television programming featuring transgender and nonbinary characters."
"Audiences across the board are seeking out original and inclusive stories," GLAAD President & CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said in a statement. "Our study found LGBTQ stories in film that are both commercially and critically successful. In fact, every theatrically released LGBTQ-inclusive horror film aren't they all?
made back over double the film’s production budget. If the industry doesn’t prioritize investing in films with LGBTQ characters, it risks losing a generation that will go elsewhere to find entertainment that does include our community."
Posted by: Skidmark ||
07/10/2026 04:40 ||
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Link ||
[2365 views]
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#1
In real life 90.7+% (Gallup) of Young people, are heterosexual and seek-out the real opposite sex for sex.
So who thought that 9.3% was enough to support a stupid social media concept hype as business model used by Netflix?
Maybe they should rename it Netflix-Lite ☺?
Jokingly said....What if Musk bought Netflix and renamed it?
#2
If I recall correctly, 9.3% non-hetero is about double the percentage of previous generations. But most of that queer silliness is a social media-driven fad, and at least some of the lesbian posturing is young ladies who believe they have to engage in Girls Gone Wild acting to compete for male attention.
I have a niece who just finished an MA in creative writing; she minored or got a second BA in Women’s Studies and claims to be bisexual, but has has been with the man she started dating in 9th grade, suggesting that her claimed bisexuality is entirely a figment of her imagination.
[WIRE] LGBTQ activists in Seattle believe a sharp influx of transgender young adults is causing a civil emergency — and they want taxpayer help.
The Seattle LGBTQ Commission asked Mayor Katie Wilson in a May 2026 letter to declare a civil emergency caused by a mass influx of "transgender and gender-nonconforming" individuals relocating to the city. The commission has asked the city officials to fund cash-strapped LGBTQ+ groups providing shelter and relocation services to transgender refugees.
"Due to the rapid influx of 2SLGBTQIA+ persons seeking refuge in Seattle for increased safety needs, civil rights protections, and access to essential services the Seattle LGBTQ Commission formally recommends that City leaders declare a civil emergency that ensures an effective and empathetic response to protecting these internally displaced persons (IDPs) at a time of urgent crisis for our community," states the letter.
Transplants are coming to Seattle from red states such as Texas, Florida, Tennessee, Kansas, and Idaho "due to anti-trans legislation, threats to personal safety, and barriers to healthcare and legal recognition," according to the letter, which lists several transgender-affirming groups "already responding to this crisis." The listed groups include Gender Justice League, Seattle’s LGBTQ+ Center, and Traction, a nonprofit that helps "red state refugees" relocate to the Pacific Northwest through its Project Open Arms initiative.
Whales beach themselves due to a combination of natural navigational errors, health issues, and human-induced environmental factors. **Topography** plays a significant role, as gentle coastal slopes and tidal changes can trap whales whose echolocation systems are designed for deep water. Additionally, **sickness, injury, or old age** can disorient individual whales, causing them to drift ashore or wander into shallow waters.
Human activities significantly contribute to strandings through **noise pollution**, particularly from military sonar and seismic surveys, which can cause hemorrhaging, decompression sickness, and disorientation. **Predation** also drives beachings, as prey species like dolphins flee into shallow waters to escape orcas, sometimes getting trapped themselves.
In **mass strandings**, highly social species like pilot whales and orcas exhibit strong herd instincts, following a sick or confused pod member onto land. While some strandings are natural occurrences, **entanglement in fishing gear**, **ship strikes**, and **pollution** further weaken populations, making them more susceptible to beaching events.
#3
I had a comment, actually more of a poem than not, but on review realized it could be "R" rated at best so I deleted it on account that Rantburg is supposed to be family friendly.
Basically it's a butch of sexual perverts asking taxpayers for help with sexually confused mentally ill people.
…which has been going down the Progressive rabbit hole for decades..
voted last week to support access to "all medically necessary, evidence-based gender-affirming healthcare" for all individuals, including minors.
Presented by the Cherokee Presbytery during the 227th General Assembly, the overture builds on the PCUSA’s existing non-discrimination policy regarding gender identity and sexual orientation by declaring support for access to "gender-affirming healthcare." The organization views the 27 states banning or limiting youth’s access to life-altering gender procedures as banning "healthcare for minors."
The Cherokee Presbytery presented the overture: "Declare that the PCUSA supports all individuals, including minors, to have access to all medically necessary, evidence-based gender-affirming healthcare."
Rev. Olivia Lane, moderator of the 227th General Assembly’s Gender and Sexuality Justice Committee, explained that the committee removed the phrase "including minors" from the final text due to concerns that it would be "weaponized to cause further harm to the very children it named."
Bigger tent needed. Collection baskets going empty. Trans welcomed. The denomination has been losing roughly 45,000–55,000 members per year since 2021. At the current rate, PC(USA) leadership expects membership to fall below one million in 2025.
St Michael and All Angels’ is built of limestone rubble under a lead roof and comprises a nave, chancel, aisles, a southern porch and a western tower.[1] The interior is notable for its painted rood screen which dates from 1558 and survived Elizabethan attempts to remove such structures.[e][2] It was restored in the 20th century.[1] The church also has furnishings, including the pews, choir stalls and chairs, by
Robert "Mouseman" Thompson, a 20th-century furniture maker, which are decorated with his Mouse motif.[2] A Jacobean altar, originally in the chapel at University College, Oxford, was donated to the church in 1862.[13] The church is a Grade II* listed building.[1]
[Guardian] Nato leaders surprised by Turkish president’s gift of guns after summit. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan presented engraved revolvers – with bullets – to his guests in Ankara, causing security concerns
A photo of the thing can be seen at the link.
What does a world leader do with a gun and six bullets? That was the conundrum Nato leaders faced after the Turkish president offered them each a revolver after the Ankara summit.
Keir Starmer was the first to mention the highly unusual gift presented by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to his guests. On the flight back from Ankara, where Nato leaders had gathered for two days, the British prime minister said he and others had received a revolver engraved with their names.
Alongside the gun sitting in a red box lined in black were six live rounds and a note exempting the weapons from export controls.
It was a surprising gift to say the least, several officials from the different alliance member states said, and gave rise to some “insane” scenes among the various delegations’ security teams.
“An unusual gift from president Erdoğan at the Nato summit: a Magnum revolver with ammunition, engraved with my name,” the Hungarian prime minister, Péter Magyar, said on X.
Beyond the logistical challenge, the gift also puzzled several delegations attending the summit, which focused on Ukraine, Iran, and relations with the US president, Donald Trump.
The question asked over and over again: why such a gift? While it is very common for heads of state to exchange various gifts during meetings or summits, such exchanges rarely require these kinds of precautions.
The Turkish presidency did not immediately respond.
#1
“An unusual gift from president Erdoğan at the Nato summit: a Magnum revolver with ammunition, engraved with my name,” the Hungarian prime minister, Péter Magyar, said on X.
You can use it to shoot communists, Mr. Prime Minister.
[DM] A Ryanair passenger was 'sucked up to his shoulders' out of a shattered plane window during a flight, fellow travellers on board have claimed.
With his head trapped outside the smashed window, nearby passengers held the man down to prevent more of his body being sucked further out of the aircraft mid-flight this morning.
The Boeing 737-800 flight from Thessaloniki, Greece, to Memmingen, Germany, had to turn back and land at its departure airport following the dramatic incident.
The jet took off from Greece as planned at 5.55am local time, but shortly after takeoff at an altitude of approximately 20,000ft, a loud bang was heard on board.
A witness told the German Press Agency (dpa) that a window smashed, as seen in videos circulating on social media.
Shortly after the sudden noise, a man seated next to the window was 'sucked' through, according to BILD.
'His head and shoulders were sticking out of the broken window,' another eyewitness told Greek broadcaster ERT.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited
[REGNUM.RU] A magnitude 5.5 earthquake struck the western Czech Republic. The German Research Center for Geosciences (GFZ) reported this on July 9.
The earthquake was recorded at 16:00 UTC (19:00 Moscow time), with the source located at a depth of 10 km.
There is no information yet about possible casualties or damage, according to the center's report.
Earlier, on June 24, a devastating earthquake struck northern Venezuela. The natural disaster caused widespread destruction, prompting the country to declare a state of emergency. According to the latest data, the death toll has reached 3,811. Authorities continue to respond to the aftermath of the earthquake and provide support to the victims.
[Wunderground] WHAT...Dangerously hot conditions with heat index values of 95 to 105 possible each day. High temperatures will range from 91 to 101 Saturday, and 95 to 105 Sunday and Monday.
* WHERE...Western and central North Dakota
* WHEN...From Saturday afternoon through late Monday night.
-------------------------------
other States in Central USA will have this problem also
this is unusual but not unprecedented; e.g., Bismarck has recorded 110F or more as record max on many days in July
also, getting the heat dome to move North to these latitudes will help get the SW USA monsoon going and rain in that area is needed
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
07/10/2026 00:00 ||
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[2728 views]
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#1
Projections for Sturgis, SD 8/7-16:
Temp HOT
Beer COLD
Tempers high
Whiskey reigns
Infrequent showers
#3
As part of Panic! at the Summer, one of my feeds put up a map of the continental US presenting high temperatures. Everywhere was triple digits. What they buried, is that it wasn't current temperature, but recorded high. But it was presented, at the glance, as current temperature.
#5
Bah. Big deal! In Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas, high temperatures exceeded 100 °F (38 °C) a total of 69 times, including a record 42 consecutive days from June 23 to August 3,[4] of which 28 days were above 105, and five days above 110. Wiki - 1980 US Heat Wave
I was living in St. Louis at the time - 105 or so.
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/10/2026 13:29 Comments ||
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#6
[AI] wichita falls tx, 100 days over 100 degrees
**Wichita Falls, Texas** holds the state record for the most days with temperatures at or above 100 degrees in a single year. In **2011**, the city reached **100 days** of 100-degree heat, breaking its previous record of **79 days** set in **1980**.
This record was driven by an epic drought and extreme heat, with the first 100-degree day occurring on **April 6, 2011**, and a streak of **52 consecutive days** over 100 degrees from late June to mid-August. As of mid-2026, no other Texas city has surpassed this annual milestone of triple-digit days.
#7
How meaningful are those numbers beyond the general idea of summer heat? Meteorologist Anthony Watts has been tracking this stuff for a couple of decades, including collecting photographic and other evidence about the improper placement of most of the temperature measuring stations across the U.S. that prompted the NOAA to do a formal review.
[FOX] Secretary of War Pete Hegseth stepped in quickly after reports that the pilots of eight Apache helicopters were suspended following a low-altitude flyover during South Carolina's "Salute from the Shore" event celebrating America's 250th anniversary.
Video of the Apache helicopters conducting a low-altitude flyover as beachgoers cheered and waved flags quickly went viral. However, Fox affiliate Fox Carolina reported Thursday that after the pilots landed, they were informed they had been suspended pending an investigation.
Their suspension did not last long. Shortly after news broke of the suspension, Hegseth posted on X, "We’ll fix this. Carry on, Patriots."
#3
@1 While I am not criticizing the pilots, I'm fairly certain that they broke one or more flight regulations during the flyover. If there had been a crash due to a violation of flight regulations, the CO career would have almost certainly ended.
#7
^ Being suspicious of naked links on the interwebs, he decided to ask Google "What is duck.ai?".
AI Overview ___ Duck AI (found at Duck.ai) is a privacy-first AI chatbot platform developed by DuckDuckGo. It allows users to have anonymous conversations with multiple third-party language models (such as ChatGPT, Claude, and Llama) without needing to log in or create an account.
Interesting.
Back in the day, we wrote chatbots in LISP. Eliza being one of the most famous. Today's chatbots, being trained rather than coded, are much more convincing and capable of fooling humans.
As for low passes at air shows, I saw the Blue Angels once at the Cherry Festival in Traverse City. The finale was a burn across the bay at what looked to be full military. Low and directly over the crowd, it was awesome. Thinking about it still makes my nipples hard.
I realize there are insurance reasons for not doing such things in public places, but on the other hand, flying low and not crashing is a skill the pilots need to have.
They cleared out a lot of Deep State recalcitrants, now are bringing in new people aligned with the MAGA vision. So things should start accelerating. Go Team!
I almost teared up at this. We’ve come a long way, baby. From @CivilRights at the time I was nominated to now is a total refocus of our mission and our people to serve ALL Americans, not just a few and not just pet projects. With liberty and justice for ALL! https://t.co/ACry6kVdX6
— Harmeet K. Dhillon (@HarmeetKDhillon) July 8, 2026
[Breitbart] On Thursday a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit upheld the "assault weapons" and magazine bans in Illinois.
The case is Barnett v. Raoul.
The three-judge panel ruled two to one in favor of the ban, claiming the ban’s restrictions on "AR-15s and thirty-round rifle magazines...are consistent with the principles that underpin our Nation’s tradition of firearm regulation."
Chief Judge Michael B. Brennan dissented, noting that the AR-15 is "the best-selling rifle in America" and the banned magazines are "standard capacity."
#1
"..are consistent with the principles that underpin our Nation’s tradition of firearm regulation".
What part of "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." do you not undertand?
I'm beginning to think that perhaps those two Seventh Circuit Judges might be anti-American.
#6
This further widens the Circuit split that resulted in SCOTUS granting cert. in Grant v. Higgins (Connecticut) and Viramontes v. Cook County (Illinois).
These are the approximate positions of the U.S. Navy’s deployed carrier strike groups and amphibious ready groups throughout the world as of July 7, 2026, based on Navy and public data. In cases in which a CSG or ARG is conducting disaggregated operations, the chart reflects the location of the capital ship.
[BBC] Good. There will be a steady market for those, and it will be helpful for Ukraine to have something to sell that is neither local girls nor Russian uranium.
#2
Incidentally, Mr. Wife — who knows a thing or two about starting up factories — said it will take at least four years to get the factory up and running. Making missiles, even small ones, is nothing like making inexpensive drones, Ukraine’s current export item.
[ZERO] The U.S. Department of Justice said July 7 the Biden administration’s oil and gas leasing restrictions in northern Alaska’s Arctic region violated federal law and asked the court to dismiss lawsuits by the state and its industrial development and export authority challenging the regulations.
The lawsuits were filed in 2025 over the Biden administration’s 2024 restrictions on oil and gas lease auctions in the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Alaska argued that the administration essentially sabotaged bidding with its restrictions on surface use and occupancy, which made "any development economically and practically impossible."
"The Biden era Alaska oil and gas leasing program violated the law and improperly limited Alaska’s energy potential with unreasonable regulation," U.S. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a July 7 press release.
"This settlement supports the Trump administration’s commitment to secure American energy independence and our national security for generations to come," he added.
Congress set aside 1.5 million acres along the Alaska coast in 1980 for potential oil and gas development, and in 2017 instructed a federal agency to develop the resources on the land. Alaska’s lawsuit claims the Biden administration negated Congress’s directive.
[FoxNews] FIFY Mike
A popular U.S.-based gaming brand owned by Microsoft is facing fury after mass employee layoffs occurred in the wake of the company being approved for thousands of foreign worker visas.
Microsoft announced that it will lay off 4,800 people total and 1,600 from the corporation's XBOX division, which makes and sells the dominant video game console.
Meanwhile, Microsoft has been approved this year to hire from foreign countries 2,273 employer-sponsored, non-immigrant workers under what is known as the H-1B visa program, according to data from U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services (USCIS).
Furious online critics claim that American jobs are being unfairly handed to foreigners in an effort to cut labor costs but at the cost of leaving U.S. workers in the lurch.
"A great way to fix this is to throw anyone doing this in prison," said one user on X. "Fire Americans to replace with thousands of visa workers? Straight to jail, and assets seized. This story has been told countless times. Fire American staff and hire foreigners. Over and over."
"It is the fault of our Government [sic] for approving the H-1Bs," another social media user lamented. "Our Government [sic] has sold us out of jobs at home and those being moved to other countries."
Another user described the H-1B program as "industrial scale job theft from Americans."
Microsoft is the sixth-largest beneficiary of H-1B visas, a program that is overwhelmingly dominated by workers from India. The company has even more H-1B applications pending. Microsoft has employees worldwide, but most are in the United States.
"These decisions are based on business need, not visa status. H-1B employees were also impacted by job eliminations in the U.S.," a Microsoft spokesperson told Fox News Digital when reached for comment on the lay offs.
"Every single employer is exploiting the H-1B visa program," said the Project for Immigration Reform.
A lawmaker even called for a complete end to the non-immigrant visa program.
"This is INSANE. LEGAL immigration is a major problem. These companies, especially big tech, are abusing these immigration programs to replace American workers with foreign workers," said Rep. Riley Moore, R-W.Va.
"No more. It’s long past time to end the H-1B scam."
XBOX CEO Asha Sharma cited the company's financial health for the layoffs.
"Our business today is not healthy," said a memo from Sharma, according to The Associated Press. "We are operating at margins that are 3-10x lower than comparable platform and publishing businesses."
Sharma added that her strategy is to "reset" XBOX.
Some online critics, however, claimed Sharma's Indian heritage played a role in firing the Americans, given the percentage of H-1B workers from India. Sharma was born in Wisconsin.
Vice President JD Vance announced on Tuesday a large-scale investigation into H-1B visa fraud.
"Today, I’m proud to announce that the federal Department of Labor has started dozens of subpoenas and investigations into foreign fraudsters who are trying to take advantage of the H-1B visa program," he said during a press conference in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
"American jobs ought to go to American workers and not foreign fraudsters and the Department of Labor is fighting back against it."
Recently, President Donald Trump tried to limit employers' use of the H-1B program by imposing a $100,000 fee for companies seeking H-1B applications.
A federal judge struck down that order, reasoning that it amounted to a tax that only Congress has the ability to impose.
#1
I can't get to the article as I refuse to jump through Fox's hoops.
But.
Microsoft is a vile pit of un-American-ness. Hate for Microsoft runs deep and wide. It should just die.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
07/10/2026 2:29 Comments ||
Top||
#2
1,600 from the corporation's XBOX division
Those are not going to be replaced. The fail studios which never turned a profit were eliminate to include the 14 layers of management that existed between coders and Xbox senior leaders.
I won't claim that Fedora Linux is perfect but it beats the crap out of Windows. Other flavors of Linux exist such as Ubuntu, Debian and Red Hat. Any one of them beats the crap out of Windows.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
07/10/2026 12:16 Comments ||
Top||
#4
I kinda eased my way into Linux. First I installed it on a USB thumb drive and booted my PC from that. Then I installed it on a bigger USB spinning disk and booted the PC from that. Finally, I installed a one terabyte solid state hard drive on my old PC that had been running Windows on the original spinning hard drive. When I installed Fedora Linux on the new solid state drive the results were amazing. That old PC that had been soooooooo sllllooooowwww was suddenly fast.
I could still boot into Windows 10 from the old spinning disk but as time passed I did so less and less frequently. With Linux I can still access all the files that I have on the old spinning disk. The PC is so old that I doubt if it could run Windows 11 so I would have eventually been forced to buy a new PC. I'm not that cheap. I could afford a new PC but why bother?
Fedora Linux came with word processor and spreadsheet applications that do everything Word and Excel do with the same file formats but without all the Microsoft bullshit. And it was free.
It is true that you can't get all the applications that you can get for Windows. When I couldn't get Turbo Tax for Linux, I downloaded the forms from irs.gov and worked my way through them by myself. I still get emails from Turbo Tax wondering why I don't spend money on their software anymore. It's easy for me because I'm retired, I have time and my taxes aren't complicated. I'd still use Turbo Tax if they had a Linux version but, until then, screw 'em.
The best part is that with Linux you can get behind the scenes, behind the graphical user interface, with the BASH shell. It has a command line that Windows users might think looks like DOS. But old time UNIX and Linux guys know that it's far more powerful. You have to take time to learn it to use it effectively. You have to be a nerd. I'm proud to be a nerd and I'm especially proud that I don't need Microsoft anymore.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
07/10/2026 12:58 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Have played Linux off and on for years.
Started after giving up on BSD unix.
Have found Linux Mint pretty easy to install and run.
www.linuxmint.com
#6
I continue to be an end user, despite having two siblings who are professors of computer programming, one general, one heading one of the big super computer programs. I moved from a PC laptop to an iPad in 2010 for ease of portability, and because all I do on the thing is wander the internet, read ebooks, and moderate Rantburg, so I don’t need anything more complex or expensive — also Mr. Wife wanted to keep my stuff separate from his for security reasons, which makes sense to me.
Mr. Wife uses reasonably powerful image processing software for his photography; he bought our first IBM PC in 2005, but is finally going to move to a Mac for his next computer for better image processing even though the Mac OS doesn’t excite him in general, because he is not interested in spending the time to master the programming side of things. Either system is good enough for his finance spreadsheets, which is the other thing he uses it for.
Microsoft has triggered fury for all sorts of reasons — has from the beginning. President Trump’s team is working on other ways to get the H1-B and other visas under control. Like the illegals issue, eventually the US Supreme Court will make a ruling on one of the attempts that puts the issue to bed for good.
#8
How many Indians are top executives at US companies, companies that have national security importance?
So MSFT either hires foreigners (probably for less pay) here in the US or just ships the jobs overseas. Net effect is American workers get the shaft. What happened with Trump's system of American political economy?
had been ordered removed following a 2006 conviction for first-degree criminal sexual conduct involving a minor, which stripped him of his legal status. Just days before his scheduled deportation, Minnesota’s Board of Pardons, composed of Governor Tim Walz, Attorney General Keith Ellison, and Chief Justice Natalie Hudson, granted him a pardon.
"Well, this week I revoked his legal status in the United States, and as a result, federal agents took him into custody, and as of today, he has been removed from the United States," Rubio continued. "Because of our action, this foreign criminal will never pose a threat to any American ever again. Americans must never be forced by their elected leaders to live alongside foreign sex criminals who have no right to begin with to reside in our country. This administration will always stand with the American people and defend them from violent criminals."
A strong, succinct statement. Here’s the bad guy being escorted out of the country:
🚨DEPORTED🚨
Laotian national Tou Lue Vang — convicted of repeatedly raping a 10-year-old girl, claiming it was ‘normal in his culture’ — has been deported from the U.S.
Pedo sympathizer Tim Walz pardoned him last month in a move DHS called an attempt to shield him from removal… pic.twitter.com/sKsgwA6hPk
#3
He'll have to make another trip to China to explain this one. Perhaps he can have dinner with Elaine Chou, if she's still there. No one knows....now that that story has gotten as cold in the media as a Kesko reefer truck.
[Townhall] Win some blue-state and blue-city races, and the cocky new socialist Jacobins believe that they have either already taken over the Democratic Party or will soon absorb it. And in reaction to these new swarms, an increasingly terrified and ossified old Democrat guard either limps away from the hive or invites them in to take over more.
It is fascinating but ultimately depressing to watch old-style Democrats say or do anything to avoid the new mob of Robespierres. Democrat candidates who recently begged for a Schumer/Pelosi/Jeffries endorsement now are telling them to get in line at the guillotine.
Jewish American Democrats are terrified that what happened to the primaried and defeated Rep. Dan Goldman of New York, an arch-Trump hater, could befall them. Goldman's obnoxious showboating hatred of Trump and championing of neo-socialist agendas offered no defense against the Jacobins' antisemitism and hatred of Israel.
A number of Jewish Democrat candidates, like wannabe California congressman Scott Wiener, are backing off from Israel and now join the "genocide!" mob. Wiener hopes that the throng will reward his new anti-Israel position by overlooking the now inconvenient fact that to the antisemitic Democrat base he is still Jewish.
Some of the rich, likewise, think they can escape the guillotine—the various proposed taxes on "billionaires" and "millionaires" on their net worth or unrealized capital gains or plans to confiscate private properties deemed "not in the people's interests." They will either flee to Florida or join the mob and hope their donations spare them from the blade.
[NYP] Trillionaire Elon Musk aims to have rockets blast off from Earth before the end of 2026, sending the first materials to the moon and Mars to start building colonies.
The world’s first trillionaire is then planning to send robots to prepare the infrastructure needed for humans to survive.
Musk said recently he has shifted Space X’s focus as it is closer and "much faster to complete a moon city," with a timeline of getting it established in the next 10 years. However, he is optimistic he can also start sending material to the red planet within seven years too.
[NotTheBee] President Trump, restoring sanity little bits at a time. This time for American farmers.
Yes, that's right. Like many companies these days, John Deere has created a complex and expensive system where owners must rely on them for repairs to the machines they purchase.
But the "Right to Repair" movement is gaining steam.
From the FTC's press release:
The Federal Trade Commission, along with five states, secured an important settlement in an antitrust lawsuit against farm equipment manufacturer Deere & Company that will ensure farmers can enjoy the right to repair their own John Deere tractors and farm equipment.
For the next decade, Deere will be required to give farmers and independent repair shops "the same equipment repair resources, including applicable software capabilities" as its stealerships - err, dealerships.
'Today's settlement enables farmers to do what they've done for generations — fix their own tractors and other farm equipment — without having to pay an authorized John Deere dealer to do it for them,' said FTC Bureau of Competition Director Daniel Guarnera. 'The settlement with Deere will help lower costs for American farmers. The FTC will continue fighting against anticompetitive restrictions on American consumers' right to repair.'
as a way to strong-arm its own customers into mandatory dealership visits.
This scheme creates a monopoly, which drives up prices.
All to make a quick buck off farmers, the backbone of our nation.
Some more details about the FTC's settlement with Deere:
**John Deere is relocating specific manufacturing operations to Mexico**, with two new facilities scheduled to become operational by the **end of 2026**. The company is moving production of mid-frame skid steer loaders and compact track loaders from its Dubuque, Iowa plant to **Ramos Arizpe**, while simultaneously constructing a **$55 million** facility in **Nuevo León** to manufacture mini track loaders and mini wheel loaders for the local construction market.
**Production Shifts and Layoffs.** This strategic move has resulted in significant workforce reductions in the U.S. Midwest, including the elimination of **610 jobs** in Iowa and Illinois as of early 2026. John Deere attributes these layoffs to rising operational costs, labor shortages, and a weakened farm economy, though critics argue the shift is driven by lower labor costs in Mexico. The company maintains that less than 5% of its U.S. sales are manufactured in Mexico and plans to invest **$20 billion** in its American operations over the next decade.
**Political and Economic Context.** The expansion proceeds despite threats from former President Donald Trump to impose **200% tariffs** on equipment made in Mexico and sold in the U.S. Company executives have stated the investment will move forward "regardless" of political changes or tariff threats. While John Deere denies a total exodus, emphasizing continued U.S. production of high-demand items like the 9RX tractor, the relocation marks a definitive shift of specific construction equipment lines south of the border.
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.
[Guardian] Nato leaders surprised by Turkish president’s gift of guns after summit. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan presented engraved revolvers – with bullets – to his guests in Ankara, causing security concerns
[Townhall/X] 
