And the country is getting ready for its 250th birthday tomorrow. The Victory Girls say Dear Democrats: Our National Party is Still On — Shut Up and STAY HOME and note Independence Day Gone Woke In San Diego County, California. Sounds like a blast! Beege Welborn at Hat Hair notes Anti-Trump States Wouldn't Fix Up Booths for the Fair - PA AMERICANs Took Matters Into Their Own Hands. Sore losers. Dr. Suneel Dhand's Newsletter gives 10 Reasons I'm PROUD to Be an American, "I left Britain and have been a citizen for over 10 years. Best thing I've ever done. An honest reflection this special July 4th." OTH, Hat Hair's John Sexton reports Man Charged with Felony for Damaging Reflecting Pool. "David Hearn, 67, of Maryland faces one felony count of destruction of property tied to a June 19 incident in which National Park Service employees say they caught him trying to rip a portion of sealant from the pool’s bottom. The charge carries a maximum sentence of up to 10 years in prison." It's DC, he won't be convicted. And at WaEx, Airman arrested during Capitol Hill protest urging Trump and Vance’s impeachment. "A Capitol Police spokesperson confirmed Watson’s arrest, noting that there are spots on Capitol Grounds where demonstrating is permitted, but “it is generally against the law for the public to demonstrate on the House Steps unless they are with a Member of Congress.” “Yesterday afternoon, a man was escorted to the House Steps by a Member of Congress,” the spokesperson told the Washington Examiner. “When the Member of Congress left the area, our officers gave the man lawful orders to stop the illegal demonstration or he would be arrested. The man refused our lawful orders. Jason Watson was then arrested for 22-1307 Crowding, Obstructing, and Incommoding.”" So he wasn't arrested for his speech denouncing Trump, he was arrested for unlawful conduct at the Capital, like the J6ers. I'm sure Pete Hegseth has plenty of grounds to toss him out of the Air Force, though. A Larry vid at Hat Hair says This Was All Trump Needed. They're Gonna Regret It.
Hat Hair's Capt. Ed is worried that the US Adds Only 57,000 Jobs in June As Workforce Deflates. I gave up trying to make sense out of job numbers a while ago. The methodology is shitty, and manipulative. I also wonder how much of this is due to the ongoing self-deportation of illegals. The Wall Street Journal thinks it is.
Bonchie@bonchieredstate, "Every time. It’s never organic." Quote AG @AGHamilton29, "This is a major red flag. The CCP is funding/aiding left-wing groups and activism to try to push policies that discourage us developing energy independence."
The big picture: Melanotan II — nicknamed the "Barbie drug" because it can
also
suppress appetite
— mimics a hormone that tells the body to make more melanin. It can be found
as a
nasal spray
or shot, but it's not approved by the FDA or any other major regulator.
Case studiessuggest
it could lead to the development of skin cancer. What we're hearing: "People
who inject melanotan, their moles start to change," says Anthony Rossi, a
dermatologic surgeon at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. He's removed
atypical moles from a patient who used it.But he's seeing it taken at the
gym as part of a "beautification stack" — and he's worried. "I don't really
see a medical benefit of it at all," Rossi says.
At least with a nasal spray, there's no risk of hidden cameras.
Jen O'Connell at RedState sees The Insane Obsession With Sabotaging the D.C. Reflecting Pool Results in an Arrest. John Sexton at Hat Hair explores the question Did Vandals Target the Reflecting Pool? For sure, yes, some one carved 86 47 in the liner. As to the algae bloom, the pool was re-filled with city water, which would not have enough nutrients (chiefly nitrogen and phosphorus) to support a quick bloom like that. I strongly suspect someone dumped a bag of lawn fertilizer or similar nutrients into it. Northern Barbarian @xnoesbueno, "On the other hand, the algae obsession confirms they really have no legitimate gripe. They have been reduced to protesting a biological phenomenon. (Though given the trans thing, it is not entirely uncharted territory.)" Quote MAZE @mazemoore, "On one side of the Reflecting Pool there’s the MSM claiming that the algae is still there, on another side leftists are protesting to bring the algae back, and on another side leftists are trying to vandalize the pool. TDS needs to be officially classified as a mental disorder." At Althouse, The Mystery of the Paint Peel and "I was just a curious, concerned citizen. I guess I was there at the wrong place, wrong time." "Said David Carter Hearn, 67, "a cyclist and three-time Olympian as a canoeist who says he stopped at the [Reflecting Pool] on Friday just to have a look, then reached down to touch a strip of peeling blue paint mixed with the algae. The U.S. Park Police arrested Mr. Hearn shortly after, accusing him of destroying government property, a crime that can carry up to a 10-year prison sentence." I'm reading "Trump, Claiming Vandalism, Says Reflecting Pool Will Likely Need to Be Drained/The pool has taken on clouds of algae after a hasty renovation. A three-time Olympian was charged with destroying government property after he says he touched one of the strands of blue paint peeling off the pool’s bottom" (NYT). Didn't do nuffin'! Althouse also comments "I don't know if the claims of vandalism are true, but the temptation to vandalize was obvious and strong even before Trump started talking about vandals. Now, it's unavoidable, and I think we will never have our pool back where it belongs in the American psyche. It's a mess, a bone of contention, a symbol of everything and anything people don't like about Trump. The pool never worked as it was intended, and now its essential badness is glaring at us, and it will never calm back down into the serene murky swamp it once was." It's true making the pool work is harder than it sounds, but her solution seems to be to cede the pool to the leftist destroyers. Fugitive Caesar@ThomBrady5, "Leftists are getting angry because around 10-15 million Leftists are paid to do cushy high-paid fake jobs, based on credentials and a claim to unique technical authority. If Trump and Chuds can fix problems considered impossible, it threatens the entire managerial caste." Quote Mark Hemingway @Heminator, "So I'm supposed to believe people are genuinely OUTRAGED by a $14m no bid contract to fix the reflecting pool? If this level of fiscal irresponsibility is what you object to, man, what happens under Democrat governance is truly going to blow your mind." I think project should be measured in "Quality Learing Center" units, or QLCs.
Begoña Gómez - not too shabby but Melania is still hotter
Some news from abroad via sundance at CTH, Trump -v- Meloni "The core of the issue centers on Italy’s refusal to allow the U.S. military to conduct flight operations for the conflict against Iran from U.S. airbases in Italy. President Trump, Vice-President Vance, Secretary of State Rubio and Secretary Hegseth have all remarked on their disappointment with Italy and Spain that has led to a full review of U.S. NATO operations in Europe. The issue became personal at the G7 when President Trump ignored Meloni’s repeated attempts to repair the friction. President Trump was no longer tolerating the two-faced approach. Actions speak louder than words." And Wife of Socialist Spanish Prime Minister Now Facing Corruption Charges, Influence Peddling, Embezzlement – Passport Surrendered. "Investigative judge Juan Carlos Peinado issued the ruling, arguing that Begoña Gómez represented a flight risk. In addition to surrendering her passport, she must also appear before a court every two weeks. A trial date hasn’t been set."
KTVU@KTVU whines "A decline in car break-ins across Oakland is being welcomed as a public safety win, but it is also contributing to a downturn for some local auto glass repair businesses." Bastiat's Window, indeed.
Leslie Eastman at LI, Declassified Files Ignite New Scrutiny of Fauci, COVID Origins, and Alleged Intelligence Suppression "Outgoing DNI Tulsi Gabbard: “It’s time you know the truth.”" Another conspiracy theory becomes fact. Sundance looks at Pulte Factor – Quick Reference Guide to Media Leaks. Scott McLallen at TownHall likes how the Justice Department Backs Catholic Nuns Against New York's Gender Ideology Law. Bake the damn cake! "The lawsuit challenges a state law that requires housing biological men with women in the Sisters’ residential hospice care program." Also at LI, Ben Smith sees a 'Hawaiian' Judge Frees Mosque Leader Tied to Hamas Claims, “Federal officials argued that he poses a foreign policy concern. DHS also alleges that he obtained his green card after providing false information.” "Salah Sarsour is suspected of funding terrorist organizations and was convicted of throwing Molotov cocktails at the homes of Israeli armed forces. This illegal alien also LIED on his green card application to fraudulently gain legal status in the U.S. under the Clinton Administration.”"
The measure, described by the city council as the first of its kind in Spain, comes after a spate of thefts of ornamental palm trees worth around €500 each. The Seville City Council has fitted tracking devices to several Cuban palm trees on Aeronáutica Avenue, in Sevilla Este, so they can be located if they are stolen again. The measure, which municipal sources say is a first in Spain, comes after the disappearance of around ten trees, an incident already under investigation by the National Police.
The palm trees, a species in the Arecaceae family that is highly valued for ornamental use, cost approximately 500 euros each, including their purchase, planting and adaptation to the urban environment. The Parks and Gardens Department decided to fit the chips after filing several complaints with the aim of making it easier to locate the trees and helping to identify those responsible for the thefts.
Over the past several weeks, the Independence Avenue Urban Street Ambassadors have been hard at work beautifying the Independence Avenue corridor with new landscaping installations, colorful flowers and decorative palm trees intended to brighten the community for residents, visitors and local businesses alike.
But overnight, in the early morning hours of Friday, May 22, at least 15 palm trees planted along Independence Avenue were stolen. Security cameras captured footage of a person in a white sedan stopping at Independence Avenue and Brooklyn at 12:23 a.m., removing a palm tree from a planter, placing the tree in the back seat of their vehicle, and driving away.
These trees, purchased as part of ongoing beautification efforts by the Independence Avenue Community Improvement District (CID), had recently been installed by the Urban Street Ambassadors, who maintain the corridor year-round through landscaping, litter removal and streetscape improvement projects.
I would have thought Kansas City winters would be too harsh for palms. Maybe they bring them in in winter.
... the levels of crime Baltimore now experiences were seen as inconceivable just a few years ago. And the numbers keep falling. In April, Baltimore had four homicides, the lowest total for any single month since at least 1970. So far this year, there were 38, compared with 51 in the same period last year. At the current rate, Baltimore would end 2026 with fewer than 100 homicides. There were 323 just four years ago.
How did we get from a city in which the question was how high can crime rise, to one where the question is how low can it go? The answer might be linked to the nationwide decline in murder, spurred by a restoration of policing as the excesses of the George Floyd years recede. But that begs the question of what cities across the country are doing right. And it skips over how Baltimore has bucked nationwide murder trends at times, with homicides in the city staying high as violence fell elsewhere in the 1990s and 2000s.
When you look closely and talk to the people on the front lines, some strong patterns emerge, with two competing stories coming into focus. One is the return of a program focused on deterring the small fraction of offenders in Baltimore who commit the large majority of violent crimes. The other is the election of a new tough-on-crime prosecutor, who replaced a scandal-plagued “progressive.”
Which story you prefer has increasingly become a partisan matter, producing unnecessary political feuding. The bigger lesson is that intelligently targeting the most violent offenders, both through deterrence and incapacitation, can yield large, durable reductions in murder. Baltimore’s success shows that its homicide problem was, in reality, just the result of its past leaders’ failure to take violence seriously enough.
Matt Margolis at PJM observes The Left Tried to Destroy Kash Patel. Crime Data Just Vindicated Him. "Murder and non-negligent manslaughter dropped more than 18% nationwide last year. Aggravated assault fell more than 7%. Rape declined nearly 8%. Robbery cratered by about 18.5%. All told, violent crime dropped about 9.3% overall; there were roughly 1.1 million fewer violent crimes than in 2024. "The 2025 crime data in this report shows the single largest decrease in violent crime and murder since 1937 — as well as huge decreases across the board in terms of aggravated assault, rape, and robbery," FBI Director Kash Patel said in a statement." I don't know how much you can credit the FBI for that, though. I do wonder how much of that is deportation of the criminal aliens. Ace, Crime Skyrocketed During Biden's Open Borders Regime and Plummeted During Trump's Deporation Regime But I'm Sure This Is All a Right-Wing Coincidence, Racists, "Now we see the real numbers. And the real numbers, for once in five years, are great."
Sean Davis@seanmdav "Why did Massie lose tonight? Massie went from principled libertarian during COVID, to GOP leadership lapdog under McCarthy, to anti-Trump Epstein obsessive in 2025 after tweeting about that issue a whopping three (3) times in the decade prior. The nail in the coffin for him was voting against OBBB in 2025 because, according to Massie, it did too much to secure the border. ... We’ll never know what caused the apparent personality change—maybe it was the death of his wife, maybe it was the McCarthy race followed by McCarthy’s ouster, or maybe it was a desire for notoriety or media acclaim and a lucrative podcasting career outside of Congress—but the drastic change was undeniable, as was the seeming lack of interest in much of anything happening in Kentucky. Blame Trump, blame Israel, blame Epstein, blame the tragic death of a spouse, I don’t care. But you cannot just wave away 2020 Massie going face-to-face with the Trump machine and winning in a rout only to get smoked six years later. Massie’s voters didn’t really change all that much, but he did, and they noticed." At Ace, Tucker Carlson Is Spiraling and Sperging Over The Crushing Loss of His Nazi Pal, "John Ocasio-Rodham Nolte @NolteNC "Massie's biggest mistake was likely believing that social media is real life, that people like Candace Owens and Tucker Carlson and Alex Jones had managed to wrest enough influence from Trump that seeking their good opinion was the only constituency he needed to win over. Well, he and they lost by ten points."
Driscoll at Insty cites ROD DREHER: What the San Diego Mosque Shooters Believed. "According to the 75-page unfinished manifesto left behind by Caleb Vazquez, 18, and Cain Clark, 17, the pair hated Muslims, Jews, blacks, legal migrants, illegal migrants, Latinos, Asians, industrial society, gays, trans people, Donald Trump, “MAGAtard boomers,” liberals, conservatives, moderates, and women." I guess they go me with MAGAtard boomer. Dave Strom worries about A New Wave of Domestic Terrorism Coming? Brendan O'Neill at Spiked explains How to oppose fascist violence "Whether it’s an attack on a synagogue or on a mosque like the one in San Diego, there is only one thing to say: this is evil."
