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From politics to 'a very exciting event' As March Madness heats up we are more than likely going to encounter a peculiar word that is much beloved by sports writers and political pundits alike: barn burner. barn burner The 'Barnburners' were one of two competing factions in the New York State Democratic Party in the middle of the 19th century. The name was “in allusion to the story of an old Dutchman who relieved himself of rats by burning his barns which they infested.” In the modern parlance a barn burner is defined as "a very exciting game, event, etc."...

The difference between liberals and conservatives. "Liberals want free stuff". "Conservatives want FREEDOM.

A Russian missile crashed in Poland on Thursday during an overnight assault on neighboring Ukraine, NATO said, an event that could risk bringing Russia closer to direct confrontation with the Western military alliance, to which Poland belongs. Mark Rutte, the NATO secretary general, said the incident was a “violation of Poland’s airspace by a Russian missile” and vowed to strengthen alliance defenses. The missile — which the Polish authorities originally called an “unidentified object” — struck a field in southeastern Poland, causing no injuries. On Thursday morning, Prime Minister Donald Tusk of Poland told an emergency meeting that the missile...

Investigators have extensive wiretap evidence and may soon charge several individuals in a sprawling corruption probe involving Gavin Newsom and his wife Jennifer Newsom. It was reported earlier this month that the FBI used a Democrat insider as an informant to infiltrate Governor Gavin Newsom’s inner circle before the corruption probe expanded into the governor and his wife Jennifer Newsom. Recall that Newsom’s former chief of staff, Dana Williamson, was indicted on federal wire fraud charges last year. Last month, Newsom fumed as he announced the corruption probe had expanded, and he and his wife are now under investigation. Newsom...

A woman has been sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison after falsely accusing 10 men of raping her. Stacey Sharples, 31, from Farnworth in Bolton, pleaded guilty on Monday at Bolton Crown Court to 10 counts of perverting the course of justice. Sponsored link Men Over 40 Are Ditching the Blue Pill for This 7x Stronger Alternative Men Over 40 Are Ditching the Blue Pill for This 7x Stronger Alternative Men's Vitality The allegations were made between 2013 and 2019, with most of the men arrested and spending time in custody, including some undertaking intimate examinations, said Greater Manchester Police....

The campus is slated to become an Islamic education hub built around an “Islamization of Knowledge” curriculum. A Muslim organization has purchased a Baptist church in Richardson after engaging in a lawsuit with the previous owners over a signing dispute. The organization announced plans to convert the church campus into a Muslim school, seminary, and mosque, in addition to other uses. Salahuddin Future Academy (SAFA), the purchaser of the property, is a K-12 educational entity that states part of its mission is to “connect learning to Islamic principles by integrating the rich texts of the Quran and Hadith into every...

Activists Disrupt U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator Jeff Graham at International AIDS Conference, Protesting Trump’s Chokehold on Congressionally Appropriated HIV Funding, Mass Closure of Key Population Programs, and Attacks on Transparent Oversight of PEPFAR Programs New Data Show Trump and Rubio Responsible for Severe Deterioration in Program Outcomes, Including HIV Treatment Cut for 77,163 Children, 42% Reduction in PrEP Enrollment, Closure of 1700 PEPFAR HIV Treatment Sites, and More Rio de Janeiro — Activists from directly impacted countries today [July 26] disrupted Senior State Department Official Jeff Graham, the acting US Global AIDS Coordinator responsible for PEPFAR [the U.S. President’s Emergency...

[Catholic Caucus] Divine Worship Prefect Roche: “Leo will not change Traditionis or go back to Summorum.” From his interview to British Catholic periodical “The Tablet,” the words of Cardinal Roche are peremptory: “But no, Pope Leo is not going to change Traditionis Custodes, and he’s not going back to Summorum Pontificum.”Meaning, the Traditional Latin Mass will remain in the Egypt of Captivity (Traditionis) and never return to the Promised Land of Liberty (Summorum).Excerpt below (behind the paywall, but provided by our occasional contributor Matthew Hazell on X):Cardinal Roche is 76. He is therefore past the age of retirement.(Interview)

Democratic Wisconsin gubernatorial front-runner Francesca Hong is facing fresh scrutiny after a years-old social media post calling to “Abolish the Senate” resurfaced, even as her campaign now insists she never took that position. “Abolish the Senate,” Hong, a self-described socialist, wrote in February 2021 while replying to a post from human rights lawyer Qasim Rashid. The post remained live on X as of Wednesday afternoon. Despite the public post, a spokesperson for Hong’s campaign pushed back on the claim in comments to Fox News, arguing that Hong has never advocated eliminating the U.S. Senate. The dispute erupted after Republican Rep....

A billionaire biohacker who wanted to live forever is seemingly questioning his life choices after being diagnosed with an 'uncurable' disease. Bryan Johnson, whose viral stunts in pursuit of eternal life have included injecting himself with his son's blood plasma and tweeting details reports on his wife's vagina, recently revealed that he has developed autoimmune gastritis. It's an incurable chronic condition where the immune system mistakenly attacks healthy cells in the stomach lining. And the diagnosis appears to have left the 48-year-old venture capitalist questioning whether his pursuit for better health and a longer life was worth all the effort....

Nearly five years after the last American troops left Afghanistan, al-Qaeda is again finding both sanctuary in the country and an audience far beyond it. A new report from Europol warns that jihadism remained Europe’s most widespread form of terrorism in 2025, accounting for 24 of the 45 terrorist attacks reported by European Union member states and 347 terrorism-related arrests. More ominously, the report finds that al-Qaeda is exploiting the war in Gaza to regain influence and incite attacks against Western and Jewish targets. The group Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, has been particularly aggressive. Europol reports that...

Two-thirds of Americans believe the war in Iran has not been worth fighting. A new AP-NORC poll found that roughly two-thirds of U.S. adults say the war that began Feb. 28 is not worthwhile. The sentiment is shared by the vast majority of Democrats (87%) and independents (68%), as well as 37% of Republicans. The AP-NORC poll, conducted July 23-27, surveyed 1,165 adults and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.7 percentage points.

LONDON -- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy blamed "insufficient or delayed" air defense supplies for the deaths of several people across Ukraine in the latest wave of Russian drone and missile strikes, launched on Wednesday night into Thursday morning.

Hundreds of migrants have crossed into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta by sea in recent days, exposing renewed pressure on one of the European Union’s most politically sensitive external borders and raising fresh questions about migration management between Spain and Morocco. Local authorities say more than 1,500 migrants, including adults and unaccompanied children, have reached the North African territory over the past few days, with arrivals exceeding 200 people a day. Television footage showed migrants swimming around border barriers before running into the town after reaching shore. Juan Jesus Vivas, president of Ceuta, described the situation as a “total humanitarian...

The ruling does change the fundamental nature of what the books were intended for: they were intended to be read by human beings, not used as training for machines to replace human thought and ingenuity. ============================================================== AI companies are buying old books, scanning them, then destroying them. Anthropic has been buying the books to feed the machine with human knowledge and ideas written down before the AI era, so only books with publication dates before 2022 will do. Once they have the books, they rip off the spines, feed them through a scanner, and then on into the gaping maw...

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has identified more than $1 billion in unpaid import duties owed to the government. The duties are owed under the Enforce and Protect Act (EAPA), which targets U.S. importers evading antidumping and countervailing duties. This is the first time in EAPA’s 10-year history that CBP has assessed more than $1 billion in duty evasion, the agency said in a July 29 statement. This is not only a record figure but also 300 percent above the program’s annual average. These duties are intended to offset the value of dumping and subsidization of foreign goods, thereby...

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Vandalism targeting automated license plate readers has ignited a local debate over public safety and digital surveillance in the Beaches communities, echoing growing privacy concerns felt across the nation. The investigation began on June 29 when an Atlantic Beach police officer noticed several Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR) cameras, commonly known as “Flock” cameras, had not been working. A physical inspection revealed that multiple camera lenses across the area had been intentionally disabled with spray paint. Similar incidents of vandalism happened in Neptune Beach and Jacksonville Beach. Police have since arrested 19-year-old River Blair of Jacksonville Beach...

Spain's North African enclave of Ceuta is experiencing a humanitarian and security emergency after 1,500 migrants reached the city by swimming across from Morocco ​over the past week, the territory's leader said on Thursday. Ceuta, together with ‌Melilla - another Spanish autonomous city located in North Africa - represents the European Union's only land border with Africa. Both cities periodically experience surges in attempted crossings by migrants seeking to reach ​Europe. Speaking in separate interviews with radio stations Cadena SER and Onda Cero, ​Juan Jesus Vivas said the recent influx had overwhelmed the city's ⁠reception system and left hundreds of...

A fugitive on the FBI’s Most Wanted Fraudsters List was returned to Florida to face federal charges for her alleged role in a $32 million federal COVID-19 relief fund fraud. Elaine Escoe, 41, was charged by indictment in 2025 with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering, as well as multiple substantive counts of wire fraud and money laundering. Escoe had been on the run since May 2025 and was captured in Jamaica while living under the fake identity of “Harley Newman.” After being charged, she failed to appear in court and fled. On June 4, the FBI announced...

The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) are scheming to gut the Constitution and implement full-scale communism in the United States – and they’re not being shy about it. From July 31 to August 2, the DSA will host a “Socialists Summit” in Chicago, which the organization’s event page describes as an opportunity “to learn through political education, skills training, organizer development, general programming, and social activities.” The summit will specifically center on the DSA’s latest policy platform, which amounts to a shocking attack on capitalism, private property, the U.S. Constitution, and the entire American system. One section of the platform,...