"Beijing’s message could not be clearer: the Communist Party will tolerate religion only when it serves the state. For millions of underground Christians in China, that means worship itself remains an act of defiance."
"China’s persecution of Christians has reached alarming new levels. In a series of overnight raids across multiple cities, police detained at least 30 pastors and church leaders, part of what religious rights groups are calling the largest coordinated assault on underground Christianity in decades.
“The US has called for the release of 30 leaders of one of China’s largest underground church networks who were reportedly detained over the weekend in overnight raids in various cities.
“Police in China detained dozens of pastors of one of its largest underground churches over the weekend, a church spokesperson and relatives said, in the biggest crackdown on Christians since 2018.”
The detentions, according to NBC, came just days after Beijing expanded export controls on rare earth minerals, a move that has already heightened U.S.–China tensions. Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemned the arrests, calling them yet another example of the Communist Party’s hostility toward Christians who refuse to submit to state control.
“This crackdown further demonstrates how the CCP exercises hostility towards Christians who reject Party interference in their faith and choose to worship at unregistered house churches.” . . .
"Blue and gray soldiers raced westward during the first week of April 1865. After spending forty-one weeks around Petersburg, Robert E. Lee hoped the Army of Northern Virginia could leave its adversaries behind. Ulysses S. Grant’s strategic and personnel decisions enabled his armies to intercept Lee multiple times until finally cornering the Confederates at Appomattox. Much has been written about this final clash in Virginia and the work of federal, state, and private organizations has made it one of the most interpreted and accessible Civil War campaigns. Borrowing from these efforts, I have created a tour guide that overlays the routes of both armies onto a modern map.
"Calkins spearheaded the creation of the Lee’s Retreat Driving Tour, a self-guided route that roughly follows the Army of Northern Virginia from Petersburg to Appomattox. Civil War Trails maintains this self-guided route today and the organization has placed additional wayside exhibits along the many roads taken westward. Check out their online brochure here. The American Battlefield Trust has substantially increased the preserved battlefield acres, particularly in Dinwiddie County, around Sailor's Creek Battlefield State Park, and at Appomattox itself.
"The hundred-mile journey is an absolute must for anyone with an interest in the Civil War and this updated map should enhance the great public history work already done for the Appomattox campaign. Download the full map as a pdf here.
"(Update) The numbers listed on the map correspond with a suggested order of visiting the sites, as originally designated by the first Lee’s Retreat maps.In order, they are:
Personally, I have never understood why conservatives should care about liberals’ accusations of racism, which are at least as dumb as their other smears. But for some reason, those particular lies have been effective.
"Heather Mac Donald optimistically declares “The end of the race hustle.” Heather’s article is long, and data-rich. I recommend reading it all. She credits President Trump with being uncowed by the Left’s accusations of racism, and offers hope that race-baiting no longer works:
For decades, pointing out that any action, public or private, had a black target or fell disproportionately on black people was sufficient to discredit that action, regardless of whether it was couched in terms of race or had a racist intent.
Want to fire an employee? Good luck if that employee is black; such a dismissal would be presumptively racist. Tempted to criticize a government official for alleged incompetence or unethical conduct? If that official is black, think twice, since blackness is used as a shield. Try to jail a serial violent offender, such as Brown Jr., who happens to be African-American? That would contribute to racial inequity.
"Is that description overdrawn? Maybe, but it describes a strong current in the reality that we have been living in.
"Criminal justice, in particular, has been badly compromised by race ideology:
The idea that racial disparities in arrest and incarceration rates reflect discrimination and not disparities in criminal offending has been a staple of Democratic policymaking for years. The “systemic criminal justice bias” conceit has led district attorneys across the US to stop prosecuting and stop seeking jail terms for a host of crimes, simply because penalizing those crimes would have a disparate impact on black criminals.
"The “systemic bias” claims are false, but they have impaired public safety across America.
"Education is, of course, another area where racism has reigned supreme. So what is Heather’s basis for thinking the era of race-baiting will soon be behind us?" . . . More...
The Times Gives Mamdani the Obama Treatment "TheNew York Timesapparently thought better of the original headline gracing its ostensibly straight-news coverage of the blowback that followed when New York City mayoral candidate Zoran Mamdani encountered, for perhaps the first time, an issue relating to Israeli security on which he had no opinion:the necessity of Hamas’s disarmament.
" 'Mamdani Faces Islamophobic attacks After Comments About Hamas,” read theoriginal headline of Emma Fitzsimmons’s article. Subsequently, Mamdani faced only unspecified “attacks” that were presumably as vague as his “comments” about the barbarous terrorist sect.
"TheTimeswould have been better off scrubbing the item entirely. " The rest of this article is behind a pay wall, but you know what is relevant. TD
If MSNBC falls in the forest and nobody is there to hear it, does it still make a sound? Nope. Time for this national embarrassment to end…one household at a time.
. . . "All of this could have been avoided—and sanity on Capitol Hill restored much more quickly—if not for the cheerleading and promotion of the past 10 days by America’s linear equivalent of the Al-Jazeera network…MSNBC…egging on Schumer and organizers of “No Kings.” Unions like the radical American Federation of Teachers and the SEIU are like little kids jumping up and down in the background of local TV reporters doing standups at gang shootings; they crave the cheap publicity almost as much as they hate President Trump.
"Giddy MSNBC “anchors” like Rachel Maddow, Michael Steele, and the ratty-looking weekend host Alex Witt, who has been popping up all week, have been breathlessly reporting on the “massive” rallies supposedly taking place.
"Even Lawrence “The Prince of Darkness” O’Donnell and his distaff counterpart Nicolle Wallace could not hide their churlish delight that “No Kings” will supposedly be a political black-eye for President Donald J. Trump, only days after he stunned the world by negotiating a historic peace agreement between Israel and the vile Hamas terrorists who launched the now-infamous October 7th attacks.
"Like carefully choreographed Busby Berkley musicals from the Depression era 1930s, MSNBC’s “stars” listed above have been augmented all this week by such B-team bit players as notorious race baiter Rev. Al Sharpton and John Heilman, best known as a barnacle on many MSNBC panel shows…always with a sophomoric, negative spin on anything Donald Trump says or does. (This is the same collection of carnival sideshow attractions whose solid record includes hyping—right up until their “poignant” concession statements—Hillary Clinton’s inevitable victory in 2016 and the “historic” 107-day campaign of the buffoonish Kamala Harris.)" . . .
NY PostOne long-time Bronx cop said anti-cop pols can reap what they sow. “If this is what these politicians want, let them have it,” the cop said. “Let it burn down and then they’ll want us back.”
"A notoriously violent two-block stretch of Brooklyn is fighting crime — by not calling uniformed cops, The Post has learned.
"A sliver of Brownsville in the NYPD’s 73rd Precinct was transformed into a “police free zone” last week as part of an city-funded experiment called the Brownsville Safety Alliance that initially was only twice a year but now runs four times annually, organizers said.
"And it’s an initiative that’s received praise from anti-cop, mayoral frontrunner Zohran Mamdani, an official with the group that runs it told The Post." . . .
"A notoriously violent two-block stretch of Brooklyn is fighting crime — by not calling uniformed cops, The Post has learned.
. . . "In response, the IDF has begun striking in the area to eliminate the threat and dismantle tunnel shafts and military structures used for terrorist activity," it continued.
"Israel has responded by striking areas in the north and south of the Gaza Strip.
"Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office says he has instructed the minister of defense and other security heads to "act forcefully" in reaction to the attacks." . . .
Hamas tries to give their useful idiots in the Western world a talking point so they can continue to wear their trendy Hamas scarves. TD
"Billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban, appearing on the panel, responded: “Can’t be found. Yeah, can’t be found anywhere.” Maher added that Hamas is “shooting everybody,” calling out what he described as “the asymmetry of what goes on.”
"The exchange occurred on Friday, in a show which featured actor turned politicianArnold Schwarzenegger, journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin, and Cuban. The episode is listed on HBO Max and summarized by entertainment outlets covering the broadcast."
"After we liberate Palestine, we will not tolerate the grave of a single Jew or a single Hebrew word – We will eliminate any trace of them; Palestine is a bride and her dowry Is blood; We welcome our martyrs with joy. “
"Only the West wants two states solution. Pals don’t want. Israel once wanted too, but NO more, as we now know their final agenda. " . . .
Campus liberals want to defend the oppressed; When Israelis are being murdered and driven out of Muslim territories, will Western leftists then fight for the Jews? We await the promise on the Book of the Revelation and Yahweh*. TD
Jeffrey Lord: "As the old wisdom has it: What goes around, comes around."
"And one can hope New York City voters — who have a seriously good, non-bigoted alternative choice in former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo — will make that emphatically clear on election day."
"Just look what has happened to London since electing a Muslim mayor. With Mamdani, you get Marxism together with his Islamic extremism."
"Here is the headline from Fox News that is focused on one Zohran Mamdani. Mamdani is currently leading in the race to be New York City’s next mayor. The headline: “Mamdani stands by promise to arrest Netanyahu if he comes to New York City.”
"The New York Timesheadlined: “Mamdani, if Elected Mayor, Pledges to Order N.Y.P.D. to Arrest Netanyahu,” with the subtitle, “Zohran Mamdani expanded on his vow to arrest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying it would show that New York ‘stands up for international law.’”. Well now.
"If a New York City mayor, Mamdani, does in fact do this, would it not be time for the United States government to arrest Mamdani?
"After all, no one is above the law. And there is nothing in the law that gives an American mayor the authority to arrest a foreign head of state for simply doing his duty as head of state. Which, in this case, and like his head-of-state peers from around the world, means showing up in New York City to address the opening session of the United Nations. If Mr. Mamdani doesn’t like it, perhaps it’s time for the U.N. to consider moving itself to a more welcoming American or foreign city. (RELATED: Zohran Has Two Daddies)
"The Times story reports:
Mr. Mamdani had said earlier in the mayor’s race that he would arrest Mr. Netanyahu. In the interview on Thursday, he did not back down and offered new specifics, affirming that he would order the police to make the arrest upon Mr. Netanyahu’s arrival in the city. “This is something that I intend to fulfill,” Mr. Mamdani said.
“This is a moment where we cannot look to the federal government for leadership,” Mr. Mamdani said. “This is a moment when cities and states will have to demonstrate what it actually looks like to stand up for our own values, our own people.”
"So let’s take Mr. Mamdani at his word.
"It’s time to “look to the federal government for leadership.” Which, based on the logic of the would-be Mayor Mamdani’s position means that the federal government, which is decidedly charged with arresting Americans who break federal law, should swoop down on the New York Mayor’s Gracie Mansion residence or City Hall (if he is elected!), slap the cuffs on him and send him to the New York hell hole known as the Rikers Island prison.
"Once there, the arrested Mayor Mamdani would find himself in the company of inmates who specialize in violence of all manner of types. The very same types he is threatening to surround an arrested Prime Minister Netanyahu with. Not to mention the type of violence Mr. Netanyahu’s Israeli constituents have to deal with routinely from Palestinian extremists.
"To say the least, at a minimum, this threat reveals the would-be mayor of New York City, Mamdani, as a decided antisemite." . . . More...
"For Zohran Mamdani and his Islamist-Marxist allies, peace will bring no peace to the Middle East without the end of a Jewish presence in the region. Does he feel the same way about the five boroughs of New York?"
"Thomas Jefferson and John Adams hinted at the incompatibility of America’s republican virtues with the values of Muslim nations after meeting with the Islamic ambassador about the Barbary states’ inclination to make war upon nations that did them no wrong, after they were informed it was a requirement of the Quran."
"Mamdani is on record despising the NYPD, calling them an enemy of citizens, including the "queer" population. He's repeatedly called for defunding them, even though he lies about that now."
Whom should we fear more: Democrat candidates or their voters? TD
. . . “Today at Masjid At-Taqwa, I had the pleasure of meeting with Imam Siraj Wahhaj, one of the nation’s foremost Muslim leaders and a pillar of the Bed-Stuy community for nearly half a century,” Mamdani wrote on X of the Friday encounter.
“A beautiful Jummah,” he wrote, referencing the weekly prayer."
Remember, children, if you stand against this imam, you must give up your beautiful scarf. TD
The A-10 Thunderbolt II, famously known as the Warthog, remains a cornerstone of American air power well into 2025. Despite debates over its retirement, the A-10 continues to dominate close air support (CAS) missions with its unique design, powerful GAU-8 Avenger cannon, and unmatched durability.
Introduction to the A-10 Warthog: "The A-10 was developed in the 1970s with a singular focus: to destroy Soviet tanks in Europe. But over time, it has proven versatile, reliable, and irreplaceable in a wide range of operations from the Gulf War to counterinsurgency missions in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Why the A-10 Still Matters in 2025"Many thought the introduction of advanced platforms like the F-35 or the MQ-9 Reaper would signal the end for the A-10. Yet, the Warthog persists. Its low operational cost, high survivability, and direct connection with ground troops make it essential even in the age of stealth fighters and drones.
Unmatched Firepower: "The heart of the A-10 is the GAU-8/A Avenger, a 30mm cannon capable of firing 3,900 rounds per minute. This weapon can destroy tanks, bunkers, and convoys with terrifying efficiency. In close air support, there's simply no replacement for the A-10’s gun.
Battle-Tested Design: "The Warthog's design includes titanium armor, redundant systems, and a rugged airframe. It can fly with one engine, one tail, or even with significant wing damage. Pilots often refer to the aircraft as a "flying tank." In terms of survivability, the A-10 is peerless.
Recent Upgrades Keeping It Lethal: "Modernization efforts have kept the A-10 relevant. The "A-10 Common Fleet Initiative" has included new wings, cockpit upgrades, communications systems, and precision weapon enhancements. These upgrades ensure the Warthog can operate alongside modern fighters and support 21st-century battlefield needs.
"No way. Even as crazy as the Democrats are, and even as crazy as they are in California, they’re still human beings. And this character is way too bizarre and repulsive for human beings to agree to be led by her." . . .Scott McKay
Issues & Insights "I looked it up and found out that Jason Clarke, who played Jerry West in the HBO sports dramaWinning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynastyand Teddy Kennedy inChappaquiddick, as well as lots of other prominent film and TV roles, is Australian. I had no idea.
"Clarke is a very good actor.
"He comes to mind because with Katie Porter emerging as the Democrats’ leading candidate for governor in California, I’m wondering whether Clarke is actually playing a new role.
"I’m wondering if he’s playing Porter.
"You can’t unsee this…
"Yes, of course you’re right. They’re not the same at all.
"He’s prettier than she is.
"Still, it’s hard to shake the feeling that we’re all being trolled here and that Porter isn’t actually a real politician but rather some sort of put-on, or a LARP. Like we’re being Borat’ed.
"CBS News Sacramento reporter Julie Watts had to feel that way, you’d think, after this utterly bizarre interface with Porter…
"For now, the only thing AI seems to be good for is making memes which almost no one mistakes as real."
"The growing opposition in Hollywood to AI generated "actors" is in many ways similar to the growing feminist fury over AI girlfriends: If you're a good actor (or a good woman), then you should have no fear of being replaced. If you can't compete with a robot or software for the affections of the masses, then perhaps you deserve to lose your exalted position in society.
"AI design is not particularly impressive (at least not yet). Characters are graphically realistic but the Uncanny Valley effect is ever present; the human mind processes them as off-putting in most cases and making an entire film using them would require extensive input from human CG artists. Still images and short clips are effective enough, but this is not film making.
"By extension, AI fiction writing is not improving and is truly terrible. Storytelling requires an intuitive grasp of plot beats, a deep understanding of the nuances of human psychology and interactions, as well as a creative ability to surprise the audience with something unexpected while still (in most cases) wrapping up the plot in a way that is satisfying.
"Anything more than a basic synopsis and AI scripts turn into a rambling, confusing mish-mash of ideas copied from more intelligent creators and slopped onto the page. In other words, AI writes scripts much like the typical woke leftist screenwriters now infesting the film industry.
"And this is why Hollywood is scared - They have been getting away with mediocrity for so long they have forgotten how to make a good movie. They are so bad at their job that they could actually be swapped for software.
"In terms of acting, it's unlikely that solid performers will ever be retired to the dustbin or unable to get work because of AI. Movie goers will always know in the back of their minds that they are watching CG people with no capacity for real emotion. However, if film companies continue to fill their actor stables with soulless, robotic or narcissistic egomaniacs, then the public may welcome the robot overlords as the new standard for cinematic entertainment.
"The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) is very unhappy with the recent release of an AI acting model called "Tilly Norwood". The union condemned reports that talent agents are looking to sign the artificial intelligence "actor" for representation. They argued in a statement that Tilly Norwood "is not an actor, it’s a character generated by a computer program that was trained on the work of countless professional performers." . . .
Any Rep. or Senator who says Trump, his supporters, or other Republicans is Hitler or a Nazi doesn’t care about minimizing the horrors of the Holocaust. Any reporter who doesn’t challenge that disgusting statement is just as bad. (THE LID, May 2025 | See also NYP, July 2024 | )
Rep. Chris Deluzio (D-PA) is under fire after widespread airing of four-year-old remarks in which he called former President Donald Trump’s voters a “horde of budding blood-and-soil fascists.” (Washington Examiner, June 2024) , , ,
"Reason is gone, not offending someone is the new gospel: “…demanding the campus be made more of a “sanctuary” as they protested classism, sexism, discrimination and ethnic intimidation.” (Detroit News) | Milk and cookies, crayons and coloring books, therapy dogs and ducks (Campus Reform). When the real world and these people collide, escape goats are the outcome:
So, in the West as these “well-meaning” ideals works themselves out, expect more legal, cultural, and violent expression against those who hold to a historical, conserving theology and expressing this in public life. (ME/RPT in 2015)
"Need more examples to support the Left’s [read here Democrats and the MSMS] push to label Republicans such horrible things that people want to kill us?" . . .
