One of the excuses you always hear when there’s a massive failure by the Biden-Harris administration is that no one could have seen it coming. No one could have predicted that the Inflation Reduction Act would actually increase inflation. No one could have predicted that the Afghan government would collapse immediately after we pulled out our troops, leading to a security breakdown and the deaths of 13 U.S. military personnel. No one could have predicted that shipping pallets of cash to Iran would provide funding for a new campaign of terrorist attacks by Iran’s proxies, and so on. The truth though is that all of these disasters were easily foreseeable. The problem is that the people in charge of predicting the consequences of all of these policies are either grossly incompetent, or malicious. At every step, they have lied to Americans about what they know — or should know — was about to happen. And there is maybe no better illustration of this problem than the federal government’s response to Hurricane Helene, which has now killed more than 200 people. Take a look at what the DHS Secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, was saying just three months ago. Mayorkas, as head of the DHS, oversees the federal disaster relief agency, FEMA. On June 21st, Mayorkas went in front of the cameras to boast that FEMA was, “tremendously prepared” for the upcoming hurricane season. In fact, he doesn’t just say that FEMA is tremendously prepared for hurricanes. He says they’re prepared for wildfires, extreme heat, and a variety of other disasters. We can handle all of it, he said. Watch:   “This is what we do,” says Mayorkas as he smiles. It’s all very reassuring. Now, admittedly, the words “tremendously prepared” can be interpreted in a few different ways. And unfortunately, Mayorkas wasn’t more specific. But ordinarily, when the official overseeing a disaster relief agency says that they’re “tremendously prepared”, they’re saying that, at a minimum, they have all the resources they need to quickly and effectively respond to whatever natural disasters may occur. So it was more than a little surprising to hear the DHS Secretary on Wednesday, announcing that actually, FEMA is out of money. They don’t even have the cash to make it through hurricane season. Watch:   It’s easy to become desensitized to all the lying that we’ve heard from this administration. It’s easy to roll your eyes when you see even more evidence that these people, at a minimum, are grossly incompetent. But this is truly another level. Imagine this kind of thing happening in literally any business in the country. Imagine the cook at iHOP telling his boss that he’s “tremendously prepared” for the breakfast rush, and then the customers show up and actually, it turns out that there’s no flour or eggs or bacon in the kitchen. They need an emergency shipment because they’re all out of ingredients. How long do you think that cook would have a job exactly? Five seconds? Less?  As you just heard at the tail end of that Fox News report, this is starting to look like something much worse than incompetence. It looks a bit like embezzlement, actually.  First of all, didn’t the government’s fiscal year just start on October 1st? How are they out of money already? And why exactly was FEMA administering billion-dollar “services” to foreign nationals, including illegal aliens living inside this country? As The New York Post reports:  The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) allocated $640.9 million this year in FEMA-administered funds to aid state and local governments coping with the influx of asylum seekers … [And] DHS allocated $780 million for the migrant crisis last year through the FEMA Emergency Food and Shelter Program, which funds relief not associated with natural disasters, and the FEMA Shelter and Services Program, which was authorized in late 2022 by Congress to respond to the migrant crisis. That money, according to the DHS website, goes to ““families and individuals encountered by the Department of Homeland Security.” There doesn’t need to be an emergency or a natural disaster or anything like that. These people just need to come into this country illegally, and they’re eligible. WATCH: The Matt Walsh Show In response to this reporting, the DHS claimed that Congress didn’t authorize that $1.4 billion to go to American citizens. It was supposedly earmarked for “the migrant crisis,” meaning it was never intended for Americans. I guess that’s supposed to be reassuring, somehow. But that still doesn’t explain why the DHS secretary said FEMA was well-prepared just three months ago. And more importantly, it doesn’t explain why we’re spending so much money on providing “food and shelter” to illegal migrants when we don’t even have enough money to fund disaster relief for American citizens. And that’s not even getting into the hundreds of billions of dollars we’ve spent on Ukraine, which comes out to more than $5,000 per Ukrainian. By comparison, American citizens aren’t getting much. As the Post reports: A relatively paltry $4 million has been paid directly to families and individuals in the week since Hurricane Helene ravaged the Southeast, killing at least 202 people and causing severe flooding damage from Florida to North Carolina. For her part, acting president Kamala Harris has announced that affected families in this country are eligible for a grand total of $750 in FEMA assistance. Watch:   A whole $750. That’s what FEMA can give American citizens who just lost their homes. And to be clear, that’s not because this hurricane season was unusually catastrophic. And it’s not because FEMA has been doing heroic work that turned out to be far more expensive than they could’ve possibly anticipated.  In reality, FEMA has reported that it’s been running out of money for a long time now. A year ago, in the middle of hurricane season, FEMA disclosed that it was experiencing a massive budget shortfall of several billion dollars. This is a report from July of 2023. Watch:   FEMA’s excuse last year was that there were a lot of unexpected disasters — fires, mudslides, and so on. So you’d think that, after running out of money, they’d make sure to cover the budget shortfall in time for the next hurricane season. After all, the federal government can print money out of thin air for whatever reason it wants. They don’t care about inflation, as we’ve learned. They’ll just print it, if they care enough. Why didn’t that happen here? Was there some issue with the money printer? Did Congress reject the budget for some reason? If so, at the very least, you’d expect that the DHS secretary would complain about that. You wouldn’t think he’d go on television to brag about how “tremendously prepared” they are. That’s especially true after FEMA’s failed handling of the Maui fires last year. As you might remember, residents said that FEMA’s assistance was both scattershot and insufficient after the blaze. They were also outraged that FEMA officials were hanging out in luxury hotels instead of helping. Watch:   “It’s not what it looks like,” says FEMA. And maybe that’s true. Maybe it was vitally necessary for FEMA to rent out a bunch of luxury hotels in Hawaii. We really don’t know. But every indication we have now is that this agency isn’t capable of managing its budget or responding effectively to disasters. So there are a lot of reasons to ask questions about this whole arrangement, especially after-the-fact. Will anyone in the media ask about any of this? Probably not. Deanne Criswell is the woman who runs FEMA. She happens to be the first woman to ever hold that job. So she has the whole identity politics angle going for her. Maybe that’s why, as FEMA suffers one humiliation after another, no one’s even suggesting that she should lose her job, along with the DHS secretary. Or maybe Deanne Criswell is untouchable because the Biden-Harris administration wants her to do exactly what she’s doing, which is to sabotage recovery efforts. Maybe that’s what the government wants. Am I Racist? Is In Theaters NOW — Get Your Tickets Here! They’re certainly doing everything they can to create that impression. The local CBS affiliate in North Carolina just reported that 1,000 soldiers in the state are sitting around and doing nothing, instead of assisting in disaster relief: President Joe Biden activated 1,000 U.S. Army soldiers for deployment to western North Carolina. More than 24 hours later, troops are still waiting to deploy from Fort Liberty. The soldiers are supposed to assist with delivering food and essential supplies to isolated communities devastated by Helene. … The U.S. Army said soldiers with the 18th Airborne Corps at Fort Liberty are standing by and ready if the request for support comes. … The North Carolina Army National Guard, which is leading the ground recovery efforts, tells CBS17 they are still assessing the needs in the area and they have not made an official request for support from the U.S. Army. So the Army hasn’t been called in for some reason. A thousand soldiers have been activated, but they’re not doing anything. Meanwhile civilians who try to help are being prevented from doing so.  Here’s congressman Cory Mills, explaining that because Joe Biden was in the area, the federal government just prevented civilian rescue pilots and aid workers from saving lives in the aftermath of this disaster. Watch:   So, to recap: FEMA doesn’t provide early warning, or a timely mandatory evacuation order. They don’t provide any significant assistance after the storm. They divert huge amounts of resources to foreign nationals who have no legal justification for being in this country. They shut down the air space to block civilian rescue flights. They say they’re out of money. And just three months ago, they told us they were “tremendously prepared” for hurricane season. Watching all this, you have to ask why we’re even paying taxes. Why are we paying FEMA billions of dollars every year, only to make disasters even more deadly? Why are we funneling our money to people who clearly hate us? Ask yourself: If the Biden-Harris administration wanted to go out of its way to punish American citizens, what exactly would they be doing differently? At some point, complete and total incompetence is indistinguishable from malice. And anyone who’s been paying attention to FEMA over the past year — as well as everyone living in the areas that have been decimated by this hurricane — knows that we are now well past that point. WATCH THE TRAILER FOR ‘AM I RACIST?’ — A MATT WALSH COMEDY ON DEI

A post made on Facebook claims that Elon Musk pulled a $1 billion show from CBS following alleged bias at the 2024 vice presidential debate. Verdict: False The claim appears to originate from a satirical story. There is no credible evidence that Musk ever owned the rights to a CBS show. Fact Check: A post made on […]

'They're going to keep hemorrhaging'

Biden-Harris was caving to increased antisemitism

'Spirals of vandalism and violence'

Warning: This review contains spoilers for the Amazon series “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power,” Season 2. The second season of Amazon’s “Rings of Power” somehow managed to be worse than the first season of the show, which is a rather high bar. The first season showed a disrespect for J.R.R. Tolkien’s world, but this season made things worse. It seems as if the showrunners don’t understand the basics of fantasy—or even storytelling. Before I get into the great sins of the season, I’ll address a few smaller quibbles. The second season introduced “the Faithful,” a religion in the kingdom of Numenor, and failed to give even the slightest taste of what the religion involves. It also introduced the barrow-wights (which the Peter Jackson movie adaptation of Tolkien’s “The Fellowship of the Ring” cut out). There’s just one problem: the barrow-wights shouldn’t exist until far in the future of Middle Earth, because the person responsible for them—the Witch King of Angmar—hasn’t received his ring of power yet. It also presented the Palantiri, the seeing stones that made a big appearance in “The Lord of the Rings,” as corrupted when they don’t become corrupted until far in the future. Yet these sins against Middle Earth pale in comparison to the great solipsisms of storytelling the show commits. 1. Sauron Everyone and their mother in this show somehow knows that Sauron (the main villain in “The Lord of the Rings”) represents a vast ethereal evil on the horizon, yet the show doesn’t bother to give the audience a reason to fear Sauron. Charlie Vickers gives Sauron a great presence on the silver screen, but the show’s horrible writing prevents the audience from truly fearing him. Season 2 opens with a scene in which Sauron gives a speech to orcs, and Adar (Sam Hazeldine) proceeds to betray him, killing him with the very crown he was supposed to receive. Adar’s motive for that remains unclear, and Sauron transforms into a black goo—rightly mocked online as “Soupron”—only to slowly reemerge after eating a centipede, a rat, and a person. The showrunners seemed to think this scene provided a cool backstory for the ultimate villain, but in reality, it made the audience see Sauron as impotent, unimpressive, and rather comical. “The Rings of Power” never spends time giving the brief mythic backstory of evil in Middle Earth, and it suffers for it. The Peter Jackson adaptation of “The Lord of the Rings” begins with an excellent introduction to the world and the evil of Sauron, and it presents him as powerful and wicked, doing the work to establish the villain the audience almost never sees throughout that film trilogy. “The Rings of Power,” by contrast, never gives the impressive and dark backstory, instead presenting Sauron as a schemer and deceiver. Only in a later episode of Season 2 does the audience see Sauron’s true power to deceive through illusions—and by then, the audience can’t help but think of Sauron as a pitiful pile of black goo. 2. The Orcs “The Lord of the Rings” and Tolkien’s Legendarium always presented orcs as evil. They are fundamentally corrupt, and the audience should cheer when heroes slaughter them. “The Rings of Power” attempts at many points to humanize them, showing orcs with families and having one orc plead with the orc leader Adar to stop leading them to war. In storytelling, subverting the audience’s expectations can be very powerful. Suddenly suggesting that characters the audience thought of as mindless drones are actually human beings with wills and lives can be effective, if the storytellers commit and actually strive to make a point. Similarly, redemption arcs can strongly resonate with audiences, and if an orc truly rejected evil and could somehow be redeemed, that might be an interesting story. “The Rings of Power” never pursues either of these avenues. Instead, it resorts to a cheap trick, as the orc who expressed concern about the constant wars later betrays Adar in favor of Sauron, for no reasons given by the show. The humanization of orcs is nothing but a bait-and-switch in “The Rings of Power,” and it’s a particularly unsettling one. This narrative device suggests that Tolkien and the heroes have been wrong to cheer the deaths of orcs all along, and then it reverts to form as if nothing had changed. Suddenly, later in the season, the heroes are slaughtering orcs left and right, and it’s supposed to be noble again. Middle Earth is not the place to humanize orcs, and anyone remotely familiar with the source material should know that. 3. Why, Oh Why, Does Adar Hate Sauron? The main conflict in Season 2 revolves around the elf Celebrimbor (Charles Edwards) forging the rings of power in the city of Eregion, under Sauron’s influence, while Adar leads a huge orc army to attack Eregion and kill Sauron. Adar hates Sauron, for some reason, and he is even willing to team up with the elf heroine Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) to defeat him. Adar tells Galadriel that he wants to kill Sauron so that he can lead the orcs back into Mordor and no longer attack the other peoples of Middle Earth. Galadriel understandably does not believe him. At the end of the show, the orcs suddenly turn on Adar for no reason, just as Adar turned on Sauron for no reason at the beginning, killing him and pledging their fealty to Sauron. Adar’s No. 1 lieutenant carries out the killing blow, but the show never explains how Sauron got him to betray his master. The entire plot feels pointless and unearned. 4. A Completely Nonsensical Battle Episode 7, “Doomed to Die,” features the massive battle of Eregion, which pits the elves under Sauron’s control against the orcs under Adar. Other elves—Galadriel, Elrond (Robert Aramayo), and the High King Gil-Galad (Benjamin Walker)—arrive to fight against the orcs and save the city. While fantasy, as a genre, does require certain willing suspension of disbelief, such as the idea that magic exists and there are elves, orcs, trolls, etc., it doesn’t usually involve suspending the laws of physics. That, however, is exactly what this battle does. First, the orcs turn their trebuchets on a mountain, which immediately crumbles, causing huge boulders to fall into a river. These boulders somehow dam up the river completely, turning the river into dry ground. Yet anyone remotely familiar with rivers knows that not only is this a nearly impossible feat, but the riverbed would not immediately be dry—and it certainly wouldn’t be dry enough for the orcs, and then an army of elves on horseback—to march across it easily. Second, when the elves charge on their horses, they get within a few feet of the orcs before Elrond sees that the orcs have Galadriel hostage. In order to save Galadriel, Elrond brings the entire army of cavalry to an immediate halt before they would charge into the orcs. Note to the showrunners: That’s not how horses work. If the war horses are charging, and you try to pull them back, it’s going to take time for them to slow down, and most likely, they are just going to keep charging. Yes, Tolkien created a fantasy world where there are orcs, elves, dwarfs, hobbits, and more mythical creatures. But his horses never stopped being horses, his mountains never stopped being mountains, and his rivers never stopped being rivers. Fantasy requires the willing suspension of disbelief, but “The Rings of Power” requires the willing suspension of common sense. It’s a shame the name of Tolkien has any connection to this monstrosity. The post The 4 Great Sins of Season 2 of ‘Rings of Power’ appeared first on The Daily Signal.

United Airlines’ DEI committee head is also a trans-identifying male.

I don’t think hand-powered tools and utensils have ever really gone out of style. I know they have never lost their purpose, that’s for sure! 21 Primitive Tools And How To Use Them Now The power of primitive tools is starting to regain some popularity for many reasons. One of them being, what’s old to one is new to the next. There seems to be an increase of off-gridders, hikers, campers, survivalists and travelers which brings about this particular article. Whether these are tools you add to your collection just for back-up or for regular use, these 21 tools and appliances are worth checking out. For some, it may bring back memories and for others a new find, so let’s get started. Take a look at this handy infographic: Air Pumps – Hand or foot powered air pumps are a fantastic tool to have around. Before it was the norm for the average household to have air compressors in the garage, there were these simple pumps. You could use them to fill sports balls, bike tires, air mattresses, and even car tires although that took a little while. Hand air pumps are also really great to use when filling balloons at your next big party. Easy to use, lightweight, and simple to store. Grinding Wheel – The hand-powered grinding wheel is something that could be found in many workshops, some still use them today. These bad boys are great for sharpening knives, hatchets, and axes. It takes a little longer to sharpen something using the hand-powered grinding wheel. However, there’s a little more safety because you have more control of the action and force. Whereas the electric or fuel powered grinders have a tendency to snap tools or send them flying. Drills – There is a variety of hand drills that are just as effective as the battery powered drills. Sure, just as with many of the tools on this list the job may take a little longer to get done. However, when there’s no power source around or available there’s no problem. I do a little woodworking and building and I find it more enjoyable to use hand tools for my projects. These hand drills are pretty amazing. Saws – Hand saws are one of the more common hand tools used, even to fell trees. Scythe – Typically used as a Halloween prop and in scary movies but the scythe is actually a very useful tool on a farm or homestead. Farmers would reap the fields come early morning using a scythe. There’s no gas to use, smoke to smell, or loud engines whirring in your ear. There’s more of a connection between person and plant, that’s how I see it anyway. Bow Drills – A tool used for making fire but also for drilling holes. You could say this drill was the inspiration that lead to the invention of the Hand-powered drill. This drill is very primitive and uses sticks, twine or vine, and an arrowhead or sharp rock. The bow drill requires a little more work than a hand-drill but can be just as effective. Augers – The hand auger is the tool that was used for drilling holes for water wells and things of that nature. Augers come in many shapes and sizes and are designed to suit different terrain. Clocks & Timers: Before everything become battery powered or electric clocks and timers were all wind up. You can still buy them today, they are made to work using spring action so you just wind it up and when it’s time it will buzz. Wind-up alarm clocks were always fun to deal with and I find them easier to quiet than the electric versions.   The Next 12 Items Are Kitchen Appliances Mixers – Hand-powered mixers allow you to mix ingredients for cake batter and many other recipes. Appliances break all the time so having one of these on hand can save a meal. Living off of the grid taught me a lot about the old ways. Especially how they’re good for the modern age. Blenders – There’s nothing more annoying than blending up a margarita or a milkshake and the motor in the blender going out. With a little muscle power and a hand-powered blender your problems are solved. Beaters – I think using hand beaters for little things like eggs or whipping cream are better to have, especially when it comes time for clean up. You don’t have to take anything apart or unplug it, just wash it off in the sink. Kitchen Timers – Digital timers that are built into stoves are wonderful….if you’re in the kitchen when it beeps. These little crank timers can go anywhere with you. They are also usually much louder and ring longer than the electric versions. I love to put brownies in the oven and still be able to go work out in the garden. I just bring my timer along. Juice Press – Hand powered juice presses are efficient for making small batches of juice but they are also really awesome at zesting the fruits for you too. Pestle & Mortar – I make my own medicines and grow my own herbs having a pestle and mortar are amazing tools to have. It seems more organic to me to use hand tools. Butter Churn – Who doesn’t love old fashioned churn butter? Whip some up in small or large batches using the hand churn. Food Dehydrators – Using an old fashioned food dehydrator/drying rack seems to hold in more of the flavor than using the quick equipment. Food Processors – I remember the day I found out I could still make a nice pesto sauce off the grid. It makes camping trips and outings a little healthier because you can still bring the freshness to the table. Pasta Machine – There’s nothing nicer than making homemade pasta and rolling it out in the machine by hand. I think it adds a little touch of magic. Mandolin Slicer – Homemade chips are the bomb. Before I learned of the mandolin slicer I used a potato peeler, need I say more. Oil Press – Hand pressed oil is delicious. It seems to me that the slower methods to cooking and preparing foods hold in more of the flavors and goodness. Grinders: Meat and Grain – When the local butcher has some meat on sale for a steal it’s nice to get extra and grind your own meat into burger. If you are a fan of the old or a fan of the new, this list of hand powered tools and appliances might have something to show you that you’ve never considered. Sometimes it’s the hard work that brings about more of a humble feeling and satisfaction in what you’ve accomplished. Old school is the New school. Did you enjoy our post on the Power of Primitive Tools and Appliances? Let us know in the comments section below! The answer to food waste in this 206 year old process that every homesteader needs to know…. If you're a fan of bringing your homesteading back to the basics, check out our post on The Benefits of Using A Wood Burning Stove On Your Homestead! Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and Facebook!  

​Will Jill Stein's Success in Wisconsin Spoil Kamala Harris?