A wide-open weekend music thread. Whatever floats yer boat. Have fun!
It never ends, does it? Big fat Brother hath decreed that federal funding for research grants from the National Institutes of Health ($47 billion this fiscal year) must be "screened for disfavored terms and concepts" such as "climate," "gender" and "vaccine."
An illegal alien child rapist from Laos who was set for deportation until Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and the State Board of Pardons granted him clemency has been removed from the United States, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Fox News Digital. Rubio stepped in to terminate Tue Lue Vang's legal status in the U.S. and ensure that Walz's actions would not create roadblocks for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) removing him from the country. Read more
Two teenage boys who identify as girls withdrew their lawsuit in New Hampshire following a Supreme Court ruling that upheld state bans on boys competing in girls' sports. Parker Tirrell and Iris Turmelle filed lawsuits against New Hampshire's ban on males competing on female sports teams, and in 2024, they amended their complaint to include a challenge to Trump's executive order last year that aimed to protect females from having to compete against males in sports, the Associated Press reported.
Norway's grassroots approach prioritizes enjoyment over winning and favors multisport participation. With 5.6 million inhabitants, Norway has the smallest population among the eight nations remaining in the FIFA World Cup 2026.
Despite high-profile billionaire departures and complaints about costs, California is pulling in more than $335 billion in venture capital " about ten times New York " fueled by an AI boom. Los Angeles and Southern California are emerging as power centers in this surge, with nearly $8 billion invested across 207 deals, led by space and defense firms such as Anduril Industries and Impulse Space. Yet almost 90% of new money is chasing AI giants such as Anthropic and OpenAI, leaving non-AI startups and smaller funds squeezed as the pipeline of initial public offerings narrows to a few blockbuster bets. Despite concerns that California's costs and regulations are bad for business, the state has attracted an unprecedented pile of capital this year, and no other state is even close.
No one is buying it.
The Trump administration is reportedly trying to rally the rest of the world to help it in its fight against "antifa" activists, but the world isn't answering the dubious call.
The Washington Post reported on Thursday that Secretary of State Marco Rubio has circulated an invitation for foreign ministers of more than 60 countries to meet with him to strategize against the purported "resurgence of transnational far-left terrorism." Read more
An LGBTQ cruise that was prohibited from stopping in Turkey earlier this week was not allowed to dock at its substitute port in Egypt on Thursday, according to the company that planned the trip. Atlantis Events CEO Rich Campbell, who is on Virgin Voyages' Scarlet Lady with nearly 2,000 passengers, called the move "really unheard of" and "strange and sad" in a message to The Washington Post. He said that the approval to dock in Alexandria was pulled at the last minute. Read more
The White House has gone into full defense mode after Donald Trump was found taking credit for price cuts that had nothing to do with him. On Monday, the 80-year-old president posted on Truth Social that Walmart would be "lowering prices, by a lot, at my Administration's request," including cutting the cost of beef by 15 percent as part of the country's 250th birthday celebrations. However, a Walmart spokesperson told The Bulwark that the company's price cuts had already been in place at its stores for a week before Trump tried to suggest he had convinced the country's biggest retailer to implement them.
The first defendants since daycare fraud became a highly talked-about issue in Minnesota have pleaded guilty. That includes the woman who received more taxpayer money than any other childcare provider in 2025. Fahima Mahamud was arrested in February after she closed down her daycare and, that same day, booked a flight to London. The 50-year-old ran Future Leaders Early Learning Center since 2015. That daycare received $3.7 million in childcare assistance program money last year, more than any other daycare in the state. Read more
Gov. Ron DeSantis pushed for a proposal to slash property taxes. But after some local Republican officials protested, he backpedaled, sort of.
Omar Yaghi, an immigrant to the United States who shared last year's Nobel Prize in Chemistry, has left his faculty post at the University of California, Berkeley, for one in China, where he will lead an institute using artificial intelligence to accelerate the discovery of new materials. Dr. Yaghi's move comes amid the Trump administration's continuing disruptions of U.S. science funding and China's efforts to woo international scientists with hefty budgets.
The Israeli military confirmed the authenticity of the photo, which circulated widely after it was shared by a Palestinian activist. Israeli rights groups said it depicted a war crime.
There are 148 public campuses in the California Community Colleges, University of California, and California State University systems. Many, if not all of their police departments, have stockpiled AR-15 assault rifles, stun grenades designed to cause temporary blindness, sonic weapons that resonate so loudly they are known in the armed forces as the 'voice of God,' and submachine guns.
Who passed this idiotic California law?
Ahmad Esleem was delivering food aid from the World Central Kitchen (WCK) into Gaza when he was shot in the head by an Israeli soldier "in a field execution" after his aid convoy stopped because of a breakdown to one of the trucks.
IDF has killed more people than al-Qaida
Jul 9, 2026
Adam Hoffman " a well connected lawyer and admitted predator " should have spent his life in prison.
Instead, Ken Paxton gave him an Epstein-style sweetheart deal, letting him out of jail after just 29 days in jail.
It's time to start flipping tables!
