The Week in Pictures: Sophia and the 4th
Posted By: Hazymac, 7/4/2026 7:04:32 AM
Move over Sydney Sweeney: America has a new heroine perfectly fitted to the July 4 semiquincentennial today: She is Sophie Cunningham, Sophie being an adaptation of sophia, the ancient Greek word for wisdom. And sort of like Helen of Troy, our Sophie has launched a thousand memes. So as we celebrate today the sophia of our founding, let Sophie help point the way!
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The Week in Pictures: Sophia and the 4th
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Move over Sydney Sweeney: America has a new heroine perfectly fitted to the July 4 semiquincentennial today: She is Sophie Cunningham, Sophie being an adaptation of sophia, the ancient Greek word for wisdom. And sort of like Helen of Troy, our Sophie has launched a thousand memes. So as we celebrate today the sophia of our founding, let Sophie help point the way!
I’m sure you don’t, but I’ll give you one anyway.
Michelle Obama has spent years selling herself as America's warm, approachable former first lady. Remember the whole “when they go low, we go high” thing? We knew then it was just an empty slogan, because whenever she had a chance to prove she’s the bigger person, she just proved the opposite.
According to a Daily Mail report, Barack Obama’s wife personally torpedoed Cheryl Hines' return to the small screen when Larry David's new HBO series, Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness: An Almost History of America, began casting. The show premiered last week. Higher Ground, the production company
Unprecedented Heat Wave?
20 replies
More ignorance from the New York Times: “Without Climate Change, U.S. Heat Wave Called ‘Virtually Impossible.”
Heat and humidity as severe, prolonged and far-reaching as this week’s would have been “virtually impossible” in the Northeast and eastern Canada before humans began warming the planet, a team of scientists said on Friday.
***
To estimate how much climate change increased the likelihood of this week’s sweltering conditions, the scientists analyzed records of a measurement of heat stress called “wet bulb globe temperature,” a figure that accounts for humidity, wind and direct sunlight. Given that the heat wave is still unfolding, the researchers combined weather observations and forecast data.
Of course they did.
Can Europe Be Saved?
15 replies
As a result of third-world migration–some say, invasion–much of Western Europe is no longer recognizable. Mass third-world immigration is unpopular nearly everywhere, but European elites, being unhappy with their populaces, seem determined to replace them.
Campaigners including Eva Vlaardingerbroek and Martin Sellner have proposed the Save Europe Act, which you can read about here. The proposal strikes me as entirely reasonable. It petitions the European Union to exercise its right of initiative to propose legislation that would declare a moratorium on non-European, non-Western immigration; fundamentally reform EU migration and asylum systems; ensure and accelerate the return of illegal migrants; establish an EU-wide framework to incentivize voluntary remigration; and remove
Pirro Steamrolls Lame Reporters Who Tried
to Minimize Vandalism at the National
Mall Reflecting Pool 5 replies
to Minimize Vandalism at the National
Mall Reflecting Pool 5 replies
One of the many ways Democrats continue to prove how pathetic they’ve become, and how they have no ideas to better the lives of regular Americans, is their endless attempts to scandalize Trump administration projects intended to repair and beautify the nation’s capital.
It baffles me that cleaning up Columbus Circle, outside the major D.C. travel hub, Union Station, is somehow controversial. Democrats would rather the fountain was still covered in pro-Hamas graffiti and didn’t, you know, actually work.
They’ve really worked themselves into a lather over Trump’s actions to reseal the bottom of the iconic Reflecting Pool and fix leaks.
Texas Democrat Senate candidate James Talarico was caught on video describing a “Christofascism movement” as he criticized legislation restricting gender-affirming care for transgender minors and the state’s abortion law.
During an appearance on Texas Impact’s Weekly Witness, Talarico argued that legislation restricting gender-affirming care for transgender minors and Texas’s abortion ban stemmed from what he called a “Christofascism movement.” (X) “You saw it in the anti-LGBTQ legislation, including the bill that would have denied gender-affirming health care to trans children,” Talarico said. “And then, of course, famously, infamously, we saw it last session with the most extreme abortion ban in the country. All of these ideologies stem from this Christofascism movement.”
It’s a sign of what Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and the rest of us are up against that the Miami area’s PBS station, WLRN, headlined its story about Florida’s new designation of Antifa and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) as terrorist groups this way: “DeSantis: Florida set to label Muslim civil rights nonprofit a terrorist group under new law.”
The obvious intent of that headline is to give WLRN’s remaining handful of readers, who are no doubt all already hardcore leftists, the impression that DeSantis, drunk on “Islamophobia” and right-wing “hate,” is gratuitously naming an innocent, and indeed, noble, civil rights organization a terrorist group just because it’s non-Christian
Today, when I enter a public building or a store where the lighting is dim, I am immediately transported to the depressing life we lived under communist rule. The immediate reaction is to exit the building.
My entire childhood, grandma’s house, six miles from the biggest refinery in the south, was illuminated by an anemic oil lamp. Years later, their village finally got electricity. A 40 W bulb was dangling from the ceiling, too weak and inefficient to even light up grandma’s small bedroom. Things and people inside looked yellow and sickly.
The six-mile road from the city to the village remained a gravel road until the communists were dethroned.
Who are the so-called Democratic Socialists of America and their fellow travelers?
While it is difficult to generalize, many current and would-be socialist officeholders share several common traits.
Most of them represent a relatively small slice of American life. Almost all are urban, with little knowledge of small-town or rural existence.
Their world is subways, buses, high-rises, Uber, taxis, and proximity to corporate, academic, and financial institutions—yet often with little understanding of where their food, fuel, water, or everyday goods originate, or where their waste and sewage ultimately go.
Their worldview is shaped more by consumption than production, as though goods simply arrive in and depart from cities on autopilot.
Rules for Polemicists
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Rael Jean Isaac, a wide-ranging polemicist who took on topics as diverse as global warming, radical left groups, Israel and its neighbors, and homelessness, passed away on June 25th. Apart from several books, her writings appeared in National Review, American Spectator, Commentary, and other journals of the time. Rather than summarize, I will list here some techniques those writings demonstrate about the fun side of investigative writing, which Isaac used to skewer left wing movements.
Lesson 1: Show examples of an argument taken to absurd lengths.
In her book on the Global Warming movement “Roosters of the Apocalypse”, Rael can’t resist telling you this story:
Imagine being so consumed by hatred for Donald Trump and his immigration agenda that you would hand a full pardon to a man who sexually assaulted a 10-year-old girl for four years, just to keep him from being deported.
You do not have to imagine it. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D-Minn.) actually did it.
Last month, Walz pardoned Tou Lue Vang, a 42-year-old illegal immigrant convicted of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, wiping his record clean and shielding him from deportation to Laos. It’s bad enough that the pardon erased Vang's conviction entirely, but what makes it worse is that Walz did it to rescue him from the consequences that Trump's immigration enforcement
Pete Buttigieg’s harrowing swatting story from last week is now coming under scrutiny, suggesting he may not be telling the entire truth.
As TGP’s Jordan Conradson reported, Buttigieg claims he was swatted this week by Child Protective Service agents and separated from his four-year-old twins.
Buttigieg ran to Substack to write a column about the incident.
Describing himself as “bewildered and troubled,” Buttigieg said that “the CPS worker told me something that made my stomach turn: I was not to be alone around the children, at least until the interview took place the next day.”
After a “sleepless night,” he says, the officers
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A Somalian flag that was raised outside of Buffalo’s City Hall to commemorate Somali Independence Day was stolen in an overnight heist, the city’s leftist mayor decried.
“The City of Buffalo’s flagpole in Niagara Square sustained damage after unknown vandals broke the access panel, cut the cable, and removed the Somali flag during the overnight hours of Wednesday, July 1,” Mayor Sean Ryan wrote on Facebook.
Ryan said the Buffalo Police Department was investigating the alleged vandalism after the city approved non-profit HEAL International to raise the white star, blue flag on July 1.
“The flag had been raised by an organization called Heal International in honor of Somalian Independence Day.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani delivered a stinging rebuke of the Trump administration in a speech marking America's 250th birthday.
The mayor also spoke of the importance of immigrants, and discussed American exceptional.
He was surrounded by recently naturalized citizens and sat behind the George Washington desk at City Hall. Mamdani himself is also a naturalized citizen, and the topic is important to him personally. He arrived in the U.S. from Uganda
Unprecedented Heat Wave?
20 replies
More ignorance from the New York Times: “Without Climate Change, U.S. Heat Wave Called ‘Virtually Impossible.”
Heat and humidity as severe, prolonged and far-reaching as this week’s would have been “virtually impossible” in the Northeast and eastern Canada before humans began warming the planet, a team of scientists said on Friday.
***
To estimate how much climate change increased the likelihood of this week’s sweltering conditions, the scientists analyzed records of a measurement of heat stress called “wet bulb globe temperature,” a figure that accounts for humidity, wind and direct sunlight. Given that the heat wave is still unfolding, the researchers combined weather observations and forecast data.
Of course they did.
Sen. Mitch McConnell remains hospitalized, his office said in a statement Thursday — without offering details about a recent medical episode that has renewed concern about the health of the former Republican majority leader.
McConnell “continues his recovery in the hospital” and “continues to improve,” his office said. “Senator McConnell appreciates the outpouring of support he’s receiving while he continues his recovery in the hospital,” the statement said. “The Senator continues to improve, and is working closely with his staff on Kentucky and Senate matters while the Senate is out of session.”
The statement did not explain why he was hospitalized last month.
Texas Democrat Senate candidate James Talarico was caught on video describing a “Christofascism movement” as he criticized legislation restricting gender-affirming care for transgender minors and the state’s abortion law.
During an appearance on Texas Impact’s Weekly Witness, Talarico argued that legislation restricting gender-affirming care for transgender minors and Texas’s abortion ban stemmed from what he called a “Christofascism movement.” (X) “You saw it in the anti-LGBTQ legislation, including the bill that would have denied gender-affirming health care to trans children,” Talarico said. “And then, of course, famously, infamously, we saw it last session with the most extreme abortion ban in the country. All of these ideologies stem from this Christofascism movement.”
Can Europe Be Saved?
15 replies
As a result of third-world migration–some say, invasion–much of Western Europe is no longer recognizable. Mass third-world immigration is unpopular nearly everywhere, but European elites, being unhappy with their populaces, seem determined to replace them.
Campaigners including Eva Vlaardingerbroek and Martin Sellner have proposed the Save Europe Act, which you can read about here. The proposal strikes me as entirely reasonable. It petitions the European Union to exercise its right of initiative to propose legislation that would declare a moratorium on non-European, non-Western immigration; fundamentally reform EU migration and asylum systems; ensure and accelerate the return of illegal migrants; establish an EU-wide framework to incentivize voluntary remigration; and remove
As New York baked under another summer heat wave, parts of the Riverdale neighborhood in the Bronx, home to a large Jewish community, lost power after Con Edison shut off electricity to protect its equipment.
Con Edison announced the outages Thursday, saying it temporarily cut power to some customers in Riverdale to reduce strain on the electrical grid and speed up service restoration. The utility directed affected residents to report outages and seek relief at city cooling centers. The outages left parts of Riverdale sweating without air conditioning during a dangerous citywide heat wave. The timing also puts intense pressure on Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
The two teen suspects wanted in the murder of Penn State student Billy Schmidt have been taken into custody.
22-year-old Billy Schmidt was studying journalism at Penn State and was set to graduate this December.
Schmidt was killed last month as he was returning home from an NBA Finals watch party at a bar when the two armed suspects fatally shot him.
The suspects, identified as 16-year-old Azzubair Outen-Fleming and Kaiseem Smith, 16, shot Schmidt in the chest in an attempted robbery ambush.
Azzubair Outen-Fleming was arrested in Colorado on Friday.
Kaiseem Smith turned himself in to the Philadelphia police.
New York City’s Communist Twelver Shi’ite Mayor Zohran Mamdani has bestowed upon a waiting world his speech commemorating America’s 250th anniversary, and it is just as small, petty, grievance-laden, fantasy-based, and angry as you’d expect a speech from a man who hates America to be.
The visual effect was even worse, as Mamdani delivered the speech while seated at a desk that seemed to be turned the wrong way around, while surrounded by a social studies-book array of glum-looking, unsmiling, unhappy people, all black and brown and hijabed and whatnot and all forlornly holding
As we move into this great weekend, a weekend that should be devoted to patriotic celebrations, fireworks, burgers on the grill and cold beers in the cooler, many of our major urban areas are instead having to worry about another wave of what's being euphemistically called "teen takeovers," or, in other words, riots, in which packs of feral youths invade the city streets, leaving destruction and mayhem in their wake.
The cities affected are making an effort now to head these events off with a combination of technology and curfews. Will it work? That remains to be seen.
Despite claiming to be the most bipartisan member of Congress, Rep. Susie Lee (D-NV) said in June that U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth made her want to“beat the sheet*out of him.” “I do want to be bipartisan. I want to work across the aisle. That’s the only way to get things done,” the lawmaker, who is seeking reelection, told an audience at the Sun City Liberal Club in Las Vegas, Fox News reported Friday.
“Another issue, Hegseth comes in front of my committee. Now listen, it’s so easy. Like, it’s just so easy. Like, you just wanna to beat the sheet* out of him,” she said
FBI infiltrated Gavin Newsom’s inner
circle by convincing governor’s ally
to wear a wire: lawyer 11 replies
circle by convincing governor’s ally
to wear a wire: lawyer 11 replies
The FBI had a mole inside Gov. Gavin Newsom’s political orbit before the agency’s corruption probe expanded into the governor and his wife, The Post has learned.
Democrat insider Alexis Podesta, 45, secretly recorded conversations during the criminal probe into Newsom’s then-chief of staff, Dana Williamson, 53, who pleaded guilty to federal fraud and tax charges in May, according to Williamson’s attorney. The revelation she was wearing a wire as far back as June 2024 explains why a swath of Sacramento political insiders and lobbyists were stunned to receive FBI letters last fall informing them that their phone calls had been intercepted during the investigation