The origin of Betty

The first eight issues of Spider-Man were almost entirely stand-alone.  The stories had very little which would be used for future storylines, other than the characters themselves.  The villains would return with J. Jonah Jameson as arguably the main enemy.  At this point I think Ditko was working on two ongoing storylines.  One of them, the analysis of organized crime and its connection to big business, may not have been a deliberate plot, it may have just been a convenient way to come up with new ideas for each issue.

The other storyline, I think was totally deliberate and if Ditko had been allowed to continue working on this title, it could easily have lasted a hundred issues.  This was the love story with Betty Brant.  Ditko was clearly making that the priority and although Stan Lee liked writing romance comics, he would fight against that to put more focus on the superhero parts of the story.  Stan has a point, the audience is little boys who are not yet become interested in girls, and unfortunately Ditko's motivations will never be known.

Issues #9-12 were effectively a multi-part story, setting Betty up for her role as lead female.  As it starts, her connection with Peter has already grown deep although it's very subtle to the reader.  Aunt May is sick and when Peter arrives to the hospital, Betty is already there.  Stop and think for a second what that says about the relationship.  'My co-worker's aunt is sick so I'm going to visit her in the hospital' is not remotely believable.  Ok, she and Peter have had discussions, he would have mentioned he was raised by his aunt and uncle, that still doesn't get to a point where 'of course I'll go see her when she's sick.'  And think about it from Aunt May's perspective, 'who are you?'  'I'm your nephew's girlfriend.'  You trying to give this lady a heart attack?

So with no information other than one comment from May about how nice it was for Betty to visit, it is clear that they have been introduced and already like each other.  Betty also knows that Peter is hiding secrets from the world.  With the need to pay medical bills, Peter even fakes pictures of fighting Electro to get money from JJJ.  When May goes in for surgery, Betty appears again to comfort him silently.  After the surgery, she informs him about updates from Electro and is worried about the danger Peter gets into taking these pictures.  They both know they're hiding secrets from each other.

They end #9 with an argument that actually deepens their relationship.  Betty's angry that Peter gets into danger.  Peter says he likes her but he's gonna do what he's gotta do.  She's seen bad things before to people she care about.  He storms out but feels bad, then she runs up to apologize and they walk off together into a very empty NYC street.  The captions tell us this could be "love."  They also tell us that Spidey is "the superhero who could be - you!" which doesn't really sound good when you think about but was obviously a good selling point to the audience.

Although most of the issue was fighting Electro as well as the fraud with JJJ, Betty was clearly the central point of the story with becoming close to Peter.  Some changes started being made to her with this issue, specifically her comments about her past.  She said she had just dropped out of high school last year.  And got a job as personal secretary for the publisher of a great metropolitan newspaper, um, no further questions.  What I meant was, and I'm guessing this was Stan Lee's decision, a Peter/Betty romance would be quite inappropriate given their age difference so that needed to be fixed.  I also assume that's the main reason for her new hairstyle in a couple issues, just to make her look younger.

#10 was the first issue of the 'big business/organized crime' storyline which I'll get into later.  This issue also shows the extended multi-issue storylines being planted.  Aunt May is getting better but she needs a blood transfusion and Peter is required to handle it.  No one checks that they even share the same blood type but Peter is jabbed and May is doing better.  She will get sick twice more during Ditko's run and the second time, it is a direct result of this transfusion.  It's a long-term consequence which leads to what generally-considered the highpoint of Ditko's run, the "Master Planner" trilogy.

Meanwhile Betty is leaving work for the day and a gang of thugs are waiting for her outside the Bugle, the Enforcers.  She's already repaid the loan shark but the interest has gone up because of this issue's villain, the Big Man.  Peter arrives in time to save her, almost revealing his superpowers in the attempt.  Betty is more terrified for him than anything else and runs away.

He tries to call her later that night, she reluctantly answers and says she'll explain everything tomorrow, then decides to run away permanently.  The rest of the story is about the Big Man, except for one panel telling us Betty has quit her job and is hiding in Pennsylvania, scared of everything.  We still don't know any details, other than owing money to gangsters.

In #11, Doctor Octopus is released from jail.  Spidey knows he'll be a bad guy and invents his 'spider tracers' to track where he goes.  He is surprised to see Betty driving the car for Ock.  The spider tracer becomes pointless when a map of Philadelphia falls out of the car somehow - yes, it really does that - Spidey knows where to go anyway.

Betty's brother also works for a gangster, that's how they got into this mess.  Doc is abusing both of them and breaking the other gangster out of jail.  Peter tracks Betty down and she's not remotely surprised that a teenage boy did that for her, all the way to Philadelphia.  Nothing creepy about that.  They both act like they're ready to tell each other all the secrets.

But that falls apart when everyone gets together on a boat, the fight scene starts and the gangster accidentally kills Betty's brother.  Initially she blames Spider-Man but later admits it wasn't his fault.  Still, she never wants to see him again, so Peter knows he can never tell that secret.  The way the last page is written and drawn, it looks like she's permanently gone from the series.  Instead she returns to the Bugle on page one of the next issue.

I still have to credit the fight scene in this issue.  They take up most of each issue but remain engaging this one, even just flipping through the pages, more stuff just keeps happening panel-by-panel.  It all builds up to the point where Spidey and Ock have made it to another boat and are both trying to finish this.  But neither can do it, the boat crashes and Ock has escaped.  It wasn't a brand-new concept, Dr. Doom never went to jail either, but I still have to wonder how this was approved by the Comics Code, especially with a murder happening here.

#12, JJJ can't keep a secretary but Betty has returned, all smiles and a new haircut.  Chicks, amiright?  Doc Ock is still on the loose and needs to handle that, so he breaks into the Bugle and kidnaps Betty.  In one of the stupidest scenes ever found in any comic book, Ock tells JJJ to put a note in the paper, telling Spider-Man to come see him and get info on finding Ock and Betty.  He tells JJJ where they will be.  Despite being right there, also threatened by Ock, Peter waits until JJJ has printed this new edition of the Bugle and then shows up to ask JJJ what's going on.  Peter is also getting sick, because that's also a thing.

Eventually Spidey shows up to get the information he already has to save the woman he loves, he goes to the fairgrounds where Ock and Betty are waiting.  He's much sicker so he's easy to beat.  Jameson and the cops have already showed up to watch this, so everybody sees Ock unmask Spidey and storm off looking for the *real* Spider-Man.  Betty is not remotely angry that Peter put himself in such a dangerous situation, just as she's fine watching Spidey fight Ock later on, despite what she said last issue.

Then the police lie to Aunt May and said Peter had fainted in the street because he was sick.  Ok, then a few panels later they came back the next morning to inform her of the truth.  *Now* she's mad about this and Peter - who's now perfectly well because it was only a 24-hour virus - lies to her and says he's going out to burn the costume.  Who is supposed to believe this stuff?

Topping this all off is that now, having seen the school nerd pretend to be a superhero and get beaten up by a supervillain, Liz Allen does a complete 180 and is now totally hot for Peter.  Because of course she is!  In at least four panels this issue, her hands are all over Peter's upper-body as she asks him out on dates.  Teenage boys usually like that, especially from girls they've had a crush on for years.  I quite enjoy Liz' contribution to the next year and her rivalry with Betty but this was not a good set-up for that.

And yet it still works.  I've been reading this comic for over 40 years and I'm not sure I'd ever noticed any of the obviously-stupid parts of this story, much less so many of them.  #12 still works fine on its own, as well as its connection to the last three issues.  Betty had already been set up as the love interest, this storyline set it in cement.

At times she will be inconsistent and I think that's mostly from the dialogue.  Stan was in the middle of a lot of different stories and admitted to not having a great memory so he might have had problems trying to remember where he'd left off the previous issue.  Doesn't have to be that accurate, it's only a comic book.

I've always thought Ditko's inspiration for the Betty/Peter storyline came from Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead.  The lead female character is desperate to avoid admitting her love for the lead male character, even going through a couple marriages trying to avoid it.  This wouldn't work in a Comics Code-approved comic book for children but the theme is similar.  Eventually Betty would be desperate to get married.  Meanwhile Peter would have to deal with other girls, the equivalent of Veronica.

I swore under oath that I was nowhere in the vicinity when the POTUS was attacked. But where was my kitty cat at? Hmmmm, suspicious.

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□ [“Swalwell Used $40K Campaign Cash to Pay Lawyer Against Sexual Misconduct Accusations"]

Still looking into how money just gets passed around.  The legal regulations for things like campaign cash get complicated very quickly so few people have any interest in figuring it out and those who do know are probably part of the system.  But there's also leftist hypocrisy and never thinking the laws will apply to them.  Why not, they've gotten away with it this long.  That's also why Swalwell was forgotten so quickly.  I've been going through the news of just a few months ago and he was very popular among Democrat leaders and media.

□ [“Hakeem Jeffries Dismisses Ilhan Omar’s Net Worth, ‘Ghost Winery’ as ‘Right-Wing Conspiracy’"]

They've already moved on.  Until a few weeks ago, anyone who spoke out against Swalwell would be a 'right-wing conspiracy,' just like the poison covid vaccine, Joe Biden's senility and everything else.  At some point they're going to run out of topics they need to ignore as much as possible.  They're also going to have to explain why they've been ignoring it for so long.  If Jeffries is still calling it 'right wing conspiracy' in a week or month after Omar's schemes have been exposed, he's going to look stupid.  Or worse, since he'll be informed about this long before the rest of us.

It's not clear how many more defenses the left has on their elites but it does look like they're starting to run out.  Just being hit by DOGE and the Big Beautiful Bill has cut them off from a lot of money they're getting desperate.  They're not known for an ability to plan for successors and future generations but I think they had been preparing for that here.  I'm thinking of popular music where the Beatles replaced Elvis or grunge and gangsta rap replaced real music, or Hollywood in the late-60s/early-70s where they had finally gotten new stars, I suspect the politicians were trying that here.

People like Jeffries, AOC and Kamala Harris were supposed to be the new Nancy Pelosi, Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden.  It's not working out too well for them these days but this was the leftist attempt to bring in the next generation, building on what had come before.  But they never realized that they required the establish system they've always wanted to destroy, meaning all they can do is get caught up in the traps that others knew how to avoid.  You have to understand the system before you can replace it but people like Swalwell and Omar never got that far.  But they did get enough money to keep them happy, at least for a little while.

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□ [“Mamdani's New Tax on 2nd Homes Could Backfire on Everyone"]

I don't pay much attention to NYC because it just looks hopeless.  Maybe at some point it can start being fixed but it'll get worse before they get to that point.  Mamdani promised to hike taxes as much as possible and only after taking office did he learn that the mayor can't really do that so he's already facing a big loss for all his insanely-stupid spending.  Property taxes are the only option he has.

The impression I get from Mamdani is that he uses leftist and Muslim words but has never had to think about them.  He comes from a family that's quite well-off so there's never been any incentive to think about anything.  That's how he wound up here.  When push comes to shove, he will send men-with-guns out to seize everyone's property but it hasn't gone that far yet, so he's just going to demand more money from people who own more than one home.

The back-up plan is probably to seize the land when the rich people flee but that's not really going to help.  He's already driving away rich people, meaning they won't get tax money, spending or jobs in this city.  He even stupidly cited a specific billionaire, filming a video in front of his mansion.  The billionaire's company was ready to start a $6 billion construction program - lots of taxes, purchasing and jobs - and now they have every incentive to quit and leave town.  No building but at least you have more poor non-whites to take care of.

Of course there's regular news articles about his latest failed attempt to push socialism.  For the most part I ignore then but I do think about if it's possible for NYC to ever recover from this.  Part of me responds with 'of course it can, it's NYC!' but another part does understand everything that isn't infinite will come to an end.  I have no emotional affection for NYC so it doesn't bother me that much but it does have a relevant place in American history, so there is that.  Maybe we can just tear it all down and invite the Dutch to restart it.

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□ [“Thrawn Explains The Loss At Endor"]
□ [“Supergirl Origins Hope"]

A.I. doesn't seem to be expanding in any real sense.  People are tossing out quick videos and I will admit some of them are appealing, at least to an extent.  The Supergirl video has no story, it's a music video of various clips, often repeated.  It's more like a poorly-done animated cartoon, especially as Kara's costume and bodyshape keeps changing.  The music is bland and forgettable but not bad for what it is.  There is a genuine hint of the Supergirl people actually liked.

The Star Wars video has a similar appeal, a bit more thoughtful but less movement.  Even I know who Thrawn and his captain are, this is just a discussion of why they failed in Return of the Jedi.  The discussion isn't that appealing, especially as Thrawn always starts with disagreeing instead of any more normal form of conversation.  Assuming the comments are from real people, clearly it has a potential audience of Star Wars fans who are interested in this for its own sake.

A brief internet search suggests it's not that expensive to create these A.I. videos although I'm not going to look into it further.  I am wondering how much of these videos are actually being created by the corporate owners of the IPs as a way to keep them going in this new era.  Would Disney or Warner Bros. really have to pay that much to get some geeks working this stuff out?  Still don't know how much real instruction would be needed for A.I. or how much editing but I can't imagine it would be all that hard to do.

Pay someone $5000 to make a handful of five-minute clips about Han, Luke and Leia have a quicky adventure in a serial.  Maybe a bit more to hire some actors to actually do the characters and then use A.I. to replace the visual.  I think there is a wide-spread interest in things like this but I also don't think it will be that deep, not until it comes across as more believable.  Given the upcoming disasters Disney and Warners are getting ready to release this year, I really think they've already started working on how A.I. can replace these expensive failures.

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□ [“Trump Rushed Out of White House Correspondents’ Dinner After Shots Fired"]

So he probably won't be attending any more of these.  So far there's only one video and it isn't helpful.  There's close-ups of Trump and Melania at the table, chatting about whatever.  SS comes in and the camera immediately goes back to long distance.  They start being taken out and dropped to the ground for protection.  The video lasts longer but they're gone, the rest of the audience is on the ground, SS goes by and eventually people start getting up.

Leftist sites already say this was a fake.  I could go 50-50 on that.  There was no attack on-screen, we don't even hear any shots.  The shooter has been reportedly killed but there's no info coming out yet.  I am sure that the press will have another step to take if they really expect to be paid for saying they want Trump dead.  Or maybe they'll keep doing it even more, it's not like they have any self-respect from the previous assassination attempts.

It'll be relevant to the people who were there for whatever reason but I doubt the rest of us will focus on this, unless some major relevant information gets released.  At this point I basically assume everything was planned, whether this was a real attempt or not.  But the media's going to need to explain why they let this happen.

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The Web Grows

The first appearance of the Vulture was how Peter got a job selling pictures of Spider-Man so narratively it makes perfect sense that his return in #7 takes place mostly at the Daily Bugle.  There's not a lot of story in this issue outside of the fight scenes yet by the end, something about it comes off as satisfying, like Lee and Ditko had reached a deliberately-considered step in the story they were telling.  It starts with a recap of #2 and the Vulture escapes from jail.

One theme for this issue is Peter's dual-identity, a lot of work is put into focusing on both characters.  Attention is also given to taking basic details of life to center the story around, ignoring realism whenever necessary.  The most obvious example is that Spidey injures his arm in the first fight with the Vulture so he needs to make that work as Peter as well as protect it in the rematch, but other details get attention too.

Lee and Ditko probably understood quite well that they couldn't answer some obvious questions with any realism but at least asking the question could be entertaining and make the reader feel more 'sophisticated' with his understanding.  The Parker house is in Queens, the Forest Hills neighborhood, so Peter has to sit around for 20 minutes until he "senses" nobody is around to see Spider-Man leaving the house.  Then he immediately gets to Manhattan.  How?  By walking?  You cannot 'web-sling' between two-story houses.

By now the series had established its characters fairly well so each issue was a decision on how much attention they each got.  Peter hears about the Vulture's escape during a volleyball game at school.  The kids make fun of him for quitting volleyball, then they make fun of him coming back with an injured arm, that's their contribution to the story.  He needs to hide his costume change from Aunt May - by hiding on ceiling like she's a complete idiot - and she forbids him from playing volleyball at school because of his injured arm.  This might be an appeal to the readers, 'this is how stupid the adults in your life are too.'

JJJ's appearance is quite amusing.  Peter has to convince him to buy the Vulture pix and they start negotiating the price.  Then the Vulture attacks and Jameson uses the same negotiation skills to keep from being robbed.  At the end he blames Spidey for all the destruction.  The fight scene is quite good, running through the offices, down the stairs, the printing room and eventually outside.  I'm finally old enough to not really be interested in superhero fights but I have enough experience in comics that I'm quite impressed by Ditko's design and pacing.  Panel-by-panel, he does keep the narrative going.  The dialogue usually bounces back-and-forth from Spidey worrying about what will happen next or quipping at the villain, also fun.

The fight in the Bugle also helped establish the 'big business' aspects of the story.  It would never be fully-fleshed out in Ditko's run but it's clear that he was thinking a lot about this, as was Stan.  It's believable that the offices and buildings are designed like this, as well as all the employees we see running around.  The Vulture made a point that this being payday, it was a perfect time to rob the place.  That part's not as realistic although maybe there was something believable about it before we used internet banking.  But there's an overarching sense of a big business here, even without much focus on its role in a media empire.  It may not be real but it's believable and fund, bring back the reader.

Then there's Betty, being very smoothly added to the story.  She asks how Peter injured his arm and doesn't believe it was a volleyball game, so he says he was fighting the Vulture when it happened.  'Oh well, ask a silly question...'  Peter has certainly been getting better at dealing with girls and Betty is certainly likeable.  After the battle, she probably can't leave, she's still on the clock, so she just sits on the floor next to her desk.  Peter comes back, he was hiding, not heroic, they start talking and that's where the story ends.

Lee and Ditko clearly wanted the romance to be a big part of the story.  Stan always said romance comics were the most fun to write and, working 'Marvel method,' Ditko was doing most of the heavy-lifting right from the start so he was definitely overseeing this.  They also had enough awareness of the medium and genre they were working in to make use of the stereotypes or avoid them.  They also knew their target audience.

#8 was the 'Tribute to Teen-agers' [sic] issue.  Not really any reason for that but it sounded good at the time.  This was two shorter stories.  The main one took place at school.  Flash bullies Peter and breaks his glasses, finally getting rid of the 'Clark Kent' comparisons.  It still seems ridiculous in several ways, but Peter finally decides to have it out with Flash, who he can beat easily.

They've been told to handle it in a boxing match which Peter wins so easily that Stan Lee needs to work in dialogue that makes it look like everyone believes this.  But this was intentional, Flash regains consciousness just before the criminals run in, trying to escape, trip over him and they're now unconscious too.  Peter is able to set him up, 'only Spidey could have beaten them so easily and you weren't around while the rest of the fight was going on!'

The story centers around a super-robot, brought to a high school for some reason.  The robot can solve any problem so the students decide to ask about Spider-Man's real identity for some reason.  They throw in a bunch of random facts which Peter is instructed to program into the robot for some reason.  The robot prints the answer in mathematical code for some reason, which is left with Peter to translate overnight for some reason.  Then criminals who work for the robot scientist for some reason try to steal the robot but accidentally set it on a rampage for some reason.  Everybody in school is watching Peter and Flash fight for some reason so they ignore the robot.  In the last panel of the story, Peter says he'll just say he lost the paper listing Spidey's secret ID for some reason.  This never comes up again so he obviously got a way with it for some reason.  I can't think of any reason this isn't believable and my super-robot is on the fritz so I can't ask it for help.  When oh when are they going to invent google?

The fight with the robot is enjoyable and handled much like the fight with the Vulture in the previous issue.  The kids at school get some attention.  Liz has a very small bit of sympathy for Peter but otherwise no one stands out besides Flash.  Most of stories so far have included some of Peter's interest in science and this is no exception.  In this instance, he doesn't reprogram the robot but is at least able to turn it off during a dangerous moment.  In general the story is quite stupid but all the parts are entertaining enough for what they are.

It was shorter than most issues because #8 also includes a six-page story drawn by Jack Kirby.  The overall franchise is still being constructed and they need to get the two most prominent teenage characters together, handled by the *other* major Marvel artist.  Really it's out-of-character and only Stan's dialogue makes it work.

For some reason, Spidey is stalking the neighborhood Johnny Storm's girlfriend Doris.  Johnny has chosen this moment to show off his brand-new car, a Chevy Corvette Stingray, which had started being manufactured August 1962, the month cover-dated on Amazing Fantasy #15.  Johnny is surrounded by adoration by teenagers, they start dancing because... teenagers, Spidey is spying on them and decides to interfere.  Everybody is angry at him for this so of course he's willing to join the party.  There's needing to give the characters a reason to fight but this is ridiculous.  Isn't there crime out there Spidey could be fighting?

Have you ever heard of Frank Merriwell?  Neither have I but Spidey snarks 'Who writes your dialogue, squirt?' and that's who he cites.  Wikipedia says Merriwell was a fictional character, created and usually written by Gilbert Patten under the pen-name 'Burt L. Standish.'  Merriwell was quite popular in the first few decades of the 20th century, in dime novels along with a comic strip, a radio show and a movie serial.  A reboot was attempted in the 40s but it only lasted a few years and another attempt in the 60s which immediately failed, which may be why Stan was thinking of him for the dialogue here.

Based on the description, Merriwell was essentially a superhero, just without superpowers.  He was excellent at all sports, which gave him a reason to go around, get into adventures and fight crime.  He was always right and idolized by his fictional fans.  I'd never heard of the guy but this is what the mass-media has been pushing for over a century now, Merriwell first appeared in 1896 by a NYC-based pulp fiction publisher, Street & Smith, who would have many other famous writers working for them over the decades.  So in many ways, this was what Marvel was aspiring to become, yet much of it is completely forgotten now.  And you get all of that here in one word-balloon in one panel on one page of one short comic-book story.

Anyway, the Torch is as irritated by Spider-Man as anyone would be and is ready to burn him down.  The Comics Code wouldn't permit the use of FAFO but that's what Spidey is facing here.  Then the other three FF-members show up, Spidey is stupid enough to keep fighting but Sue gets involved and makes them stop.  This is very cheesy and really had no purpose as a story, but the FF had now made four appearances in eight issues, corporate IPs being put together to keep pushing the franchise, the theory which made me start thinking about DC and Marvel history, to the point where I'm now spending page-after-page analyzing Ditko's Spider-Man.

By this point, most of the franchise was in place.  The Avengers had just formed a few months earlier and were only a couple months away from Captain America joining them.  I still think that had always been the goal being aimed towards, back when publisher Martin Goodman told Stan Lee to do a rip-off of Justice League, which led to the Fantastic Four.  Just a couple months after that, Marvel would have its first multi-part story, the Fantastic Four fighting the Avengers over the Hulk.  If you recall, the Hulk was the story-reason for creating the Avengers - reused for the 2012 movie - and was always a monster rampaging around to smash stuff.  Like Spider-Man, he was used to put together the various corporate IPs.

The same month as the FF/Avengers/Hulk fight, Daredevil #1 was released, the final creation for Marvel's early years.  Spider-Man wasn't in the comic but he was on the cover as a selling point, 'if you like him then buy this.'  Daredevil #2 would start with an appearance by the Fantastic Four and the villain was Elektro, one of Spidey's crooks.  Daredevil would be the only character in this era created with no contributions from Kirby or Ditko yet they were still relevant here.  He would also guest-star later this year in Spider-Man #16.

But we never hear about the funniest piss you've ever seen. Why is there discrimination against defecation?

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Spider-Man #3 was the first full-length Ditko story.  He had done stories that long before, such as monster books for Charlton, Gorgo and Konga, and continued working on those well-into his run on Spider-Man, being able to use that many pages every month for the next installment of the story.  This was Doctor Octopus' first appearance and I always wondered if Ditko had a particular fondness of him for that reason.  Doc Ock would be used more than any other villain in Ditko's run.

The story is quite generic and simple, hero loses to villain the first time, then figures out a way to win and carries it out.  This was deliberate, Spidey opens the story bored with how easy criminals are to beat.  Then we meet Doc Ock who turns evil.  The only other noteworthy part is the appearance by Johnny Storm as a speaker at Peter's school, giving generic advice to go back and try again.  School, Aunt May, the Daily Bugle, are very minor parts of the story, otherwise it's all about superhero fights.  Not a complaint, just pointing that out.

#4 makes up for that. Spidey beats up some obvious crooks but they can't be arrested because there's no evidence they did anything illegal.  He's annoyed by how the media hates him and leaves a trick for JJJ which will come up later.  Afterwards he runs into the Sandman.  Can't easily beat him and his mask is ripped during the fight so he needs to escape to protect his identity.

The media broadcasts Sandman's origin - totally realistic - and attempting to repair his costume, Peter has to fake being sick so Aunt May isn't suspicious of anything.  Later Sandman, running from the cops, breaks into the school and holds the students hostage.  Luckily Peter hadn't been seen, Spidey shows up and wins the fight.  JJJ has showed up with the police and blusters as Spidey tries to hand over the prisoner, building on the opening scene.  Spidey even has to take fake pictures of fighting sand to get pix to sell Jameson.

The most relevant part of the story would be the start of a major storyline and unfortunately the only one Ditko would bring to a full conclusion.  The trick Spidey had left for JJJ was webbing on his desk chair which means he needs his secretary to get him a new pair of pants.  Breaking-and-entering and destruction of property is not mentioned among Spider-Man's crimes but Peter is at the Daily Bugle as this happens and has his first known interaction with "Miss Brant."  It's still not clear that this was the woman at the front desk in #2 but their hair is vaguely similar so I'll use that as evidence.  There's interaction with JJJ and, disappointed, Peter goes to school.

At school, the bullies are talking about him and Liz - no last name given - admits she had agreed to go on a date with Peter because he kept begging her.  Typical high school girl behavior, especially when she's also hanging out with the school's star athlete.  But Peter has to break the date off because he needs to look for Sandman.  During the fight later, Liz is wondering where Peter is.  Afterwards, he's now free for the evening but she's ditched him and everybody laughs.

So this makes the ending work with multiple storylines coming together.  It's already becoming a standard ending that the story usually ends with Peter feeling sorry for himself.  There's the school, JJJ, the media, fighting crime, keeping a secret identity.  Aunt May rarely contributes to these stories but she remains as a weight he has to carry.  This isn't solid literature but given the low-bar comics have had for most of their existence, it is notably above-average.  I don't have much to say about the fight scenes because they're so long but visually they do remain entertaining.

#5 came out one month later, meaning this title was selling well enough to go monthly.  I'm still unsure how well the news-stand sales could be tracked back then and I still think Spider-Man was always intended to be the flagship of the whole franchise.  This was also shown by the fact that the villain wasn't even from his title, Dr. Doom.  This makes the third time in five issues that the Fantastic Four have been connected to this title.  The web is getting bigger.

JJJ rants in the media, the school kids listen to him, as does Doom.  He recaps his last appearance in FF, signals Spidey to meet him, they fight, Spidey flees.  The side-characters get a little more development.  "Miss Brant" even speaks up for Spidey, suggesting to Peter that she's a fan.  JJJ says hating Spider-Man makes money and sells papers, that's why he does it.  Flash Thompson is going to impersonate Spidey - where did he get the costume? - to scare Peter who is being tracked by Doom, so he grabs Flash by mistake.  He broadcasts the world and the FF that he has Spider-Man prisoner!

Of course Peter has to get involved, another long fight scene but if you're into that sort of thing, it's right up your alley.  Doom is very well-armed, neither side can win but when the Fantastic Four show up, both of them flee.  Peter and Betty show some slight attraction to each other and Flash is idolized by high schoolers for this stunt, even Liz.  'Oh, what a life!'  The formula for these endings is already set but are very entertaining and show no signs of decreasing.  No wonder this title went monthly.

#6 is mostly in the trend of Marvel's monster books, the Lizard is rampaging in Florida and most of the story is covering his origin and the fight scene.  The most notable part of the story was that Dr. Curt Connors was very grateful to Spider-Man for fixing this situation and would repay the debt in future issues as a helpful scientist.  Beyond that a few pages are used for set-up and the storylines continue.

The Daily Bugle is challenging Spidey to fight the Lizard because that sells newspapers, JJJ himself doesn't believe it.  There's a bit more with Betty, Peter almost asks her on a date.  Meanwhile the school kids are at a museum, criminals show up, Spidey beats them and saves Liz specifically.  Now she has a crush on him and the story ends with her having no time for Peter or Flash in case Spidey calls her.  Still not realism but there is a slight depth to the story as it develops.  The target audience might have been boys who've already reached puberty, which was usually the point where the audience stopped reading superhero comics.

The media plot continues.  JJJ admitted he didn't believe in the Lizard but Spidey directly challenges him about it, so he'll go with Peter down to Florida to find out.  Peter gets pictures but can't admit he took them because even that would be too ridiculous, so Jameson assumes they're fakes.  That's an amusing ending, justifying his refusal to believe in the Lizard.  The final panel informs us the Vulture will return next issue, showing that there were preparations underway for future stories, so just keep reading!

Egyptian Christian Could Face Death Penalty on Terrorism Charges for Criticizing Islam
April 24, 2026

□ [“DOJ Indicts Southern Poverty Law Center for Funding KKK, Defrauding Donors"]

This story has been coming out for a few days.  I know virtually nothing about the SPLC, you could probably count on your fingers the number of times I've ever referred to them in my thousands of pages of current events coverage.  They are a leftist funding group, or something to that effect.  So as you might expect, they've been using their money for things that they claim to oppose, like funding the KKK.  The left is supposed to be against people who associate with them, especially giving them money.  Yet there's mostly been silence.

I know they were part of the 'Black Lives Matter' group ages ago, promoting the *woke* agenda and anyone who disagrees is part of a "hate group."  There's already jokes about how there's so little racism that they need to pay to find something to attack.  It looks like that's basically what they've done.  Since they're so far out of my sphere of interests, I'm more curious about where the funding comes from, particularly with what's been exposed by DOGE, USAID and other recent government investigations.

I have to wonder if the SPLC knew it was lying about this or if it's more like an example of being very similar to your enemies, so much so that you'll team up to turn against the rest of us.  Of course, conspiracy theorist that I am, naturally I assume there's long-standing connections to Democrats and their connections to southern NGOs and unofficial allies of the government.

Trans Prisoner Kept in Scotland Women's Prison Charged with Sexual Assault
April 24, 2026

□ [“Iran Is on a Deadline, Oil Infrastructure Soon to Be Damaged by Lack of Exports"]

Not something most of us would have expected.  It's just not one of the problems you hear about in war, where the losers have way too much oil.  Iran's economy is based on sending oil to other countries but now they can't transport it.  That means they're out of places to store it which means they have to stop mining it.  That's a big issue which would cause even more problems if (when) they get it re-started.

It's interesting that there's nothing Iran's rulers can do about this.  The best way to describe this might be as a modern form of siege.  They're trapped and can only defend themselves but at this point they have nothing to defend themselves with, so they're trapped along with their own allies and nobody else.  I still keep wanting the people to overthrow them, and maybe that has started by now, but it's taking longer than we wanted.  I can't think of any precedent for this in war.

We're nearing the two month-mark and it's pretty clear Iran supporters don't have a clue what to do about it.  They're not even starting peace protests, the best they can do is complain about gas prices and ignore what they were before Trump took charge.  I'm not even sure Congress has made much in the way of claims about what's going on and there's only generic promises that Democrats will magically fix it if they ever get power again.  That's not helping the mullahs so what else is it good for?

130-Year Old New York City Church Burns in Five-Alarm Fire
April 24, 2026

□ [“Ilhan Omar Rages at Reporter Who Confronted Her About Financial Disclosure ‘You’re Stupid’"]

She seems to be the most obvious target for the next round of attacks on Congress and corruption.  Is she easy to hit, weak enough to give in, strong enough to hold out and hurt everyone connected with her?  Or will she just turn on everyone when it's the last escape option?  She's already at a point where it just looks bad to keep pushing away any actual questions about this, especially given what has been revealed for the last couple years.

Minnesota Congress has given her until May 5 to turn over documents explaining one of her frauds, the "Feeding our Future" organization which got over $250 million of Covid money for supposed-child feeding.  She has ignored any request for this information so far which doesn't look good.  The winery she was invested in has also shut down.  Like that will keep them from being asked how this worked.  There's also an investigation into an NGO she tried to get taxpayer money funding for whose address is the same as Somali-owned restaurant which has been in this location for many years.

Because she's a non-white non-male Muslim, I'm guessing she's tied to everyone in this scandal.  If nothing else, she's a convenient excuse to use DEI to hide what's going on.  That's why I'm hoping she's also the one that's going to take everyone else down with her.  It's not clear how long she could hold out, she may be gone next week or she may win re-election this November.  I think the latter is unlikely but unless something big happens, it's still a possibility.  I do think she'll have to start talking about it soon and at least some info might be made public.

New York Times Portrays Fired USAID Staff as Victims — Gets the Negative Reactions They Deserve
April 24, 2026

If you can't remember having amnesia, how can you be sure it really happened?

Ex-Mr. Kellyanne Conway Cries as He Admits Blowing His Children’s Inheritance on Defeating Trump
April 9, 2026

29-Year-Old NASA Nuclear Propulsion Engineer Went Missing Last July, Found Dead in Burned-Out Tesla Wreck
April 23, 2026

□ [“Trump Announces Israel and Lebanon Have Agreed to Extend Ceasefire by Three Weeks"]

This annoys me less than the same ceasefire for the same reason with Iran.  At least with Iran, it's direct and we should just wipe them out.  I'm positive that Iran's involved with Lebanon although I have no idea whether they're the cause or if they're just supporting their own people.  This actually does sound like a more-valid way of bringing peace to the region and I'm sure whoever's in charge of Iran doesn't like it.

□ [“NYT:   Iranian Supreme Leader Is Waiting for Prosthetic Leg, Will Need Face Surgery"]

Did he otherwise look in decent shape?  How was his voice?  They did speak to him directly, didn't they?  Or are they just reporting what government officials want people to hear?  Something about that seems kinda iffy.  The NYT could at least cite their sources who spoke to the Ayatollah in the last couple days, just to confirm that he's still alive.  Otherwise, what are they paying for?

It's slowly becoming clear that the last fifty years or so of leftism has been directed by Iran and the New York Times is one of their central pillars, so nothing about this seems believable.  It's entirely possible he's still alive but as the spiritual leader of the nation, his supporters would need to promote that constantly.  Otherwise he just looks weak and easy-to-ignore, basically the same situation his father has been in for the last couple months.  That's not going to help win a war against the infidel.

New Jersey Congressman Has Been Missing for Over a Month - No One Has Seen or Heard from Him
April 23, 2026

US Soldier Used Classified Information on Maduro's Capture to Profit $400,000 with Polymarket Bets
April 23, 2026

□ [“Thousands of Californians Finally Get Permits to Rebuild from Wildfires After Trump's EO"]

The left runs the government, they allowed the fires, did nothing to stop them, burned down all these houses and then prevented people from rebuilding.  Trump took action with an executive order in January with overruled all the regulation and delays.  I'm not saying California deserves that but it's still a good move.  I also think it's an example of the larger plan we're getting a glimpse of.

Essentially, hoping I'm not being naively-optimistic, the plan was to pull back and let Democrats show off who they really are.  They've won most of the random elections that have happened since November 2024 and their ilk is already causing problems, even for their voters.  A Muslim socialist became New York City mayor and has almost completely failed to keep any of his promises.  Not only that, he's being sued by a neighborhood of rich people who voted for him because he's trying to build a homeless shelter there.  Leftists don't want poor people around them yet here they are.  Meanwhile Virginia's new governor is pushing programs she campaigned against.

All across the board, they're showing that they'll lie to gain power and already gloating about the tyranny they'll inflict on people they don't like as soon as they get the chance.  That's what I suspect the administration planned.  Between his experience with negotiations and the stern military men he's appointed, they are using tactics and strategy to build up to the mid-terms.  Meanwhile Democrats are busy trying to delude themselves into thinking they're doing great.  They did that in November 2024, and June 2024 before that, and look how that worked out for them.

California continues to be the main symbol of what they're doing.  Gavin Newsom thinks he's entitled to be installed as POTUS and doesn't have much to show for his years of failing upwards.  He was supposed to be replaced by Eric Swalwell who was the big favorite just a couple weeks ago.  They're still trying to avoid explaining why they put themselves into this mess and haven't even gotten around to explaining Biden and Harris.  I don't know how it's possible but I really do think the Trump administration has prepared for this.  Newsom spending a billion dollars to bring in hundreds of thousands of illegals isn't really going to help them.

London rental ads exclude applicants based on religion and offering “Muslims only” housing
April 23, 2026

The first two issues of Spider-Man consist of two stories each.  It is not known what order they were created in.  The second story in each issue was 10 pages, the length of the story in Amazing Fantasy #15, so it's most-likely that they were created to run in that title, before learning that the book had been cancelled, cover-dated August 1962.  So when the new series was started, March 1963, longer stories were created to fill out the remaining pages, before moving to stories that filled the whole issue.

For convenience, I assume that the respective stories in each issue were created in that order, #1 story two, #2 story two, #1 story one, #2 story one.  That may just be my own aesthetics and unless someone can dig up Marvel payment records from 63 years ago, we will never know the truth.  The reason I put them in this order was because that I do assume Spider-Man had always intended to be the centerpoint of the franchise, interacting with other characters.  In this story, he meets the Fantastic Four.

It's not even a special event, noteworthy for its own sake.  Carrying on from the death of his uncle, Peter Parker needs to bring in money, so he thinks he can get a job with the FF.  It's a quick two-page scene, entertaining for what it is, then it gets back to the main topic of the story.  Jack Kirby would do an expanded version of it a couple years later, selling the same thing to the Fantastic Four audience, just in case they weren't the same readers.

Marvel heroes to this point did not fight standard supervillains, they fought monsters, aliens and Russians.  Although the Chameleon is a Russian spy, he's otherwise treated as a normal supervillain.  His plan is to trick the hero and impersonate him while committing a crime so he'll get the blame.  The use of a fistfight to solve the problem was modified.  In a fight with police, Spidey didn't even realize he had revealed the Chameleon who was now impersonating an officer, and ran away thinking he had failed.

Ditko's layout and pacing also stands out, changing camera-angle often to show what's going on while other times leaving it the same for multiple panels to show the reaction of the characters.  It's been a long time since I looked this closely at other superhero books from this era so I don't know how brilliant and original this really was at the time, but it still stands up quite well.  It's a very entertaining way to push the new character.

The next story is the most out-of-character event in Ditko's run.  At school, Peter is picked for a weekend job by a scientist.  His first task will be to pick up a radio sent in for repairs.  The repair shop is suspicious so later Spider-Man investigates and discovers aliens planning to conquer the Earth.  Once again, the pacing is actually quite good although the story just gets dumber as it progresses and we never hear about this again.  Every single other Ditko story had something that would eventually return or be relevant, this was essentially one of the monster stories Marvel was already doing.

The opening story in #1 is where the overall tone of the series is seen.  Peter recaps his origin and tries to think of ways to bring in money to earn a living and support his aunt.  Crime's not an option and no entertainment company will pay him cash.  This introduces the media tycoon J. Jonah Jameson.  He hates Spider-Man just because he can and is also promoting his son who is an astronaut.  Back in the early-60s, those were the ones promoted as heroes.  Of course Jameson's son has rocket problems, only Spidey can save him and that just gives the media another excuse to hate him.

The theme of big media and business is introduced and will slowly build through Ditko's run.  The point was that Spider-Man was trying to do the right thing and ended off worse at the end of the story because of it.  That's a believable human problem everyone can relate to.  It's unknown how much Lee and Ditko really thought about this and how much they were just trying to crank out stories to entertain kids but it's still a more intelligent narrative than you'd expect from superhero comics.

The first story in #2 brings in another supervillain, the Vulture, and continues to expand the different aspects of Peter's life.  He has schoolmates who hate him, an aunt who raised him but needs money and we're still developing the mass media part of the story.  JJJ wants pictures of the Vulture.  Aunt May gives Peter a camera his uncle used to have.  She's already started selling things to make ends meet, why hasn't she sold that already?  Never mind, anyway, Peter now has someone who will pay him for pictures of Spider-Man, a happy ending.

The battle scenes of these stories certainly look good, lots of running around and clever camera angles.  Each story has included a part where Peter shows his interest in science.  Not remotely realistic but still believable and helps develop the character.  The bullies at school are very one-dimensional, probably another way to appeal to the sort of comics readers this was aimed at.

The media aspect is still being developed.  The basics for J. Jonah Jameson are there but he's currently a magazine publisher.  The Daily Bugle won't be introduced until next issue.  There is a secretary seen at the front desk whom I will assume is Betty Brant although there's not enough detail at this angle to prove that.

It's interesting to see how slow the development was here, all things considered.  Action Comics #1 just showed Clark Kent walking into a newspaper, getting a job and immediately dealing with Lois Lane without any delay.  By comparison, even these short stories were deeper and more thoughtful.  The subject matter could be very subtle but would continue to grow and show why this character would be the heart of the Marvel franchise.

The dialogue and storytelling just comes off as excellent, at least by comparison to their competitors.  As many problems as Lee and Ditko would have for the thirty-eight issue run, it was already intriguing and was just getting started.  I have (mostly) grown out of superhero comics by now but I can still see the appeal works like this had back in my youth.  Considering these stories are over a decade older than I am, it's easy to see why the franchise would continue to grow.

Somali Jihadist/Ilhan Omar Donor Gets Slap-on-the-Wrist Sentence — 8.5 Years for Trying to Join ISIS
April 23, 2026

□ [“British Cabinet Ministers Turn on Starmer Over His Mishandling of the Mandelson Vetting Crisis"]

He'll probably be gone quickly.  There's the fact that he couldn't vet his own people who turned out to be tied to Epstein.  We're even told that he ignored warnings about this and ordered his ambassador to the US to pass no matter what.  He's also been accused of taking free expensive gifts and letting criminals out of jail but that's not a problem for leftists.  His appointees have to resign for their own ethical problems, still not a problem.  It's the connection to Epstein.

This is making the point that a lot of the worldwide elites were tied to him.  I'm getting the theory that whoever handled the public release of Epstein files did a 'control F' and replaced a lot of names with "Trump."  That way Trump-haters would give it tons of attention while the real names would know that it's going to be turned on them once the truth comes out.  We see an early example of that here with Starmer, he needs to be dumped now before anyone else gets caught in the trap and they know they're going to be caught.

It is surprising how all the noise about Epstein from the left has died down.  They still recite the old rhetoric about how it's proven that Trump molests children but they never get around to showing that proof in public.  They certainly never wonder why the Biden administration never did anything about with all that evidence right there.  But like I said, this is just generic leftist ranting, no different from complaining about global warming or how white men are bad.  They can't apply it to reality but that doesn't bother them.  The real problem is that they might get caught doing what they accuse others of.  That's why they need to turn on their own as quickly as possible.

Germany Unveils Strategy for Turning the Bundeswehr Into Europe’s Strongest Military by 2039
April 23, 2026

Like most people, I work out notes for an essay on Steve Ditko I hope to write.

Set-up - how much of 'multiverse' and DC do I need to include?
Jack Kirby returning to Marvel, Ditko being hired
Distributors

Flash 123 FF 1
Challengers of the Unknown, Kirby and Schiff
Golf game
As distributor, DC knew all

Anything else I have to say about FF
Hulk - monster book
Setting up franchise
Thor - Kirby's mythology interest

Ant-Man - 1st appearance
    2nd appearance
    Goodman's interest

Kirby's Spider-Man
Why not print?
Where is the art?
Goodman paid for it
Stolen?
    When old thieves die, what about the art?

Amazing Fantasy 15 - not sure what to say

Short stories for #1 and 2
    Stereotype of superheroes
    Aliens, monsters, Russians - Spidey was the normal one
    Chameleon - Russian / FF - franchise
    Most out-of-character story
    JJJ 1st appearance
    Vulture - not sure Betty appears
    JJJ/Betty start the longrange plots

Peter's home life and school life

#3 Doc Ock is Ditko's main villain - Johnny Storm
    I've asked Ditko Facebook if he'd done a long story before this issue

#4 Sandman at school
#5 Dr. Doom - #4-5 were the first monthly issues
#6 Lizard - is JJJ involved?
#7 Vulture returns - Betty at Bugle

Peter + Betty
    #7 ending
    #8 School - Kirby FF
    Flash Thompson - not much to say about him
    Liz

#9-12
    Betty - She's worried - Her past - Her rother - Leaves but comes back
    Liz changes her mind

#10 opens subplots
    Aunt May gets sick in 9, meets Betty - blood transfusion is in 10
    Big Man

9-12 finish talking about that - Betty vs. Liz
    This is where Ditko started his long storylines, assuming he wasn't already starting them

Betty vs. Liz #13, 14, 15
    Mary Jane, Aunt May wants Peter to meet a girl
    Liz as rival - Liz and MJ
    Liz and Betty meet MJ - Liz quits
    Betty and Ned - the Fountainhead

Finish the stuff about Betty
    Gwen as replacement for Liz
    Speculation about MJ

Aunt May gets sick three times in Ditko's run
   Speculation on what Ditko would do with her

Villains up through the Sinister Six

JJJ - too useful as a character to define
    Media - Daily Bugle
    Business/crime

#10 Foswell - his part of the story

Green Goblin
    Ditko's only public statement
    Other examples of his playing with identity
    #14 first appearance - sets it all up to get Spidey, appears on first page, walks away on last page
        Hulk, FF story, Movies
    #17 Second appearance, still no basis for his character
       He wants to destroy Spidey - why?
    Liz's father

#17-19 Sandman, Torch, Enforcers
    It's a multi-part story

#20 JJJ - Scorpion - not sure what to asy

Other Goblin appearances
Ditko's storytelling in later issues - was the point to be boring?
Norman Osborne
My favorite issue
    Credit to Stan for that dialogue
    Problems with Stan - the Master Planner set-up
Ditko breaks with Stan
How Stan had to clean it up after Ditko left
    Betty - MJ - Goblin - Kingpin
If I can get all this written, go back and try to work out every step of my DC/Multiverse essays to build up to this

16 - DD Circus of Crime
21 - Johnny Storm, Beetle
22 - Circus of Crime
23 - Goblin/Mob
24 - Mysterio
26-27 - Goblin/Mob
28 - Graduation, Molten Man
29 - Cat Burgler, setting up Master Planner - these were Spidey's equivalent of "graduation"
34 - Kraven - 35 Molten Man - these are repetitive
36 - Meteor/Gwen - she's hooked
37 - Stromm/Osborne
The last several villains were repetitive or pointless, it might be Ditko's version of 'what happens after graduation?'

18 - sees Betty with other man, we'll learn it's Ned - making Peter jealous
19 - Peter isn't jealous
20 - Ned leaves for Europe
29 - Ned returns - both issues have Scorpion - 30 Ned has proposed

The question should be "what's up?" The real question should be "what isn't up?" Do we even know what "up" is?

Secretary of the Navy John Phelan Fired
April 22, 2026

□ [“Famous UFO Researcher David Wilcock Dead from ‘Apparent Suicide' age 53"]]
□ [“Long-Time Washington Post Editor Found Dead in His Home, Age 60"]
□ [“Rep. David Scott (D-GA) Suddenly Dies, Age 80"]

None of these people are "celebrities" any real sense of the world but they're high enough in society that I basically take any of these people dying with suspicion.  Haven't noticed much in the way of huge celebrity deaths lately, by my count Chuck Norris, Jesse Jackson and Robert Duvall are the biggest names to die in 2026.  They were all very old, that needs to be taken into account.  But these three...?

Even the old congressman, he just suddenly dies?  Given everything that's going on and my suspicion that Georgia is one of the central points of modern leftism, I find it hard to believe that he just had a heart attack or fell down a flight of stairs, even though I'm sure that's what's going to be reported.  And the other two weren't even that old.  But the Post editor was long-time media, he's in on all the cover-ups.  And the other guy, everything about this looks suspicious.

He's trying to find the secrets about UFOs.  He's posted before that he's not remotely suicidal.  Yet he's going through *something* over the weekend and that's it, he shoots himself, simple as that?  This is why people believe in things like demon possession, the most logical explanation we can conceive of.  It's why I continue to just assume there's a huge demon-worshipping cult among our elites and deaths like these are part of the plan.  Maybe it's straightforward human sacrifice, maybe it's something else.

And maybe deaths like these always happen quite often, it's just social media that makes us all more paranoid.  Or it's just results from the Covid vaccine.  I'm paranoid and enjoy making up conspiracy theories but I do try to look for explanations that would prove me wrong.  That helps me reinforce the conspiracy theories, like wft is going on with these deaths?

Small Plane Hits Powerlines, Flips and Crashes to the Ground in California
April 22, 2026

Whoopi Goldberg of The View Claims Trump is Planning a Military Draft to Fight Iran
April 20, 2026

Gunman Opens Fire at Top of Teotihuacán Pyramid in Mexico — One Tourist Killed, Dozens Injured
April 21, 2026

□ [“Iranian Women to Be Executed – Where Is the Radical Left?  Where’s the Pope?"]

Not sure what their crimes were, maybe they were the ones dressing like whores and posting those pix on the internet.  If that isn't enough to get you executed, I don't know what is.  But news has already come out that Trump posted that they shouldn't hurt the women so Iran was nice and obedient and decided not to hurt the women.  You know, I remember when hating women used to mean something.

So of course the pope and the left will ignore it.  To acknowledge something happened would mean they couldn't support Iran's government as much as they do.  They also pretend to support women so it's just easier if these chicks get late-term aborted.  And that's not even getting into their opposition to the death penalty except for those they don't like but just ignore that.  They're so open-minded and loving.

I'm becoming more convinced that the Iranian government doesn't really exist anymore.  This may be part of their plan and they may have prepared to be independent groups but otherwise they're just in pieces.  The IRGC is probably the strongest force remaining and I'm guessing the mullahs are basically ignored.  They can't contribute anything to survival so the 'power behind the throne' has to do all the work.  And while writing this paragraph, I happened to see an article claiming that the IRGC has been preparing for this sort of autonomous resistance - 31 separate provincial commands - for the last 20 years.  So this is probably their best chance.

We're nearing the last thirty days of this operation before Congress needs to vote on it.  The regime is planning to hold out.  Trump has issued some threats, I doubt those will be taken seriously but it's not clear how that relates to the ceasefire which may or may not be nearing an end.  I've also heard that the people might be ready for rebellion but if that happens, we'll probably be the last to know.

First Labour Member of Parliament Calls for the Resignation of British PM Starmer
April 22, 2026

Two CIA Officers Killed in Fiery Car Crash After Drug Lab Raid in Mexico
April 21, 2026

Minnesota School to Construct a Prayer Room and Foot-Washing Stations to Accomodate Muslim Students
April 21, 2026

□ [“Virginia Court Strikes Down Democrat Gerrymander Referendum as Unconstitutional"]

The point was to gerrymander the map so all Republican voters were in one district and the other ten could all vote Democrat.  Voters went for this on Tuesday but 51.5-48.5%.  State law requires there to be a 2/3 vote in favor of placing this on the ballot which didn't happen so this very-slight victory shouldn't have happened.  My guess is that, assuming the next highest court doesn't immediately overturn this court, the politicians will still ignore the ruling this fall.

The point is to give all the congressional seats to Democrat voters no matter how much of the population votes Republican.  The new Virginia governor campaigned against this and then supported it as soon as she took office.  I forget which Democrat public spokesman said it - probably several - but they're openly urging candidates to lie just to achieve power so they can go on to push the real goals.  Tyrants are fine with that.  So are Democrats.

Beyond that, there's also evidence that taxpayer-funded schools were pushing which way to vote on their students which is not what Virginia schools are supposed to do.  This is going to look bad for everybody except Democrats.  There's also a theory that part of Virginia used to be part of DC but was moved back to the state to defend slavery, so Trump could write an executive order taking that land back and really mess up the gerrymandering.  That certainly sounds like something Trump would do but I have no idea if he'd take on yet-another headache.  Ok, let me rephrase that, I don't know if he'd take on this specific headache.  But the left is continuing to demonstrate that they are all-in on Civil War 2.0.

Two Armed Philadelphia Thugs Steal $1.8 Million from Armored Truck in Broad Daylight and Escape
April 22, 2026

London Sees Third Attack on Jewish Sites in a Week, as Attempted Arsonist Targets Synagogue
April 19, 2026

□ [“Ilhan Omar’s California Winery LLC Dissolved 9 Days After She Scrubbed Her Financial Disclosures"]

It looks like she's the next target.  Can't go after Nancy Pelosi, she's too rich.  Also old and white.  AOC is also getting richer but she's still to popular for some unknown reason.  But Omar is tied to the Somali fraud in Minnesota which we haven't heard about for a few months.  So that's probably the next step.

Omar isn't handling this well.  She refuses to answer any questions about what she's doing with taxpayer money or why she's too stupid to know that the financial documents she signs are incorrect.  She's certainly not going to say anything bad about her accountant - no indication he's been fired - or why her husband has spent all these years investing money but they're still living paycheck-to-paycheck.  But at least they suddenly ditched the winery which it's strange a Muslim woman would ever invest in.  Nice timing.

We're slowly getting hints at what our elite politicians and bureaucrats invest their wealth in to get more money.  The releases are going way too slow and still nobody's been arrested.  The best we can say is that at least a few members of Congress have stepped down and we are still learning more.  There's what we got from DOGE, the laundering money for our elite class, not to mention the way the left is obeying Muslims.  This may wind up explaining the whole *woke* movement which put people like Omar in charge.

Appeals Court Overrules Lower Court, Sides With Texas on 10 Commandments in Classroom
April 22, 2026

My name is Sue. How do you do? Now you gonna die! Oh sh*t, I'm in the wrong place, aren't I? Sorry, my bad.

Adult Illegal Who Sexually Assaulted a Dozen Virginia High School Girls Gets Light Sentence – 135 Days
April 21, 2026

□ [“Trump Extends Ceasefire with Iran"]

His statement says this is from a request by Pakistan.  Iran's government is a shambles so they need time to make a genuine peace proposal.  The ceasefire will last until they make that proposal.

This could go either way.  The Iranian government doesn't want peace and is perfectly willing to hold out as long as possible, which is easier if the US military isn't wasting them all day every day.  Trump does want a deal, so he looks weak for not getting one.  He also doesn't want to send in troops but that really is a crucial part of winning a war.  Without that, Trump will soon be gone and the mullahs can get back to what they were doing, at least in theory.

But this doesn't account for the problems the Iranian government is having.  Trump's not dropping the blockade so there's still a lot fewer supplies coming in.  A few days ago, he even said there was no pressure to make a deal, if that was better than a bad deal like Obama made.  So in that sense, he's fine keeping Iran on a holding pattern.  But that does have to end soon.

We can't account for the mullahs, the IRCB or the Iranian people.  The military always makes plans to invade every country so they had fifty years of analysis on Iran to go through preparing for this attack.  I'm sure that was all taken into account but we have no way to know how right or wrong they were.  That's why the Venezuela attack was so awesome, it was over almost before we knew about it.  And Trump is over halfway to the point where Congress needs to approve anything he does with Iran.

War Secretary Pete Hegseth Announces Flu Vaccine Policy for Service Members is Now Voluntary
April 21, 2026

□ [“Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-FA) Resigns Over $5 Million FEMA Funds Scandal"]

The third member of Congress to resign this month.  It's the sort of thing you'd expect more will follow but there's a legitimate question about who would replace them.  If twenty or forty are forced to leave and their replacements are appointed by governors or whoever, then there'd be a chunk of Congress with no concerns about winning the voters.  That's not a good place to be in.

McCormick's public statement didn't call everybody "racist," that's a surprise.  She does call it a witch hunt and she's the one being persecuted for routing FEMA disaster funds to her family businesses and her 2021 campaign.  The ethics committee has already voted against her, even leftists like AOC said they'd vote to kick her out if it came to that.

We really do need a better look at what's going on.  But that said, it's clear that at least some in Congress and the executive branch are going after politicians and bureaucrats for both illicit financial and sexual gains.  Neither side is becoming well-known, especially with nothing to outrage the public, 'oh no!  They're doing that!!!'  It's a good thing in that it helps the investigations continue quietly but it also means we getting no sense of progress.  They could end tomorrow and we wouldn't notice.

Japan Lifts Ban on Weapon Exports In Break With Post-WW2 Pacifism
April 21, 2026

□ [“Pope Leo Changes Tack on Immigration — Surprise Message to Africans Looking to Migrate"]

Sounds like his handlers have told him he needs to back up a bit.  He's getting ready for an African tour but needs to stay away from where all the Christians are being slaughtered.  It might offend Muslims if he says anything about that so he needs to make up for that by saying *maybe* it might be better for people to stay where they are and make things better instead of invading other countries.  Anybody who would think he believes this has already fallen for the leftist nonsense and everyone else is working out how to protect themselves.

The Catholic Church is the oldest organization on the planet - unless you count the hereditary Japanese monarchy - so there's really no clue how long it would take them to collapse.  But the last two popes are doing everything they can to make it happen, whether they acknowledge this or not.  Catholics worldwide could say 'this is not my pope' and that would probably work but how far down the line would it go and what would the result be?

I am not a fan of organized religion but not in the sense that I expect to outlive it.  But I do think believers should take a massive retreat from these institutions.  Small groups, whether or not they're connected to each other, and focus on the religion itself and not all the financial aspects that comes along with it.  Believers can get by without these mortal institutions, no matter how big they are.  But the institutions cannot get by without the believers.  Or if they can, they need the taxpayers.  Time to make them suddenly have no one to fall back on in times like these.

Video with Female Overweight NYPD Trying to Restrain Punk Shows Mamdani’s NYC Is Doomed
April 21, 2026

□ [“DOT Secretary Sean Duffy to End New York's Right to Issue Commercial Drivers Licenses"]

Interesting although I'm not sure anybody can foresee all the consequences we're looking at.  53% of New York commercial driver's licenses are issued to foreigners.  Nor sure those are all specifically for truck drivers or if they include taxis and pizza delivery.  Duffy's statement does specify that they're "foreign" so it's not clear if they're all illegal immigrants or not.  Maybe he said something more specific elsewhere but he also says that this is against DOT regulations so whatever the specifics, I assume he knows what he's talking about here.

New York was given four months to fix things, they refused to obey so he announces that he'll remove their ability to issue CDLs.  Out of curiosity, is there a reason he needs to publicly announce this?  He probably has to tell the state DOT but could do that in an email.  Then when they refuse to obey, there's still the email and they'll have to admit they received it.  'We told you this would happen four months ago and you ignored it.'

No idea how New York will respond to this.  They will probably sue the DOT for defying DOT regulations but that won't end well.  The DOT is already using this as an excuse to cut $73 million in transportation funding so if the state wasn't in enough debt yet, this will help them get further.  They'll also have to handle all the truck drivers they support breaking the law.  That's another bad precedent they're setting here.

And what if they panic, realize they were totally wrong and will try to fix things now, what are they supposed to do?  This would be harmful to logistics and not limited just to New York.  It would probably be the worst there but this would apply to anywhere these truckers are authorized to go.  This could be a huge mess because suddenly there's a lot of empty trucks that no one is authorized to use.  Maybe the federal government or other state can send in people to handle it but that won't be cheap.  Replacement New York drivers wouldn't be cheap either, meaning prices would quickly rise.  That's what I mean about the effects we can't predict right now.

But otherwise I'm fine with this.  Cutting off illegals is always a plus, then there's giving the leftist governments a lesson on how supply and logistics actually work.  This is something everybody should learn, especially the elites.  Let them suddenly have to work to maintain all their expected daily requirements and get hit with blame for poor people having to go without.

War-Obsessed Germany Plans To Call Reservists Up to the Age of 70
April 21, 2026

If you really loved me, you'd give me a joke to post here.

Hungary’s New PM Says He Would Arrest Israel’s Netanyahu For War Crimes
April 20, 2026

□ [“House Ethics Committee Releases List of Investigations for Sexual Misconduct by Congressmen"]

28 congressmen investigated in the last 50 years.  Ted Kennedy alone should have had more than 28 investigations.  There was a pic of him and another congressman groping a waitress at a public restaurant, I think it was from the 1980s.  Hell, just put together all the pics of Joe Biden groping women, you think he only started that after leaving Congress?

There's no listing all the accusers who were paid off.  I'm sure there's been a lot of them and that's certainly the best place to start, I'm just curious how many people went through this without any public accusations.  They were there trying to gain power or because they just liked it.  You think Kamala Harris was always proper, considering the unprofessional way she got her job?

As always, there will be the obvious question about how many of these politicians are womanizers and how many are gay?  The answer would probably disturb most of us.  That's why I'm just pessimistic about reports like this or any supposed investigations going on.  What are the odds anyone in Congress wants this to come out?

Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer Resigns in Latest Cabinet Shakeup
April 20, 2026

□ [“British PM Starmer Admits He Misled Parliament On Vetting of Epstein-Linked Mandelson"]

In a way, this seems to be an equivalent of what we're going through with Congress.  Starner appointed Lord Mandelson to be US ambassador and told Parliament he had passed all the security checks for this position.  The guy was tied to Russia, China and Epstein but Starmer is insisting he had not been told about that before he went to Parliament.  So it's not his fault, really.

I'm guessing most or all national government are facing problems like this.  We're Americans so we wouldn't know about any of that.  I just checked, Tony Blair is the last PM I could name without looking it up and he left office in 2010.  They're on their seventh PM since then and how many people could name any other British politician in the 21st century?  There's even less attention to Europe, the EU, and still less for any other country on Earth.

So my point is that I think these sort of sex scandals are happening everywhere, respective to each country and its people and history.  Now maybe they're all tied to Epstein and his ilk but it's just as likely they're tied to China.  Starmer strikes me as another one of those leftist male politicians who really isn't good for anything and his wife stays in the background but gives him all the orders.  She wouldn't have to worry about elections and he has no chance of getting free from the leash.  Once again, I think this sort of thing is happening everywhere else.

Kash Patel Sues The Atlantic for $250 Million for Defamation
April 20, 2026

□ [“Germans and Englishmen Join the Irish in Protesting the Far-Left’s Tyrannical Policies"]

I'm still worried this is a tease.  Or worse, they'll just give up.  Haven't heard anything for a while about the Irish protests so there's really no actual evidence they're still going on.  Or if they are that they're as strong as they were a week or two ago.  The same thing applies to Germany and England.  The article says thousands of vehicles are in Berlin, surrounding the chancellor's residence.  In England it was just a protest in Manchester although I noticed the crowd in the video were all carrying a St. George flag.

Not sure what reaction the governments will have to this.  Or the left.  At least in America, we know the left will theoretically go on strike in a week and a half, we'll have to see if anybody notices.  I really can't guess what would happen with a similar strike in Europe.  At least there, the left probably gets more positions of government authority required to make anything happen so if they don't show up, the people would have to survive on their own.  You and I might think that sounds great but Europe hasn't been able to do that for several generations.

I'm not aware of any counter-protests.  At least in the US we have old white leftists who show up for a couple hours when they get the instructions but I'm not sure how Europe could do that.  They would look like they're opposed to the government and that's a bad thing for them.  I'm not sure what else there is to say, I'm just irritated by the teasing going on while the elites still remain comfortable in power.

Tim Kaine Openly Admits Democrats Are Disenfranching Voters to Avoid Electoral College
April 20, 2026

□ [“250 Journalists Sign Letter, Demand ‘Forceful’ Anti-Trump Protest at White House Correspondents’ Dinner"]

Who is this supposed to impress?  Trump hasn't showed up to the WHCD so far in two terms.  Reportedly he is supposed to show up this time but I don't see any reason for that.  Maybe we'll be lucky and he won't show up, don't even bother informing them.  Let everyone see how they behave when they don't know what's going to happen.

This event just comes off as a get-together for elite media.  They work for the government, they just can't admit that to the public.  Dan Rather and Sam Donaldson signed this letter, they're in their mid-90s and have been part of government-propaganda since long before I was born.  And they're still making demands.  This has nothing to do with free speech, the public can completely ignore you.  That's the right you don't want us to have.

We know that they aren't going to say anything about all the secrets they've been hiding to protect their favorite politicians.  There's a chance that they'll mention people like Swalwell but most likely they'll focus entirely on Trump.  He's their bread-and-butter, they couldn't afford to inform the public on anything else that's going on.  No wonder they need to celebrate themselves in events like this.

Zelensky Finally Gives up on ‘Winning Trump Over’ – Realizes POTUS Is Not, Never Was His Ally
April 20, 2026

It was the west of times, it was the burst of times.

Outrage in Italy: Nigerian Migrant Kills and Cooks Cat on Makeshift BBQ Next to Children’s Playground
April 19, 2026

□ [“Rep. Anna Paulina Warns Of ‘Major Purge’ Coming to Capitol Hill"]

She says at least three members could be exposed.  That's less than 1% of Congress so it seems a bit iffy.  I'm not sure there's any way to do this which doesn't just come off as 'going after people we don't like and ignoring the rest.'  But that may just be part of how it goes, we're not supposed to know about any of this.

Hopefully (I keep using that word, don't I?) this is part of the investigations on all the fraud and laundering.  There's a lot of evidence from decades of the uniparty, who's going to crack first?  Who's going to turn on others to save themselves?  It's tough to say you have no clue what your party members were up to when you've been right next to them for many years.

I'm guessing the perverts will be the first to lose.  They may already be trying to negotiate if they can just resign with no bad publicity.  Then there's the people who are interested in perversion and also keeping tons of taxpayer money.  This is where it's going to get depressing because they've had the most protection.  It's a lot easier to just let them continue as normal than to answer why everyone knew and nobody did anything.  And they'll definitely be able to rat on fellow congressmen.

□ [“'Lives a Double Life' – OnlyFans Content Creator Posts Sex Videos with Secret Service Agent"]

I'm skeptical, just for personal reasons.  I have a tendency to perceive these type of agents as almost-mythical creatures even though I'm fully aware that they aren't and are perfectly capable of doing things like this.  The chick is very ugly so if this is true, there's also a question of why anybody would be stupid enough to throw their career away for her.  And if they are that stupid how did they get on the SS?  Officially this guy is one of Biden's guards which is not encouraging.

There's a lot of room for conspiracy theory here.  These agents would have ties to every relevant person in or out of government.  If they get corrupt or perverted, someone has a lot of access to the biggest government secrets.  We always look at politicians or maybe their aids who are into this stuff, maybe bureaucrats, a scandal like this would be explosive.  And it would explain a lot.

UC Berkeley Sociology Department Chooses Transgender Activist As Commencement Speaker
April 19, 2026

□ [“US Seizes Iranian Cargo Ship Trying to Run Strait of Hormuz Blockade"]

Other ships can get through but not Iranians.  Iran's economy was in bad shape before this conflict started so they doing worse now.  It's possible that's why this ship was so desperate to try making it through the blockade.  Now you have one less ship and didn't bother the US in the slightest.

There's also the problems - not yet confirmed - that whatever remains of the Iranian government doesn't know who's in charge.  Yesterday there was a report of an Indian ship going through that was fired at by Iran.  There's audio of the captain complaining, he had permission to go, he's on their list and now they're attacking?  There are several possible reasons for this, my guess is that the people firing on the ship are from a different group than the ones who let it pass and there's no contact between them.

At LAX, an Iranian woman - in the country legally - was arrested for trying to broker for arms, bombs and drones to help Iran.  I'm sure more of this is going on but I doubt much can be done this way.  Without Iran and Venezuela, China must be hurting and now an Indian ship was attacked.  This is a crack in BRICS that nobody could have seen coming.  Yes they'll use whatever assets they have in the US to fight us but although I'm sure they'll cause damage, it just seems like a guaranteed loss for all of them.

Humanoid Robot Smashes Half-Marathon Record in Beijing — Nearly 3x Faster Than Last Year
April 19, 2026

□ [“Ilhan Omar Blames ‘Accounting Error’ For Financial Disclosure Showing Her Immense Wealth"]

Her wealth has been public knowledge for months and she only now gets around to denying it?  Still doesn't make her look good, her excuse is that she was too stupid to notice that the numbers listed were in the millions.  Either that or her accountant was that stupid and she just signed whatever she was told.  Why not just say she waited all these months to complain because that's how long it took to hide the money?

This also raises some questions about her husband, the one who's not her brother.  He's supposed to be an investor, in wineries and such.  Yet he hasn't brought in any money after all this time?  If he's just investing five or ten dollars here or there, he's not really an investor, that's a pretend-job.  If he's investing more than that then what happened to it?  You didn't lose anything and you didn't make anything, that's the way it's been for several years?

She'll need to do more than this.  I'm amazed we haven't heard anything about the Somali fraud in Minnesota.  I am certain it's being looked into, by citizens if nothing else.  It's similar to what we'll see in Congress, who's willing to turn on the others to protect themselves.  Omar is a very obvious target from everybody.  Can't recall where but just recently she complained about being attacked by other Somalis, they weren't supporting her nominee or something to that effect, but it came off as tribalism.  That's what you want, that's what you get.

Mark Zuckerberg to Axe 10 Percent of Meta’s Workforce in May as AI Bloodbath Deepens
April 19, 2026