The cat has thanked me for my years of service and wishes me luck on my future endeavors. Did I miss a meeting?

Texas Orders Unauthorized Dallas-Area Muslim ‘University’ to Cease Operations Immediately
May 9, 2026

□ [“Unions and Labour MPs Demand PM Starmer Resign Over Party’s Election Defeats"]

I don't pay close attention to British elections because I don't think you can legally do that and still be American but there were local elections a few days ago and the Reform UK party won over 1200 seats, city councils and such, while the Labour Party lost over a thousand seats.  It was nationwide, across England, Scotland and Wales, because f*ck the Irish.

As the losses started, Starmer immediately tweeted that it was his fault but he wasn't going to resign over this.  Then the losses continued to pile up so even if Starmer hasn't changed his mind, he's clearly not long for this office.  He hasn't even been there for two years and has damaged his party badly.  I don't know when the next elections are coming or what they'll cover - USA!  USA!  USA! - but it sounds like the elites need to go in reverse immediately to prevent the same thing from happening to the rest of them.

So I'm still a skeptic but this does sound very encouraging.  The Brits have finally taken a stand for their country, the birthplace of modern freedom.  There's still a lot to worry about, especially considering how much they've given up over the last sixty or seventy years, but there is reason to hope.  Even better, the next target would be right across the channel.  You've invaded France before, better get ready to do it again.

Former NFL Player Sentenced to Prison for $197M Medicare Fraud
May 9, 2026

The concept of a "multiverse" has been around for a long time.  My suspicion is that in the last century or so, it has been mostly used as a way to define corporate Intellectual Properties.  Most notably in comic books, each character and their supporting cast exists in their own universe.  If they are connected to a different character, that is an event where multiple universes combine.  It's probably relevant that the characters may not be exactly the same as they are in their home universe.

In comics, especially with one-dimensional superheroes, this was just easier.  There was no way to have, for instance, a team-up between the Marx Brothers and the Three Stooges.  Their style of humor simply couldn't go together, the characters would have nothing in common and that's not counting their managers or the actors themselves.  The best anyone could do would be a picture of the two groups smiling at the camera, Moe is not going to poke Groucho in the eyes.

This basically applies to every other intellectual property getting together.  You might be able to have [famous character] meet Frankenstein or Sherlock Holmes in a movie or book but that's not going to be a treasured memory from their complete library.  At least the superhero genre in the comics medium had an audience that would actually take this seriously.

The most notable example was the Justice Society of America, featuring characters from the different companies that would eventually form DC Comics.  This was a way to sell books to each character's fans, promote the other characters to the same fans and find some other way to get stories out of 'men in tights solving problems by punching people.'  At least the kids liked it.

Years passed and the JSA stopped selling comics.  So DC moved on but soon decided to try again, this time by rebooting some of the characters.  They started with the Flash, then added Green Lantern, Hawkman and would include others.  Soon it was time to reboot the JSA but rename it.

But there was also a question about how to handle the earlier versions.  A company can lose its trademarks by not using them so lawyers would have instructed DC to have the old characters show up every so often.  The Flash was the first one to deal with this, officially establishing the "multiverse" in "The Flash of Two Worlds," issue #123.  Just after this, one of the smaller companies in DC's orbit also attempted to get into superheroes again, Marvel created the Fantastic Four.

This was only a little over 20 years after the Justice Society had formed and now there were two comic-book universes with each character or group as its own IP within that universe.  For DC, they would keep bringing back all the old characters and whatever other companies they had purchased.  But this caused more problems, few people were really able to keep track of everything each character had done in different universes.

The Black Canary of Earth-2 falls in love with the Green Arrow of Earth-1 so she moves universes to be with him.  Ok, that's believable to an extent but then there's all the stories set in the future?  They all say they're Earth-1 but contradict each other.  There were other contradictions, Wonder Woman was a separate character from Wonder Girl and Wonder Tot, she imagined them as 'fictional characters' she teamed up with.  Then some editor was unaware of that and added Wonder Girl to the new Teen Titans book.  Further problems were caused trying to fix this continuity error.  This was the sort of thing that led DC to trying to fix these problems with Crisis on Infinite Earths.

But several years before Crisis, DC had started interacting with its known rival of the last couple decades, beginning crossovers with Marvel.  Marvel had long since found a new distributor and exploded with the number of books they put out, it ruled the industry.  They had also made a few attempts, rarely worth remembering, to move into tv, movies and other media.

The first crossover was the most out-of-character book you can imagine, The Wizard of Oz.  That's right, nothing to do with superheroes.  Marvel was planning to adapt L. Frank Baum's books, starting with this one, DC was just going to adapt this movie.  They didn't want to hurt each other's sales so they decided to team up.  Essentially the Marvel creative team did the work and DC handled the publishing.  This brought up suggestions that they could put more IPs together.

And just to note, L. Frank Baum had effectively been an early version of Disney.  He immediately started churning out adaptations of his hit books, changing them as needed.  The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was a hit 1902 Broadway musical and adapted into a movie in 1910.  He even formed his own movie studio and planned a theme park.  This was an early attempt at the same use of IPs that Disney and Marvel were following, roughly 20 years before Superman showed up.

As to why Marvel and DC suddenly decided to do this movie, it's not clear.  It was successful, yes, a box-office smash, re-released to theaters multiple times and CBS reran it every year for a few decades.  If you're going to do a comic book version of a movie, I suppose that's a valid choice but it might be something else.  The Wizard of Oz was also a central point in the gay movement, "friends of Dorothy" being a common way to find out who swung a certain way.  I think it's quite likely that higher-ups at both companies decided this was the best way to push their interests on children.

Given how long Dorothy's friends had been in Hollywood, I suspect this was a deep conspiracy being run through the entertainment industry and beyond.  This would fit with the definition of "alternate universe," that these people are aware they don't live on the same planet as the rest of us and this is a way of communicating that belief.  And now that Marvel and DC had been interacting as peers for the last 20 or so years, they could take the next step.

Superman and Spider-Man handled the first two crossovers, the first in 1976 (the year I was born) and the second in 1981 (one of the first comics I ever read.)  These crossovers would continue for a few years until they ran into a problem.  In 1979, it was agreed the Justice League and Avengers would meet, work on the book started in 1981 but by 1983, it was shot down.  Marvel editor-in-chief Jim Shooter gets all the blame but remember that comment I made about 20 years or so going by.  Well this was 20 years after Marvel had gotten started.  Is that really a coincidence?

Anyway, from what is known, Jim Shooter does deserve the blame.  It's not clear how artist George Perez had started the artwork but Shooter hadn't even approved the story yet.  He and DC editor Dick Giordano even took their argument public in respective editorials, Shooter insisting that DC wasn't living up to Marvel's standards and Giordano giving specific details to show that Shooter wasn't even trying to work with them.  He went months without responding to the plot summary - DC was the publisher so this is why Perez had been able to start the artwork - and when he finally did, it was just lots of complaints about details.  Hawkeye isn't currently an Avenger so he can't be there.  Giordano's response was Batman isn't currently in the Justice League but fans would want to see him involved.

This comes off as 'people who do not occupy the same world' which might be believable for Marvel and DC.  It's also an argument about how to maintain one's IPs when interacting with others.  No agreement could be come to so future crossovers were abandoned.  At the time, it probably seemed permanent although it didn't last all that long.

A decade later with the comics industry at its peak sales - the 'speculator' period - Marvel did start pushing crossovers with other companies.  The weirdest one was Archie Meets the Punisher but they also crossed over with Image Comics, Star Trek and from the start there was already some interaction with DC.  Batman would also meet the Punisher and Captain America.  By the late-90s, they were doing a number of crossovers again.  I didn't read any of them but I did hear about them, they even merged a bunch of characters for a short run which probably wasn't any good but does at least sound funny.

Then in 2003 - twenty years after the last batch of crossovers, forty years after Marvel got started, sixty years after the Justice Society was running strong - the Avengers/Justice League crossover finally came out, by George Perez and Kurt Busiek.  I read it, I love it, all that stuff, but then Marvel and DC's relationships died again.  JLA/Avengers was collected, then out of print.  It was briefly brought back in 2022 - another twenty years - when George Perez was dying, an honor to his legacy and probably the last chance people would have to get his autograph.

The 'every twenty years' theory doesn't really line up perfectly but it's surprisingly close.  And every time it happens, the companies seem to have continued to modify and update their definition of Intellectual Property.  And they always seem to require a "multiverse" to make it happen.  Marvel and DC superhero movies have been building this for a few years now.  These movies are increasingly failing at the box-office but I've thought for a long time that the point was to bring that crossover to the screen.

Even if it fails, we still see them doing that with their respective franchises.  Actors and movie studios are also IPs, and the Marvel and DC cinematic universes are more-and-more dependent on just showing the high-paid actors doing cameos.  The story is irrelevant, the audience is expected to pay for thirty seconds of 'man in tights' onscreen dealing with someone else.  And as always, they're trying to save their universe.

Female High School Athletes Slam Gavin Newsom Over California Trans Athlete Controversy
May 9, 2026

□ [“Furious Tennessee Democrats Demand Secession of Memphis from the State"]

Um, you got @630,000 people in Memphis.  That still leaves almost seven million people in the rest of the state.  You're not going to get much representation in the House and you'll lose all your state benefits.  Plus you don't have many farms there so where will your food come from?  This is a great idea and I hope you do it immediately.

I really didn't expect this to be what they're willing to die for.  As I keep saying, I had assumed that every state had gerrymandered as much as possible already so I didn't think it was really possible to do any more.  But now I'm getting the impression that this was always a tactic Republicans - or at least Trump - had in their back-pockets to use when it became necessary.

This isn't going to work but it'll be fun to watch.  A lot of people in Memphis don't want any part of this and I'm guessing some even vote Democrat.  Then there's the state and the federal government, then there's the question of why, exactly, you need race-based voting districts.  There's already laws about this and if the minority just expects to get whatever they want, that doesn't say very much about their belief in democracy.

This could be interesting.  These Memphis politicians really have no ground to stand on and no way to win this fight so it becomes an issue of what they, or other leftist cities, intend to do next.  This also looks like a turning point where a lot of Democrats will have to admit they really aren't devoted to this idiotic conflict.  'Shut up and do the job you were elected for.'  I can't see anything to point to but that's really the impression I get from a stunt like this.

Georgia Town Council Fires Back After Mayor Fires Police Force for Allegedly ‘Insulting’ His Wife
May 9, 2026

□ [“Star Wars Box Office Woes Grow"]

This movie is coming out later this month and it's getting no attention.  Early tickets are now on sale and they aren't doing well.  It's a Star Wars movie, the first one in seven years, and there's no audience.  A big percentage of the sales so far are probably just youtube commenters who will be making videos.  This is a dead franchise, nobody could have expected this to happen so fast.

People do talk about Star Wars and look up stuff on the internet but none of it has anything to do with this movie that's ready for release.  The discussions are about what Disney can do with the franchise as well as what people are doing with A.I. for short fan-videos.  That's where the remaining fanbase is, this movie is now expected to do worse than the 2018 Solo movie.

That movie was Kathleen Kennedy's first credit as Executive Producer and the first total failure in the franchise's movie history.  This one will be second and Kennedy oversaw it for almost all the production, only leaving a few months ago.  I think there needs to be some accounting, preferably in public if Disney wants any chance of winning the fans back.  She needs to explain why she wasted so much time and money on failure.

Leftist Danish PM Fails to Form New Government - the King Tasks Defense Minister to Form Rightwing Coalition
May 9, 2026

What are you thinking? Well stop it.

After US State Visit, Charles Rests in British Wood Farm, Half a Mile Away From His Disgraced Brother Andrew
May 8, 2026

□ [“Trump Administration Releases Major Batch of 'Never-Before-Seen' UFO Files and Footage"]

Interesting, it's basically a bunch of pictures of lights and shapes and nobody knows what they're looking at.  I haven't dug into the release but was disappointed to see that what was listed in this article was mostly from the 2020s.  You've had pictures going back for decades and these are the first ones to put out?

But they've also included some material from the Apollo 12 and 17 missions, from November 1969 and December 1972 respectively.  It's the same problem, it just makes you go 'what is that?' and you can understand why the astronauts weren't eager to release this info.  They might be crazy, they might be doomed and even if they were neither, just admitting this would have made millions of people go bonkers from all the possibilities.  We've seen a lot of that from people obsessed with the UFOs.

My theory is that the Earth, and probably the Moon, are living entities.  The moon landings were the closest they ever had to direct connection.  I'll assume they could communicate anyway but this was deeper and more relevant to them.  If the moon has no living beings on it and is just a satellite of our planet, the earth is the one that would have all the reaction.

Either way, I think this has been what's affected human behavior for the last fifty-some years.  If there were other sentient beings, they'd also be affected.  Because the Earth is far more knowledgeable than humans, I assume she - yes, I refer to planet Earth as female - had spent a long time preparing for this meeting.  She probably aspires to keep growing to the point where she can have interactions with other planets in the solar system, perhaps even the sun.

So essentially I think that's what these UFO sightings amount to.  The planet is doing something that's above our pay grade so although we might be interested in learning more, I don't think it's particularly relevant.  I'd also suspect this links up with similar beliefs in ghosts and other monsters.  They might be interchangeable, they might be different sets of tools the Earth uses for different reasons.

And because I've gone this far, I do think this is fundamentally what human conflict is about.  Part of us, as individuals or groups, tribes, cities, nations, religions, sides with the planet, worshipping her.  The other part of us more correctly submits to the will of God and what He has brought to the entire universe.  What we see on Earth is just a small part of that.  And He is probably involved, one way or another, with these UFOs.

Disney Cruise Ship Staffers Among 28 Predators Arrested in Massive Child Porn Sting
May 8, 2026

□ [“Virginia Supreme Court Strikes Down Democrat Gerrymandering as Unconstitutional"]

I haven't paid much attention to all the states trying to remake their election districts to benefit their favorite parties but I've still noticed it.  My main reaction is still surprised, I really would have thought every state was as gerrymandered as it could possibly be by this point.  The only way they'd need to be changed is if large voting blocks packed up and moved.  While that is happening, it's not the only thing going on.

There's all the illegal immigrants being busted.  They might still be able to cast votes in blue states but it'll probably be harder to get away with that.  Then there's all the accusations of voter fraud.  I have deliberately avoided looking into these articles because they seem overly-complicated and there's no way to trust anybody's statements on the matter.  But that still raises the question, what do you do to investigate?

Thinking about it, you'd have to be able to account for all sides in counting votes to see who is the closest to correct.  If the Democrat victory is by the exact same number of votes as there are dead people and illegal immigrants voting twenty times each, always voting for Democrats, there's probably something to the accusations of voter fraud.  Another problem is the lack of federal funding going to leftist NPOs to help get more votes.

Then there's the fact that Trump is doing everything he can to get MAGA candidates to throw out the RINOs.  Then there's the fact that Democrats are rushing far-left, repulsing a lot of their standard voter base in the process.  And now we get red states doing the same gerrymandering that the blue states are doing and it's working better for them, like it was a weapon that Republicans always had but kept hidden until the right time.

They're doing everything they can to get the MAGA vote out for the mid-terms, hoping to overwhelm the leftist candidates and their supporters.  I don't know what chance there is of success but putting all this stuff together, it looks like an enormous amount of effort and it was planned all the way down the line.  The left certainly can't do that, this could show them how outmatched they are at every level.  Only when they have all the elites and government bureaucrats and media can they even convincingly claim to be large in number.  I would love to see this as coming true to celebrate our nation's 250th anniversary.

State Department to Revoke Passports of ‘Deadbeat’ Parents Who Owe Massive Child Support
May 8, 2026

□ [“Trump Announces Three Day Ceasefire Between Russia and Ukraine To Celebrate ‘Victory Day’"]

Oh how wonderful.  We're all so lucky that Trump has found time to stay involved in this war halfway around the world.  Because he's done so much to help them.  And they already do this every year.  Or they say they'll do that, or something, I don't know.

Of course they're still arguing over this and looking for an excuse to break the ceasefire.  Zelensky is warning foreign leaders about going to Moscow for the celebration, like it's a dangerous place to be and he doesn't recommend it.  For its part, Russia has warned all diplomats to leave Kiev if they do something during the ceasefire.  Threats for the sake of threats or are they actually going to try something.  If these people were white, maybe that would make a difference but otherwise it doesn't matter.  [someone whispers something to me.]  Well I still don't care.

This leads to other problems.  Russian diplomats have been kicked out of Austria.  Who knew they even had relations?  They're being accused of spying.  Russians accused of spying?  What kind of world are we living in where anyone would make that claim?  What next, Austria is getting along with Germany?

Meanwhile Russia is getting ready to finish its conquest of Donetsk.  This was the central point for the whole war and they waited five years go get this far?  I keep saying they've gone slow deliberately since they also have to face Europe and NATO but five years?  It's Russia so I don't expect them to be sensible but what's the point of this delay?  Could have just charge through with full military force years ago, the casualties wouldn't be much different and everyone else would shrug and go on with their day because it's Ukraine, no one cares.  Even fewer care about Donetsk.

Far-Left Charlotte, NC Mayor Vi Lyles Announces Resignation Just Months After Reelection
May 8, 2026

What started me on these series of essays about comic book history was thinking about the use of their characters as corporate intellectual property.  Maybe it was because comics were shady cheap medium, maybe there were other reasons.  I had been thinking about the way their modern corporate masters were trying to push the 'multiverse' in both Marvel and DC movies and, thinking back through comics history, noticed that they had been paying attention to this nearly from the start, tying the concept of 'alternate universes' together with their individual IPs.

This raises obvious questions which probably only lawyers would care enough to answer and also seems most notable to the superhero genre.  If Superman is the star, the one people want to buy comics for - or listen to the radio, watch the movies, by the toys - then what does that make Clark Kent?  By the nature of the story, they're the same person but how does that work legally?

Then there's other aspects of the characters and their supporting cast.  Superboy was legally defined as a separate character, proven when Jerry Siegel was able to keep ownership of him after a lawsuit.  He would immediately turn around and sell Superboy to DC but it still remains, isn't this the same character?  And if not, how so?

Then there's further definitions for the supporting cast.  Lois Lane and Jimmy Olson were popular characters who would go on to be the title characters in their own comic books.  Perry White and Lana Lang did not get that so how do their trademarks be legally distinguished?  Lois and Jimmy comics were still just another Superman title, they didn't go out to live their own lives.  The whole franchise was maintained.  This also applies to the supervillains and other aspects like Krypto or the Daily Planet.  The Legion of Superheroes were created as back-up characters for Superboy but went on to be part of their own large franchise.  It's a valid question how connected they are, legally.  DC would have to figure this out so make use of their IPs.

It's just a guess and I'm not sure how accurate it really was but my early theory was that many DC policies for its IPs had been developed by starting off as two separate companies.  Actually three because for some reason, Detective Comics Incorporated was formed to publish that title.  What little explanations I can find get very iffy very quickly, especially once you notice the founders of DC had connections to William Randolph Hearst media, Tammany Hall and organized crime.  They cranked out material by pulp writers and science fiction founders for an audience of desperate kids.  Then they had the unforeseeable hit that was Superman which made things even bigger.

Superheroes were a cheap and easy way to make use of fantasy and imagination.  Cost as much money to crank out pages of Clark Kent sitting at a desk as it did to show Superman beating up alien species across dozens of planets.  Other artists and publishers so the potential for profit and dug in.  At some point, it would occur to them to start putting these characters together.  Timely had the Sub-Mariner and the Human Torch fighting each other in June-August 1940.  Then in Winter 1940-41, the different DC companies put together the Justice Society.

My early theory was about these companies being separate.  I knew they were close and worked together - they advertised each other's comics - so it was a distinct decision to put their various IPs together in a single title.  My mistake was that Jack Liebowitz had been involved in the founding of all these companies with a high executive rank.  He was still president when DC was purchased by bigger companies and stayed for decades, finally resigning from the Warner Communication board in 1991.  So it wasn't different companies with their own policies and legal departments, it was one guy deciding which day-to-day business decisions could be better handled by which company.

But the control of their IPs would still be relevant, through different companies across different mediums through the years.  The Justice Society would lead to a reboot which led to inspiration for other companies like Marvel.  The influence on corporate intellectual property still holds firm, especially as both companies are desperately spending hundreds of millions of dollars on movies to put these IPs together in hopes that the public will fall for it.  And that was effectively the same goal they had started with.

Maryland Governor Wes Moore Would Allow His Underaged Son to Transition to Female
May 8, 2026

How did the cat learn how to play the fiddle? And tell him to stop, it's making the cow act crazy.

“Muslim Only” Event at Taxpayer-Funded Texas Waterpark Canceled After Threat to Withhold State Grants
May 7, 2026

The official story is that Martin Goodman was golfing with a higher-up at DC who told him about the success they were having with Justice League.  When Goodman went back to the office, he told Stan Lee to do a rip of Justice League and everything followed from there.  Stan Lee has said it the golf game was with Jack Liebowitz, DC's publisher and co-founder.  I'm not sure that was actually established but have found nothing else to go on.  It was mid-1961.

Perhaps it was actually at a meeting of the Comics Code Authority, which both publishers were part of.  Or maybe golfing was just how they handled meetings, chatting about 'saving comics.'  I dunno, maybe it was a demon-worshipping cult.  The point is I don't think was just standard chit-chat on the seventh green.

DC was a huge company that had spread into other media, particularly through selling movie or toy rights to characters like Superman.  Even the lesser characters, someone would probably pay a chunk of money to try developing a production somewhere.  When it failed, the rights returned to the company who could sell them again, a nice source of regular income.

They had also been exploring all the legal problems.  This was a visual medium where its characters had to look the same everywhere.  This helped define them as intellectual property while still allowing for modifications, such as Superman happening to look like George Reeves.  Hollywood studios and actors were also developing rules about their visual images.  Lawyers were paid to get involved in these discussions and make decisions which had nothing to do with creativity.

This could be seen in their eagerness to sue Fawcett Comics for their Captain Marvel book.  It outsold Superman so the only possible reason must be that it was a rip-off of Superman.  DC sued multiple times but never won.  Captain Marvel looked nothing like Superman, his origin was different and just using the same superpower wasn't really a rip-off.  When that failed, another DC lawsuit claimed that a particular Captain Marvel story was a copy of a particular Superman story.  The court ruled that yes it was but DC had waited years to file a lawsuit.

The legal costs, plus the fact that comics were selling less, meant that Fawcett gave up anyway.  They went out of business and, a couple decades later, would sell the Captain Marvel rights to DC.  This would cause its own legal problems with Marvel and become its own example of how IPs can be distorted or destroyed over decades.

As part of the Comics Code, they had also seen the problems with EC Comics in the early-50s.  EC was founded by Max Gaines who was also one of the co-founders of DC Comics but he died and it had been taken over by his son, William Gaines, who produced the comics the company is known for.  They had published more gruesome material which was also a problem for a visual medium.  The US Senate had even started investigating this which is why the Comics Code was formed, although I assume they weren't after comics themselves.

Senator Estes Kefauver (D-TN) spent a long time in Congress going after organized crime, monopolies and juvenile delinquency, so there were reasons to look into the comics industry.  They regularly load trucks with product and send them across state lines for a sleazy industry, sounds like something the federal government would want to investigate.

All of this would have been part of discussions with the Comics Code and probably the golf games with Martin Goodman.  They could even discuss William Gaines giving up on EC and going away with his remaining title, Mad.  He turned it into a magazine but it was still distributed by DC's distributor.  This had all happened just before DC had decided to bring back more superheroes.

The official story is that they just decided to give it a try so they stated with The Flash, then added Green Lantern and Hawkman.  Eventually some of the new characters got together with some of the old and formed an updated version of the Justice Society.  That much make sense, they had been developing the use of IPs in a visual medium for twenty+ years and this just a modern version of putting them together for a regular series.

The part that's hard to figure out is why they needed to reboot any of them.  That's why I cite Flash, Green Lantern and Hawkman as the examples, if you think it's been years since the kids have seen these characters and want to try selling them again, why was it so important to keep the superhero name and the powers but change everything else?  They're fictional characters, you can change them anyway.  Whatever Jay Garrick and Alan Scott's original jobs were, just make them a police scientist and test pilot with new origin stories.

Lots of speculation but I can't figure out the real reason for this.  I do suspect it had more to do with the lawyers making decisions than it had to do with what editor Julius Schwartz has said about making them more 'modern.'  The readers saw them as heroes, role-models, adventurers, fantasies.  The company saw them as intellectual properties that could be connected, interacted and modified as needed for product in other mediums.

All of this was going on and would probably have been topics of discussion in golf games.  Liebowitz was putting out the basics for creating a franchise to a business partner he'd known for years.  I often wonder if this was part of a deliberate plan, perhaps setting up a controlled opposition.  DC had lawyers and distribution, they knew as much about how well Marvel was doing as Goodman did.  Or maybe it was just an experiment and if it fails, only Goodman would be hurt.

So after the golf game, Goodman did not just tell Stan Lee to do a rip-off of Justice League and that's how we get the Fantastic Four.  Because DC had legal muscle, Marvel had to be very careful.  Their first several new characters were quite different from normal superhero archetypes.  I think the plan was to build a franchise from the start, planning multiple titles that were designed to interact with each other.  The Avengers was the real goal, using established characters, and bringing back the most popular of the golden age heroes, most notably Captain America.

There were other characters that did get rebooted but only a few names were reused in the early days.  The Human Torch, the Angel, Black Widow and Electro are the only ones that showed up fairly early as Lee, Kirby and Ditko did their thing.  The Falcon and Vision were in the late-60s.  You could make an argument about Invisible Man but having never heard of him before, I have no clue if that was reused to introduce Sue Storm.

Interestingly, Sub-Mariner was not rebooted.  Maybe it was because his creator Bill Everett was still active in comics and worked at Marvel.  Or maybe it was just a decision that Namor would work better as a villain this time around.  It's also not clear how much thought went into this at the start and how much was developed on-the-fly.  Some thought had to go into how to do a franchise instead of one comic that people liked and built from there.

I haven't made a complete search but while looking into all this stuff, I noted that a number of Marvel titles seemed to do something around issues 4 or 5 which set a new direction for them.  Fantastic Four #4 brought back the Sub-Mariner, the second golden age hero to return after the Torch.  Hulk #5 was Jack Kirby's last issue because the title wasn't selling so no reason to keep him there.  Steve Ditko would be moved in to do short stories that were soon used in one of Marvel's other titles.

Spider-Man #5 featured Doctor Doom, as far as I know the first time a superhero has fought some other IPs villain, unless there were special reasons.  In World's Finest #88 (June/July 1957) Superman and Batman had teamed up to fight Lex Luthor and the Joker, a novelty that had rarely been seen before.  Also another example of putting IPs together.  X-Men #4 had another Sub-Mariner appearance and of course there was Avengers #4.

For a monthly series in the news-stand market, it would take about four or five months to find out how well a book had sold.  I don't know if that translates to bi-monthly comics which was what Marvel produced at the time but if this is the equivalent, it explains why #4 or #5 had events like this.  The title was successful enough to not get cancelled immediately.

Even if it wasn't successful, the company still had options.  As mentioned, the Hulk didn't sell.  But Green Man was still rampaging around the Marvel Universe, useful as a giant monster.  He would appear in Fantastic Four #12 in March 1963, the same month his final issue came out.  He would be a central plot-point for founding the Avengers under Loki's influence - used in the 2012 movie - but left the team the following issue.

Marvel would have their first official multi-part story in Fantastic Four #25-26 where the FF fought the Avengers over the Hulk, just a couple months before Spider-Man ran into him during his first battle with the Green Goblin.  In Avengers #16, the old members would leave and be replaced, while Iron Man's final speech to Cap was about finding the Hulk.  Those weren't even his only appearances in the early days, I'm just citing the issues I've read which stuck out to me.  Like the Sub-Mariner, like the Human Torch, like Spider-Man, these were characters used specifically to meet other characters, tying the IPs together as a franchise.

All of this centered around that golf game.  There was the build-up of DCs characters, leading to the Silver Age and the Justice League.  Then there was the Marvel Age which some of us are still living through, good or bad.  And DC had to make it official in comics, having the Silver Age Flash meet the Golden Age Flash in "The Flash of Two Worlds."  The cover-date for that story was September 1961, two months before that 'rip-off of the JLA.'

I'm not remotely interested in numerology and know nothing about it, but even I see something relevant here.  Flash #123 Fantastic 4???  I can't be the only person who's noticed this.  This looks like a crucial element in establishing a multiverse of corporate IPs and I definitely think that was discussed during the golf game.

Federal Trade Court Strikes Down Trump Backup Tariff Plan
May 7, 2026

□ [“Absolute Chaos Erupts as Tennessee Passes New Congressional Map"]

They're bonkers.  That's all they are.  We are definitely in Civil War 2.0 and I'm surprised they didn't have any men-with-guns on their side.  The guards had to drag protesters out of the House, they're yelling how this is "evil."  These are the established laws of the state, just like California is doing.  They're just showing that *some people* aren't capable of recognizing this.  All they can do is go crazy and recite leftist propaganda.

Strange how only one skin-color needs special congressional districts for themselves.  They aren't capable of competing elsewhere like hispanics or asians.  The 'blacks-only' Memphis district that's being taken apart by this new map is represented in Congress by a white male, that's how far they've fallen.  And these politicians are just showing what an elite class they are by obsessing over this instead of real problems that real people are having.

To have any chance of stopping this, they're going to need obedient judges.  There's clearly nothing that's against Tennessee law so a normal lawsuit won't do anything.  And what other options do they have?  Behaving like this in public?  That won't work.  Otherwise, maybe they can call China and Iran for help.  Just remember, whatever options they have, Republicans in California have them too.

Biden-Paroled Illegal Alien Sexually Assaulted Elderly Women at Wisconsin Nursing Home
May 7, 2026

□ [“US and Iran Exchange Fire in the Strait of Hormuz – US Intercepts Iranian Attacks on 3 Navy Ships"]

Nice little ceasefire you have here, shame if something should happen to it.  I'm guessing no one even pretends there's still a ceasefire, official statements by Trump and Centcom didn't even mention it.  I guess I'm surprised that Iran has any ships to send out although now they have a few less.  For some reason they're not using drones or missiles.  Might be a tactical reason, maybe they're all being aimed at UAE so they're not available.

Someone in the CIA leaked a report to the media, saying Iran still has lots of weapons left and can survive this blockade for several months.  There's the obvious issue of treachery but what evidence does anybody have that this is accurate?  Four unnamed people "familiar with the document" say so, that doesn't actually mean it's true.

One thing that doesn't seem to get much attention is that a lot of leaders, particularly leftists, are surrounded by people who tell them what they want to hear.  Yes, that means a big worry about Trump too but my question here is more about whoever's left to be in charge of Iran.  Tell them they're still fully armed or risk being purged.  I have a similar question about Saddam Hussein and I've heard contradictory explanations from higher-ups who were in Iraq at the start of that war.  It wasn't so much that Saddam did or didn't have WMDs, it's that he believed he did because that's what his people told him.  Iran's rulers are in a similar situation now.

But we're still in the 'waiting game,' wondering how long this will last.  Reportedly Iran accidentally hit a Chinese ship.  If true, it means they aren't very good at their job although I assume China will accept the damage for the time being.  Like Congress, they're staying mostly quiet about this.

18-Year-Old Black Male Sprays 80+ Bullets at Oklahoma Campground, Killing Teen Girl, Injuring 22
May 7, 2026

□ [“Kamala Harris Wants Democrats to Release 2024 Campaign Autopsy Report"]

This could be funny.  I'm guessing she wants it released because she didn't get to see the report.  It was hidden from the public and that includes her.  She's still hoping to run for POTUS again and just wants some tips.  She doesn't think there's any chance that it'll say anything bad about her.

This means the party's internal conflicts will start becoming public.  I'm not sure how many real supporters Harris has but she must have some, at least in the media.  Some people really want to know what went so wrong to install her, others really want to keep that secret.  There are probably also people who aren't that attached to either side but could say 'just release it' or insist that it's all in the past so just forget it.

Then there's the donors, they're probably have something to say too.  How did she spend so much money in barely three months that she wound up in debt?  They'd like an answer before they give any more money and are not encouraged by the leftists loudly demanding to seize all the wealth.  If the party wants their help in upcoming elections, they'll need to answer some questions.  But those answers won't just attack Harris, it'll go after the whole *woke* agenda the party has pushed, showing that voters don't want that.

Just a guess but I'd assume this won't go anywhere, not in public anyway.  Behind closed doors, someone will finally get enough pull to shut the others up so they conform to whatever the party's next step is.  I assume they'll continue being obnoxiously leftist but I'm just a pessimist.  There's probably at least a small chance they'll start doing a 180, even if it comes off like blatant lies.  We see that now with how they *love* the America Trump is destroying.

But this is another iceberg waiting for the Democrat ship to crash into it.  There are members speaking out to insist the party stop this, a small number but slowly growing.  Then there's the wave of pro-abortion/pro-trans ads on social media, not to mention the increased violence of leftist protestors.  These problems will build through the summer and fall, getting ready for the mid-terms.  No idea what the results will be but those will show how the party will need to prepare for 2028.  Because Trump is a dictator or something.

Rutgers Cancels Anti-Israel Graduation Speaker After Students Threaten to Boycott
May 7, 2026

I thought Ted Turner died in 'Nam! No? Then who did Jane Fonda kill there?

May 6, 2026  Ted Turner, leftist billionaire, CNN founder, Captain Planet, married to Jane Fonda, age 87
Norway Reopens North Sea Gas Fields, Will Sell Output to ‘Net-Zero’ Britain Who Won't Get Its Own
May 6, 2026

□ [“FBI Raids Office of Virginia’s Democrat Senate President Pro Tem Over Major Corruption Probe"]

She's in her 80s and has been in the Virginia Senate since I was in high school.  Apparently the FBI investigation has gone on for a few years.  We don't know what the investigation was about but the raid included the next-door cannabis store.  Several people were arrested there.

The Virginia governor was asked for her opinion of this happening to her ally and her response was actually sensible.  This was a big deal and she would wait until more information became public before commenting.  In other words, she knows what this is about and clearly understands that she needs to keep quiet.  She probably has an opinion already but the rest of us haven't been filled in so it doesn't matter.

We are getting reports about something being done by law enforcement.  In Tennessee, a House member ran a Political Action Committee which scammed its donors and gave at least part of the money to the Kamala Harris campaign.  Harris promoted that PAC as it listed offices which didn't exist, its phone number was fake and it did a bad job reporting to the Federal Election Commission.  Harris may have no clue what's going on but she claimed to be a responsible leader.

I ignore a lot of these investigations because there still hasn't been many arrests.  As much as I complain about that, I will admit that there is the impression that law enforcement is going through a maze.  But the problem is still there.  These people are looting taxpayer money and getting away with it.  Trump gets a lot of support just because he's the only Republican willing to actually do anything after years of promises but we still aren't getting any meaningful results.

Three-Times Deported Illegal Alien from Honduras Beats New York Man Unconscious, Rapes Him
May 6, 2026

□ [“Scared Nick Shirley Makes Insurance Video Hiding From Cuban Intelligence In Havana Hotel Room"]

95% certain this is a fake or a set-up of some sort.  For all the applause this kid has gotten for exposing leftist fraud, this is just stupid.  First of all, why would you go to Cuba?  You couldn't find a lion's den to spend a few weeks in?  You think your pale white skin will just blend in and the government will never notice you, the government that does a very good job spying on its own people?

The Cuban government knows where he is, if they wanted him they'd take him.  He makes sure to announce that he's in one of the hotels that has 24/7 electricity.  Not many of those.  Oh but he has two security guards.  So what?  Dude, you're on an island.  You will not escape without government permission.  That is very well-known knowledge without going all the way to Cuba first and then finding out.

Then there's other issues.  Does he speak Spanish?  With a Cuban accent?  That's going to be hard to hide from the government if he really wants to pretend that's what he's doing.  Then there's just the idiocy of doing this.  'Exposed fraud in Minneapolis, exposed fraud in California, I guess going to Cuba is next on the to-do list.'  I'm not buying it.  That's where the 95% chance this is a set-up comes from, the other 5% is that he really is this stupid.

If I had a real reason to go to Cuba?  Like I found a huge oil reserve right there or it was the one place on earth that desperately needed to learn my religion or I was obsessed with this hot Cuban chick who'd been sexting me?  My first step would be to contact the US government - or whatever country I fall under - or the leaders of my religion.  I'm going *here,* I will arrive on this date at this time, what can I do to advance your goals so that you'll pay attention to me and, if something goes wrong, try to get me back?  That's why I think it's most-likely that he's doing this on behalf of the Trump administration.  No idea why, it still sounds stupid, but there he is.

300 Federal Agents Descend on LA’s MacArthur Park in Massive Raid Targeting Mexican Drug Cartels
May 6, 2026

Marvel Comics had always been connected to the distribution field and connected to other companies.  Not just in the obvious way, delivering comics to the news-stands, founder Martin Goodman started out in distribution, working for Louis Silberkleit who would later co-found Archie Comics.  The company they worked for went bankrupt in 1932 so they formed a new distribution company.  They also started publishing pulp magazines the following year.

When superhero comics became popular, they got in on it too, officially the start of Marvel with "Marvel Comics #1," starting the Human Torch and the Sub-Mariner.  It was popular enough to keep going so Goodman started doing more comics.  It's never been clear how his businesses were organized or which books were published by which company.  Publishing in New York City was quite rambunctious back in those days but for convenience, historians have called all of it "Timely Comics."  Soon they would add Captain America but Goodman's companies would publish pulp magazines and novels, girly magazines, a wide range of printed works that was usually considered second-rate at best.

Despite being founded by a distributor, Timely did not have its own distribution.  They worked through other parties, most notably the American News Company.  The comics were also wide-range, flooding the market with copies of whatever was popular.  This was back before "comic books" and "superheroes" weren't used as interchangeable terms.

After the war, comics sales started going down.  Goodman tried to get back into distribution by starting his own company.  There was also a number of changes which don't make much sense, trying to organize his dozens of shell-companies under a Red Circle - the unofficial name - and it's not clear why he was bothering with this.  Or why he'd started so many companies in the first place.

He tried to boost sales by bringing back Captain America, Sub-Mariner and the Torch with this new distributor but it failed quickly.  Their titles had only been canceled a few years before and there wasn't a new generation of kids looking for this kind of thing.  It would still be a few years before DC did something similar with the Flash, Green Lantern and Hawkman to start the Silver Age of Comics.

"Red Circle" isn't the only name used for this era, most comics historians call it "Atlas," after the distributor's name and, I think, this was generally considered the comics publisher as well.  I got into comics when the direct market was already established and growing so it's quite mysterious how any really determined sales in the news-stand market.  After several months, the news stands would rip off the covers and return the comics they didn't sell for a refund - the cover-date indicates when the books can be returned - but there seems to be ways things could go wrong.

But despite Goodman's experience, his distributor only lasted a few years.  His publishing company, of which Timely/Atlas/Marvel was only one small asset, would continue for another decade until he sold it in 1968 but with the distributor failure in 1956, he needed another option.  First he turned to American News Company but they were immediately shut down by a Justice League Department investigation.

I just cannot see that timing as a coincidence.  Was Goodman working with the Feds?  Or was he a dupe who helped them get in without knowing about it?  ANC  owned a lot of news stands and this was considered 'restraint of trade,' similar to how movie studios don't own theaters.  But as an enormous distributor, it just vanished.  And Goodman was back to needing help.

This is yet-another of the details that just makes no sense.  Why did Goodman need to keep Marvel operating?  And at this point it is generally considered to be where "Marvel Comics" as we know it started but as seen, your mileage may vary on that.  Goodman was rich, he was still publishing tons of crap magazines and books, why did he work to keep Marvel going?  Maybe he hoped for some big success like Superman but it had been almost twenty years and his biggest hit, Captain America, had bombed at Atlas.

There's no evidence or anything to speculate on, but the only thing I can think of was that he was just willing to give Stan Lee a job.  In the early-40s, his wife's cousin Stanley Lieber had been given a job as an office toady in the early-40s, cleaning up, doing whatever tasks were needed.  With others quitting or being fired, he had quickly been promoted to editor and had stayed ever since.  It still doesn't make any sense but what other reason would Goodman have to keep the comics business going, especially in that dying market?

[Even stranger, he stayed at Marvel as publisher for a few years after he had sold it.  Then he left and founded a new comics company, also called "Atlas."  He would show better business deals, offering creator royalties for their titles, so he did get a bunch of big names working for him, but it immediately failed.  Despite having his fingers across the print medium and distribution, comic books seem to be what he devoted himself too.  When this company failed after a year, he effectively vanished from public sight and died in 1992.]

So needing to keep Stan employed for some reason and having lost the biggest distributor in the US, he turned to DC Comics.  In the mid-1930s, they had been founded by people who owned a distribution company.  The comics just brought in extra cash, at least until Superman exploded.  The comics market was shrinking by the mid-50s but Superman was still popular in cartoons, tv shows, toys.  I'm not sure how popular Batman was at this point but he was still there while the other superheroes had faded away.  In short, DC was doing very well and not only in comics.  And now a competitor was asking them for help.

I've always wondered why they would help Marvel the way they did.  They didn't really need the extra books on the stands.  Perhaps this was more about personal relationships between the publishers.  Many of them had started off in 1920s-30s NYC publishing and distribution so they knew each other.  Many were also part of the Comics Code Authority.  They may officially be there to keep comics 'safe for children' but there would be time to discuss other shared interests.  This may be where Goodman had something to offer DC.

So what remained of Marvel was now distributed by Independent News, the company which founded DC Comics.  Not wanting to help a competitor too much, Marvel was limited to eight titles a month.  I have not done a full check but as far as I know, Marvel titles were all bi-monthly so it was sixteen different titles being published at any one time.  I've heard even that was a bit iffy, sometimes a seventeenth title might slip by and nobody said anything.  I've heard that Fantastic Four #1 was an example of that happening.

It's also been noted that at this point, Stan Lee was reaching middle-age.  He wanted to be a great writer but had really gone nowhere.  He would make a few small attempts to break out of the comics business, nothing that got any attention.  His life was going nowhere, as popular as he might be at work or home.  The best that could be said was that, now that he wasn't rushing to churn out dozens of comics every single month, he had more time to focus on what could be done with the remaining eight books and how to develop them.

Korean Humanoid Robot Gabi ‘Converts’ to Buddhism and Becomes a Monk
May 6, 2026

□ [“Minnesota Mayors Clash With Tim Walz, Refuse to Fly New State Flag"]

This has several aspects which are relevant.  The new flag, established last December, is very similar to the Somali flag.  This is picking out one group to be pandered to among the entire citizenry.  By an amazing coincidence, this group gets large amounts of taxpayer-money through fraud.  They also need to be reminded of their true home, Somalia, instead of the country they moved to and are supposedly integrating with.

From there, it's the basic conflict of nationalism.  You can blame Somalians specifically since they're relevant here but this is part of the argument over immigration.  I don't have a hard argument either way, I tend to agree that because America is superior, it really is the sort of nation that immigrants can move to and become part of the citizenry.  I'm not committed this this belief and there are certainly solid arguments against it, but they have to actually become part of our country.  Otherwise it's no different than an invasion taking over, which is what we see here.

□ [“Minnesota Dems Block Fraud Committee on Ilhan Omar’s Role in $250M Covid Fund Scam"]

This is installing the protected class, the new elites who run our lives and help themselves to our money.  They're not even trying to hide it.  If anything, they want everyone to see that they're defying their federal government, as well as their own citizens who don't fall into this class.  Perhaps they will break the US apart but they won't be among the groups that survive.  The ones who insist on starting a civil war like this rarely are.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) Admits to Working with Foreign Countries to Aid Cuba and Defy Trump
May 6, 2026

If there was only some place on the internet I could post my deepest of thoughts. But there isn't. So what's on tv tonight?

Romanian Globalist Government Collapses After Losing No-Confidence Vote in Parliament
May 5, 2026

□ [“Barack Obama:  Trump Has Caused 'Genuine Tension' in My Marriage to Michelle"]

But Trump's not actually in the Obama marriage or any part of their household.  That's one of the things about building a strong marriage, whoever's POTUS isn't really going to cause any problems with it.  Is there something Obama would like to be telling us about this?

If nothing else, a strong relationship would help people rely on each other when times are bad.  In a weak relationship, one party might be encouraged to run away from the other, trying to save themselves.  Is Obama sure there's nothing he could be informing us about?  Well, maybe he's not aware of it and that's what Michelle is hiding from him.  Because that's how their marriage has always worked.

Obama is trying to find a way to get involved in public events.  The problem is he was never good at it anyway, when he had the most authority, popularity and experience.  Ten years ago, he was almost gone and people were already preparing for Hillary, he was already an afterthought.  And he never built anything else, I'd have to check but I think being POTUS was the longest he's ever held a job in his life.

I don't think this has anything to do with Michelle, she's just an excuse to pretend he really cares about something.  So much that she doesn't want him involved.  Yeah, this really doesn't hold up to any serious thought and it's not like he has any way to appeal to people that he didn't have eighteen years ago.  It's gone downhill ever since.

Over 300,000 Signatures Collected, Alberta Call on Premier To Trigger Referendum To Leave Canada
May 5, 2026

□ [“UAE Says Iran Launched Drone and Missile Attacks for the Second Consecutive Day"]

Ok, but

□ [“Trump Pauses ‘Project Freedom’ to Finalize Agreement with Iran – Blockade to Remain in Force"]

These don't go together.  Trump says Pakistan and other unnamed countries are the ones asking for this.  This looks good and bad.  One the one hand, Iran's neighbors obviously have to get involved, it's their problem too.  But on the other hand, I'm not really sure they consider themselves nations, they're just checking some required boxes the west imposed on them.  They could be very helpful in solving the problem but they also are very tied to Iran and tribal connections so there's no way anybody's going to fix that, much less Trump in the next three years.

Something about the rhetoric has changed.  Democrats still aren't speaking up about Iran.  It's not just that we've passed the 60-day deadline for Trump and they're informed on what's really going on.  Just the fact that Iran is still firing at their neighbors shows an issue that can't be ignored.  Iran can do this and is willing to do this, what's the incentive of sucking up to them so that they'll stop doing it?  They fired rockets at Britain when this started two months ago, do you want to hold off and give them more time to increase their military strength and range?

Trump has destroyed Iran's military, took down the Ayatollah and, at least economically, has walled them off from the rest of the world.  It's a really good way to handle this but it means we're all sitting around and waiting, we're not even the ones under siege.  And I'm really not comfortable with Pakistan playing a major role in this.

Secret Service Officer Arrested For Exposing Himself in Miami Hotel Hallway
May 5, 2026

It's long been noted that the Fantastic Four was very similar to the Challengers of the Unknown, Jack Kirby's last big title for DC comics.  They're both teams of adventure of exploration.  It's understandable that Kirby would develop something like this when trying to help Marvel with its financial problems.

But my theory is that there was a change going on in how an intellectual property was defined, particularly in visual mediums such as comics.  Most notably with Captain Marvel, DC had shown that they were very willing to sue anyone they claimed to be doing a rip-off of their property, even when it clearly wasn't.  Yet the Fantastic Four had no such problems coming from one of DC's competitors.

There were some specific requirements to ripping off an intellectual property and getting away with it.  I don't know when or how these were defined or modified but the FF certainly met that requirement.  The Challs were all male and didn't have superpowers, right there was enough to qualify as new characters that even DC couldn't sue over.  'Change the name, the costume and a few details,' that's enough to pass legal threats.

As to why the Challengers were the subject of this rip-off, Kirby was certainly interested in stories about exploration, even tying it to the space age.  It was also the last hit book he had before moving over to Marvel.  But it was the late 1950s so other changes were going on which might be entirely a coincidence, but Kirby's work showed that he was connected to them.

To explain that, we need to move off to the side.  Shortly after starting Challengers in 1957, Kirby also made an attempt to break away from the comic book industry with a newspaper strip in 1958, Sky Masters, about astronauts.  The strip failed, mainly because of legal complications between the co-creators, specifically Jack Schiff.

Schiff had been an artist and editor for DC since the early days, his first work was on early issues of Batman and was involved in creating known characters like Starman and Tommy Tomorrow or aspects of those characters like the Bat-Signal.  He would become the editor of Superman and Batman as well as adaptations of other media such as radio shows.  He was interested in science fiction and with control over the Bat and Super titles, he would be very involved in these characters' roles in other media.  Tv, movies, cartoons, toys, international editions and more.  Whether he was the genius who came up with everything or just the messenger repeating what he was told, all the new developments in Intellectual Property by DC Comics went through him.

He was not behind the rebooting of golden age characters like the Flash or Green Lantern but they would lead to the reboot of the Justice Society, now renamed as the Justice League, with Superman and Batman as founding members.  Different IPs are put together in the same title, even new versions of the characters.  Schiff had also been editor from the start when Superboy got his own title, after DC had purchased it from creator Jerry Siegel.  So Schiff knew when and how a company acquired ownership of IPs, a judge had ruled that Superboy was a distinct character from Superman, which DC already owned.

So with a career already pushing twenty years at DC, Schiff sued Jack Kirby, claiming he was co-creator of Sky Masters.  Looking into all the legal troubles gets complicated very quickly, so the short version is that Schiff said he was entitled to ongoing royalties for the strip and a judge agreed.  So DC already knew how royalties worked although it would be a couple decades before they started paying those to their own employees who created profitable work.

This shows some of the ideas that were happening at the time in a visual medium, and that's not counting any influence they were getting from Hollywood or anywhere else.  The Fleischer Superman cartoons, the Batman movie serial, the George Reeves Superman tv show, these all had their part in how DC handled their IPs and may explain why they were so willing to sue other companies that did anything remotely resembling their property.

So after the lawsuit, Kirby could no longer get work at DC.  He had to look for some other employer to bring in money to feed his family.  There were other options, I'm not sure why Marvel is the one he went with.  Perhaps they were the only place that would hire him.  He did return to DC a few years after Schiff had retired.

Sky Masters was finally cancelled in early 1961, which would be a couple months before he started working on Fantastic Four.  And even that came about because Marvel's publisher had the great idea of doing a rip-off of Justice League.  I really don't think Kirby was the total center of everything that was happening here but from creator's rights to company IPs to space adventures, it all does seem to have been circling around him.

And that's not even getting into the amount of authority DC had over Marvel.  As distributor and with potential lawsuits, they had as much knowledge and control as possible without actually owning the company.  And by extension, profited off of Jack Kirby's work when the company wouldn't even hire him.

DOJ Dropped Charges For Cory Booker Staffer Who Brought Gun Into Capitol Without a License
May 5, 2026

□ [“Man Accused of Starting Palisades Fire Was Obsessed With Leftist Ideas"]

His private journals and internet searches are indistinguishable from what we see on leftists sites or media.  They're all into this, some are just more capable of going through with it than others.  He also wanted to kill billionaires, that's no different than wanting to kill Trump.  There's the same thing with a Federal Aviation Administration employee in New Hampshire who was just arrested for doing internet searches on his work computer about 'how to kill Trump.'

This is just running all the way across the social ladder.  A magistrate judge just apologized to the attempted Trump assassin for the way he's being treated in prison, with no evidence there's anything wrong.  It's clear she sides with the wanna-be assassin and it's not even clear if she's the judge in his case.  If she is, she'll obviously set him free, like all these other judges releasing violent criminals so they can do it again.

I'm trying to figure out specific parallels with pandering for death but someone recently made a point about liberal accusations of "racism."  This poster compared to experiments with monkeys, where they get a treat for pushing a button.  Then at some point, the treat is stopped, as most people are sick and tired of being called "racist" for disagreeing with liberals.  The monkey's reaction is to push the button a lot more, which is what the left is doing here.  Something about this mindset seems to link directly to the advocates of violence getting louder and louder while ignoring their own part of the problem.

Florida AG Demands Impeachment of Judge Who Freed Pedophile Who Murdered 5-Year-Old Weeks Later
May 5, 2026

You don't need to see his identification. These are not the power converters you're looking for. You should go to Tosche Station.

I could feel the love tonight but I choose not to.
British HMS Iron Duke Is Retired, Only Five Frigates Left To Defend the Island
May 4, 2026

It's nine o'clock on a Saturday
The regular crowd shuffles in
There's an old man sitting next to me
I think everyone calls him "old Ben."

He says "Son, can you get me a fast ship?
I'm not really sure how this goes
I've got credits to pay" then his hand waves away
And somehow everyone knows

La, la-la, di-dee-da
La-la, di-dee-da da-dum

Sing us a song, the jizzwailer band
Sing us a song tonight
Well we all have to deal with the empire
And look for excuses to fight

Now Han is a freighter ship pilot
As dashing as anyone can get
But he shows no respect
And his ship is a wreck
And he always seems drowning in debt

He says "this time I know it'll work for me!
This time I'll finally get paid
I can finally start taking my own orders
And be more than twelve parsecs away"

Oh, la, la-la, di-dee-da
La-la, di-dee-da da-dum

Now the Tuskans are hunting for victims
And the Jawas are looking to sell
Everyone has a task
And they all wear a mask
And feel like they're living in hell

And Greedo is searching for someone
And Chewy is trying to avoid
They all might be cut
By Jabba the Hut
But at least no one brought in a droid

[Chorus]

It's a pretty good crowd for a Saturday
But Imperials are lurking around
There's drinks and there's crime
We're just taking up time
Watching the twin suns go down

But the band will keep playing forever
As the audience looks for a fight
Two guys stare at me
And don't like what they see
I guess more will be dying tonight

Oh, la, la-la, di-dee-da
La-la, di-dee-da da-dum

Taxpayer-Funded Texas Waterpark Announces “Muslim Only” Day – “Dress in Accordance with Islamic Values,” Serve Only Halal Meat
May 4, 2026

□ [“US Sinks Seven Iranian Small Boats Harassing Cargo Ships in the Strait of Hormuz"]

Well that was quick.  It was a nice ceasefire we had .  Then Trump announced that, since no one else was going to it, we'd protect ships in the strait and so Iran started going after them.  This does provide a nice view to the world of what US protection actually means.  I support the US as 'world policeman' but that's not to say other nations couldn't be protecting themselves.

Iran even fired missiles at the UAE, hitting a 'fuel facility.'  Now how do you get to that, being so mad at the US that you strike someone who isn't the US?  They probably qualify as an ally but not exactly a close one.  In some ways, this seems so planned that you could argue Iran is working with Trump.  They'd been able to make it through the ceasefire this far and then it was over.

It'll be interesting to know if Trump can restart the 60 days or if there are other rules in place for situations like this.  Haven't heard anybody in Congress speak out, especially Democrats.  This supports my theory that they were all informed about this so if the choice is being honest about this to their voters or ignoring it altogether, they'll pick the latter every time.

Iran is saying all ships trying to go through the strait must clear it with them first.  Trump says he's ready to wipe Iran off the face of the earth.  I didn't see a specific quote so I'm not sure how he phrased it but I'm sure you get the point.  And it's Trump so it's not like he hasn't said these things before.

Los Angeles City Councilman Wants Illegals to be Able to Vote in City Elections
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□ [“Trump Warns US Will Cut ‘Much Further’ Than 5,000 Troops in Germany"]

Another aspect of the war.  Maybe in several years, we can really look at all the different parts going on.  I still worry that Trump is more interested in negotiations than in the results.  He has decades of experience so he's very good at it but the goal should be more important.  That's just a generic comment, he's got the advantage over Europe.

Germany, and probably the rest of Europe, is trying to figure out what to do.  They really thought they could just degrade the US and nothing would change.  The PM of Poland has spoken up that NATO is disintegrating.  They're the ones who put themselves in this situation so they'd better start working on a way to fix things.  I would love to think that this is where sensible European politicians can call out for those who will fight for their countries and that means the EU is one of the enemies.

It's not clear what will be done with the troops who are taken out.  It's also a valid question what authority the POTUS has for this.  Commander-in-chief, sure, but Congress must have been part of deciding what countries to send how many troops to.  I assume there's a goal being aimed towards here, not just pissing off Europe, but it's not clear what that could be.

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One clue that Spider-Man was always intended to be the center of the Marvel franchise is to look at how their other new characters were designed.  The Fantastic Four was obviously the starting point.  It's generally realized that there were just another version of Jack Kirby's Challengers of the Unknown but ignore that and just look at the team as the new stars of Marvel comics, supposedly bringing back the superhero genre.

But there were some notable differences.  Other superheroes have secret identities, this team didn't.  The whole world knew who Reed, Sue, Johnny and Ben were.  Superheroes are supposed to have costumes but the FF didn't get theirs until #3.  There's usually a love interest but it was very minimal here.  Reed and Sue were not an attractive couple for a while.  Ben wouldn't meet Alicia until #8 and it would take even longer for Johnny to get his first girlfriend, Dorrie.

Then there's the lack of supervillains.  There were none.  Even Dr. Doom's first appearance, his goal was to send the FF back in time to steal from pirates.  That's not the Dr. Doom we know.  The FF fought monsters, aliens and Russians, nobody who just robbed a bank with their super powers.

The Hulk was a monster book, the difference being that the monster was the title character so he couldn't be killed or even defeated at the end of each issue.  Other than the FF, he was the only Marvel character to start off in his own title until the X-Men and Daredevil.  Everybody else started off in the anthology books.  And Hulk didn't sell so after the series was cancelled, he would be moved to one of those.

Thor was probably based on Jack Kirby's interest in mythology although it would be a while before it was really shown in the series.  He and the Hulk did have secret identities but as completely separate people.  My guess is that at least one reason was just needing to avoid the 'Superman wearing glasses' stereotype.  They also had love interests but very stereotypical, to the point where one gets the impression Lee and Kirby weren't remotely interested in this, they just felt obligated to include a female character like this.

Ant-Man was a very strange example.  Technically he was the second Marvel superhero character, his first appearance cover-dated January 1962.  Fantastic Four #1 was cover-dated November 1961 and Hulk #1 was May 1962.  But Ant-Man's second appearance wasn't until September 1962, a month after Spider-Man's first appearance in Amazing Fantasy #15.

If he was such a good idea for a character, why did it take so long to bring him back?  And why did it happen the same time they're putting out this other 'bug character'?  There's no answer for this and it just seems bizarre.  Just a theory and there's still no explanation, but I wonder if publisher Martin Goodman had something to do with it.  Stan Lee always took as much credit as he could and I have no clue where I saw this, but I would swear that at least once or twice, he cited Goodman as the one who wanted Ant-Man to return.  This would explain why Kirby did it, otherwise he had no interest in Ant-Man at all.  And Stan would just be following the boss's command, if he wants Ant-Man back, so does Stan.

He didn't have a love-interest either, it would be months before the Wasp shows up.  He didn't have a secret identity either, he was an arrogant scientist who made it known that he'd found a way to shrink himself and talk to ants.  Looking at that sentence, it doesn't look something creative people would be interested in so it probably wasn't Stan and Jack pushing this.

None of them fought super villains, they fought aliens, monsters and Russians.  They really didn't have costumes either.  The Hulk was his costume, Ant-Man was just wearing his suit he had built and Thor dressed the way all his people dress.  So none of them were really following the standard superhero model.

Then there's Spider-Man who was supposed to be different from all the other superheroes.  Did he have a secret identity?  Yep.  Did he wear a costume?  Yep.  Did he have a love interest?  Not for a while but the kids at school and Aunt May filled in the story requirements.  Did he fight supervillains?  The Vulture, Doc Ock, Sandman, Doc Doom, the Lizard, Electro, Mysterio, Green Goblin and Kraven, just in the first 15 issues.

So despite what Marvel was promoting, he was actually the most stereotypical new character they had up to that point.  I still can't figure out how or why they intended him to be the center of the franchise but this looks very deliberate.  They might just have been looking for a way to appeal to teenage readers, that certainly makes sense.  But whatever it was, Jack Kirby didn't see a way to make that work so Marvel would turn to its other main artist.

Putin Announces Victory Day Truce for May 8 and 9 - Russia Will Strike Kiev if Ukraine Disrupts Celebrations
May 4, 2026

□ [“Eric Swalwell Sent Pervy Videos of Himself to Various Women Online"]

Here's someone we haven't expected to hear from again.  I don't think it's been even a month since he was one of the most popular Democrats out there.  But the tables have turned.  Now it's coming out that he's been posting sexual videos of himself in online discussions.  It's not clear how many of the women actually consented to these vids but even if the answer was 'none of them,' they sure waited a while to speak out about it.

This also raises another issue, members of Congress are, at least in theory, important people.  They have access to classified information so aren't they being watched over 24-7 for this kind of thing?  Or can he really just put out sensitive info on a sexchat and the government will only find out later?  Seems like a really bad way to handle this.  Which leads me to wonder how many other members of Congress do this sort of thing if nobody is paying attention to them.

Or even worse, people are paying attention to them.  If we're lucky, it's the American security forces.  Or it could be China, Russia, Epstein's successors.  But no matter who it is, they'd have a lot of opportunities for blackmail.  You'd think someone in the media could ask current members of Congress how many of people are enjoying the same sort of thing Swalwell does and if there are any plans to fix this problem.  But then we'd get into how many in the media are doing this too.  It really does get disturbing how far down the line this goes.

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Towson University Hosts Second “Drag” Event In Slightly Over A Month
May 3, 2026

I told my cat he's racist and he just ignored me. I don't think this insult is working anymore.

She left the toilet seat down again.  Gonna need to remind her that she's the one who's oppressed.

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May 3, 2026

In 2023, Guns'n'Roses was sued by Katarina Benzova, a photographer for the band.  The main point was that the band claimed ownership of her photography with no written consent, but also the sexual harassment by Fernando Lebeis, the band's manager.  The band has countersued and on January 29 and 30, Axl and Lebeis testified in court.  That testimony was released to the public recently.  I have barely glanced at Fernando's testimony and am only partway through Axl's but there are some interesting things to note here.

The lack of written deals is the most surprising and disturbing.  Never mind the tours and marketing, or any other deals made by the band, Axl's mansions would require too much maintenance, written contracts would be required just to keep track of all the money being spent.  This means Benzova will win regarding ownership of her photographs.  They can pay her as much as they want, if there's no signed paperwork giving them ownership, there's nothing to go on.  This is why sane companies require written contracts, saying 'we own this.'

Since they have no defense, I assume the band will give in or, more likely, offer her tons of money to get complete ownership.  I don't know how the sexual harassment part of the lawsuit will go, most likely they'll pay her off there too to shut her up, but we'll see.  But all of this is making the band look more like a cult surrounding Axl than anything else, especially since they can't be bothered to put down written documents.

I've read roughly a third of Axl's testimony and he seems almost proud of announcing how ignorant he is on basic business details.  In 1998 - I can't find a specific date but it seems to have been around then - he founded Black Frog, a company to handle managing the band.  He is listed as the CEO, the CFO, the secretary and the director.  You'd think that would provide a lot of knowledge about how the business works, or at least the business he's in charge of.  You would be wrong.

He is asked about various companies falling under the Black Frog name.  He is testifying under oath and his answers show how little he knows.  I have simplified the text for convenience but it is copy-and-pasted from the official release:

Q:  Are you the principal of Gundam Productions, LLC?
A:  I believe so.
Q:  Are you the director of Waterhead International, Incorporation?
A:  I believe so.
Q:  Are you the manager of Gundam Marketing, LLC?
A:  I believe so.
Q:  Do you own the company?
A:  As far as I know.
Q:  Are you the chief executive officer of Black Frog Touring, Inc.?
A:  Possibly.
Q:  Are you the chief financial officer of Black Frog Music?
A:  I don't know.
Q:  Are you the holder of Guns N' Roses trademark?
A:  I believe so.
Q:  Do all the entities, Gundam, Waterhead, Black Frog, Gundam Touring, do they share the same principal place of business at 5950 Canoga Avenue, Suite 510, Woodland Hills, California 91367?
A:  Can I ask a question?  Is that my accountant's? [address]

He is then shown a copy of the California Secretary of State document listing him in charge of these companies at that address.  He's not even bothered by this, he simply has no reason to pay attention to things like this.  Yet he's in charge.  Fernando is the official manager, Axl has no clue if or how Fernando is paid for this job.  He's asked who owns the Guns'n'Roses catalogue and has to guess.  Might be him and Slash and Duff, might be them with Geffen Records or Geffen may own it all.  Because ownership of the Appetite for Destruction songs isn't worth keeping track of.

I'm less than halfway through Axl's testimony but what I've read so far is just more of this.  This is the first real "interview" Axl has done in public for decades.  He did some minimal internet chats for the Chinese Democracy release - going on 18 years ago - that's the last I'm aware of.  He doesn't see any problems here and probably doesn't see why anyone else has a problem here.

That's why I mean about the resemblance to a cult, Axl has been surrounded by sycophants for nearly 40 years.  Their job is to keep him happy and ignoring reality works very well for that.  It also means they don't need to write anything down, that way no one else can read it.  And keep in mind who else handles Black Frog and how they all got this far.

As you may remember, Axl was obsessed with a girl.  He wanted to make obsessive videos about her so he hired another girl as lead actress and became obsessed with her.  It didn't last long but the new girl hired a Brazilian nanny for her little boy, Beta Lebeis.  When they broke up, Axl kept the nanny who brought her own son along, Fernando.  And that's who's ran Guns'n'Roses for over 30 years.

It's why the sexual harassment accusation is quite believable.  Fernando's spent most of his life surrounded by people who get applauded for saying "turn around, bitch, I got a use for you."  Benzova was reportedly the only female on the G'n'R tour crew, of course she'd be a target.  I assume he uses actual written contracts for his part of the business - couldn't set up an international tour without it - but all of that is kept far away from Axl and probably from his mother.  So now they're in a bit of a mess because Axl is the only one who gets attention and he looks like a worthless figurehead.

It's not clear if he has the slightest clue what his vocals sound like, he's probably told by everyone that he just gets better every day.  It's not like he's had any reason to hear anything else from his followers.  I'm pretty sure Slash and Duff have no contact with him unless they're going on stage.  They're here for the money and to protect their own legacies.  Everyone else in G'n'R history who had a reason to speak up was fired and they're all just employees of Axl's corporation.

I'm guessing they'll try marketing, that should help fool the public.  They need this and not just for legal reasons, sales for their upcoming US tour aren't good.  Yesterday I saw a short video on youtube of Axl and it's quite recent.  Dated from last month for a concert in Brazil, it's mostly just him walking around backstage, looking happy.  He's probably talking to people but no sound is included.  One or two bits on-stage during the show - Duff is in one - and I think the only spoken words are when he's calling out thanks to the crowd and especially Fernando.

G'n'R was never my favorite band but they were usually high-up on the list of favorites.  If nothing else, they're my only favorite whose career started after I was born, which is probably why I still pay so much attention to them.  But this also makes me very curious how many other rich celebrities are facing this, or will be shortly.  Fernando could loot every penny Axl has and escape, there'd be nothing to use against him.  As the cult gets old and weak, that becomes the best option.

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When looking into the origins of Spider-Man, Jack Kirby's role creates more questions than answers.  The official story is fairly simple.  Whatever the basic idea was, Kirby was the first one Stan Lee turned to.  He did several pages - it's unclear how many - which did not meet what Stan wanted, so he turned to Ditko who established the Spidey we know.  Ok, that makes sense.

Kirby's pages have never been seen by the public.  All we've been told is that it involved a teenage boy with a web-shooting gun who fought a mad scientist that lived in the neighborhood.  After all these decades, it just seems strange that nothing has ever been done with that.  Marvel puts out books celebrating Spidey's latest anniversary, this would certainly make a novel contribution, 'what might have been.'  Yet there's nothing.

There's also a valid question about what happened to Kirby's art.  In the mid-80s, Marvel finally gave him bake a large percentage of his finished pages.  Kirby had many accomplishments in his career, this wouldn't be a major one, but again there would be the novelty.  Even if Kirby and his estate never showed off the art, at least they would list what they received.  So far I can't find on the internet that they even did that, and there many errors with what Marvel did give back, so his version of Spider-Man would be a dead end.

Marvel did not keep the storage of artwork secured so a lot of it had been stolen over the years, with Kirby as probably the biggest victim of the crime.  Maybe that's what happened to the pages.  Still seems a bit weird though.  Did someone just grab them all or did several people check out the storage unit and decide to loot this?

But then there's another problem.  If the thief or thieves aren't already dead, they're very old.  Their family would look into what property they've left behind and someone would notice the old comics art.  They wouldn't recognize it of course but if it's listed as Marvel, they'd have a reason to see if it's worth anything.  If they don't know Jack Kirby's name, they'd find it when they start checking the internet for possible value.

The only other options I can think of are that the art was stolen by someone for nefarious purposes.  They would keep it safe for whatever their evil criminal schemes require.  This sounds ludicrous but the only other possibility is that when Kirby's Spider-Man idea was turned down, they decided it was no good and threw the art in the trash.  But then how do we have even that brief description of the story?

That's not the only problem with no explanation.  As noted, Marvel had problems with distribution in the 1950s.  First publisher Martin Goodman tried to set up his own distributor and it immediately failed.  Then he joined the large distributor, American News Company, which was busted by the Justice Department immediately after he signed up.  That doesn't remotely sound like a coincidence but I can't find any info on that.

So Goodman's final option was to use DC Comics as the distributor for Marvel.  DC would go along with that but didn't want to help a competitor too much so Marvel was limited to eight comics a month.  Since Marvel had been publishing a lot of titles up to that point, they'd already paid many artists and received finished pages to publish.  Goodman wasn't going to waste money on new art pages until they'd used the old ones so virtually everybody working for Marvel was fired, except Stan Lee.  Eventually new stories were needed so people like Kirby and Ditko were getting work again.

This is the other problem for this alternate version of Spider-Man.  If Kirby was paid for those pages, Goodman would have every reason to get them finished and printed.  Ok, it's not the Spidey they were looking for but they've still got to fill up eight books a month.  It's not like Marvel always expected to publish work of the highest class and quality.

Or, if Kirby wasn't paid for those pages, he'd have a lot more to complain about.  In the 70s and 80s when he was fighting Marvel to get his art back, he flat-out said he created Spider-Man.  This would give him every reason to add "and they didn't even pay me for it."  Yet he never did and always gave Ditko full credit for the character we know.  So it's pretty safe to assume he was paid but then we still have all these questions.

Otherwise, maybe he dashed out the 'web-gun kid' as stick figures on one piece of paper and was told it's no good so he threw it away.  That's believable, I guess, but then why turn to Ditko?  Kirby would just say call him tomorrow and he'll have another idea.  The more we look into the origins of Spider-Man, the more questions there are about the history we've been told all these years.

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□ [“Pennsylvania Democrat Senate Candidate Arrested for Threatening to Kill Trump"]

But Republicans are the violent tyrants who want to kill people.  Considering they're the side that supports gun ownership, it looks like they could take care of a lot of problems very quickly if they were just willing to follow the Democrat example.  Putting it that way, it's kind of a shame we aren't willing to do something about it now.  If violence is the only way to fix the problem, why should the left have all the fun?  Instead we're waiting for something bad to happen first.

It's still very vague and undefinable but I think there are hints that some on the left are trying to stop the disaster they're bringing on themselves.  That's probably a reason why the most-insane are pushing this even harder, they're responding to the doubters on their own side and need to start killing the enemy.  I still can't think of anything in the way of precedents for this, historical or even any fictional examples.

Politicians and their media allies are just pushing this.  A California politician posted "86 47" on a Republican facebook page.  A black woman running for Congress in Pennsylvania insists that ICE be abolished.  She's asked who would enforce the laws on immigration and it takes her a while to come up with an answer, "Congress."  A trans substitute teacher posted a list online of planned victims for a massacre at the school he/she/it taught in.

I suspect we're all seeing things like this in our personal lives, people getting shakier and shakier.  Maybe it's just a general effect on everybody, maybe it's some people we've always been wary of who are just looking worse.  Anything that's not infinite must come to an end and we are getting very close to the end of this line.  We'll probably all be surprised by what happens next.

Illegal Alien Working for Wendy’s Stabs Two Long Island Women to Death
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□ [“Trump’s New Strait Plan Kicks Off Monday"]

This fight with Iran is getting even weirder.  We passed the '60 days' mark where Trump has to inform Congress of what's going on, which I had mistaken as 90 days, so he's declared the conflict over.  A ceasefire started a few weeks ago and, as far as we know, it's been followed.  The negotiations aren't going anywhere but Trump has followed the War Powers Act.

But here's the twist, since the strait is still a problem and no one else is willing to do anything, Trump has announced that the US will protect ships passing through.  That does put more pressure on Iran.  If they do anything about it, they'll be attacking us and thereby ending the ceasefire.  That gives Trump another chance to do his thing.  Notice that Congress isn't complaining about any of this.  They've all been informed of the plan but can't admit it to their own voters who would never understand any of this.

We're also being told that Iran's economy is getting even worse and they'll be out of space to hold oil any day now.  We have not heard that the populous is in revolt, not sure if that's good or bad.  Trump is still focused on getting rid of Iran's nuclear program, I'm sure there's no accurate information on how that's going.  Everything about this *seems* to be going in the right direction but there's still no solid proof.

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