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

Italian Plans to Send Failed ‘Asylum Seekers’ to Albanian Camps Get Green Light by EU Court Adviser
April 24, 2026

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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