I could have beaten the cat at chess, I just wanted to be nice and let him feel good. You'd think he might return the favor once in a while at poker.

Trump Nominates Cameron Hamilton to Run FEMA After Ousting Him from Role Last Year
May 11, 2026

□ [“Virginia Democrats Plot to Pack Supreme Court by Lowering Retirement Age to 54"]

They wanted to defy the state constitution but didn't get what they want so now they're immediately trying to purge the court as revenge and pack it with their sycophants.  They're not trying to be fair-minded about it, more do they see any way this could be used against them.  I'm not going to check everyone's age but of the governor, lieutenant governor and three highest ranking officials of the House and Senate, the governor is the only one who's not 54 years old yet.  So who does "discrimination on the basis of age" apply to and who gets to ignore it?

This isn't going to go anywhere, the majority leader has already said so.  He did add that purging the court sounded "extreme" but it just couldn't be done.  Tomorrow, May 12, is the deadline for...  it's not clear exactly what, but this constitutional change has to be done by then or else.  Write all the changes, pass them, fire the judges, install replacements, then get back to retrying the redistricting.  The Virginia constitution only allows one way to fire judges on the Supreme Court so they'd need to deal with that too.

I assume the governor has whined how the court is run by the KKK or whatever but as far as I know, she hasn't spoken out on these possible changes.  The executive branch has a different perspective than whiny leftists in the media or congress.  Congress expects to get its way and be obeyed by the courts and the executive branch.  The Executive knows that courts often get in the way as does Congress.  I'm not saying this woman is smart enough to figure it out but other executives and other states would be able to see the issues at conflict here and it has nothing to do leftist racism.

This maybe why federal Democrats haven't spoken out much, at least those with a bit of experience and understanding.  I've been saying for a year now that the Supreme Court needs to speak out on the behavior of lower judges, which includes the state courts.  What's going on here may explain why they didn't speak out.  They knew it would lead to this.

Finland President Stubb Says ‘It’s time for Europe To Start Talking With Russia’
May 11, 2026

□ [“Biden DOJ Possessed Hunter Biden Text Messages Indicating Human Trafficking Violations"]

They've already known about drugs, sex, laundering money from Ukraine, even sitting in on Biden's classified Oval Office meetings.  Nothing's been done about any of that so might as well say he broke the Mann Act too.  Wonder how many of these crimes have already passed the statue-of-limitations, or will son.  Hunter supposedly got a pardon for everything back to 2014, is anybody really going to challenge that?

There's occasional reports of some investigation going on against the deep state and their allies.  But it never goes anywhere.  You can say 'it never looks like winning until after the victory happens' but there's still a lot that can be done to build up to that victory and we're not seeing any of it.  Hunter is possibly the easiest target available, why is he still walking around loose?

□ [“John Brennan:  A Deep State 'Legion' of DOJ and CIA Operatives is Resisting Trump’s Orders"]

See?  He goes on MSNBC and admits it, they're right there.  They're bragging about it.  He's probably still expecting the midterms to be completely stolen for his side but it's not like he has anything to worry about.  Even if it doesn't go the way Democrats expect, the Deep State is still there.  As are their allies like Hunter, acting as a 'shadow government' that outranks the real one, at least as far as the world elites are concerned.  And there's no reason to think they're wrong about that.

Supreme Court to Let Alabama Throw Out Current Rigged Congressional Map – Sotomayor Fumes
May 11, 2026

□ [“Lawsuit Filed to Block Trump From Painting the Lincoln Monument Reflecting Pool Blue"]

What do these people do all day?  Don't they have actual jobs?  Or problems since we're supposedly all oppressed by a power-hungry tyrant?  I wish the biggest problem in my life was the re-painting of a pool.  I'm guessing these people don't have any worries in this economy or the war with Iran, none of that.

This group is also obsessed with Trump re-building the White House ballroom.  Yet another thing that really isn't a problem but is somehow their top priority.  The old ballroom was out-of-date and too small so Trump is taking care of that.  Not a big deal.  And then they whine that it's being set-up like a military base.  Do you have any clue that this guy is the Commander-in-Chief?  Anywhere he goes is a military base so yes, it needs to function as one.  Especially at the CiC's *house* where people are allowed to *enter.*  Do you need a coloring book to explain this?

The real problem is that these people are trying to waste time.  Specifically the POTUS but also everyone around him.  That is something leftists are capable of doing, wasting everybody's time with their idiotic obsessions.

“The new coloration will cause the pool to resemble a large swimming pool rather than the reflective civic landscape it was designed to be, distorting the experience of the site for the millions of visitors who come to it each year.”

The pool looks like a pool, not a landscape, so it's bad.  We can pay lawyers to take this seriously and keep going until some judge somewhere agrees with us.  It's like we finally found the masterminds behind the leftist nightmare running across the world and it's just an ant colony.  They could have been squashed at any time over the centuries but they weren't, so this is what they've been able to impose on us.

Woman Attempted Arson at Texas Republican Party Headquarters, Left Note ‘F*ck DJT, F*ck ICE’
May 11, 2026

Steve Ditko's 'big business/organized crime' storyline for Spider-Man is really quite subtle, to the point that it's not clear whether it was really a subplot or just a convenient way to come up with story ideas.  J. Jonah Jameson was the one who pushed this forward, representing mass media that attacked Spider-Man.  This was a convenient way to get Spidey to feel sorry for himself, turn people against him, introduce whatever this issue's villain would be doing, passing along plot-relevant information.

Beneath this, there was another theme being developed, one of identity and jealousy over those who are better.  These were most notable in #10 and #20 when JJJ made speeches about why he hated Spider-Man.  This was also seen in-between those issues when the Green Goblin made his first two appearances.  He made a reference to wanting to establish a world-wide organized crime syndicate but put no effort into that, 'step one' was to kill Spidey and everything would follow from there.

I think this was where the Ayn Rand influence was most obvious, with its similarity to her belief in the 'hero.'  Unfortunately Ditko did not have a chance to develop it any further so there's no way to guess what his intentions were or how he'd accomplish them.  Unlike Rand, Ditko and Lee were able to add more personality to their best-known characters.

Peter and Spidey could have bad days or make basic mistakes.  As the series ran, Peter was getting into fights at school, trying to hit on girls he had no chance with and struggling with an ever-changing schedule every day.  As Spider-Man he had similar problems.  The one that comes to mind is #29 where the Scorpion is after him and JJJ, so he starts swinging around town until it finally hits him, 'why did I think he'd go after me first?'  No reason, it was just a natural assumption.

Unlike an Ayn Rand-character, Peter was actually growing up.  But sometimes it wasn't handled very well.  It might be believable that he has more courage to talk to girls but by the time he reached college, he was much more outgoing and it doesn't seem naturally in-character for him.  Especially considering how much time he spends feeling sorry for himself.

This is why the 'identity' part of the story is so hard to even define, much less speculate where it could go.  Mysterio stood out as a villain just because his schtick was trying to use the media to convince Spidey he was insane.  No way to know if this was just a novel idea or if it would actually lead somewhere in the future.  So this is why I have to fall back to the 'business/organized crime' plots.

The first ten issues were effectively setting up JJJ as the main villain.  This concluded with the first 'organized crime' story, #10 featuring the Big Man as the villain.  He was even an employee at the Daily Bugle, so the business was relevant.  The next ten issues very subtly developed the overall society and the next threat, the Green Goblin and the as-yet-unknown Norman Osborn.  JJJ started actively supporting villains and the reformed Big Man was investigating the criminal element.

Issues #20-30 finished Peter's 'youth,' graduating high school, and continued to show JJJ was very close to the crooks.  The Green Goblin was actively trying to organize crime gangs although he kept failing while Norman Osborn was becoming more prominent, something we only learned in hindsight.  The stories did become simplistic, being mostly one long fight scene with a bit at the beginning and end of Peter and Betty's relationship.  Considering how complex the few issues were continuing with the Goblin, I wonder if Ditko was making a point about how simplistic the superhero genre was.  Or maybe it was just that difficult to keep producing new issues for Marvel.

By the end of his run, Norman Osborn was clearly being set-up as a big villain.  I doubt he would have been exposed by #40 if Ditko had continued but this may have been the goal for #50.  Norman was becoming dominant, putting on disguises to go out and pay crooks to attack Spidey.  He was even becoming more important than JJJ, who really was only being used as a comedy figure by the end.  The "Master Planner" trilogy finale was the last time we saw him hustling Peter to get photographs of Spidey, I'm not sure he ever bought any after that.  He just complained about replacement secretaries, yelled at Peter and was obviously friends with Norman.

The development of a consistent storyline is so subtle that it might as well not be there at all.  The Green Goblin was clearly an extended plotline but there wasn't much insight beyond that.  Which is fair, this was a superhero comic aimed for small children.  And it's still very enjoyable, I loved this when I was a small child and have been deeply involved in these comics in the last few weeks.  Betty Brant was clearly a storyline with a definite ending, 'they're together.'  The Goblin, JJJ, organized crime, identity, that's not as clear.  But given the amount of thought and effort Ditko put into these issues, I'd bet that he did have an overall plan.

Department of Energy Removes Highly Enriched Uranium From Venezuela for Nuclear Security
May 11, 2026