Monday, July 7, 2025

A Brief Visit To Monroe, Michigan

After visiting the River Raisin National Battlefield Park, as shown in my earlier post, I continued further into Monroe, Michigan.  Near the city's center is this statue of General George Armstrong Custer, who grew up in Monroe.

River Raison Battlefield

As indicated in my earlier post about lighthouses on Lake Erie, there were other places that I wished to explore.  To get there, I continued westward from Port Clinton, Ohio and then northward into Michigan to the city of Monroe and River Raisin National Battlefield Park.  The park commemorates the worst defeat for U.S. forces during the War of 1812, coming at the hands of the British and a coalition of Native Americans led by Tecumseh.  It includes a visitor center, but no outdoor monuments, although it does have hiking trails.  The visitor center includes a museum, which I decided to check out.  The first thing that caught my interest was this replica of a British cannon that shot three-pound balls.

Two Lighthouses On Lake Erie

Today I ventured westward from my undisclosed location and visited two lighthouses on the shores of Lake Erie.  The first one was the Marblehead Lighthouse in the village of Marblehead.  The weather was cloudy and occasionally rainy, and much less warn than during the last few days, but did not prevent me from exploring and taking pictures.  Here's the lighthouse, and some visitors besides myself.

Sunday, July 6, 2025

Checking In

I have made it to my undisclosed location in northern Ohio, and have chilled out since I arrived.  How far north am I?  Lake Erie is a just a short drive away.  For the next few days, I'll be exploring the area in multiple directions away from my temporary base camp.  Stay tuned.

Saturday, July 5, 2025

Saturday Travels And A Few Stories

Today I drove to eastern Ohio, and have settled in at a temporary undisclosed location, on my way to a place in the northern part of the state.  Now that I have a bit of time, here are a few things going on:

From The Jerusalem Post, Hezbollah stages a parade in Beirut, which Lebanese citizens don't appreciate.

From Gatestone Institute, the Iranian terrorist regime is not dead, but wounded.

From The American Conservative, the rappers known as Bobby Vylan kneecap the BBC.  (Can the American musician Bob Dylan sue them for some kind of trademark infringement or something like that?)

From TCW Defending Freedom, the U.K. Labour Party's fear of rural areas.

From National Review, the New England Journal of Medicine claims that deporting illegal aliens would harm the U.S. healthcare system.

From Townhall, one pundit thinks that a future president could deport current First Lady Melania Trump.

From The Washington Free Beacon, how to prevent another military fiasco in the Far East.

From American Thinker, even if President Trump uses the word "shylock", he's not an antisemite.

From The Daily Wire, two American veterans working to distribute humanitarian aid is Gaza are injured when grenades thrown by Hamas terrorists explode near them.

And from the Daily Caller, right-wing commentator Tucker Carlson announces an interview with newly elected Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.

Friday, July 4, 2025

Friday Phenomena For The Fourth Of July

As the warm and sunny weather continues on America's Independence Day, here are some things going on:

From National Review, Independence Day a year before America's sesquicentennial.

From FrontpageMag, making Independence Day great again.

From Townhall, former illegal alien Kilmar Abrego Garcia's sob story about his stay in an El Salvadorian prison is quickly debunked.

From the Washington Examiner, President Trump's "big beautiful bill" is an achievement for the Republicans.

From The Federalist, diner owners along U.S. Route 66 share what they love about the nostalgic road trip on that highway.

From American Thinker, the fire behind the Declaration of Independence.

From NewsBusters, Democrats unleash their crazy talk about the aforementioned "big beautiful bill".

From TeleSUR, the Cuban musical style cha-cha-chá has conquered the world.

From TCW Defending Freedom, in the U.K., a coronavirus whistleblower is treated more harshly than a pedophile.

From EuroNews, Dutch and German agencies claim that Russia is using chemical weapons in Ukraine.

From Free West Media, the pledge by NATO countries to spend five percent of their GDP on defense is "utterly preposterous".

From ReMix, Polish President Andrzej Duda tells opposition politicians to respect the results of their country's presidential election, won by Karol Nawrocki.  (Apparently, election denial was wrong after the U.S. election of 2020, but is OK when a conservative candidate wins an election in Europe.)

From Balkan Insight, protesters keep blocking roads in Serbia, and get arrested for it.

From The North Africa Post, Moroccan King Mohammed VI congratulates U.S. President Trump on U.S. Independence Day.  (Since Morocco was the first country to recognize the newly independent U.S., I'd say that the king is continuing a very old tradition.)

From The New Arab, what the new Syrian national emblem says about Syria's post-Assad era.

From AMU, the Taliban ban all political discourse on radio and television.  (What is this "freedom of the press" you speak of?)

From Arutz Sheva, Iran goes crazy looking for spies.

From Gatestone Institute, is Trump abandoning the people of Iran and thus guaranteeing more war?

From Radio Free Asia, the soon-to-be-90-years-old Dalai Lama charts an uncertain future.

From The Stream, some fun mathematical facts about July 4th.

From The Daily Signal, technology is advancing but your standard of living is not, thanks to the government.

From The American Conservative, the pro-war right strikes back.

From The Western Journal, five challenging times when American presidents have appealed to the Declaration of Independence.

From The Daily Wire, a guide to the Fourth of July for everyday Americans.

From the Daily Caller, Trump proved the media wrong about the twice aforementioned "big beautiful bill".

From the New York Times, Trumps prepares to roll out the tariffs.

From Breitbart, as American celebrates Independence Day, here are 18 big beautiful victories for Trump.

From Newsmax, France and the U.K. hope that their plan to deal with "taxi boats" will slow illegal migrant crossings of the English Channel.

And from Fox News, a woman from Tampa, Florida whips up a red, white and blue summertime drink.  (via the New York Post)

Thursday, July 3, 2025

Thursday Tidbits

On a very warm and sunny Thursday, here are some things going on:

From National Review, former President Biden comes back, to lament that his accomplishments are being undone.

From FrontpageMag, Israel somehow keeps killing 81 people over 24 hours in Gaza.

From Townhall, Senator Fake Cherokee (D-MA) is at it again.

From The Washington Free Beacon, the EPA places 144 officials on leave for signing a letter trashing the current administration's policies.

From the Washington Examiner, Democrats cry wolf over alleged cuts to Medicaid.

From The Federalist, after the University of Pennsylvania, nine more schools should apologize over their trans policies or lose their funding.

From American Thinker, the problem with New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani is not socialism.

From MRCTV, job growth and unemployment in June do better than expected, and job growth in April and May is revised upward.

From NewsBusters, actor George Takei tries to equate President Trump's deportations with President Franklin Roosevelt's internment of Japanese American citizens during World War II.

From Canada Free Press, what "true freedom" means.

From TeleSURBrazilian President Lula da Silva visits former Argentine President Cristina Fernandez at her home in Buenos Aires.

From TCW Defending Freedom, two years on, the U.K.'s investigation of the coronavirus is still avoiding the truth.

From EuroNews, a Syrian man injures four fellow passengers on an ICE train in Germany.  (In this case, "ICE" stands for "InterCity Express" and should not be confused with the American agency ICE.)

From Free West Media, despite sanctions, Iran is producing more oil than ever since the 1979 revolution.

From ReMix, for the first time in 15 years, Austria deports Syrians.

From Balkan Insight, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić pardons four members of the governing Serbian Progressive Party being prosecuted for attacking protesters in the city of Novi Sad.

From The North Africa Post, a unified power grid for Africa moves slowly toward becoming a reality.

From The New Arab, the execution of a 14-year-old boy by a member of the Syrian Democratic Forces in Raqqa, Syria sparks outrage.

From RAIR Foundation USA, an imam in Texas admits membership in the Hamas-connected International Union of Muslim Scholars.

From the Daily Mail, according to Swiss intelligence, Iran many have assassinated two Swiss diplomats who were in the country.

From Gatestone Institute, a salute to America's firefighters and police, who put their live on the line to protect us every day.

From Radio Free Asia, a censor-defying dissident shows shows how Chinese students are getting overworked.

From The Stream, an Iranian Ayatollah who praised Pope Francis issues a fatwa against U.S. President Trump.

From The Daily Signal, the House passes the "big beautiful bill".

From The American Conservative, don't bet on a ceasefire in Gaza.

From The Western Journal, while the aforementioned jobs report is good, it conceals something even better.

From BizPac Review, a threat to boycott the platform Etsy over "Alligator Alcatraz" merchandise fails spectacularly.

From The Daily Wire, federal authorities investigate an alleged China-tied baby selling operation in California.

From the Daily Caller, some left-wingers want the Democrats to become even more weird and gross.

From Breitbart, Danish women get a dose of real equality.

From Newsmax, leaked documents show why the aforementioned Pope Francis limited access to the Latin Mass.

And from the New York Post, actress Bryce Dallas Howard has never watched the TV sitcom Happy Day, even though it starred her father Ron Howard.

Wednesday, July 2, 2025

Wednesday Wanderings

On a warm and partly cloudy Wednesday, here are some things going on:

From National Review, California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) finally recognizes the harms done by excessive environmental regulation.

From FrontpageMag, the biggest miscalculations by the Iranian mullahs.

From Townhall, under then-President Biden, the FBI shut down an investigation into alleged Chinese efforts to interfere with the 2020 election, for a reason that will infuriate you.

From The Washington Free Beacon, the Congressional Black Caucus threatens to boycott the chain store Target after it stops donating to their foundation.

From the Washington Examiner, Democrat congresscritters line up to oppose the "Big Beautiful Bill", recently passed by the Senate.

From The Federalist, we can't celebrate what happened in 1776 while ignoring the invasion that's happening now.

From American Thinker, this time around, President Trump is doing less "speak softly" and more "carry a big stick".

From MRCTV, the University of Pennsylvania agrees to strip Lia Thomas of "her" swimming records and apologizes to its real female athletes.

From NewsBusters, an NBC reporter frets over possible "injuries" to detainees held at "Alligator Alcatraz".  (She should.  Alligators or other nasty critters injuring any detainee who tries to escape is the whole idea.)

From Canada Free Press, Trump was within his constitutional powers when he bombed Iran.

From TeleSUR, China demands that the U.S. lifts its "blockade" of Cuba.  (In reality, the U.S. embargos and sanctions Cuba, but does not impose a blockade.)

From TCW Defending Freedom, the wonky data behind messages about global warming.

From Snouts in the Trough, a look at disability rates and benefits in various European countries.

From EuroNews, France and Switzerland shut down their nuclear power plants due to a heatwave.

From ReMix, visiting the Czech Republic might soon cost ya more, pilgrim.  (If you read Czech, read the story at Echo24.)

From Balkan Insight, buying things in Romania will soon cost ya more, pilgrim.

From The North Africa Post, Morocco shares its intermittent renewable energy expertise with other African countries.

From The New Arab, an Egyptian driver whose truck ran into a minivan, killing 19 people, goes to trial for involuntary manslaughter.

From The Jerusalem Post, two Muslim men allegedly plant explosives at tourist hotspots in Thailand.

From Gatestone Institute, Trump's worst idea ever for Gaza.

From Radio Free Asia, the Dalai Lama affirms that his successor will not be chosen by China.

From The Stream, can we now acknowledge that Trump was right to bomb Iran's nuclear sites?

From The Daily Signal, Border Czar Tom Homan credits the "Trump effect" for the low number of illegal alien encounters during June.

From The American Conservative, the "Big Beautiful" product of realignment.

From The Western Journal, leftists come up with an ugly alternative name for "Alligator Alcatraz".

From BizPac Review, Paramount agrees to give Trump a $16 million settlement in a lawsuit over deceptive editing of an interview with then-Vice President Harris on 60 Minutes.

From The Daily Wire, Trump announces a trade agreement with Vietnam.

From the Daily Caller, Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) gets a primary challenger for the 2026 election.

From the New York Post, Sean "Diddy" Combs's criminal trial is over with, but he still faces 66 civil suits.

From Breitbart, more about Combs's criminal trial and its verdicts.

From Newsmax, Microsoft again lays off thousands of its employees.

And from SFGate, fireworks at a warehouse in Esparto, California undergo premature detonation.

Tuesday, July 1, 2025

Tuesday Things For The Start Of July

We've reached the first day of the second half of the year.  On a warm and partly sunny Tuesday, which then became rainy, here are some things going on:

From National Review, former congresscritter Colin Allred (D-TX) is running for Senator against incumbent John Cornyn (R-TX) after losing to Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) in 2024.

From FrontpageMag, the West still doesn't understand traditional orthodox Islam.

From Townhall, President Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill" narrowly passes in the Senate.

From The Washington Free Beacon, a prestigious school in northern Virginia is hit with a civil rights complaint for allegedly having an environment "hostile to Jews".

From the Washington Examiner, according to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Dr. Anthony Fauci is likely liable for the coronavirus pandemic.

From The Federalist, Republicans in Arizona challenge a state law that allows nonresidents to register to vote.

From American Thinker, carbon dioxide is not destroying the planet but enhancing the life on it.

From MRCTV, in a video posted on TikTok, "comedian" Kathy Griffin quadruples down on her severed head meme.

From NewsBusters, political guests on late night comedy shows this year have been 99 percent left-wing.

From Canada Free Press, thanks to Prime Minister Mark Carney, Canadians have nothing to celebrate on their county's 155th birthday.

From CBC News, Carney emphasizes Canadian unity as Canada Day celebrations get under way.

From Global News, a woman from Victoria, British Columbia is organizing a nationwide singalong of O Canada for Canada's birthday.

From CTV News, 20 foods that represent Canada's size and diversity.  (Because it's Canada's birthday, I had to bring out my Canadian sources.)

From TeleSUR, "civil rights" advocates urge FIFA to keep ICE agents out of soccer stadiums in the U.S. ahead of the World Cup.  (I use "civil rights" in quotes because entering or being present in a country in a manner that violates its laws is not a real civil right, although some people seem to think otherwise.)

From TCW Defending Freedom, a disturbing pattern in electoral politics is repeated, this time in Poland.

From EuroNews, a man who allegedly spied on the Jewish community in Berlin, Germany for Iran is arrested in Aarhus, Denmark.

From Free West Media and the "I've got a bridge to sell you" department, to meet its NATO spending target, Italy plans to build a €13.5 billion bridge to Sicily and define it as a military expenditure.

From ReMix, illegal migrants fly into Germany instead crossing borders on land, much to the consternation of the police union and the party AfD.  (If such migration is caused by poverty, as some believe, how to they afford airline tickets?  Or is someone else paying for them?)

From Balkan Insight, Romania imposes austerity measures to curb its increasing budget deficit.

From The North Africa Post, the Moroccan archaeological site Oued Beht wins the 2025 Antiquity Prize.

From The New Arab, Lebanese authorities arrest seven Syrians for allegedly planning an attack during the Shiite observation of Ashura or for collaborating with Israel.

From The Jerusalem Post, Gazans testify that Hamas deliberately shoots people at humanitarian aid sites.

From News(dot)com(dot)au, Australia's Federal Court finds that a Muslim preacher violated the country's racial discrimination law in a series of speeches in which he called Jews "vile" and "treacherous".

From Albia Newspapers, clashes break out in İstanbul, Turkey over a cartoon allegedly showing the Islamic prophet Mohammed.

From Gatestone Institute, removing Sudanese General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan would improve stability and oppose extremism.

From The Stream, the Senate refuses Trump's call to cut Medicaid for illegal aliens.

From The Daily Signal, the Trump administration urges governors to remove rainbow crosswalks from their state's roads for safety reasons.

From The American Conservative, a visit to a village in Greenland shows its American spirit.

From The Western Journal, according to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, her department is working with the Department of Justice toward possibly prosecuting CNN over its anti-ICE app.

From BizPac Review, The Washington Post takes Iran's side against Trump regarding the damage from the recent bombing of its nuclear sites.

From The Daily Wire, why it might be impossible for illegal aliens to escape the detention center in Florida known as "Alligator Alcatraz".

From the Daily Caller, hunters, fisherman, outdoorsmen and conservationists all rejoice as Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) withdraws his proposal for the government to sell public lands.

From the New York Post, while touring the aforementioned "Alligator Alcatraz", Trump states that it is where then-President "son of a [bleep]" Biden wanted to put him.

From Breitbart, job openings in the U.S. rose more than expected during May.

From Newsmax, under the aforementioned "Big Beautiful Bill", most social security recipients will not pay a tax on their benefits.

And from the Genesius Times, Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) delivers a fiery audition speech for CNN.

Monday, June 30, 2025

Monday Stuff For The End Of June

Yes, it's the last day of the first half of 2025, falling on a hot and sunny Monday, so here are some things going on:

From National Review, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.S. bombing of Iranian nuclear sites has inflicted "a very serious level of damage" on Iran's nuclear program.

From FrontpageMag, 12 surprises from the 12-day war.

From Townhall, CNN pushes an app that helps illegal aliens evade ICE, which puts its agents at risk.

From The Washington Free Beacon, the U.S. State Department revokes the visas issued to the British rap group Bob Vylan after they called for the murder of IDF soldiers.  (As with any story involving rap, the label "music" is used loosely.)

From the Washington Examiner, the Department of Justice announces charges for 324 people in the largest healthcare fraud takedown ever.

From The Federalist, several law enforcement agencies went Sergeant Schultz about threats against Trump voters in Pennsylvania.

From American Thinker, Mexico has no right to any territory in the U.S.

From MRCTV, a TikTok user claims that Abraham Lincoln was gay and musician Kurt Cobain was trans.

From NewsBusters, CNN defends New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani's (D) proposal for city-owned grocery stores.

From Canada Free Press, "the Democratic Socialist party".

From TeleSUR, Peronist candidates win big in the Argentine province of Formosa and the city of Rosario.

From TCW Defending Freedom, one coronavirus narrative collapses under the slightest scrutiny.

From EuroNews, the E.U. and Ukraine make a not too ambitious but "realistic" trade deal.

From Free West Media, the FDA allegedly approves hundreds of drugs without proof that they work.

From ReMix, according to Hungarian official Balázs Orbán, polls show that most Hungarian people support their government's ban on Pride parades.

From Balkan Insight, according to a report, six Balkan countries are "failing to enforce freedom of information laws".

From The North Africa Post, the group Polisario's recent targeting of civilians vindicates its designation as a terrorist organization.

From The New Arab, according to Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, Israel wants relations with Lebanon and Syria, but will not discuss the Golan Heights.

From News18, an Iranian Shiite cleric issues a fatwa declaring U.S. President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu "enemies of God".

From The Times Of Israel, an 82-year-old woman dies from injuries suffered in a Molotov cocktail attack while attending a rally for Israeli hostage in Boulder, Colorado.

From Sp!ked, the U.K.'s Labour Party wants to ban criticism of Islam.

From Gatestone Institute, "obliterating" Iran's nuclear facilities is insufficient.

From Radio Free Asia, the Dalai Lama celebrates his 90th birthday.

From The Stream, has Trump's policy toward Syria been unveiled?

From The Daily Signal, the web of activist groups who support Hamas, Iran, and riots against ICE.

From The American Conservative, a review of the book British Grand Strategy in the Age of American Hegemony.

From The Western Journal, according to an op-ed column, Trump has earned the Nobel Peace Prize.

From ABC News, a man believed to have shot several firefights in Idaho, killing two of them, is identified and found dead.  (via The Western Journal)

From BizPac Review, a man jumps in to save his young daughter after she falls overboard on a Disney Dream cruise.

From The Daily Wire, the American medical establishment's stubborn refusal to reconsider transgender procedures for minors.

From the Daily Caller, former White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany brings her third child into the world.

From the New York Post, please use bear spray only on bears.

From Breitbart, PolitiFact claims that the aforementioned Zohran Mamdani is not a communist, but he disagrees.

From Newsmax, the Supreme Court rejects ExxonMobil's appeal of a $14.25 million civil penalty imposed over the air pollution from its refinery in Baytown, Texas.

And from The Babylon Bee, San Francisco's Pride parade is followed closely by a Disinfectant parade.