How soon until the “Pay that dildo what it’s worth!” t-shirts come out?

Just days after a player’s wig fell off mid-game, a lime green dildo was thrown on the court at Gateway Center Arena at College Park, when the Atlanta Dream and visiting Golden State Valkyries were locked at 75–75 in the final minute of play. In the middle of a tense possession, a neon green sex toy suddenly sailed from the stands and landed on the court.

The bizarre interruption occurred moments after Valkyries guard Tiffany Hayes had her shot blocked and teammate Veronica Burton recovered the ball. The projectile landed just feet from Burton, bouncing toward the backcourt. Officials allowed play to continue until a dead ball stopped the action.

Seconds later, an out-of-bounds call revealed the mysterious object in plain sight. Broadcast cameras caught a police officer standing over it, joined by Dream part-owner Renee Montgomery. In a moment that will likely live on in WNBA meme history, the camera operator zoomed in—apparently unaware of what the object was—before abruptly cutting away.

Announcer Morgan Ragan narrated the sequence in real time. “Something flies on the court actually from the crowd,” she said. “And you can see the object… We’re not exactly sure where it came from.” When cameras revealed the truth, her reaction shifted: “Oh my gosh. OK. OK. Inappropriate. Get them out of here, whoever it is.”

Security personnel shared a laugh before an officer, using a towel, removed the sex toy from the court. The game then resumed, with Golden State ultimately defeating Atlanta 77–75.

Players later acknowledged the incident in the postgame press conference, noting both the danger and the absurdity of the moment. “I mean, first of all, it was super dangerous. And then when we found out what it was, I guess we just started laughing,” Valkyries forward Cecilia Zandalasini said. “I’ve never seen anything like that. I’m just glad we worked through that situation. We stayed locked in, we stayed concentrated.”

Fans on social media quickly latched onto the moment, with one joking, “They’re going to start checking fans at the door for dildos.” Another quipped, “OK, so first of all, let me be clear… I ain’t picking that up. That will lay there till end of game.”

No official statement has been released by the WNBA, the Valkyries, or the Dream regarding the incident or the identity of the fan responsible.

As one sports commentator put it: If I had a nickel for every time a dildo has been thrown onto the field of play during a sports event, I’d have two nickels. Which isn’t a lot—but it’s remarkable that there’s two.

Someone threw a green dildo on the court during a WNBA game tonight. pic.twitter.com/mFSESW6cfE

— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) July 30, 2025

Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,

The White House posted another video of illegal aliens being deported in shackles and once again made it a play off a popular meme, causing leftists to completely lose their minds.

The backing track of the video is from Jet2 Holidays, a British all-inclusive holiday tour company that has a snazzy jingle and an upbeat voiceover.

It’s been adopted by many on the internet as an inappropriate backing to funny footage of when holidays go wrong, making the videos and images more humorous.

Nothing beats a jet2 holiday pic.twitter.com/Tz3c1dbGDb

— Everything Relatable & Funny (@relatablememe9) July 21, 2025

nothing beats a jet2 holiday pic.twitter.com/l4wSuCwb6k

— R 💋 (@goodluckbabe28) July 20, 2025

Here’s the White House’s version…

When ICE books you a one-way Jet2 holiday to deportation. ✈️🎶

Nothing beats it! pic.twitter.com/hlLapr9QsE

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) July 29, 2025

They’ve done this before. They know exactly what they’re doing.

Of course, it had the desired effect, sparking miserable leftist meltdowns and tragic tantrums.

I beg to differ – this is hilarious! And I voted for this😉

— Kita on the Border🏜️ (@kitadog716) July 30, 2025

They’re so sad about the murderers and rapists being sent away.

Planes leaving every day, champ. Get on one.

— OptimisticSkeptic 🚁 (@SkepticOptimal) July 30, 2025

You tried to destroy the USA

You failed

They’re all going back. ✈️

— Inquisitor Honorius Cavillus (@inquisitorhenry) July 30, 2025

Misery is on the faces of the parents of those murdered by invaders they can all serve life for all I care flying under the radar when while we carry their existence here

— Chievemoe (@Chievemoe1122) July 30, 2025

Many of them are asking Jet2Holidays to get involved, something that company cannot have expected to need to do in a billion years, and get the video scrubbed.

@jet2tweets y’all ok with this?

— Kate Ross (@kate_ross_) July 29, 2025

what if jet2 sues you?

— No Context Reply Guy (@nocntxtreplyguy) July 29, 2025

Desired outcome achieved.

Whoever runs the White House social media account needs a raise. 😂

— Leftism (@LeftismForU) July 30, 2025

The level of troll is amazing

— Harshman Hills (@HarshmanHills) July 29, 2025

Should this be the intro to the official app? 😆

— Bruh What? (@Bruhh_Whaat) July 29, 2025

Your support is crucial in helping us defeat mass censorship. Please consider donating via Locals or check out our unique merch. Follow us on X @ModernityNews.

It’s probably not a good thing when the verbal brinkmanship which has long been on display between the world’s nuclear superpowers sees outspoken Russian hawk and firebrand Dmitri Medvedev directly clash with President Trump.

President Trump, in an unusual direct call-out of the Kremlin national security official (for the second time, after an earlier July exchange of words) – and which was issued on Truth Social at midnight – called Medvedev a “failed former President of Russia” who had better “watch his words.” 

Medvedev had warned Tuesday in the wake of Trump reducing a deadline for Russia to agree a Ukraine peace settlement down to ten days that “Russia isn’t Israel or even Iran” and so “Each new ultimatum is a threat and a step towards war. Not between Russia and Ukraine, but with (Trump’s) own country.”

This had initially garnered a harsh response from Senator Lindsey Graham, to which Medvedev had responded with characteristic sarcasm, “Work on America first, gramps!”

After Trump jumped in overnight, it took a mere three hours – by then morning in Moscow – for Medvedev to clap back, directing Trump to call to mind the apocalyptic television series “The Walking Dead” and referred to the Soviet Union’s system for launching a last resort, automatic nuclear strike. 

“If some words from the former president of Russia trigger such a nervous reaction from the high-and-mighty president of the United States, then Russia is doing everything right and will continue to proceed along its own path,” Medvedev wrote on Telegram. Remember “how dangerous the fabled Dead Hand can be.”

Trump had also said in his response, “I don’t care what India does with Russia. They can take their dead economies down together, for all I care. We have done very little business with India, their Tariffs are too high, among the highest in the World.”

This had come hours after he imposed a 25% tariff plus “penalty” on India, set to take effect August 1. “Likewise, Russia and the USA do almost no business together. Let’s keep it that way,” Trump added.

Dmitry Medvedev previously served as Putin’s prime minister and later held the presidency from 2008 to 2012, acting as a placeholder while Putin was constitutionally prevented from serving a third consecutive term.

The fact that under Medvedev Russia abstained from vetoing a United Nations resolution allowing NATO to invade and bomb Libya was widely seen as weak among many Russian officials, and likely Putin himself.

Medvedev is now a staunch advocate of Putin’s ‘Special Military Operation’ in Ukraine and has become a public and social media attack dog on the West of sorts, often acting as bad cop to Putin’s more conciliatory good cop messaging.

On Thursday, newly declassified documents reveal that not only did the CIA believe a Russian intelligence assessment that the 2016 Hillary Clinton campaign planned to smear Donald Trump by linking him to the Kremlin, it’s clear that the FBI helped the Clinton campaign orchestrate the Russia hoax to distract from its investigation into her emails.

To review:

• Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard earlier this month declassified several documents – including a 2020 House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) report and other intelligence communications revealing that the Obama administration “manufactured and politicized intelligence” to create a false narrative that Russia interfered in the 2016 election to help Trump defeat Hillary Clinton. 

• Gabbard’s releases highlight the inclusion of the Steele dossier – an unverified report funded by the Clinton campaign alleging ties between Trump and Russia – in the 2017 ICA as an annex. The hoax dossier was used to bolster the Russian interference narrative, despite CIA objections and its discredited status. The HPSCI report states that Brennan insisted on referencing the dossier, even though senior CIA officers warned it was flawed, with Brennan allegedly saying, “doesn’t it ring true?

• Gabbard has called these actions a “treasonous conspiracy” led by Obama, Brennan, Clapper, James Comey, Susan Rice, and others, aimed at undermining Trump’s presidency. She has referred the documents to the Justice Department and FBI for investigation into potential criminal implications.

And now we have the Durham annex… which includes a 2016 memorandum alleging that Russian intelligence knew of a Clinton campaign plan to tie Trump to Russian hackers. This memo claims the plan was designed to “distract the [American] public from the Clinton email server scandal.” Gabbard’s HPSCI report similarly references Russian intelligence claiming Clinton’s campaign discussed linking Putin to Trump.

• Clinton’s Approval of Smear Campaign: Pages 4 and 5 of the annex, highlighted in X posts, contain a 2016 memorandum alleging that Clinton personally approved a plan on July 26, 2016, to frame Trump with Russian hacking claims. The memo suggests this was to distract from her email scandal, with coordination involving DNC leadership and outside groups.

• Russian Intelligence Awareness: The annex confirms that Russian intelligence was aware of this plan, which aligns with Gabbard’s claim that the FBI and CIA had access to this information but pursued the Trump-Russia narrative anyway.

• No New Criminal Charges: Despite these allegations, Durham’s broader investigation (2019–2023) found no evidence of a criminal conspiracy among Obama officials to fabricate intelligence. He criticized the FBI’s handling of the Steele dossier and Crossfire Hurricane but did not charge Brennan, Clapper, or others named by Gabbard.

As ZH regular TechnoFog notes;

To briefly summarize, the Classified Appendix provided further information about the matters covered in parts of Durham’s report – specifically, those relating to Hillary Clinton’s plan to link Trump and Russia; the threat of foreign influence by a foreign government; and the Carter Page FISA application renewals.

But the most material information covers the Clinton Plan, and provides further details on how that plan started, efforts by Clinton and her team to influence officials within the Obama Administration, and how the Clinton Campaign would use Crowdstrike to further their theory that the Russians hacked and leaked information from the Democratic National Convention (DNC) and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC).

The Smoking Gun(s)… 

🚨SMOKING GUN: The declassified Durham Annex confirms Hillary Clinton personally approved the plan to frame Trump with Russian hacking US election claims — to “distract from her missing emails” and “demonize Trump.”

“Later, the FBI will put more oil on the fire.” pic.twitter.com/Sksq6nRdh0

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) July 31, 2025

And as Michael Shellenberger notes, the CIA believed Russian memos mentioning a Clinton plan to smear Trump as a Russian asset: “The CIA prepared a written assessment of the authenticity and veracity of the above-mentioned intelligence. The CIA stated that it did not assess that the above [redacted] memoranda or [redacted] hacked U.S. communications, to be the product of Russian fabrications.“

The newly declassified appendix to the Durham report is game-changing. It showed that the CIA believed Russian intelligence memos, which analyzed hacked emails and alleged a Clinton Plan to vilify Trump by linking him to Russia, were credible.

“The CIA prepared a written… https://t.co/OoeRrcNCZe pic.twitter.com/8U5UTOcAJR

— Michael Shellenberger (@shellenberger) July 31, 2025

What’s more, other memos reveal that the plan was to have Crowdstrike and ‘ThreatConnect’ spin narratives to the media in the absence of actual evidence of Trump-Russia collusion.

Regarding proving-up the DNC/DCCC hack and leak –

“In absence of direct evidence, Crowdstrike and ThreatConnect will supply the media” with info.

Crowdstrike will feed the info to the FBI and then the info “would then be disseminated through leading US publications.” pic.twitter.com/zT7T4REqIt

— Techno Fog (@Techno_Fog) July 31, 2025

Stay tuned, things are getting spicier… 

Authored by Yohan Yun via CoinTelegraph.com,

Ethereum celebrated its 10-year anniversary on Wednesday, with renewed institutional momentum fueling hopes that Ether could challenge its all-time high that was set in November 2021.

Over the past decade, Ethereum has become the largest decentralized finance (DeFi) blockchain, with nearly $85 billion in total value locked (TVL) at the time of writing.

Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum’s co-founder, circulated an early version of the white paper in 2013. The project raised $18.3 million in its initial coin offering (ICO) and officially launched in 2015 as a blockchain for smart contracts. Its cryptocurrency, Ether, now ranks as the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization after Bitcoin.

Here’s a look back into Ethereum’s first decade, featuring the ICO boom, DeFi summer and the rise and fall of non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

Ethereum’s history has been full of crazes, such as ICOs, NFTs and airdrops.

2015-2016: The birth of Ethereum and The DAO hack

In April 2016, The DAO launched as a decentralized venture capital project designed to let tokenholders vote on how the entity invests its funds. But it didn’t last long — it suffered an exploit worth around $60 million in June 2016. 

Throughout the decade, several Ethereum-based projects fell victim to cyberattacks. But this one is remembered as a critical bifurcation in Ethereum’s history, as developers and the community made a controversial decision to hard fork the blockchain and reverse the network to the moment before the theft.

This led to a permanent chain split. The new chain that came out of the fork continued with Ethereum’s brand and majority support. A smaller group remained on the original blockchain, which is now known as Ethereum Classic.

Ethereum Classic did not enjoy Ethereum’s success after the chain split. Source: CoinGecko

2017-2018: Ethereum explodes with the ICO boom

Ethereum was the go-to platform for ICOs, thanks to the rise of the ERC-20 token standard, which made it possible to launch token projects without the need to develop a new blockchain. Some projects were genuine. They used Ethereum’s ICO as a launchpad to migrate to their own networks (though plenty of them were useless.)

Ether surged from under $10 at the start of 2017 to a then-all-time high of about $1,450 by January 2018. Bitcoin also reached a new ceiling above $19,000 during the ICO craze.

Ethereum’s surge during the ICO boom. Source: CoinGecko

The speculation wasn’t limited to ICOs. Ethereum also hosted CryptoKitties, a viral NFT game where players collect and breed cartoon cats. Its success in late 2017 clogged the Ethereum network.

The Ethereum gas fee spike during CryptoKitties’ rise foreshadowed future scalability issues. Source: Etherscan

In early 2018, regulators began to crack down on unregistered securities offerings. Throughout the year, the US Securities and Exchange Commission filed lawsuits and issued subpoenas to hunt down many ICOs accused of violating securities laws.

Most ICO-funded projects failed to deliver, and prices collapsed. By December 2018, ETH had fallen to around $85.

2019-2020: DeFi Summer scorches Ethereum

Ether spent much of 2019 hovering between $100 and $300, a period now remembered as the first crypto winter. Developers focused on infrastructure, while projects such as MakerDAO, Compound and Uniswap built the foundation for a new kind of financial system based on smart contracts instead of banks.

Ethereum’s DeFi TVL topped $1 billion for the first time during DeFi summer. Source: DefiLlama

By mid-2020, Ethereum had transformed from a post-ICO wasteland into the base layer of DeFi. Compound launched its governance token, COMP, and kicked off a yield farming frenzy that rewarded users for locking assets in DeFi protocols. Ethereum’s network usage spiked, gas fees soared and ETH followed suit, climbing to over $750 by the end of the year.

2021: Ethereum meets superstars through NFTs

Ethereum’s next breakout came through art and memes. In 2021, NFTs captured the cultural zeitgeist as projects like CryptoPunks and Bored Ape Yacht Club turned pixelated avatars into mainstream status symbols. In March 2021, digital artist Beeple sold an NFT artwork for $69 million at Christie’s.

OpenSea, the leading NFT marketplace at the time, saw a surge in trading volume and briefly became one of the highest-earning decentralized apps (DApps) on Ethereum. Celebrities, brands and influencers piled in, with Ethereum taking center stage in pop culture.

NBA star Stephen Curry joins BAYC. Source: CryptoStorm

ETH reached an all-time high of $4,891 in November. But the flood of activity exposed Ethereum’s limits. Gas fees became unaffordable for casual users and turned transactions into luxury events.

2022: Ethereum merges as crypto crashes

The year 2022 was brutal for crypto as a whole, not just Ethereum. A cascading series of collapses — starting with Terra’s failed algorithmic stablecoin and culminating in the FTX implosion — wiped out billions in crypto. ETH dropped from around $3,800 in January to around $1,000 in June, dragged down by marketwide panic and liquidity crises.

Amid the wreckage, Ethereum pulled off one of the most anticipated upgrades in blockchain history. On Sept. 15, 2022, it successfully completed the Merge, transitioning from the energy-intensive proof-of-work consensus mechanism to proof-of-stake (PoS).

Ethereum completes key upgrade as the crypto market descends into chaos. Source: Vitalik Buterin

2023: Ethereum rollups, recovery and the return of airdrops

With PoS live, developers turned their attention to layer-2 (L2) solutions that process transactions offchain while relying on Ethereum for security. Arbitrum, Optimism and zkSync emerged as early leaders in this new frontier.

The new projects also brought in a new wave of airdrop speculation. Inspired by Uniswap’s 2020 giveaway, users began farming activity across emerging protocols in hopes of qualifying for future token drops. In March 2023, Arbitrum’s long-awaited airdrop went live, distributing Arbitrum tokens to early users and reigniting excitement across the ecosystem. Optimism also had its second and third airdrops later that year.

Meanwhile, liquid staking tokens such as Lido, Rocket Pool and Coinbase’s cbETH became the dominant method to stake ETH, as they allowed users to earn yield while maintaining liquidity.

Liquid staking accounted for over a third of Ethereum’s staking by July 2023. Source: Binance

By contrast, DeFi and NFT activity had cooled from their 2021 highs. ETH’s price started the year at around $1,200 and climbed to around $2,300 by the end of the year.

2024: Ethereum fragmentation and ETF momentum

L2s exploded in 2024 as liquidity scattered across the Ethereum ecosystem. The growth of chains like Base, Mantle, Blast, zkSync and others led to the creation of siloed environments. Each L2 hosted its own decentralized exchanges and liquidity pools, which meant assets like ETH and USDC were no longer easily interchangeable across networks.

The Ethereum Improvement Proposal 4844 upgrade, implemented in March 2024, reduced costs and accelerated the shift to rollups. Activity surged, but bridging between L2s remained clunky and inefficient. Users chasing airdrops and incentives moved from chain to chain, which deepened the fragmentation.

Value in rollups peaks at over $50 billion in December 2024. Source: L2Beat

Ethereum managed to scale transaction throughput, but this came at the cost of unified liquidity, increased arbitrage complexity and reduced composability across the broader DeFi landscape.

At the same time, institutional interest in Ethereum began to rise again, driven by the approval and launch of Ethereum-based exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the US.

2025: Ethereum regroups at the base layer

After years of offloading activity to L2s, the Ethereum Foundation called for a strategic shift back to the base layer. 

At the same time, Ethereum’s appeal to institutions continued to surge. Spot ETH ETFs gained traction in the US. By midyear, ETH ETF inflows had outpaced Bitcoin ETFs. ETF issuers began exploring staking the underlying ETH.

Ethereum ETFs enjoy a streak of net inflows in July. 

Meanwhile, public companies began to follow Strategy’s (formerly MicroStrategy) Bitcoin playbook with Ether. 

Ether fell to as low as under $1,500 in April 2025, as the Ethereum Foundation battled leadership shuffles. The renewed institutional interest has raised Ether back to around $3,800 at the time of writing. 

China’s Cyberspace Administration (CAC) summoned Nvidia officials to address alleged “backdoor” security vulnerabilities with the H20 AI chip, just weeks after Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s diplomatic visit to Beijing, and days after US and Chinese officials met in Stockholm to extend their tariff truce. 

Nvidia was asked “to clarify and submit relevant supporting documentation regarding security risks, including potential vulnerabilities and backdoors, associated with its H20 computing chips sold to China,” according to a statement from CAC. 

China’s top internet watchdog claimed Nvidia’s AI chips pose major security threats due to security vulnerabilities…

“US lawmakers have previously called for advanced chips exported from the US to be equipped with location-tracking features,” the regulator pointed out. 

“The location-tracking and remote shutdown capabilities on Nvidia computing chips are ready, according to US AI experts,” CAC said. 

CAC’s concerns follow a legislative push in Washington, where Republican Senator Tom Cotton and a bipartisan group of eight Representatives recently introduced the U.S. Chip Security Act (H.R. 3447). This bill includes the requirement for companies like Nvidia to embed security mechanisms into advanced chips, such as location verification or tracking mechanisms. 

Nvidia reps were asked to provide technical documents about the H20 AI chip to ensure there are no “backdoors.” Huang has previously denied any security vulnerabilities with his chips. 

Earlier this month, Huang convinced the Trump administration to lift restrictions on AI chip sales to China. This is a remarkable reversal from the previously stated stance that limited US-China AI chip shipments to slow Beijing’s military progress. 

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick had recently said the resumption of sales of the H20 was linked to a rare earths deal with China. He framed it as a concession to Beijing. 

“The fourth one down, we want to keep China using it,” Lutnick said weeks ago, adding, “We want to keep having the Chinese use the American technology stack, because they still rely upon it.”

Forrester’s Principal Analyst Charlie Dai noted that “CAC’s scrutiny over H20 security risks could further erode Nvidia’s Chinese market share amid rising domestic competition, and immediate H20 sales resumption may face delays due to regulatory uncertainty.”

“It also aligns with China’s broader push to accelerate domestic semiconductor alternatives for technological self-reliance amid US export controls. In addition, the timing amplifies China’s leverage in ongoing US trade talks,” Dai said. 

Authored by Techno Fog via The Reactionary,

In the face of recent revelations concerning intelligence abuses that took place at the end of the Obama Administration, former CIA Director James Brennan and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper took to The New York Times to defend themselves and their legacies.

The title is one for the ages: “Brennan and Clapper: Let’s Set the Record Straight on Russia and 2016.”

There’s a bit of audacity in that effort – those who twisted and manipulated the evidence to help manufacture the Trump/Russia hoax are now here to speak truth to power. And their piece deserves review.

First, their claim about the use of the Steele Dossier in the January 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment (which we addressed here and here), in which Brennan and Clapper state:

“We have testified under oath, and the reviews of the assessment have confirmed, that the dossier was not used as a source or taken into account for any of its analysis or conclusions.”

This is absolutely false. As DNI Gabbard’s recent release showed, the ICA’s conclusion that “We assess the [Russian] influence campaign aspired to help [Trump’s] chances of victory” was supported by four bullet points of “evidence.” One of those bullet points referred the reader to the Steele Dossier, stating “For additional reporting on Russian plans and intentions, please see Annex A: Additional Reporting from an FBI Source on Russian Influence Efforts.”

The Steele Dossier had been summarized in the ICA’s Annex and was classified, shielding it from public scrutiny and keeping the public (and some government officials) in the dark about that “FBI Source” who was reporting on Russia’s alleged influence operation. At the time, most anyone (save for the skeptics) reading the ICA would have concluded that there was legitimate and well-sourced information proving the ICA’s conclusion.

In reality, as we all know, it ended up being lies purchased by the Clinton Campaign. And by the time the ICA had been drafted, Director Brennan knew that Hillary Clinton had approved of a plan to link Trump to Russia. And even when confronted by CIA senior officers with the flaws of the Steele Dossier, Brennan shrugged them off, stating “Yes, but doesn’t it ring true?”

Second is their claim that “multiple, thorough, yearslong reviews of the assessment [ICA] have validated its findings and the rigor of its analysis.”

Of course, this ignores the obvious: that the memo released by DNI Gabbard damns both the ICA’s material findings (at least some of them) and the rigor of the ICA’s analysis. Citing to old “reviews” doesn’t change the most recent disclosures. But failing to address the substance of these July 2025 releases does indicate an effort by Brennan and Clapper to avoid a serious discussion of their own intelligence abuses.

After all, the Gabbard release establishes the following:

• In making its conclusion that there was a Russian plan to engage and assist Trump, the ICA relied “an email with no date, no identified sender, no clear recipient, and no classification.”

• Reliable reporting indicated that Russia was concerned that Trump would take a hard line to Russia. Other intelligence suggested that Russia did not plan to target Democrats because they were easier to work with.

• Brennan overruled CIA officers who wanted to omit an “unclear fragment of a sentence” from the ICA because it was unreliable and subject to multiple interpretations. This “fragment” was used to conclude that Putin “aspired” to help Trump.

Third, Brennan and Clapper write:

“Despite claims by Trump administration officials of a nefarious political conspiracy, we did everything we could at the time to prevent leaks of intelligence reports, including Russia’s preference for Mr. Trump, a requirement that President Obama regularly emphasized.”

With respect to the nefarious political conspiracy and the leaks, the evidence is overwhelming and includes:

• The use of Clinton-funded opposition research to fuel the counter-intelligence investigation of the President-elect and his team.

• The use of Clinton-funded opposition research, and fraudulent and unreliable intelligence (see examples above), to support the conclusions of the ICA that harmed Trump.

• By December 2016 there were leaks to the press (most notably to The New York Times and the Washington Post) by senior Obama Administration officials concerning the intelligence community’s findings that Russia sought to harm Clinton’s campaign and help Trump. These leaks continued into January 2017.

• The fact that the Steele Dossier was bolstered by being presented as part of the ICA before its leak to the press.

And finally, Brennan and Clapper dispute the Trump Administration’s claim that that the Obama Administration “silenced intelligence professionals.”

Yet as we have learned in the last couple weeks, one ODNI official was pressured by top-level intelligence officials in late December 2016/early January 2017 to accept “that the Russian government had a preference for President Trump.”

When this ODNI official refused to accept that conclusion based on the evidence and questioned leadership “about why an IC assessment was being created that contradicted multiple IC assessments”, he was shut-out and “immediately removed from emails regarding the drafting of the Obama-ordered IC assessment.”

Brennan and Clapper can play semantics – “silenced” isn’t exactly “removed” and “sidelined” – but it’s close enough. Others, like the CIA officers who tried to persuade Brennan about the feeble intelligence and the failings of the Steele Dossier, were just ignored.

The sad reality is that not many in the intelligence community had to be silenced because they were willing to go along with leadership’s objective to damage Trump.

Via American Greatness,

Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene has introduced the Clear Skies Act of 2025 calling for an end to what she calls the “dangerous and deadly practice of weather modification and geoengineering.”

The bill, designated H.R. 4403, would prohibit weather modification through the use of geoengineering, cloud seeding, and solar radiation management through the release of chemicals into the atmosphere to change the weather, temperature, climate or to block out sunlight.

If enacted, the law would punish weather modification violations as a felony with offenders facing up to $100,000 in fines and/or five years in prison for each violation.

THE CLEAR SKIES ACT! ☀️

My bill…

🚫 PROHIBITS all weather modification, including geoengineering, cloud seeding, and solar radiation management

⛓️‍💥 CRIMINALIZES weather modification violations, up to $100,000 in fines and/or 5 years in prison per violation

⚖️ DIRECTS the… pic.twitter.com/c0BWz2JxQQ

— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) July 28, 2025

Greene says her bill is similar to Florida’s S.B. 56 which repeals the state’s ability to issue permits for geoengineering and weather modification and prohibits the injection, release, or dispersion of chemicals or substances into the atmosphere for the express purpose of altering weather, temperature, climate, or sunlight intensity.

Under the Clear Skies Act, all existing federal authority and executive orders permitting weather modification would be repealed and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Department of Justice (DOJ) would be directed to investigate and prosecute violations.

H.B. 4403 would also create a public reporting system that would allow Americans to report suspicious activity and which the EPA would be required to investigate.

In announcing the Clear Skies Act Greene spoke of the need to protect the nation’s skies, waters and people from weather modification, saying, “It’s time to end this dangerous and unregulated practice.”

🚨 BREAKING: CLEAR SKIES ACT INTRODUCED ☀️

I just introduced the Clear Skies Act to BAN geoengineering and weather modification.

No more spraying chemicals in our skies.

It’s time to end this dangerous and unregulated practice. pic.twitter.com/BIfhUhgkcc

— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) July 15, 2025

Authored by Jonathan Turley,

When President James Buchanan declared that the United States Senate is the “world’s greatest deliberative body,” he clearly had not envisioned Sen. Cory Booker (D., N.J.).

In yet another tirade on the floor, Sen. Booker attacked not just President Donald Trump but his Democratic colleagues for voting for a bipartisan bill on law enforcement.

Behind the “I am Spartacus” theatrics is a more troubling trend in the United States Senate as it devolves into a more populist, impulsive institution.

In 1872, Moncure Daniel Conway published an account of a meeting between Thomas Jefferson and George Washington. Jefferson questioned Washington’s support for the creation of a second or upper house in the form of the Senate. Washington asked:

“Why…did you just now pour that coffee into your saucer, before drinking?”

“To cool it,” answered Jefferson, “my throat is not made of brass.”

“Even so,” rejoined Washington, “we pour our legislation into the senatorial saucer to cool it.”

These days, it seems like legislation goes to the Senate to heat up.

The Senate is losing its constitutional and cultural moorings as the cooling saucer for our heated politics.

Instead, it is becoming more like . . . well . . . the house.

The role of the Senate is key to the Madisonian design in forcing compromise and deliberation. Senators were given longer, six-year terms to insulate them from the immediate political demands that often motivate the House.

That has changed with the 24-hour media-saturated political environment. It has changed in this age of rage.

Cue Corey Booker:

Putting the claims of “secret police” aside, and, once again, the imminent collapse of democracy, Booker was immediately set upon by his colleagues after he moved to block the bipartisan bill by fellow Democratic Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto (Nev.) and Amy Klobuchar (Minn.).

Klobuchar effectively accused Booker of grandstanding and hypocrisy:

“I will note that Sen. Booker objected to my police reauthorization bill, the cops funding, the Clinton cops funding, long before Donald Trump came into office. So this is not just about this. This is a long dispute over this type of funding.”

She also snapped back at Booker saying that he could not make a key hearing on the drafting of the bill because of a conflict, noting “I can’t help it if someone couldn’t change their schedule to be there.”

Cortez Masto struck back at the notion that Democrats should simply refuse to cooperate with the Administration or that working with Republicans is what Booker calls “complicity.”

Booker is clearly maneuvering for a possible presidential run and seeking to tap into the rage growing on the far left. He is also the inevitable result of the rising rhetoric of figures like Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer in pandering to the far left of his party. Democratic senators are now being denounced as “establishment” as Booker and others tack to the left to lead “the resistance.”

Booker just raised the anger ante for Democrats. They must either join the resistance and the rage or face the ire of their party. In the interim, the constitutional system will suffer. We need the House of Representatives as the “people’s house.” We do not need two Houses of Representatives. The Senate ideally moderates, not magnifies, the pressures and passions in the political system.

Booker’s tirades clearly resonates with some on the far left, but it is likely to come at a cost for the institution itself. As tensions build on the Democratic side, Teddy Roosevelt’s quip seems to be coming true in voting for bipartisan legisation: “When they call the roll in the Senate, the Senators do not know whether to answer ‘Present’ or ‘Not guilty.””

Another G7 member is set to add its name to a growing list of nations planning to recognize a Palestinian state at the United Nations summit in September, following France pledging to do so, and after the UK only this week said it very likely will.

Prime Minister Mark Carney said Canada plans to issue this recognition in a Thursday statement, setting up a clash with Israel and Washington. Canada has “long been committed to a two-state solution” involving an independent Palestinian state “living side by side with the State of Israel in peace and security.”

“Canada intends to recognize the state of Palestine at the 80th General Assembly of the United Nations,” Carney told a press briefing, alongside Foreign Minister Anita Anand. “We intend to do so because the Palestinian Authority has committed to lead much needed reform.”

France has positively encouraged the move, with a fresh statement the Elysee Palace highlighting that President Emmanuel Macron had directly engaged on the issue with Carney and looks forward to “working together”.

“We will continue our efforts to encourage others to join this momentum in the run-up to the General Assembly in September,” the Elysee added.

While some Europeans are hailing Canada’s move, this has already provoked a swift and threatening reaction from President Trump.

“Wow! Canada has just announced that it is backing statehood for Palestine. That will make it very hard for us to make a Trade Deal with them. Oh’ Canada!!!” he wrote on Truth Social.

The threat to blow up trade talks due to Palestinian recognition comes as the US is dangling a 35% tariff hike over Canada if a mutual agreement cannot be reached by August 1 – literally tomorrow.

Over in Europe, plenty of small nations have already recognized Palestine as a state, but heavyweight G7 powers like France, Canada and the UK doing so takes things to another level, and Israel’s government would see it as a full-blown diplomatic disaster.

Already, European officials have grown more skeptical of Netanyahu policies, also as The Hague-based ICC has issued a warrant charging war crimes, which in effect prevents Bibi from traveling to much of the European continent.