John Ʌ Konrad 

Just as I predicted yesterday…. MSM will falsely claim the Secretary of the Navy was fired because of Battleships.

And the NYTimes is actually worse than I thought. Let me explain….

The mainstream media will make this about the ships because the defense “experts” never want more hulls. They want money flowing into consulting fees, AI “solutions,” and think tank white papers. Steel produces nothing for the Beltway class. A flight deck you can launch F-35s off of does not generate PowerPoints.

But the NYTimes is running an even more sinister play.

Throughout the Biden administration, and later during DOGE’s audit work, I translated every major spending bill into a unit every American can actually visualize: one nuclear aircraft carrier.

Nuclear supercarrier cost: $15 billion.

Biden’s BEAD rural broadband program, which connected zero homes to the internet: $42.5 billion, or roughly three carriers.

Pete Buttigieg’s infrastructure package: $1.1 trillion, or seventy three carriers.

Total DOGE savings to date: $215 billion, or fourteen carriers.

Known Somali-linked fraud in Minnesota, per federal prosecutors: $18 billion, or one carrier plus an Arleigh Burke destroyer.

Why do I keep doing this?

Because for the past two decades the NYTimes has run the same story on loop: the military is the reason for America’s skyrocketing national debt.

That is a psyop. It conditions Americans to believe that steel and sailors, not social programs and grift, are what is bankrupting the country.

Human beings are not wired to understand $15 billion. The mind goes blank at that scale. But every American, left or right, understands the sheer weight and menace of a nuclear aircraft carrier. It is the most visible, most photogenic instrument of state power on earth.

So the NYTimes runs the obvious play.

Paint the carrier as expensive. Pile on delays and cost overruns. Quote an anonymous Pentagon source worrying about bloat. Then anchor the defense budget to “discretionary spending,” a small slice of the real pie, and express it as a percentage of that smaller number.

The Pentagon instantly looks like the whale in the room.

But Medicare alone, roughly $1 trillion in 2025, already eclipses the entire defense budget. Add Medicaid and ACA subsidies and federal health spending hits $1.8 trillion, more than double defense. None of those programs are labeled “discretionary,” so by NYTimes accounting, they “don’t count.”

This is a magic act. The NYTimes holds a shiny capital ship up in one hand to keep your eyes off the social programs bankrupting the country in the other.

Once you see the trick, you cannot unsee it. Every time the NYTimes runs a carrier or battleship exposé, ask one question: what is on the page they did not write?

Nine times out of ten, the answer is sitting just outside the “discretionary” column, quietly metastasizing, while a Ford class carrier gets blamed for the deficit.

America is not going broke building warships. Warships are one time expenses that last decades and are a tiny fraction of the total annual budget.

America is going broke pretending the ledgers that matter do not exist, while a national newspaper gets paid to keep the audience looking the other way.

That’s why they hate battleships. That’s why they tell you they are ridiculous and antiquated warships that are a waste of money. To make you think THIS is the reason why the nation is $39T in debt.

And the best part? Their psyop works on both sides of the aisle… on liberals who hate the military and conservatives who hate federal spending.

Battleships are not a waste of money. All the many fraudulent programs that cost more annually than a single carrier are.

Looks like he is one of those ‘refugees’ imported from Somalia.

Minneapolis man sentenced to 8.5 years in prison over support for ISIS.

MINNEAPOLIS — A Minnesota man was sentenced in federal district court to more than eight years in prison Wednesday for supporting the efforts of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), a designated terrorist organization rooted in the Middle East.

A statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota said 23-year-old Abdisatar Ahmed Hassan, of Minneapolis, was handed eight-and-a-half years in prison, followed by 15 years of supervised release, after he pleaded guilty in September to attempting to provide material support and resources to ISIS.

Court documents show that in 2024, Hassan began collecting and redistributing ISIS propaganda, while obtaining various manuals about sniper-training skills and how to make “highly explosive” materials and ammunition. Officials said Hassan also researched articles online related to gun ranges, weapons and “ISIS-inspired attacks and terroristic acts.”

Prosecutors found Hassan engaged with ISIS media wings and recruiters in Somalia for months before he decided to quit his job and liquidate his savings, cashing in on a one-way ticket from Minneapolis to Somalia in early December 2024. Hassan was actually turned away from that flight after airport officials discovered he lacked the proper travel documents, but just a few weeks later, he was granted the same one-way ticket with the proper documentation.

According to the district attorney’s office, Hassan made his first flight to Chicago, but was stopped and questioned by Customs and Border Control agents, missing his flight to Somalia and later admitting to his ties to the terrorist organization.

Hassan returned to Minnesota and continued to praise ISIS through his social media accounts until being arrested by the FBI in February 2025. A grand jury then indicted Hassan on one count of attempting to provide material support and resources to ISIS.

“The sentence handed down today takes a would-be terrorist off the streets and sends a clear message that the FBI and our partners will unremittingly pursue anyone seeking to join or support a foreign terrorist organization,” said FBI Minneapolis Division Special Agent in Charge Christopher D. Dotson.

History Shows Pistols Were Common in Revolutionary America

Pistols were commonly owned in America at the time of the Revolution. Clayton Cramer & Joseph Edward Olson lay out extensive evidence in their paper.

Numerous people claim that pistols were not common during the American Revolution. This is done to imply concealed arms were not included in the Right to Keep and Bear Arms. Clayton Cramer and Joseph Edward Olson published a paper outlining extensive evidence of pistol ownership at the time of the American Revolution. The paper was published in the Willamette Law Review on June 3, 2008, pages 699-722.

In early America, pistols were distinguished from guns or firearms. The distinction between pistols and guns, and by extension firearms, persisted in common usage until 1828. One of the most telling pieces of evidence showing the commonality of pistols is the accounting of the weapons turned in to General Gage after the battles of Lexington and Concord occurred on April 19, 1775.

On April 23, 1775, General Gage offered to allow Boston residents to leave if they surrendered their arms. Boston, through the selectmen, voted to accept the offer. By April 27, the people had delivered over 3,400 weapons. From the paper:

 As an incentive, General Gage offered passes to leave Boston to all who turned in their weapons, because no weapons or ammunition were allowed to leave Boston. On April 27th, the people delivered to the selectman 1778 fire-arms, 634 pistols, 973 bayonets, and 38 blunderbusses.

Aside from the bayonets, pistols accounted for over 25% of the weapons turned in. This was probably an undercount, because pistols are easier to hide than the other weapons. After telling the Bostonians the weapons would be returned to them, General Gage confiscated them some months later.

The paper goes on to show numerous examples of pistols being offered for sale, pistols in estates, pistol powder for sale, and remnants of pistols found from the era.

In addition, at least one law exempted pistols from the regulation of long guns, the opposite of what is generally seen today.  Boston banned people from leaving unattended loaded firearms in buildings because of fire hazards. There was no law banning the carry of loaded firearms. The usage of the time separated firearms from pistols. The ban may not have included a prohibition on leaving loaded pistols in houses. Pocket pistols were mentioned in an account from 1772. There were many concealable arms during the revolutionary period. No evidence of laws against the carry of concealed weapons has been found from this period.

The paper is worth reading for any Second Amendment supporter. It shows handguns were in common use at the time of the revolution, and into the early Republic. Clayton Cramer is well known for his meticulous historical research.

Pistols, while not as common as long guns during the American Revolution, were common and readily used.  The story of Samuel Whittemore during the battle of Lexington and Concord is an illustration.

From warhistoryonline.com:

Samuel Whittemore learned of the British attack and armed himself with his prized sword and pistols, grabbed his trusty musket, and went to defend his home. By this point, Whittemore was at least 78, possibly as old as 80. He found a position to hide and observe the British advance and when they got close enough he revealed himself and shot one of the soldiers at nearly point blank range. With no time to reload Whittemore drew his pistols and killed two more soldiers.

Whittemore was shot, clubbed, and bayonetted at least 13 times. Against all odds, he survived and lived for two more decades.

Modern handguns were estimated to account for 27% of the privately owned firearms in the United States in 1945, according to figures in Gary Kleck’s highly acclaimed book, Point Blank. As America has become more urban, handguns have become more popular.  In 2023, handguns made up 54% of the firearms added to the private stock in the USA that year.

I know no safe depository of the ultimate powers of society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion by education. This is the true corrective for the abuse of constitutional power.
–Thomas Jefferson, letter to W.C. Jarvis, 1820.

Tennessee lawmakers pass bill allowing use of deadly force to protect property

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) – Tennessee lawmakers passed a bill allowing the use of deadly force to protect property in certain situations.

The House voted to approve the measure on April 23, after the Senate passed SB1847 on April 21.

If signed into law by Governor Bill Lee, property owners will be allowed to use deadly force to prevent someone from attempted or actual trespass, arson, damage to property, including damage to livestock, burglary, theft, robbery, or aggravated cruelty to animals.

“At its core, it asks a simple question: ‘Do we trust law-abiding citizens or do we side with the criminals that prey upon them?’” Because right now, under current law, if someone is breaking into your property, if they’re stealing from you, if they’re destroying what you’ve worked your entire life to build, you’re expected to wait. You’re expected to hesitate. You’re expected to second-guess and take a calculated look at defending what’s yours. HB 1802 simply says, ‘If someone is destroying your property, that you can use lethal force to protect it,’” said Rep. Kip Capley (R-Summertown), who sponsored the bill.

Opponents of the bill argue that it opens a dangerous door.

“The reason we were taught you don’t kill people over property is because they’re not putting at risk an innocent human life. What this legislation seems to be doing is lowering that threshold significantly and substantially, and the department is going to have to re-teach in future classes of people who go get their permit, or their lifetime permits, like my wife and I have done, is that you can now kill people over property. And I don’t think that is right,” said Rep. Justin Pearson (D-Memphis).

The measure does not allow the use of deadly force against someone who is facing away from the property owner.

The law goes into effect July 1, 2026, if the governor signs off on it.

Suspicion confirmed……..

Your Morning Coffee Is Reshaping Your Gut. Here’s What Scientists Found.
So fix yourself a cup of brew in the morning and chug it down, knowing it’s changing you for the better.

It’s been a while since scientists began to reach a consensus that whatever’s going on in your gut microbiome is vital, as it plays a major role in both physical and mental well-being. Those billions of microbes are sensitive, constantly shifting in response to diet and lifestyle. Now, a team of researchers says that one of the most common daily habits among billions of people worldwide can radically reshape your gut microbiome: drinking coffee.

A study published in Nature Communications tracked 62 adults through phases of normal coffee use, a forced two-week break, and a controlled reintroduction of either caffeinated or decaffeinated coffee. The goal was to understand how coffee interacts with the gut-brain axis, the communication network linking digestive microbes and the brain.

They found that habitual drinkers had distinct gut microbiomes compared to nondrinkers, with certain bacterial strains more abundant than others. When the study participants stopped drinking coffee, the patterns began to ebb and flow like ocean tides, with strains that were abundant before now retreating as others that were scarcely found reemerged.

This happened whether the coffee was caffeinated or not. That is a more important detail than it seems on the surface, since many of the changes were tied to the plant compounds in coffee called phenolic acids, which can influence how gut bacteria function and what chemicals they produce. A lot of those chemicals contain compounds that influence or affect the range of bodily functions, from brain signaling and gut health to body inflammation.

Coffee Causes Huge Changes In Your Gut Microbiome

Coffee’s effects show up in the billions of microscopic microbes in your gut, and in your behavior, too. Coffee drinkers were noted to be more impulsive and emotional. Yet after a two-week break, both of those measures dropped. When the coffee was reintroduced, the outcomes started to split.

People drinking caffeinated coffee had reduced anxiety and lower stress hormone levels, which sounds counter to what I would expect. Decaffeinated coffee drinkers also saw some benefit after the break, having shown stronger associations with improved sleep, memory performance, and fewer errors on learning tasks.

Coffee drinkers had a lower baseline of inflammatory markers, which is great. But those levels increased in the absence of coffee, then improved again once the coffee returned, regardless of whether it was caffeinated. If you want to reduce body inflammation, drink coffee in any form.

The point is, coffee doesn’t just wake your sleepy butt up in the morning. It is actively changing the complex biological ecosystem within your body, thus influencing how you think, how you feel, how you react to external stimuli, and, overall, how you function day to day.

So fix yourself a cup of brew in the morning and chug it down, knowing it’s changing you for the better.

Final Rule Drives a Stake Through Anti-Gun Left’s De-Banking Strategy.

The decades long discriminatory tension between the financial sector and the firearm industry underwent a positive shift with a final rule published on April 10 by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. This landmark effort in a long fought battle, which NRA-ILA has reported on extensively, codifies the removal of “reputation risk” as a basis of adverse action under oversight programs that apply to FDIC-supervised financial institutions.

Ultimately, this final rule eliminates reputation risk as a means of injecting politics into banking regulation by prohibiting examiners from using this subjective assessment to pressure or penalize banks. It also prohibits regulators from pushing banks to close accounts or deny services based on their ill-conceived aversion to the lawful firearms and ammunition industries, which are vital to supporting our constitutional rights.

This rule helps to mitigate unjustified biases against these business sectors left over from the Obama-Biden Administration and importantly helps to prevent future efforts in the same vein. In 2013, the U.S. Department of Justice, in coordination with regulators such as the FDIC, began pressuring banks to cut ties and services to industries they considered to be “high risk,” which under the anti-gun Obama-Biden administration unsurprisingly included firearm and ammunition-related business.re

The program, billed Operation Choke Point, encouraged broad financial “de-risking” and led to banks freezing or terminating services to lawful businesses based on “reputation risk,” instead of any proven misconduct or illegality. Guidance documents provided to banks at the time specifically listed firearm and ammunition sales as high-risk activity, although they are some of the most highly regulated industries in the country.

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Hunt’s Hardware & Guns celebrates 30 years

Hunt’s Hardware & Guns, in Miller marked their 30th anniversary on Saturday, April 18, celebrating the achievement with a customer appreciation event.

The business, run by David and Carrie Hunt, has served the citizens of Miller and beyond since 1996.

Located at 102 E. Main St., the store was originally established in the early 1980s, but after changing hands for the first time in 1994, the Hunts took the opportunity to purchase the establishment in 1996. The business was struggling at the time, and the Hunts decided that they could make it work.

Evolution with family

Over time, the store evolved, incorporating family into the business. Carrie Hunt’s father, Dennis Cooper, was brought into the fold, bringing with him his gun store that he had built into his home. What was once a modest selection of firearms has grown to cover more than half of the store. Cooper came to work full-time in the store in 1998; he has since retired.

The Hunts brought their children into the fold as well, saying that their three kids grew up in the hardware store.

In 2026, the business is still going strong with people coming from all over the state to shop for firearms, and locals coming to purchase a variety of hardware needs.

To celebrate these customers who have kept them in business for 30 years, the Hunts hosted a customer appreciation event where hot dogs were served and contestants entered to win a variety of prizes.

“It flew. It’s gone by so fast,” said Carrie Hunt. “It doesn’t seem like it’s been 30 years. You do it every day, and before you know it, you wake up one day and it’s been 30 years.”

Dylan Sprouse ‘Tackles’ Trespasser and ‘Holds Him at Gunpoint’ After Wife Barbara Palvin Spotted ‘Creepy Guy’ at $2 Million Property

Actor Dylan Sprouse reportedly tackled an intruder and held him at gunpoint after the man allegedly broke into the $2 million Hollywood Hills property the “Suite Life” star shares with wife Barbara Palvin.

Law enforcement officials received a call from “Victoria’s Secret” model Palvin, 32, at around 12:30 a.m. on April 17, according to the Los Angeles Times, which reports that the fashion star told authorities she had seen a “creepy guy” outside of their Los Angeles home.

Palvin is understood to have reported the incident as a potential robbery.

Although the police have released little information about the circumstances of the arrest, unnamed sources told TMZ that Sprouse, 33, had tackled the trespasser and then held him at gunpoint until the police arrived and took him into custody.

The unnamed suspect is not thought to have entered the couple’s home.

Police told the outlet that the suspect was taken into custody and there were no injuries.

Neither Sprouse nor Palvin has publicly commented on the invasion, which, according to TMZ, is not the first time someone has tried to gain access to the couple’s home.

Law enforcement sources told the outlet that “the situation was more like trespassing than a full-blown attempted burglary.” However, no further details about any potential charges have been shared.

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