What Shall We Bake Today?

Food 1 Minute

These cookies are supposed to be a cross between traditional Sugar Cookies and Snickerdoodles…Cinnamon Cookies!

Ingredients

1 cup sugar (or 1/2 cup each brown and white)

1⁄2 cup butter

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1⁄2 cups flour

1 1⁄2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking powder

1⁄4 teaspoon salt

cinnamon sugar

Instructions

Combine the butter and sugar in a stand mixer on medium-high speed until light and fluffy.

Add the egg and vanilla, then mix on medium until blended. Turn the mixer off.

Mix the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt in a separate bowl. Then add it to the mixer.

Start on low, mixing the flour into the butter, until a dough forms.

Cover the bowl and place it in the refrigerator to chill for approximately 2 hours. The mixture should be firm enough to hold its shape when molded.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (175°C) and line a baking sheet with parchment.

Portion the cookie dough into 3/4-inch balls. Then roll each ball in the cinnamon sugar, coating well.

Place the cookie dough onto the baking sheet, leaving one inch between each cookie.

Bake for approximately 10 minutes, or until the edges start to turn brown.

Remove the tray from the oven, and allow the cookies to cool slightly.

Then, transfer them to a cooling rack to cool them completely.

ENJOY!

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Published by pat frederick

Published

85 thoughts on “What Shall We Bake Today?”

  1. Morning All!

    cloudy but 60* currently. very still outside instead of the windy weather we’ve been having.

    I see massie lost his primary…

    trying to access Marica’s this morning…getting a “security” risk message and won’t let me access it…???

    see what today brings…

    this is pat and wp is not allowing me to log in. i logged in at wolf’s…but not here and not Marica’s…

    Liked by 2 people

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    2. Good Morning, Pat! 50ish here, sunny and windy.

      Looks like a good day for yard chores, and of course laundry. 😁

      Take care, God Bless 🙏

      (Try turning off your ad-blocker)

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        1. so I got an email with this comment and I could hit post or reply or whatever…and then it shows up here…what a pain in the ass!

          Liked by 1 person

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    3. I could log in as usual here but M’s won’t open for me either. Fucking WP has instituted more roadblocks!!!! Are they TRYING to drive people away???? Sheesh! Gmail is making it more difficult these days, too. About once a week or so, I have to go thru a security test where they put up squiggly words – it usually takes me 3 or 4 times to get it right. SMDH

      Liked by 1 person

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      2. i tried accessing “all comments” where I usually go to check to see if there’s any in pending or spam and I can’t do that either. I thought I could manually approve my comments and have them show up. no luck.

        PAVACA at wolf’s says she can’t get into Marica’s either.

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      1. when i try to post a comment a screen comes up and at the bottom it says performing a TLS handshake with craftstoreartblog (or whatever our actual name is)…that’s normal, normally it just does that and a second or two later that screen disappears and boom i’m in. this just gets stuck at the screen and then it flickers something else at the bottom too quickly to read what it says. then it gets stuck.

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        1. This is insane – all kinds of weird shit happening. I finally got signed in on both blogs but other shit keeps popping up that I don’t understand!!!!

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  4. Just The News: “Normally U.S. presidents approaching the midway point of their second term are beginning to experience the effects of declining political capital as lame ducks. But not Donald Trump, who continues to wield the power of election endorsements with unparalleled success.

    America’s 47th president kept his impressive 2026 primary winning streak rolling Tuesday night, with more than three dozen Republicans winning outright or advancing to a runoff in states like Georgia, Alabama, Pennsylvania and Kentucky.

    But the night’s biggest prize for Trump was the ousting of one-time ally Rep. Thomas Massie, who was defeated by Trump-backed rival Ed Gallrein, a former Navy SEAL and Kentucky farmer, in one of the most expensive congressional races in American history. Massie lost in Kentucky’s fourth House district primary by about 10 points after winning the last two general elections by a whopping 65% and 98% respectively. But those wins were before he got crossways with Trump on issues like spending bills, Jeffrey Epstein documents and foreign policy and the Iran war.

    The message of Massie’s loss was loud and clear to all: crossing the incumbent president can, and often is lethal to your political health.

    “This is @realdonaldtrump’s Republican Party,” Rep. Randy Fine, R-Fla., declared on X. “The rest of us get the privilege of living in it.”

    Added longtime Trump ally and lawyer Rudy Giuliani, the former New York City mayor: “The results should also serve as a warning to Republican office holders who choose to suck up to the left and the liberal media—you will be held accountable (at the ballot box) by the MAGA movement.”

    Massie’s loss was part of Trump’s trifecta of enemies that he declared he would defeat in primaries after they came out against him. The others included Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, the Republican who voted for Trump’s impeachment in 2021 and who ended up finishing third in his primary Saturday, and five Indiana Republican state legislators who refused to back Trump demands for redistricting in the Hoosier state to give Republicans a larger edge.

    Another Trump critic, Republican Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, also finished third in his bid to become the state’s next governor and failed to qualify for next month’s runoff.

    Trump on Tuesday added Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, to his target list by endorsing Cornyn’s opponent, Attorney General Ken Paxton in next week’s runoff election.

    “John Cornyn is a good man, and I worked well with him, but he was not supportive of me when times were tough,” Trump explained.

    “Ken Paxton has gone through a lot, in many cases, very unfairly, but he is a Fighter, and knows how to WIN. Our Country needs Fighters, and also Loyalty to the Cause of Greatness,” he added.”

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  5. yeah it’s just not letting my login here…not sure why. checking the help section–nothing on this so far so not sure how many people are experiencing this yet.

    Liked by 1 person

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  7. I’m going to try to restart my computer to see if that helps. Crossing my fingers that I can sign in again here…..here goes…..

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  8. WTF???? All kinds of crazy shit going on!!! I restarted everything and nothing is working “normally.” But I did finally get M’s to come up and it “recognizes” me. Sheesh. This is ridiculous!!!

    Liked by 1 person

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  9. Cactus

    May 20, 2026 4:50 am

    JMO.

    CliffsNotes: History of what can be done with a LOYAL LEADER OF THE SENATE. 

    __________________________________________________

    When Franklin Roosevelt became president, Senate Leader Joseph T. Robinson loyally followed the new president’s legislative agenda.

    Robinson passed FDR’s agenda bills so quickly that Will Rogers joked “Congress doesn’t pass legislation any more, they just wave at the bills as they go by. 

    Robinson, who had spent long hours studying Senate procedures and legislative issues, would in fact yield more influence than any of his party leader predecessors would, and would even expand and better define the power of a party leader’s Senate Majority Leader post. 

    In 1937, the rule giving majority leader right of first recognition was created. With the addition of this rule, the Senate majority leader enjoyed far greater control over the agenda of which bills to be considered on the floor.

    __________________________________________________

    The May, 2026 problem is that Thune is not loyal to the most popular elected President, of his own party, in America’s recent history. 

    This week’s primary losses for Thune’s leadership came from Cassidy’s loss in LA and President Trump endorsing Paxton, not Cornyn, in the primary race in the Great State of Texas.

    Senate procedures aren’t the problem, Thune’s disloyalty to President Trump is the problem.

    __________________________________________________

    In reality, Thune’s disloyalty is his problem …. he could change it in a heartbeat, or not.

    __________________________________________________

    But, assuming he stays disloyal, his lack of support for President Trump’s MAGA / America First legislative agenda has become the country’s, problem. 

    What can be done?

    Thinking “out-of-the-box”, but Constitutionally, immediately take the following actions to break the “leader Thune’s imposed logjam” for removing the senate filibuster rule.

    __________________________________________________

    First: 

    Out with Thune as senate presiding officer, in with Vice President JD Vance as presiding officer and Senator Thomas Hawley Tuberville as “president pro tempore.”

    Second:

    Out with the democrat appointed senate parliamentarian and in with Steven Miller as the new senate parliamentarian.

    Third:

    With the senate parliamentarian’s blessing, remove the senate filibuster rule on a simple majority vote.

    Fourth:

    Vice President Vance returns Thune to be presiding officer of the senate. Hopefully, he has learned his lesson and will become loyal to President Trump.

    __________________________________________________

    Of course, the “but, but, but you can’t do that” voices will immediately say it can’t be done. 

    So, make the changes to get it done. For sure, Senate Leader Joseph T. Robinson, of yore, would have found a way to implement the popular elected President’s legislative agenda.

    MAGA / America First isn’t just our motto, it is our duty!

    Liked by 1 person

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  10. Liked by 1 person

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  11. Liked by 1 person

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  13. “In a world where nobody should give a fuck about anything a fat, ugly, uberlib lesbian has to say, we are once again reminded that some people will stop at nothing – well, nothing short of stupidity – to try to gain some semblance of relevance. Sorry, Natalie, you and you girlfriends were relegated to the useless-piece-of-shit pile 20 years ago. Nice try, though…”

    Meanwhile, in Japan….

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  14. “The steps of Montmartre typically refer to the Rue Foyatier, a famous, uninterrupted stone staircase running straight up to the Sacré-Cœur Basilica in Paris. The climb consists of exactly 222 steps. If you want to reach the top but need a break from the stairs, you can ride the Montmartre Funicular, which runs right alongside the steps and only costs a standard Paris metro ticket.

     At the top you will get panoramic views of Paris, which are especially stunning at sunset or night. The steps are a known hotspot for scams and pickpockets. Keep your belongings secure, and don’t let anyone distract you by trying to tie string around your wrist.

    If you want a more leisurely and scenic – albeit hilly – walk, bypass the main staircase and wander toward the quiet cobblestone streets like Rue de l’Abreuvoir.”

    Liked by 1 person

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  15. “WTF is up with this ‘Furry’ nonsense? These people are truly sick – like this guy…

    A sicko dressed in a cartoonish Pink Panther-like costume allegedly hunted down local Virginia school kids in broad daylight – and nearly snatched up a little girl. The pink predator struck around 4:30 p.m. on May 14, trailing a group of terrified youngsters fresh off the school bus in Frdericksburg, where horrifying video showed the creep prowling along the grassy roadside.

     “This man stared down my son and one of the older neighbors from across the road. That’s when this picture was snapped,” a local resident posted on Facebook.

    Ya see – we should give cops the right to immediately throw a net over people like this and bring ’em directly to the Funny Farm (if there are any anywhere anymore). No judges, no lawyers, no court rooms, no Psychiatrists – straight in to the loony bin, and padlock the door when he’s in and heavily sedated. That would be my way of dealing with whackjobs like this guy. Juss’ sayin’…”

    Liked by 1 person

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  16. “Russia & China at WAR?”

    Michael T. Flynn LTG USA (RET), May 20, 2026

    ENTIRE ARTICLE: “If “America First” is ever going to be a reality, we better pay close attention to what the other members of the global Nuclear Club are doing. Below are the top three critical issues (my opinion) that Xi and Putin discussed or agreed upon during their recent summit in Beijing. Keep in mind, these two leaders have met nearly forty (40) times, so they have a deep personal relationship as well as that which each nation shares.

    1. ENERGY/ECONOMICS: They signed off on massive energy and economic deals. Given the situation in Eastern Europe and the Middle East, their meeting had a very heavy focus on advancing major energy cooperation, including the “Power of Siberia 2” gas pipeline and a long-term oil & gas agreement. Russia, with its vast natural resources in fossil fuels and rare earth elements aims to boost supplies to China amid global tensions. It is reported there were over fifty (50) separate bilateral trade and economic deals signed off on.

    2. DEEPEN ALREADY EXISTING STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS: Xi and Putin committed to reinforcing their own personal relationship but also acknowledged their respective nation’s historic ties as well as a shared border further deepening their strategic partnership. Recognizing their 30 years of close ties, both leaders reinforced their comprehensive strategic partnership. This includes signing a joint declaration on advancing bilateral relations to a “higher standard” and broader cooperation in trade, tech, and other fields.

    3. AN EMERGING MULTIPOLAR WORLD: The third, and of great interest for America (and to me), especially as we examine the many threats and challenges facing us after more than two decades of war, massive and unstoppable debt, and internal political challenges further dividing our republic is the idea of a “Multipolar World.”

    A Multipolar World is a global order in which several major powers or power centers (such as the US, China, Russia, EU, & India) share significant influence, competing and cooperating without any single nation dominating. This contrasts with a unipolar (one superpower) or bipolar (two superpowers) system.

    They each emphasized a shared vision of a multipolar international order (countering U.S.-led alliances), plus held discussions on regional hotspots like Ukraine and the Middle East (Iran). Their aim is to project stability and alignment on international affairs. The meeting is described as a “substance-heavy” meeting with many concrete deliverables expected.

    Coming on the heels of the Trump-Xi summit has an appearance (to me) of a well choreographed effort to place the United States in a less than advantageous geo-strategic position. The devil is in the details of the Xi-Putin Summit. As more light is shined on all their various meeting outcomes emerge (ie., joint statements and signed deals) we should expect to gain a sense of direction these nations will head as we enter the 2nd quarter of the 21st Century.

    Interesting times ahead for sure. Again, our situation is vastly different than it was post World War II. in fact, it is vastly different than at the end of the Cold War circa 1990. Time for every American leader to find ways to come together otherwise we will find ourselves in a place of obedience instead of enlightenment.

    Pray for our troops, our first responders, and as Memorial Day approaches, never forget the many sacrifices made for so many by so few.”

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  18. Liked by 1 person

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  19. ….sigh….I have been defeated by a squirrel!!! Somehow, he/she managed to get past the slinky and liquid soap…..poison back on the shopping list! Wasn’t happy with the seed I scattered on the sidewalk underneath it….

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  23. He or she is nuts!!!!

    Fire it up

    Overload #3

    International Code of Signals flag for the letter “A,” known as ALFA, at least one meter high if diving operations restrict their ability to maneuver

    Liked by 1 person

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  25. “Update: The story of the Pakistani twins accused of deleting U.S. government databases after getting fired just got funnier”

    Mister Retrops, May 19, 2026

    Image for article: Update: The story of the Pakistani twins accused of deleting U.S. government databases after getting fired just got funnier

    ENTIRE ARTICLE: “Not long ago, we covered the story of the Ahkter twins: hackers who the Biden administration had hired despite their illegal hacking history, and how when they got fired, they took out a few government databases with them.

    DOGE fired two Pakistani-American contractors and they’re accused of stealing confidential info, wiping databases on their way out

    Back in February, as Trump’s DOGE was marching through the federal government canceling superfluous government contracts, Pakistani twin brothers Muneeb and Sohaib Akhter got the axe, and on their way out, they erased several databases while stealing citizens’ personal information.

    But it was odd how precisely the government was able to relate the pair’s conversations during the mass deletion caper. Were they bugged? The answer to that is a hilarious “no.”

    Arstechnica discovered that they had been fired via a Teams meeting, and the twins had simply forgot to turn off the recording while they committed their crime.

    Here’s how prosecutors put it:

    On February 18, 2025, two human resources (HR) employees of Company-1 [Opexus] scheduled a Microsoft Teams meeting with Sohaib and Muneeb. Sohaib recorded the meeting starting at 4:48pm Eastern Standard Time. The HR personnel left the meeting approximately 2 minutes and 40 seconds into the recording. Apparently unbeknownst to the defendants, the meeting continued recording the next hour of interactions between the brothers.

    Here’s the most damning evidence:

    SOHAIB: ‘How do you still have access? When did you connect to their VPN?’

    MUNEEB: ‘10 minutes before their stupid meeting.’

    SOHAIB: ‘You might still have access to it until the end of the day. Until at least 6 hours.’

    MUNEEB: ‘Don’t worry about it man. Don’t worry about it.’

    SOHAIB: ‘I see you are cleaning out their database backups.’

    MUNEEB: ‘Don’t worry about it. You don’t do nothing. Don’t try nothin’. They are looking at you, they are not looking at me.’

    SOHAIB: ‘[G]oing to RDP into their systems and delete all their data.’

    Both pled guilty, though Muneeb has been trying to change his plea ever since his conviction. With evidence this damning, it’s hard to imagine why.”

    Liked by 1 person

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  26. THIS is Islam and the deep brainwashing since birth!!!!

    EXCERPT: “An Afghan man has been sentenced to life in prison in Austria after trying to murder his 15-year-old daughter in a knife attack that prosecutors said was driven by claims of wounded family honor.

    The 51-year-old attacked the girl on Nov. 24, 2025, in Vienna’s Donaustadt district, stabbing her more than a dozen times in the chest, back, and neck. The assault was so violent that the blade broke during the attack. The girl survived only after a doctor from a nearby clinic quickly provided emergency first aid.

    As reported by Kronen Zeitung, the case was heard at the Vienna Regional Court and the sentence passed down on Tuesday. The court heard how the attack followed tensions inside the family over the girl’s relationship with a Romanian boy of the same age. Her father, who fled to Austria in 2004, allegedly regarded the relationship as unacceptable and claimed she had damaged the family’s honor.

    In earlier statements to police, the teenager had described threats, violence, and control inside the family. She said she had been promised to an older Afghan man, was not allowed to make her own decisions about her life, and had been threatened along with her boyfriend and older sister.

    However, her testimony in court surprised those present. While her father remained in the room, the girl suddenly defended him and said she forgave him. “My father is actually a very loving person. I was simply too rebellious. I love my father, and I forgive him for what he did,” she told the court.

    When asked by the judge if she had been coerced into saying this, the girl replied, “What I’m saying, I say from the heart. If I had listened to my father back then, we would still be happy.”

    She also told the court she had changed her view of what happened. “The way I know my father, that wasn’t him. I just know he wasn’t himself,” she said. When asked about the allegations she had previously made to investigators, including claims of death threats and repeated violence, she said, “I made that up.”

    According to ORF, the defendant said at police interview that he had the right to stab his daughter because she had a boyfriend…..”

    https://rmx.news/article/i-just-wanted-to-slap-her-afghan-father-sentenced-to-life-in-austria-for-stabbing-teenage-daughter-12-times-for-dating-a-romanian-boy/

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  27. 🌪️ Strong Tornado Tears Through Nebraska

    A dangerous tornado ripped through rural Nebraska, damaging homes and trapping residents in basements as supercells exploded across the Plains. The National Weather Service issued a Particularly Dangerous Situation (PDS) tornado warning — wording meteorologists reserve for potentially life-threatening tornado events.

    Storm chasers captured massive rotating structures crossing farmland while several homes partially collapsed.

    Spring in America increasingly feels like:

    • wildfire season
    • tornado season
    • flood season
    • heat dome season
    • infrastructure collapse season

    Sometimes all during the same week.”

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  28. ❄️ Record Cold Smashes The U.S. After Heat

    A brutal cold blast is now sweeping across parts of the United States after recent spring warmth.

    Wyoming temperatures plunged to 8°F (-13°C), breaking decades-old May cold records. Snow, frost and freeze warnings are spreading across areas that were recently enjoying spring weather. So in summary:

    • tornadoes in one region
    • floods in another
    • volcanic ash overseas
    • freezing temperatures elsewhere

    Normal weather has apparently left the chat.”

    Liked by 1 person

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  29. ⚡ Extreme Heat Could Trigger Massive Power Failures

    Scientists are warning that future heat waves could trigger deadly blackouts as cities become increasingly dependent on air conditioning just to survive. Modern civilization now runs on a fragile agreement:

    “Please let the electricity stay on.”

    Data centers will probably remain perfectly cooled while humans melt beside overloaded grids. The future continues to feel aggressively cyberpunk.

    🔗 Source: https://portablepowerguides.com/scientists-warn-extreme-heat-could-trigger-deadly-power-outages-as-cities-become-increasingly-dependent-on-air-conditioning-for-survival/

    🐴 Humans Rode Horses Earlier Than Expected

    A new study suggests humans may have begun riding and trading horses more than 1,000 years earlier than previously believed. Researchers say horsemanship may have accelerated massive migrations across Eurasia roughly 5,000 years ago.

    Translation: human civilization basically unlocked fast travel. Entire cultures, wars, economies and empires changed because one person thousands of years ago apparently looked at a horse and thought:

    “I bet I can sit on that.”

    🔗 Source: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/horse-riding-taming-domestication-history-b2978368.html

    Liked by 1 person

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  30. 🐹 The Secret Hero Of Mount St. Helens Was… A Gopher?

    Scientists studying the recovery of Mount St. Helens after the 1980 eruption discovered that pocket gophers may have dramatically accelerated ecosystem recovery. Their digging helped move bacteria, fungi and older soil back toward the surface, giving plants a better chance to regrow after the volcanic devastation.

    So while humanity was busy building models and writing reports…tiny dirt goblins were quietly rebuilding the ecosystem underground.

    🔗 Source: https://www.ecoticias.com/en/mount-st-helens-the-eruption-that-changed-the-u-s-in-1980-has-an-unexpected-culprit-and-no-it-is-not-a-volcano-it-is-animals-and-the-story-is-surreal/32353/

    ☢️ Drone Strike Hits UAE Nuclear Plant

    A drone attack reportedly sparked a fire near the UAE’s nuclear power plant perimeter. No radiological release was reported. Still, the sentence:

    “drone strike near nuclear facility”

    is exactly the kind of phrase nobody wants entering the global news cycle. The event highlights how vulnerable modern critical infrastructure remains in an era of cheap drones and escalating geopolitical tension.

    🔗 Source: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/drone-attack-starts-fire-at-uae-nuclear-power-plant

    👽 NSA Releases Formerly TOP SECRET UMBRA UAP Files

    The NSA has released hundreds of pages of previously classified UAP-related records following a FOIA appeal. Some documents reportedly carried the “TOP SECRET UMBRA” designation — one of the highest intelligence classifications tied to signals intelligence operations.

    So naturally the internet has now entered:

    • full conspiracy mode
    • full disclosure mode
    • full meme mode

    simultaneously.

    🔗 Source: https://disclosure.org/news/nsa-top-secret-umbra-uap-foia-release

    Liked by 1 person

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  31. “The Beagles Won: How a strange bipartisan coalition broke the eighty-year consensus on animal research — and why even skeptics should pay attention”

    Dr. Robert W. Malone, May 20, 2026

    EXCERPT: “There was a line item on the invoice. That’s the detail that still does the work, four years later, when you try to explain to someone why this issue went nuclear.

    Cordectomy. Surgical severing of vocal cords.

    A federal agency, your tax dollars, my tax dollars,, paid a contractor to slit the vocal cords of forty-four beagle puppies, six to eight months old, so that the experimenters wouldn’t have to listen to them cry while being force-fed an experimental drug for weeks until they were killed and dissected.

    The American Veterinary Medical Association opposes the procedure. So does the American Animal Hospital Association. It is the kind of thing veterinarians refuse to do to a family pet absent extraordinary medical justification. But for the convenience of a research lab, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases under Anthony Fauci wrote the check. $1.68 million, total. The cordectomy was a separate billable line.

    When the documents came out in late 2021; pried loose by FOIA requests from a small watchdog group called the White Coat Waste Project, the public reaction was not partisan. It was visceral. Republican Representative Nancy Mace organized a bipartisan letter signed by twenty-four members of Congress demanding answers. Senator Joni Ernst started turning the screws from her side. PETA filed lawsuits. And a Beltway press corps that had spent two years treating Dr. Fauci as a secular saint suddenly found itself trying to explain “BeagleGate” to a furious country.

    Some of what went viral turned out to be wrong. The most notorious image, beagles with their heads sealed in mesh cages full of sand flies, from a Tunisian leishmaniasis study, was misattributed; the journal eventually issued a correction stating that NIH had not funded that particular paper. The watchdogs got out over their skis on that one, and the fact-checkers gleefully pointed it out.

    But the cordectomies were real. The University of Georgia study, where 28 healthy adult beagles were intentionally infested with parasite-carrying flies and then killed at the end, that was real.

    The intramural sepsis experiments at NIH’s own Bethesda campus, where dogs had bacteria pumped into their lungs and were allowed to suffer through septic shock for up to 96 hours before euthanasia, going back to 1986, that was real, and it had been going on for decades. Over two thousand beagles, by the watchdogs’ count, in that single program.

    Here is the thing about a moral catastrophe that has been quietly funded for forty years: when daylight finally hits it, the question is not whether to defend it. The question is who will move first to end it.

    The settled consensus, and why it was never quite as settled as it looked

    For most of the lifetime of anyone reading this, American biomedical research has operated on a presumption so deeply baked into the system that scientists barely articulated it: before a drug or biologic goes into a human, it goes into animals. Typically, a rodent species (mice, rats) and a non-rodent mammal, usually a dog, usually a beagle, because beagles are small, docile, and physiologically well-characterized. This was not a policy preference. It was federal law, traceable to the 1938 Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act passed in the aftermath of an elixir-of-sulfanilamide poisoning that killed more than a hundred people, mostly children. The post-thalidomide reforms of the 1960s reinforced it…..”

    https://www.malone.news/p/the-beagles-won

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  32. okay here are some squirrel deterrents i hadn’t heard of before…

    Spice Up Your Feed

    Squirrels hate spicy food, but birds are unaffected. You can sprinkle cayenne pepper or a similar spice into your birdseed. The compound capsaicin repels squirrels but doesn’t bother birds. However, ensure this method is safe for your bird species by doing some research beforehand.

    Choose PVC or Copper Poles

    Avoid using wood or metal poles, which squirrels can easily climb. Opt for PVC or copper poles instead. These materials are too slippery for squirrels to scale, keeping them away from the birdseed.

    Deter Squirrels with Soap

    Some gardeners claim that hanging a bar of Irish Spring soap near feeders deters squirrels. Place the soap in an old sock to prevent wildlife from eating it. Be mindful of high temperatures, as soap can melt and create a mess.

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    1. Interesting – thanks! I’m not going to go to the trouble of replacing the pole itself (it’s been in the ground for 10 years) but the following spices are safe for birds – I’ll try several of them. I’ve got some of them on-hand already, like the cloves, cinnamon and turmeric. The current seed block is almost gone so I’ll add the spices to the new one when I put it up.

      “Ceylon (true) cinnamon, cumin, cloves, ginger, and turmeric are widely recognized as safe for birds.  Other safe options include allspice, anise, basil, cardamom, celery seeds, chamomile, chili peppers (birds lack capsaicin receptors), cilantro, coriander, dill, fennel, fenugreek, galangal, juniper berries, lavender, mint, oregano, parsley, paprika, rosemary, saffron (in very small amounts), sage, star anise, sumac, berries, lavender, mint, oregano, parsley, paprika, rosemary, saffron (in very small amounts) and and thyme.” 

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  37. Hmmm…..I can understand this move now – makes sense.

    “Trump DOJ Indicts Raúl Castro”

    Clandestine, May 20, 2026

    “Why is the indictment of Castro such a big deal? Because it signals that Trump is removing Deep State influence over Cuba. Trump is undoing the damage the CIA has done over the decades, and fixing destabilized nations.

    It also signals Russia and China’s influence is being removed from Cuba, and the Western Hemisphere as a whole. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that as soon as Trump returns from his visit with Xi, we are now seeing movement on Cuba, while Trump is also seemingly backing off on Taiwan. This fits into my overall thesis that Trump, Xi, and Putin, have agreed to consolidate spheres of influence and stay out of each other’s yards.

    In order to make this happen, all nations with Deep State influence must be purged, and Cuba has been a CIA hotbed since 1959.

    The “Deep State” is not just corrupt US politicians, it’s a global terrorist organization that has embedded itself and overtaken nations around the world, Cuba being one of the most notable. The entire global network is being cleaned up.”

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  38. Well, so far the squirrel is staying away from the seed block I treated. But I put the remains of the previous one on the sidewalk at the base of the pole, so he has been busying himself with that. I had also scattered some seed on the sidewalk earlier. Crossing my fingers!

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