Q: Does a bear shit in the woods?
A: Apparently not.

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Researchers at Rockefeller University are reporting encouraging results from an early clinical trial of a redesigned cancer immunotherapy that is injected directly into tumors.

In the small study, six of 12 patients experienced tumor shrinkage, and two patients went into complete remission, according to findings published in the journal Cancer Cell.

And remarkably, the treatment not only affected the injected tumors but those located in other areas of the body shrank or were eliminated by immune cells.

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If, of course, that’s what you want to do.

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Some good news, for a change.

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designed this John Wick room/man cave for my friend who wanted to redo a part of his basement. Even got to get my hands dirty on this one, which I love. Modeled after Winston’s vault room in the Continental Hotel from the movie John Wick 3. Packed with guns (gun replicas), wall art, and a pool table, this is the quintessential man’s room.

Worth doing, I think. If I had a basement (which I don’t; Texas for some reason doesn’t do basements), I would certainly consider it.

The Foundry.

President Donald Trump’s military response to Iran’s decades-long war against the United States has already reaped massive dividends in its first week.

On America’s 250th anniversary, Trump isn’t just reshaping the Middle East—he’s reshaping the global balance of power and strengthening the United States’ position.

“Operation Epic Fury” has already yielded three massive victories in the first week.

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Marco Rubio appears for an interview with John Micklethwait of Bloomberg News. The interview was pre-scheduled as a follow up to the rather historic speech in Munich at the security conference. Within the interview {video and transcript below} Rubio expands on the baseline of the speech, the ‘why‘ is the U.S-EU alliance important.

Well worth your time.

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A new Trump-aligned nonprofit is launching to fill a gap in enforcement of the president’s election integrity executive order.

Nicole Kelly, senior counsel at Lex Politica, the law firm that represents Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy, and other Republicans, is the president of a new 501(c)4 called Save Election Day to lead the fight in battleground states to implement the initiatives identified by President Donald Trump’s executive order last March.

“President Trump’s executive order that came out last March that really sparked the initial idea here because this organization was founded for one single purpose,” Kelly told The Daily Signal, “which we believe is existential to the future of the United States democracy, which is to lead the fight in the states to implement the key initiatives that were identified and outlined by President Trump.”

Save Election Day is particularly aimed at implementing several policies nationwide: one single Election Day; requirements of photo ID to vote; elimination or reduction of mail-in balloting and early voting periods; elimination of post-Election Day ballot receipt periods; and bans on noncitizen voting.

Republicans are now rifling through the Democrat toolbox and stealing all the good stuff.

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This is a critically worded speech that is very important to listen to with great deliberation. Within his remarks Rubio is telling Europe that we want to remain allied in our interests, but we are no longer going to allow the system of “globalism” to destroy our uniquely American life.

The United States is separating from the madness; this is not up for debate. The only question is whether Europe is too far gone, or whether they will join us.

Rubio continues to impress. I still favor Vance for 2028, but if he’s not available Rubio will certainly do.

Ponder the quality of possible Republican candidates with the bare bench (except for random piles of poop) of the Democrats.

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A federal judge ruled against California’s prohibition on federal law enforcement wearing masks, a mandate aimed at Immigration and Custom Enforcement agents.

U.S. District Judge Christina Snyder, appointed by President Bill Clinton, ruled the state law discriminates against federal law enforcement, as it allowed state police to wear masks to conceal their identities while preventing federal law enforcement from doing the same.

However, she rejected the Trump administration’s argument that the ICE agents needed to wear masks to be protected from doxing, in a 30-page opinion Monday.

“The Act treats federal law enforcement officers differently than similarly situated state law enforcement officers,” Snyder concluded.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the No Secret Police Act in September 2025, only referencing federal, city, and county law enforcement, but not including state law enforcement.

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Saw this on Red State, and it seems like a pretty easy tactic to implement – mislead the ICE protestors into going to the wrong places, and just generally waste their time. It’s sort of an update on the old “let’s order twenty pizzas and have them delivered to our friend’s house” prank, without victimizing the poor pizza workers. The idea of sending a coven of screeching gelatinous broads and boys in the throes of soy-psychosis (is that a thing? Maybe not) to a biker bar is quite satisfying. And maybe, just maybe, with a few calculations and burned quantities of midnight oil, we can come up with even funnier scenarios.

One of the difficulties with crowd-sourcing an activity is that you’re not the only crowd out there.

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It’s difficult to reconcile the doom mongering over Venezuela becoming the “next Iraq or Afghanistan” when the Venezuelan populace is largely celebrating the capture of Nicolás Maduro. When one recognizes that Maduro stole the Venezuelan elections, that he’s not the true leader of the country and that his communist regime organized a reign of terror against the populace to eliminate political opposition, it’s easy to see why Donald Trump’s black-bag operation is being applauded by the people who actually matter.

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An Impulse induction range runs about $7,000, and I really want one. But I can’t justify paying that much for a cooktop.

Maybe if I win the lottery….

As with most tech innovations, the market will initially be upper-income early adopters, but I’m hoping that it will eventually use economies of scale to reduce the price over time.

(CCOS: I was much saddened by the amount of vocal fry used by the people talking in the video. *sigh* California….)

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Garmin has confirmed the first emergency use of its Autoland system occurred on Saturday in Colorado. “Garmin can confirm that an emergency Autoland activation occurred at Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport in Broomfield, Colorado,” the company said in a statement Sunday. “The Autoland took place on Sat., Dec. 20, resulting in a successful landing. We look forward to sharing additional details at the appropriate time.” Social media posts from flight tracking hobbyists reported a King Air 200 squawked 7700 about 2 p.m. local time today. The Autoland system was initiated and landed the aircraft at Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport near Denver. A recording from LiveATC’s feed of the airport’s tower frequency includes a robotic female voice declaring a pilot incapacitation and the intention to land on Runway 30. The tape is below and first mention of the incident by ATC is at about 5:00. The Autoland system announces its intentions at about 11:10. (The time stamps are approximate.) There is no word on the condition of the pilot but social media posts suggest all aboard were safe.

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Trump, speaking at a White House event on Dec. 3, expressed admiration for tiny cars after seeing them in Japan, comparing these models to the classic Volkswagen Beetle.

“They’re very small; they’re really cute,” Trump told reporters. “And everyone seems to think they’re good, but you’re not allowed to build them.”

He confirmed that he authorized Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy to “immediately approve the production” of these smaller vehicles, which are common throughout Malaysia and South Korea.

“So, you’ll be able to buy [them],” the president said.

…

The federal government does not explicitly ban Japanese-style microcars. However, regulatory exclusions effectively prevented automakers from producing these types of vehicles, forcing them to manufacture larger, heavier cars.

ince the 1970s, the United States has implemented modern federal crash-safety and highway-safety standards under the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards. This includes airbags, crash-test performance, side-impact protection, and structural strength.

Kei cars—designed with small dimensions and engines—cannot comply with these standards without adding weight and size, ultimately undermining the very concept.

Speed the day. (As usual, government is the problem, not the solution.)

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On Thursday, the U.S. Senate confirmed Media Research Center founder and President Emeritus L. Brent Bozell III as U.S. Ambassador to South Africa, despite obstructionist tactics by Democrats.

By a 53-43 evening vote, the Senate approved Bozell to fill the post vacated by former ambassador Reuben Brigety, who resigned in January.

“I am honored to have this opportunity to advance America’s relationship with South Africa and deeply grateful for the faith President Trump has placed in my ability and commitment to do so,” Bozell said following Thursday’s vote. “I look forward to serving his administration and the nation in this important diplomatic mission,” the newly-confirmed ambassador added.

This is going to be very entertaining—like confirming William F. Buckley as ambassador to the Soviet Union.

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Freakpages is a community-curated directory of esoteric articles across the internet, primarily from Wikipedia. Here, we encourage you to learn about interesting topics you have never heard of. Enjoy your stay, and please consider voting for or suggesting pages you find interesting, or sharing Freakpages with others who might enjoy it too!

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My wife pointed this out to me.

I don’t think I’ve ever eaten a latke, but that’s an error I intend to correct.

CNBC, a Voice of the Crust.

Michael and Susan Dell announced Tuesday that they have committed $6.25 billion to fund investment accounts for some 25 million American children.

The couple’s donation will be the largest ever devoted to American children, according to Invest America, a nonprofit advocacy group partnered with the Dells.

“It’s designed to help families feel supported from the start and encourage them to keep saving as their children grow,” Michael Dell, founder and CEO of Dell Technologies

, told CNBC in an interview. “We know that when children have accounts like this, they’re much more likely to graduate from high school, from college, buy a home, start a business and less likely to be incarcerated.”

The Dells’ commitment goes hand in hand with a new federal government program that allows parents to open tax-advantaged investment accounts for children under 18 with Social Security numbers. Under the federal program, U.S. citizens born from the beginning of 2025 through 2028 will receive a federal grant of $1,000 to seed those so-called Trump accounts. Parents will be able to open and contribute to these accounts starting on July 4, 2026, with IRS guidance yet to be issued.

Wally is my hero.

The Antiplanner.

Less than fifteen years ago, Harvard economist Edward Glaeser’s book, The Triumph of the City, argued that face-to-face communications were sill vital for finance and other industries, which was why dense cities and dense downtowns were still important. At the time, I wrote what was probably the most critical review of this book because it failed to recognize that continuing improvements in telecommunications (such as FaceTime) and transportation (such as interstate freeways) were making face-to-face meetings less relevant all the time.

Now, a recent article in the Economist observes that the share of New York City workers employed in the finance and insurance industry has fallen from 11.5 percent in 1990 to 7.7 percent in 2025. Although JPMorgan Chase occupies one of the two Midtown office towers taller than the Empire State Building, that bank has more employees in Texas than in New York.

Among the major reasons for this decline, argues the Economist, are high costs, high taxes, and increased government regulation. But if density were really an essential prerequisite for the success of the finance industry, it would overcome those obstacles. The reality is that the need for density has been declining since the development of electricity, telephones, and affordable automobiles, and new technologies since then, including microcomputers, Zoom calls, and autonomous vehicles, have simply continued this trend.

Believe me, they are VERY expensive.

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I suspect that it wasn’t George Soros.

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Ever have the urge to see New York City or Los Angeles under water> Now’s your chance.

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Recruiting for the Navy is at its highest level since the early 2000s, just two years after the service missed its active-duty goal.

“We’ve listened to those line recruiters and done the things that they indicated were the most important to them, and that has changed the game on the inspiration, the drive and the willingness to go the extra mile to get the job done,” Rear Adm. James Waters III, head of Navy Recruiting Command, told reporters Monday, according to Stars and Stripes.

The Navy, Army, and Air Force missed their recruiting goals in 2023, and they took steps to bring in new prospects.

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The National Guard has exceeded its recruiting goals for fiscal year 2025, the Department of War (DOW), formerly the Department of Defense, said in a Sept. 24 statement.

“Since November 2024, the War Department has achieved its strongest recruiting performance in 30 years, with fiscal year-to-date accessions as of the end of August reaching 106% of active-duty targets,” the department said.

“The Army National Guard and the Air National Guard have combined to enlist almost 50,000 new members this fiscal year as of this month, bringing total National Guard end strength to over 433,000, surpassing each component’s goals and marking one of the most successful recruiting years in over a decade.”

Air Force Gen. Steven Nordhaus, National Guard Bureau chief, highlighted the value provided by the National Guard, which accounts for 20 percent of the country’s joint force at just 4 percent of the department’s budget.

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Apparently Mississippi is richer than the UK. Who knew?

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Patrons at a restaurant acted quickly and selflessly to stop a gunman who opened fire while a wedding was taking place at a New Hampshire country club, averting a worse tragedy, authorities said Sunday.

One person was killed and two others were wounded by the gunfire Saturday night before the suspect was taken into custody in a nearby neighborhood not long after the shooting, authorities said.

The gunfire killed Robert Steven DeCesare, 59, at Sky Meadow Country Club in Nashua, said New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella and Nashua Police Chief Kevin Rourke. They said the suspect was Hunter Nadeau, 23, of Nashua, and said he was arrested and charged with one count of second-degree murder for knowingly shooting DeCesare.

In other words, they were Republicans. Democrats would have run and hid, and the death toll would have been much higher.

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If, of course, that’s what you want to do.

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The 1960s were a famously tumultuous decade, so I suppose it makes sense that the food followed suit. On the one hand: Julia Child, who made her pop-culture arrival after the first episode of “The French Chef” aired on July 26, 1962. On the other hand: spray cheese, which debuted in 1965.

It was a contrast that feels deeply familiar today but was new back then: corporations cranking out an endless supply of new convenience foods while competing factions of culinary celebrities grew in prominence and cultural status and railed against the packaged foods that they viewed as mass-produced dreck, high in preservatives and low in any redeeming features.

Well, the ‘redeeming feature’ was that they tasted good….

I still marvel at how much TV dinner trays looked like the metal mess trays we used in the Navy.

Sometimes the old ways are best.

HELLO magazine, the shallowest fembot pond in media.

After Donald Trump took office in January, many celebrities have fled the United States. Everyone from Ellen DeGeneres to Jimmy Kimmel is considering staying gone for good.

And Trump just keeps on winning….

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After years of paying too much at the pump and hearing politicians in Washington tell us it was all Putin’s fault, American families are finally getting relief. The reason is simple: our energy workers have an administration that lets them do their jobs. The results are undeniable.

This weekend, gas prices are the lowest they’ve been since 2020. According to GasBuddy, the national average for Labor Day 2025 is $3.15 a gallon. Compare that to Labor Day 2022, when drivers were shelling out an average of $3.83. That’s a 68-cent difference, and for families packing up the minivan for one last summer road trip, it means real savings. When Washington gets out of the way, energy workers deliver.

And Trump just keeps on winning.

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I must confess thta when I was in the 6th grade I wouldn’t have had a clue about where to get helium.

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One of the enduring embarrassments for the US under Joe Biden was his administration’s handling of the military, from the poorly planned exit from Afghanistan, to forced covid vaccination, to their bizarre recruitment and training policies. Democrats sought to fundamentally change the fabric of every vital American institution and the Department of Defense was no different.

Military recruitment imploded and public interest in the services plunged during the rampant degeneracy of progressive rule. Woke infiltration of the Pentagon and the Department of Defense was rampant. Top generals were spouting Critical Race Theory propaganda, the US Army was trying to integrate 90 pound women into the Rangers in the name of “equity” and transgender cross-dressers were making TikToks in uniform with the blessing of the Navy while getting sex-change surgeries on the taxpayer’s dime.

Military recruitment ads went full woke. An utter humiliation on the world stage that promoted DEI activism over security readiness in the form of childish cartoons. Noticeably absent from these ads was young white men, the one demographic that traditionally joins in the name of patriotism and is largely responsible for filling recruitment quotas every year.

Well, at least he wasn’t shouting “Melon! Melon!” That would be a weird pizza….

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Gother Than Thou: The Most Pretentious Card Game Ever Made is a card game that parodies the goth subculture. It was first published in 2000 by Savant Garde Entertainment. Gother Than Thou appeared on the 2001 Games magazine Games 100 list and was nominated for the “Best Graphic Presentation of a Card Game” category of the 2002 Origins Awards.

The game is played with a deck of 55 cards, which contain three types of Points, which are Goth Points, Sickness, and Money. Every player is dealt five cards. Each player, on their turn, discards one card from their Fate pile, then plays a card into each player’s Fate pile, including their own, finally drawing enough cards to refill their hand.

For each Sickness point a player has, they can hold one less card in their hand. At five points of Sickness, a player Swoons, loses their entire Fate pile, and draws five cards. A player who is not In Debt can draw cards from the discard pile. The first player to twenty Goth points wins.

Unfortunately, this appears to be no longer available. Pity.

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Chris Williamson and Rory Sutherland have a fascinating talk about life in Texas.

Their discussion regarding the way that driving helps to socialize people is first-rate.

The distinction between ‘air fryer girlfriends’ and ‘sleeping bag girlfriends’ is worth watching the whole things.