Tex's Place

WELCOME to The Corral! This is an open chat forum like REVEILLE, but for Sat and Sun.  Have a wonderful weekend, and please be civil! TEX

The Medieval Rules for Men By THE WESTERN SPIRIT Have you ever wondered whether medieval knights had a rulebook? Turns out, they did. Sometime between 1274 and 1276, the Catholic philosopher Ramon Llull wrote The Book of the Order of Chivalry , essentially a medieval guide to what a Christian knight was supposed to be, explaining everything from the virtues a knight needed and the duties he owed to others to the way he should prepare for knighthood and even what the sword, shield, helmet, horse, and rest of his equipment were supposed to remind him of. And this is where it gets interesting, because when you read what Llull expected from a knight, you realize that medieval chivalry demanded far more than courage on the battlefield. A knight first had to learn how to rule himself… Llull begins his book with a young squire traveling to the court of a great king, hoping to become a knight, when his horse carries him into a forest where he encounters an elderly knight who has...

By Teri Christoph If you've been waiting with bated breath for Kamala Harris's hot take on election integrity and the midterm elections, your wait is over. And let's just say it's not a sober take on things. The failed Democrat presidential candidate put out a video Thursday claiming that President Trump is trying to rig the November elections by having the USPS tighten up its procedures for handling mail-in ballots. There are two important things to unpack here: her message and her appearance.  Let's start with the message. She starts off by saying, "Hey, everybody. Just this week, the United States Supreme Court backed up the president’s agenda. He’s trying to make it more difficult for you to vote by mail." Then adds, "By the way, he votes by mail from Mar-a-Lago, but he doesn’t want you to vote by mail because he knows you’re paying attention." Because Trump votes by mail and wants to make sure his ballot is handled correctly by the USPS...

By Kyle Shideler This move by the U.S. State and Treasury Departments is the first sign they understand how to address the unique challenge of far-left terrorism. In perhaps the most consequential move to date by the Trump administration to address the challenge of what it calls the “political terrorism” of the far-left, the U.S. State and U.S. Treasury Departments announced this week the designation of the Autistici/Inventati Collective, an Italy-based anonymous tech collective, as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist. As the State Department described in its official announcement, A/I Collective provides sophisticated tech tools for a variety of far-left extremist actors, including website hosting, a blogging suite known as “No.Blogs,” mail services, and similar tech services. Utilizing these anonymous tools, anarchist and autonomous groups issue communiques for designated terrorist groups, issue calls to commit criminal acts, and take credit for attacks against critical inf...

By Tyler Durden How much money do you have to pay in taxes over a lifetime? This visualization, via Visual Capitalist's Bruno Venditti, maps the estimated lifetime tax bill for a single filer in every U.S. state, including federal and state income taxes, as well as sales, property, and vehicle taxes. The data for this visualization comes from Self Financial , with estimates as of June 2026. The analysis assumes a 45-year working life with constant earnings and tax rates, a life expectancy of 79.6 years, homeownership beginning at age 40, and ownership of five vehicles over a lifetime. New Jersey Tops the Ranking New Jersey has the highest estimated lifetime tax bill in the country at $1.36 million. Rank State Lifetime taxes per person 1 New Jersey $1,359,406 ...

By Teri Christoph Just when it seemed like the United States Postal Service (USPS) was free to implement its new rules governing mail-in ballots ahead of this year's midterm elections, along comes U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani to hit the brakes – again . And this time, she's thrown in a strange legal twist just to keep things exciting.  As RedState's resident legal eagle Susie Moore reported earlier this week, the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) cleared the way Monday for the Trump administration to move forward with key parts of its mail-in voting policy. SCOTUS did not rule on the legality of the rule, but said that an earlier challenge had come too soon because the Postal Service had not yet finalized the rules needed to carry it out. So, USPS finalized the rules, which went into effect Wednesday. With the midterms just a few months away, the USPS has finalized a strict new rule on how mail-in and absentee ballots are to be handled in federal elections. This new r...

By Danny Zaken Turning point When will Iran collapse? When it runs out of fuel. That was the answer I received from a senior Western diplomat who has spent years involved in implementing sanctions against Iran. And now, that moment looks closer than ever. Iran refines about 120 million liters (31.7 million gallons) of gasoline a day but consumes more than 135 million liters (35.7 million gallons), leaving a daily shortfall of roughly 15 million liters (4 million gallons). Until a month ago, imports from China through the Strait of Hormuz, along with fuel supplied by Russia, made up the deficit. Iranian oil facility. Photo: Reuters A US naval blockade, Ukrainian attacks on Russian refining infrastructure and the closure of the supply route from Russia across the Caspian Sea have reduced imports to almost zero. The result is rationing that has now fallen to 30-50 liters (8-13 gallons) per car per month, enormous lines at Iranian gas stations and the closure of some stat...