Chess Is Cool Again, and I’m ‘Young
and Hip’ Now!
Posted By: Judy W., 7/16/2026 6:07:34 AM
I started playing chess regularly about six months ago. I'm still terrible, if we're being honest, but I've been chipping away at it, and I even bought a smart chessboard to help me learn faster. Growing up, chess had a reputation as the hobby of choice for kids with broken glasses and pocket protectors. I never touched a chessboard as a kid. Now, I love it. So imagine my surprise when I stumbled on a report from Axios informing me that chess is now "young and hip." According to Axios, "The pandemic, pop culture and a wave of content creators have turned a centuries-old game into a Gen Z phenomenon."
people like this.
people like this.
people like this.
people like this.
people like this.
person likes this.
person likes this.
people like this.
Below, you will find ...
Most Recent Articles posted by "Judy W."
and
Most Active Articles (last 48 hours)
Most Recent Articles posted by
Judy W."
I started playing chess regularly about six months ago. I'm still terrible, if we're being honest, but I've been chipping away at it, and I even bought a smart chessboard to help me learn faster.
Growing up, chess had a reputation as the hobby of choice for kids with broken glasses and pocket protectors. I never touched a chessboard as a kid. Now, I love it. So imagine my surprise when I stumbled on a report from Axios informing me that chess is now "young and hip."
According to Axios, "The pandemic, pop culture and a wave of content creators have turned a centuries-old game into a Gen Z phenomenon."
Mayor Zohran Mamdani of New York, taking a page from communist predecessors, is moving to assure that he has a pliant, ideologically aligned press corps to serve as props for his policy initiatives. (Snip) A July 10 press conference by Mayor Mamdani, billed as "a consumer protection announcement," had the mayor announcing a crackdown that is supposed to make it easier for New Yorkers to cancel online subscriptions. That itself is an effort to starve free-market-oriented, or at least non-communist, press outlets from revenue that helps to guarantee their independence.
The press conference featured lines like this: "We’re going to start with Praj at the Nation.
Iran Failed Trump's Test
14 replies
Trump... gave the remnants of the regime a final chance: step back, accept restraint, and choose coexistence over confrontation. Iran failed that test.
The regime did not moderate. It returned to its usual methods: missiles, drones, threats, blackmail, and violence. Trump did not abandon diplomacy. Iran destroyed it.
The United States must send a clear message to every dictatorship watching: America may negotiate
That has now become a matter of American national security.
A dictatorial regime that publicly tolerates calls for the assassination of the president of the United States cannot be treated as just another difficult adversary. A red line has been crossed.
Trump’s Supreme victory
2 replies
Bummed by the news reports about the Supreme Court as it flooded the end of June with key decisions? Don’t be.
Reporters cover the courts about as well as they cover the White House, election polls and war.
Let’s start with NBC’s “Supreme Court rules Trump can’t fire Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook.”
Except he can.
Two paragraphs underneath the headline, the story said, “In a 5-4 vote, the high court said Trump does not have the constitutional authority to fire a Fed governor without cause. While the landmark ruling limits a president’s authority over the central bank, a majority of the justices separately ruled Trump has free rein to
Scratch a Democrat, and you’ll find a communist underneath their lizard skin. Last week’s elections in New York City just confirmed what we already knew. The leftists are ascendant, and the alleged moderates — who were also leftists — are very upset. Think of this as like #MeToo. Remember that? That campaign against gropey, rapey people wasn’t really a fight about gropey, rapey people. Democrats like gropey, rapey people. Younger, primarily hard-left women just pretended not to in order to gain a political advantage over older establishment figures within the Democrat universe. #MeToo was simply about younger leftists trying to take power from older leftists.
Inventing Palestine
3 replies
When I lived in Israel in the early 1960s, I never saw a single “Palestinian.” Not once. Not ever. Why? Because they hadn’t been invented yet. I saw Arabs, as they called themselves, but that was it. I have newspapers from the time to prove it.(Snip)
As I see so many speak about “Palestinians” as though they are a unique people with a unique culture and history and therefore deserving of a state -- taken from Israel -- I must speak up. Because the Palestinian concept did not come about organically. It was created deliberately, with the intent to destroy Israel and Jewish sovereignty.What was the impetus for its invention?
An NBC reporter abruptly pulled her microphone away from a supporter of Republican Los Angeles mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt after he started to discuss in detail what he saw in the city.
During the network’s coverage of Tuesday’s primary elections, NBC’s Liz Kreutz interviewed a group of Pratt supporters about the former reality star possibly making it to the November runoff and asked what about his campaign was resonating with them. When one man mentioned Pratt not wanting “human feces to be a part of your life,” and not wanting homeless children outside, she thanked him and ended the interview.
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore is facing fresh allegations of having exaggerated his military experience, after a yearlong Spotlight on Maryland investigation yielded “no documentary evidence” to support his claim of having “led soldiers into combat in Afghanistan.”
(Snip) In a May 2022 post on X, Moore wrote, “When I was an Army captain and led soldiers into combat in Afghanistan, we lived by a simple principle: Leave no one behind.”
(Snip) According to the Sun, “Military records reviewed by Spotlight show no evidence that Moore, a lieutenant assigned as a brigade headquarters staff officer, experienced firefights in Afghanistan as his public narrative conveys.”
Why Any Deal with Iran Is a Mistake
9 replies
There can be no "good" deal with a jihadist regime that openly sponsors terrorism across the Middle East, brutalizes its own people, calls for the destruction of Israel, and continues to chant "Death to America."
Tehran sees diplomacy as a tactical weapon: a means to buy time, get intrusive foreign governments off their back, weaken international opposition, divide Western allies, and secure economic relief -- all while continuing its long-term strategic objectives as fast as the circumstances after President Donald J. Trump's term in office will allow.
Already, Iran has reportedly already restarted much of its ballistic missile production and "could restore significant portions of its offensive
Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich is offering a six-point plan for President Donald Trump and his Republican Party to win the midterms in November, after the president's big victories Tuesday night.
Gingrich, as a guest Wednesday on the John Solomon Reports" podcast, urged Trump to work on lowering gas prices before Labor Day this September, arguing it's a critical affordability point if the president wants his candidates to do well in November.
(Snip) Gingrich also pushed the White House to compile and promote a list of the "craziest things" that Democrats have done amid the Trump administration, including everything that its leaders have said to try to ensure
Getting Venezuela And Cuba Right
7 replies
President Trump deserves the gratitude of all American patriots. He has singlehandedly stopped the slide towards chaos that Obama and Biden worked so hard to achieve; he was kneecapped in his first administration by disloyal, treasonous bureaucrats and Democrat Party extremists bent on destroying what generations of Americans have built.
Like any other leader, the president is not all-knowing and all-seeing. While most of his supporters enjoy his humor and his readiness to boldly confront our enemies, foreign and domestic, there are times when somebody must speak bluntly to him when he is about to slip on a banana peel. This is one of those times.
Americans across the political spectrum were stunned by Donald Trump’s upset victory in 2016. Pundits, pollsters, and political insiders had largely failed to account for a powerful bloc of supporters who either stayed quiet about their views or were underestimated entirely — the “silent Trump voter.”
Now, a decade later, some are wondering whether that same phenomenon might be happening in the Los Angeles mayoral race.Is there such a thing as the “silent Spencer Pratt voter”?
The growing excitement and online buzz surrounding the former reality-TV star’s campaign has sparked national headlines in the weeks since he turned a candidate debate with Mayor Karen Bass and city council member Nithya Raman
Most Active Articles (last 48 hours)
Nearly half of House Democrats voted to cut off aid to Israel Wednesday, underscoring a seismic shift in political support for the longtime U.S. ally.
The amendment to a State Department spending bill would have eliminated $3.3 billion in funding, and thanks to strong Republican support for the Jewish state, it failed 314-104 . But the vote served as a moment of reckoning for House Democrats who have had to confront years of voter outrage about Israel’s handling of the war in Gaza.
“There’s also a real sense that the status quo cannot continue,”
A Florida congressional candidate and former U.S. Marine is facing backlash after posting a video calling President Donald Trump "the Antichrist" and saying the president "must be killed."
William Upham, a Republican write-in candidate for Florida's 5th Congressional District who describes himself on X as a prosecutor "running to fix a broken political system," opens the nearly seven-minute video by saying he entered the race to restore bipartisanship, return power to the working class and "fix our broken political system."
The tone quickly shifts, however, as Upham says he has come to believe the country is "broken" and that America is engaged in a spiritual battle.
Carroll collects $5.6 million awarded
to her by jury in sex abuse and defamation
case against Trump 22 replies
to her by jury in sex abuse and defamation
case against Trump 22 replies
Writer E. Jean Carroll collected over $5.6 million that a jury awarded her in 2023 in a civil verdict against President Donald Trump.
Carroll alleged Trump had sexually abused her in the dressing room of a luxury department store in Manhattan in 1996. Trump's attorneys have filed another appeal seeking to stop or reverse the payment, the Associated Press reported, and they vow to keep appealing.
“We are pleased to report that she has received the damages payment,” Carroll's lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, said in a statement.
House Votes to Lock the Clock - for Good
21 replies
As my colleague Ward Clark reported on Friday, the U.S. House of Representatives moved the Sunshine Protection Act, which would make Daylight Saving Time permanent throughout the United States, from committee to the House floor for a vote. On Tuesday, the full House voted and passed the Act, 308-117. This is performative theater and nothing more. There are more pressing issues for our country and on the House docket, like national security appropriations, bills to combat fraud, and government controls over AI and data centers. But fresh off the House's July 4th recess, this was first up for consideration. According to Independent Rep. Kevin Kiley (CA-03),
Four years ago, the Senate voted unanimously to ditch the switch and stick with daylight saving time year-round. Nineteen states have passed laws that would make DST permanent, if the federal government would let them. And this week, the House approved the Sunshine Protection Act by a 3-to-1 margin.
But don’t count on it becoming law.
As Politico reports, it “faces an uphill battle in the Senate despite strong lobbying from the White House and personal engagement from President Donald Trump.”
The problem is that enough Senators are likely to be swayed by critics to block it, even though the arguments against the bill are entirely specious.
In 2025, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) delivered a ruling that may prove to be one of the most consequential legal interventions in modern environmental politics. It declared that states have a binding legal obligation under international law to prevent climate change, mitigate its impacts and avoid conduct that harms the environment. This was not merely symbolic. The court effectively transformed climate policy from a matter of political discretion into one of legal duty. Governments are now expected not only to regulate greenhouse gas emissions but to do so under the shadow of potential legal liability. Most significantly,
Finding out that, by a 3-to-2 margin, Americans think the country is “evolving into a big government socialist state” is bad enough. Far more worrisome is finding out how many Republicans and self-styled conservatives are on board with one of socialism’s central tenets.
The latest IBD/TIPP Poll, which we are reporting on today, finds that nearly half of Americans agree that we’re sliding into socialism, and less than a third disagree. (See: “By 3-To-2 Margin, Americans Believe U.S. Is Turning Into A ‘Socialist State’: I&I/TIPP Poll.”)
It also finds that Republicans are more pessimistic about the future than Democrats,
Houston Man Killed by ICE, Hailed as Father
Chasing ‘American Dream,’ Had Meth
in His Car, FBI Says 17 replies
Chasing ‘American Dream,’ Had Meth
in His Car, FBI Says 17 replies
Authorities recently discovered a “white crystal-like substance” in a work van belonging to Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, an illegal immigrant who was fatally shot by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Houston last week and who has been hailed by the media as a father chasing the “American dream.”
There has been intense outrage surrounding the incident, especially amid the broader unrest regarding U.S. immigration enforcement under the Trump administration.
Media outlets have touted Salgado Araujo as a father of four who, having entered the country 35 years ago in search of a better life, was actively pursuing legal status in the U.S.
However,
Fans are calling out legendary R&B singer Patti LaBelle for whiffing on her rendition of the national anthem to kick off the 2026 MLB All-Star Game in her hometown of Philadelphia. The 82-year-old two-time Grammy winner had the honor of singing the Star-Spangled Banner at the 96th Midsummer Classic before a packed crowd at Citizens Bank Park Tuesday evening — just five miles from Independence Hall and little more than a week after the nation’s 250th birthday. LaBelle appeared to drop a few words along the way and dragged out the anthem longer than most during the performance, but gutted her way across home plate with her singing
JPMorgan Chase Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon is validating the growing frustration of working-class Americans, admitting in a recent interview that he completely understands why man The Wall Street billionaire argued that decades of ineffective public policies have left lower-income families behind in struggling rural areas and inner cities, forcing them to navigate failing schools and rising crime while wealthy elites remain insulated from those problems. "The anti-rich thing has been around a long time, and I do understand it because I think, separate the two pieces, the piece that's really important is that we have, in fact, left the lower-income folks behind," Dimon told Axios.
For many months now, I’ve been on a “National Security Emergency” crusade.
While Republicans in the House and Senate, and conservative activists like Scott Pressler (who means well) have been pushing the SAVE Act 24/7, I’ve been pushing something a thousand times better…
A “National Security Emergency for Elections.”
This “National Security Emergency” invention was created by me, with assistance from my election security expert, John Goodman.
This idea is like comparing a tiny 1% tax cut to Ronald Reagan’s massive, record-setting, income tax act of 1981, which cut income tax rates from 70% to 28%.
There is no comparison.
Don’t get me wrong.
A Mexican national was struck and killed by a tractor-trailer while attempting to flee from ICE officers across a busy Florida highway, officials said.
The gruesome accident occurred after the 28-year-old man and three others had a run-in with immigration agents around 7 a.m. in St. Johns, according to Florida Highway Patrol Sgt. Dylan Bryan.
The four were approached by agents while stopped inside the parking lot of a gas station in St. Augustine, Florida, Bryan said. [snip]The fatal crash is the most recent in a series of deaths involving the immigration agency.
Comments:
At first glance this seems like a great thing. But I wonder if the existence of "smart chessboards" will ruin the whole thing.