It’s Alumni Weekend here, and the town is flooded with people whose fervent wish is that everything be exactly the same as when they were here. And I know this will shock you, but… there is nothing with a greater sense of entitlement than a group of affluent 50 year anniversary graduates of a private liberal arts school. We are getting inundated with special requests combined with grumbling that their food isn’t instantly ready. And that it tastes different than their memory of something they ate when Kennedy’s brains were still in his head. The people who ordered Northern Indian Spicy Curry complained that the dish was “spicy.” People are furious that we don’t have a separate deep fryer for gluten free items. Yes, life in Glibs Gulch.
Birthdays today include a guy who figured out the perfect grift to bang underage girls; the bane of PChem students; the bane of Richard Nixon; the bane of Albert Einstein; arguably the best flat-picker of all time; a guy with an amazing panty and hotel key collection; Donald Trump’s former life insurance policy; and a guy whose last words were, “Can I crash at your place?”
And speaking of crashes, let’s crash some Links.
Stupid backbencher is stupid. But why there’s a prayer in the first place puzzles me.
Hardly matters now, doesn’t it?
World’s most useless and ineffective agency is useless and ineffective.
I have a better idea… defund and dismantle.
I have a better idea: abandon that haven for bad dentistry.
How about letting pro sports pay for their own farm teams?
I wish Ira Sullivan had been better known than he was. Equally skilled at sax, flute, and trumpet, his annual shows at my favorite jazz club were always a highlight of my years when the Old Guy was still a Young Guy. Here’s a cover of a great Charlie Parker tune.
Ask them politely, yet firmly, to leave.
Happy birthday “Old Man With Candy”?
Happy birthday Adolf Hitler?
Close.
Happy birthday Mohamed Atta?
What’s funny is this guy is who I thought of first (and then the general “be a bass player?”)… but I suppose to be fair most of the panty-slingers were full women as I understand it.
I’m sure there were several male instructors at all girls academies over the years who reaped some benefits on the side as well.
Happy birthday Mohammad!
Saville was the guy with the perfect grift on that one. He even got to pal around with PrincenowKing Charles.
Well, it is The Guardian.
Grauniad
“Nearly a dozen immigration officers and eight deportees are sick and stranded in a metal shipping container in the searing-hot East African nation of Djibouti, where they face the constant threat of malaria and rocket attacks from nearby Yemen, according to a federal court filing issued Thursday.”
Well, that sucks.
Y’all are better people than I for dealing with your customers. Working retail electronics when I was younger was more than enough for me. If I ever had to serve food to the public, it would 100 percent be in a converted trailer/shed on the side of a road in the South serving pulled pork and the like from the concrete block pit I built in the back yard. Old school, folks know what they’re getting — and no chance of vegan or gluten assumptions.
Not that this is likely, mind you — but that’s about my level of competence. I’m pretty sure I couldn’t handle the stress of even a Waffle House short order cook’s life as far as “real” restaurants.
Morning all — happy weekend. Off to the links and the birthdays.
I suppose that’s my strength and why I can keep employed in the tech world. Among other IT people, I’m a people person.
He said without evidence.
You’re one in a million.
It is like claiming “tallest midget in a dwarf colony”, Ted… I was more than willing to give the benefit of the doubt.
I don’t claim to be a people person.
Happy Birthday Frau Mileva Maric!
I don’t keep track — but happy birthday to the London Real Estate Associate Agent of the Month, then!
icwutudidthar
the best flat-picker of all time
I think it was this gal for a while.
Yes and no, I guess. The department still exists. It may continue to work without its figurehead.
What ever happened to Hans Blix anyway?
He’s still stuck in the trap he fell into in Team America.
Oh no! Not Hans Brix! That guy is such a pain in the ass!
-lack of bias
Not so much profoundly retarded as just a bad liar. That being said, I have no problem with NPR being NPR so long as I don’t have to pay for it.
Thus writing for The Guardian, home of bad liars.
If they slash funding for NPR, how will the rubes know how climate change is tied to every world event and that it affects women, children and minorities the most?
And how many times have they claimed in the recent past that most of their funding does not come from the government? One would think in that case that another sob story in the Guardian would be unnecessary.
It’s Schröedinger’s funding. It both does and does not come from the government.
Well this sounds like a major fuckup.
Oh. Well, that’s still stupid, but for slightly different reasons.
Because we have a Judeo-Christian foundation and even the more agnostic / atheistic leaning Founding Fathers tended to at least publicly acknowledge a Creator and so we have nigh unto 250 years of tradition of Christian or close-enough requests for the Creator’s blessing before such public functions would be my guess.
And yeah — given the First Amendment and all, we probably shouldn’t because it does establish precedence…. being rather a fan of the core tenets of Christianity in particular and the Western Civ Judeo-Christian leanings in general… I have to say I prefer that precdence… but I can see the problem. Given the increased “softening” of a lot of the Protestant branches (and our last Pope, etc.)… I’m not at all certain that moving to a more “unity” prayer would be good, and given I think society would be improved by returning to a common sense of morality and shame (not Tipper Gore… but neither should OnlyFans be an ever increasing career attempt), I’m not terribly keen on chucking all aspects of this out of government either. Don’t have a good or right answer (“As usual!” shouts the Peanut Gallery, I know…) — but fortunately, no one asks me to plan our system of government either.
And more than that — I’m just not really interested in getting into. It is Saturday… my allergies are acting up… I’m in no mood for deep philosophy, even if I came to read links here (where I get more of it than most places — you esoteric lot of thinkers!), sorry.
Worth mentioning: the founders had a somewhat different idea of what constituted “establishment” than our modern understanding, as well. Some of the states had taxpayer-funded official churches until the 14th Amendment incorporated the federal BOR.
[ pats Pat on head for implying the 14th Amendment incorporates the 2nd Amendment ]
In fact, IIRC, some of those state churches were enshrined in their state constitutions.
Virginia was a crown colony, so the official religion was Church of England, which at some point got rebranded as Episcopalian. I’m not sure whether that happened with the Declaration of Independence, or afterwards.
Democrats pounce?
And on occasion, Republicans pounce.
Whenever possible and with no regard for their own contradictions.
“In other news — that’s just rain on your leg, taxpayers!”
Whaddya mean? If those athletes didn’t develop their brains just as strenuously as their bodies in an institution of higher learning, they might enter a professional sports career wholly unprepared to handle the financial responsibilities and end up broke after having earned millions of dollars.
Also, think of the poor athletes! If they switch to a minor league farm system it would reduce their access to 18-25 year old girls with mental problems! Why, take away college football and the players might have to chase strippers like some PFC fresh out of basic!
I cannot watch a professional tennis match without the talking heads going on and on and on about college tennis and how fantastic it is. Really, every single match. It’s nauseating.
““I don’t see no crimes committed n this case,” tweeted Boosie Badazz, the southern rapper and manosphere ambassador, three days into the trial. “U shouldn’t be sent to jail for being a freak.””
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/jun/07/manosphere-diddy-trial
True, but he put applesauce on a cheeseburger.
To be fair, I don’t see no crimes in that case either. Maybe not human trafficking or whatever the hell it is they charged him with though.
Right to jail.
Anyone using the word “manosphere” critically is pretty much signalling their desire to punish thoughtcrime.
When The Man finally comes to imprison me for thought crimes, I hope my lawyer’s name is Boosie Badazz.
I’m printing business cards right now.
Alumni week at a private liberal arts school… Aging AWFLs, there is no more entitled group on the planet. BoomerKaren would make Louis XIV sound humble.
Ugh… there’s a horrifying thought — my brain went from “How Dare You!” (going to say some of the youngsters are pretty entitled…) to “Wait… Greta will *be* a full on AWFL in about 10 years (I mean technically she is one… but you aren’t Full Karen until you’re over 30, I think… the bitterness of the wine dregs needs time to steep into your soul). Just imagine the new levels of Entitlement and Obnoxiousness she’s going to unleash upon the Earth.
Hey, I am still hoping Israel sinks her boat. Ideally with a (fossil) fuel air explosive for max trolling.
If she makes it to Gaza, she won’t be heard from again.
I wonder why the “U” was dropped from the acronym, when there’s a perfectly cromulent word to insert there:
Affluent White Female URBAN Liberal
Suburbs, CP, suburbs.
I’m from the country. They’re all urban to me.
Ah, suburbs! The natural habitat of the wine- and Valium*-pickled HOA president soccer mom!
*or whatever the chicks are popping these days. I don’t keep up with what’s “trending.”
Yup — speaking of useless and ineffective government agencies.. the “We’re here to shut barn doors after the cows all escape, rampage through the town and trample your children — but in the meantime we’ll grope your daughters!” agency sure seems like it could be done away with.
So my fantasy now is more like — budget at the minimum FY2019 (preferably earlier, but trying to be practical), security apparatus of 1848 or so (whatever it takes to get rid of the IC… I don’t trust that the seeds weren’t there spawning out of the use of detectives and whatnot by Lincoln, honestly…. haven’t read up on that particular Reconstruction Blues topic, I’m afraid…)
Because OMWC isn’t gifting us rays of sunshine with Grandson pics: A palate cleanser from the news of the day.
So cute
“Whitehead soon commissioned a “diversity survey” by an outside consulting firm, Jones Diversity, and the results led Whitehead to hire law firm Hinckley, Allen & Snyder to investigate the culture in Sabatini’s lab. In August 2021, the law firm said in its official report that his “behavior created a sexualized undercurrent in the lab.” The report also said that “Sabatini’s propensity to praise or gravitate toward those in the lab that mirror his desired personality traits, scientific success, or his view on ‘science above all else,’ creates additional obstacles for female lab members.””
https://www.thefp.com/p/can-david-sabatini-ever-be-redeemed
OFFS!!
A scientist who employs/promotes based on scientific rigor? Well heaven forfend!
I am reading that as ‘we found nothing’.
The lesson I am hearing is “keep it in your pants”.
That’s definitely the lesson at work.
Pat:
Check your email
Doing so now! A billion apologies, as usual I’ve neglected to check my Proton Mail for months. Just catching up on the inbox.
So last night, an elderly couple with alumni badges totters in and want dinner. The woman sternly asserts, “No dairy!” Then orders a cheeseburger and asks what cheeses we have. WebDom goes down the list and the woman chooses provolone. “I thought you wanted no dairy?”
“I can have provolone.”
Provolone aside, there’s nondairy cheese? Is it a soy paste with cheese flavoring or something like that?
It’s non melting sadness.
We will not carry such an abomination.
… “not just a river in Egypt, ma’am…”
*chef’s kiss*
Not the Bee
“TSA tells Americans they can not use their Costco membership card as an ID”
https://nypost.com/2025/06/07/us-news/tsa-tells-americans-they-can-not-use-their-costco-membership-card-as-an-id/
I thought this was America!
It’s there own fucking fault for
a) having poorly trained employees who would turn away compliant IDs if they didn’t recognize them (GE/NEXUS cards) or didn’t scan (TWIC)
b) use Costco cards and other non-ID cards as part of a manual vetting process when they flyer didn’t have ID (lost/stolen, expired, whatever)
Costco has better security than TSA. They’re just jealous.
“The people who ordered Northern Indian Spicy Curry complained that the dish was “spicy.” People are furious that we don’t have a separate deep fryer for gluten free items.”
The only proper response to these people – “NO SOUP FOR YOU!”
Who needs that shit. When I grew up if someone put food in front of you, you said thank you and ate it.
My standard for food complainers “No one is going to make you eat it.”
With the sharp decline of the local newspaper business over the past 20 years, many parts of America have turned into what experts refer to as “news deserts”. These are places that have almost no sources of credible local reporting.
So fucking tedious. I wish there were more idiocy deserts around, but those seem to have all vanished.
Yeah, because more places publishing press releases and DNC talking points provides credible local reporting.
Actually, since the demise of our local paper, the city council and mayor of our mid sized suburb have gotten away with a lot of bullshit because there isn’t some young reporter cutting their teeth by reporting on what goes on in the council meetings.
“the city council and mayor of our mid sized suburb have gotten away with a lot of bullshit because there isn’t some young reporter cutting their teeth by reporting on what goes on in the council meetings.”
Almost as if by design . . .
I’ve been doing research using old small-town newspapers as a source of data, and it is very sad how many have been folded, mutilated, spindled, and consolidated out of existence. Especially the weeklies and bi-weeklies. A few have managed to survive by going entirely on-line, while others have turned into advertising rags. Yes, many were just local gossip rags, but they were important to the towns and counties they wrote about. IMO a town without a local rag is just an assemblage of people, not a community.
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2025/06/the-week-in-pictures-divorce-republican-style-edition.php
That “Purchase Moore Hamman Bacon” bit is the most creative use of NIL ever. Go Cyclones!
““Dry begging operates by exploiting social cues and emotional signals rather than making direct requests,” explains Darren Magee, an accredited UK-based counselor, in a YouTube video that has since amassed almost half a million views.
“It usually involves dropping hints, displaying some kind of need or vulnerability, or making emotional demonstrations,” Magee elaborates. “All of these are aimed at creating a sense of obligation in others.””
https://nypost.com/2025/06/06/lifestyle/are-you-a-victim-of-dry-begging-heres-how-to-make-sure-passive-aggressive-manipulation-doesnt-ruin-your-relationship/
Stop making up words.
So, being guilted by a woman?
/This is why there are no female libertarian….
https://www.reddit.com/r/philly/s/HlYZC7N098
lol at that 2nd pic
Reminds me of local legends (see near the bottom). One of those “It may not be true… but it certainly should be for local color!” type stories.
That’s not a Fiero.
Yeah, didn’t look like one to me either… but that wasn’t really the legend I was referencing (the “chicken truck goes over the side down in Buford and huge catfish show up to swallow chickens whole” part was… there were (and still are) a lot of poultry farms and processing plants in the area, so lots of said trucks… having one go into the lake is entirely plausible… as are catfish in the deeper parts of the lake getting fat, dumb and happy on the submerged remains of the farms that were there). Did like the tidbit on the Gainesville Speedway, I have to say.
I figured. Just performing my obligation to point out someone on the internet is wrong. 🤷🏼🤣😂
““You should be uplifting the trans community and perhaps finding a way to make sports inclusive OR creating a new avenue where trans feel safe in sports. Maybe a transgender category IN ALL sports!! But instead… You bully them… One things for sure is no one in sports is safe with you around!!!!!””
https://nypost.com/2025/06/06/sports/simone-biles-spars-with-riley-gaines-on-social-media-over-trans-athlete-debate/
Is she trying to qualify for the special olympics?
The comment I saw over on Redstate’s version (I think) of the story of “Feel free to start your own transgender league then, Simone!” about sums up my position. Want a place for transgenders in sports? Start your own contests. CWAA.
That is not remotely feasible and micro-brains like Simone Biles know this. It is a red herring. The real point is “inclusion” and that one must celebrate men in woman-face beating women.
A gymnast is about the last person who has any right to criticize honest-to-goodness female athletes who object to being forced to go up against men directly in honest-to-goodness sports like swimming, volleyball, softball, etc. Even if men were invading chick gymnastics – which I, at least, have not heard about – those are individual, solo events with a mix of at least semi-objective (inclusion of specific moves) and purely subjective scoring systems. 🙄 [Disclaimer: I am not, by anyone’s most generous definition, any kind of athlete.]
“a mix of at least semi-objective (inclusion of specific moves) and purely subjective scoring systems”
Those are the women’s sports — gymnastics, figure skating — that seem to get the most attention. Maybe because they are more glamorous?
Probably so. Closer to “Dancing With the Stars” than to “the human drama of athletic competition.”
Beam would be tough on the guys’ testicles.
Women’s figure skating would be wrecked if they dudes could compete. Top ranked men now complete multiple quad variations and there is even a guy landing quints in practice.
And we all know what would and has happened in tennis.
Those are girls’ testicles, bigot.
No, the oppression Olympics.
I can’t believe the trannies and their allies haven’t gotten Biles canceled for that sort of wrong think yet.
Doesn’t she know that a separate league would imply that the he/shes are not 100% female? That is unacceptable.
Also, none of the losers who are switching to female just so they can win would ever join a trans league. They might not with there either. Why go to the trouble of transing if you can’t dominate?
“Several Trump administration officials fired back at Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass Friday after she pledged to oppose federal efforts to nab illegal immigrants — as cops in her city had to use flash bangs to disperse the violent mob of protesters who descended on the arrest sites.
“We will not stand for this,” Bass said in a statement released after federal immigration authorities arrested 44 people in raids across Los Angeles.
“I am deeply angered by what has taken place,” the Democrat mayor fumed, noting that her office “is in close coordination with immigrant rights community organizations.””
https://nypost.com/2025/06/07/us-news/trump-admin-officials-blast-la-mayor-karen-bass-response-to-ice-raids-as-cops-clash-with-violent-protesters/
CWAC
She reportedly wanted to go scorched earth on the federal agencies — but the LA area said “Too late”.
Too soon!
Then fucking arrest her for conspiracy and aiding/abetting.
aka Marxist front groups funded by Soros and friends.
I hope the Dems keep this shit up and get their asses handed to them but… they’ve been pro-crime and chaos for so many decades and they just keep getting rewarded for it. SMDH.
Well, she is or was a DSA member.
You don’t say.
They are as predictable as the sunrise.
Grrrrrr
I woke up to the four year old fervently telling me that there was water in the basement. 3” of standing water because the sump pump jammed. Installing a backup was on my todo list, but it hasn’t been dry enough on the weekends for me to do it, and I thought “oh what are the chances of it failing in the next few weeks”
Between this and the Platypus — kind of makes you believe God both exists and loves to say “Ooooh… a challenge!” doesn’t it?
Hope there’s not too much damage to the bottom of your can, Trashy. Props to your little muppet for proper reporting as well.
We’re on our 29th consecutive weekend with measurable precipitation here.
Down here in SE Pennsylvania we had six inches of rain in May. And yesterday Half the drive home from Allentown was through a deluge. More thunderstorms expected today and tomorrow.
Poor bastard never had a chance.
I know, right?!
Thankfully, the bulk of the water has been pumped out, and most stuff down there is in Rubbermaid tubs, so the actual damage is limited to a handful of items and everything in the lower drawer of my filing cabinet. If the treadmill fires back up, we may not even file an insurance claim.
On the upside, he was right.
Water alarm… with or without IOT connection.
Fuuuuck. I helped father-in-law clean up after a mishap like that (his was because the toilet’s flow control valve somehow got jammed open, it overflowed, flooded into the air vents, and poured out into the basement – different cause but same result).
It sucks. That to-do list gets to be a monstrocity, and you’re always juggling the five or so things that “might” be a problem in the near future.
How about letting pro sports pay for their own farm teams?
Eventually the big money “college” sports will be completely separate businesses from their nominal colleges. They will pay licensing fees to the colleges for the use of name and logo.
They’re only a smidge away from that right now.
I dunno. That would mean millions of dollars of university money wouldn’t be laundered to the teams any more, wouldn’t it?
It will be absolutely hilarious watching a regular contender like Ohio State be a farm team for the hapless Browns, and Kansas State feeding players to the Chiefs. Will the Browns get good, or just shit all over their prospects? I think we know the answer.
“The only pardon that former President Joe Biden appeared to sign by hand was his son’s, Hunter Biden, perhaps the most controversial of all of his acts of clemency.”
https://thepostmillennial.com/only-pardon-biden-hand-signed-in-final-weeks-of-presidency-was-for-son-hunter-report
How do we know it wasn’t a forgery?
Hunter signed it.
He shouldn’t have had to — he did nothing wrong. American governance is built on checks and balances, right?
If the treasury still has checks, the budget balances enough for government work.
I believe it.
“This Massachusetts District judge is putting the lives of our ICE law enforcement in danger by stranding them in [Djibouti] without proper resources, lack of medical care, and terrorists who hate Americans running rampant,” said DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin on X. “Our @ICEgov officers were only supposed to transport for removal 8 *convicted criminals* with *final deportation orders* who were so monstrous and barbaric that no other country would take them. This is reprehensible and, quite frankly, pathological.”
Sounds like the makings for a hit teevee comedy.
Send them to Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass’s house.
These Silicone Saturday babes were never cornflake girls.
https://archive.is/IsNMy
You thought that was a good solution?
Dangnabbit… should have thought of this first:
“So they’re hanging with the Raisins girls?”
6 is on the right side of the hot/crazy divide.
4 and 29. But not at the same time. Everything in moderation.
The comment I saw over on Redstate’s version (I think) of the story of “Feel free to start your own transgender league then, Simone!” about sums up my position. Want a place for transgenders in sports? Start your own contests. CWAA.
Get back to me when they can put on a three on three basketball game.
If I was governor, I’d pass a law banning segregated sports, with a 4 year sunset clause. Let it play out and let people see how it shakes out, then in 4 years we can return to sanity.
Were you asking for a trans 3-on-3 league? Because there is already a women’s 3-on-3 league.
Oh, mighty Invisible Hand of the Market, was anyone really asking for that?
“In a major breakthrough that could finally bring long-awaited answers to the American people, federal investigators have recovered Dr. Anthony Fauci’s COVID-era phones and electronic devices, which could include data crucial in determining whether the former architect of the federal pandemic response lied to the public and to Congress.
FBI Director Kash Patel, working alongside congressional investigators on the origins of COVID-19, revealed the bombshell during his appearance on “The Joe Rogan Experience.””
https://pjmedia.com/matt-margolis/2025/06/06/faucis-covid-era-phones-found-by-fbicould-finally-blow-the-lid-off-pandemic-lies-n4940532
I’ll be surprised if anything else happens.
“We’ll get to them as soon as we release the Epstein files.”
Sadly, for a few months, I had my hopes up. And then Trump sidelined DOGE (because it was taking the spotlight off of him) with his overhyped tariff shenanigans, followed it up by supporting the usual Christmas tree spending bill, and it all slipped away.
A buddy of mine sent me this
This.
“We are going to get to the bottom of this!” <—– translation: We aren't going to tell you shit. Look! Squirrel!
Angry soundbites by Congresscritters will happen. Got to distract the voters.
5 will get you 10 they were wiped with a cloth.
Elon for President
Musk is not about to overtake Trump himself as the dominant figure in the party, to be clear. But the jilted former “special government employee” is uniquely suited to become a chaos agent who could terrorize the GOP — potentially wreaking havoc on Trump’s legislative agenda and the party’s midterm election plans.
Musk’s tenure leading the Department of Government Efficiency captured the GOP’s imagination, even if it ended ingloriously. While Democrats and independents quickly soured on Musk’s leadership, Republicans are still enthralled.
——-
Despite the furor over his slashing budgetary cuts, the scrutiny for DOGE’s secretive approach and the criticism for failing to deliver on his initial promises of $1 or $2 trillion in savings, Musk’s popularity with the GOP base has stayed fairly consistent.
Coming soon: the death of the two party system?
DOGE is dying in darkness because of, not in spite of, the GOP.
Exactly right
Some delusional Democrats are courting Elon now. I’m sure he’s jumping at the chance to work with folks who hated him with the intensity of a thousand suns five minutes ago.
The only national Republicans more popular than Musk? Trump and his vice president, JD Vance. Trump’s approval rating within the party is 87 percent, according to the Economist/YouGov poll. Vance’s favorability rating is 80 percent.
In part, that’s because the grassroots have been deep believers in Musk’s DOGE mission from the start. Nearly 90 percent of the party supports cutting the size of government. A similar share believes DOGE has been effective at cutting government spending, reports a recent Harvard-Harris poll. (Democrats and independents are far more skeptical of DOGE’s accomplishments, and of Musk himself. The Economist/YouGov poll reports just 15 percent of Democrats and 34 percent of independents view him favorably).
It’s a good thing the courts are here to protect us from those who would destroy our way of life.
The courts, and the Republican Congress.
90 percent of the party supports cutting the size of government
Except for Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Defense, and whatever program benefits them specifically.
We all have our hands in each other’s pockets and no one wants to be the first to remove their hand.
Yup.
If it seems like the GOP cavalry has been slow to aid Trump so far, that’s because Musk strikes fear into officeholders who can easily envision him funding primary challenges and hounding them on social media. And it’s not just the individual electeds who have cause for concern. Musk on Thursday floated the idea of creating a new political party “that actually represents the 80% in the middle” in an online X poll.
In less than 24 hours, more than 5 million votes had been cast.
He’s like a right wing David Hogg.
The GOP cavalry isn’t there to help Trump or Musk. It’s there to keep the barbarians outside the gates of the Imperial City.
1/6, 1/6, 1/6!!!
Cooked Clay Coffee is 30+ years old?
This is why private space exploration should never have been permitted
SpaceX is best known for its high-profile crewed missions to the International Space Station and its ambitious Starship program. But the U.S. has become increasingly reliant on the company for critical and sometimes secret space operations. This relationship is now jeopardized by the escalating feud between SpaceX founder Elon Musk and President Trump.
The ongoing dispute highlights the deep interdependence between the U.S. government and SpaceX. Trump has threatened to cut SpaceX’s federal contracts. Musk fired back by saying that his company would decommission its Dragon capsule, which is currently America’s only means of transportation to the space station. He later deleted the original tweet.
During the Obama administration, Lori Garver served as deputy administrator of NASA and she actively championed partnerships between the space agency and SpaceX. At that time, Musk’s rocket company was struggling to prove it could reliably send satellites into orbit. Garver calls the war of words between Trump and Musk “really disconcerting.”
“When Elon shot back bringing SpaceX into it, I think that was strategically a mistake,” she says. “It just highlights for government leaders the risk in having a prime large aerospace and defense contractor run by one individual.”
What if the crazy bastard is just focused on results? That throws the whole program into disarray.
Garver credits SpaceX with securing government contracts by consistently “underbidding, overdelivering, performing, and beating out the competition.” She says during her time at NASA, the agency’s approach was to award multiple contracts for the same mission to avoid overreliance on a single provider. Even so, Garver says, SpaceX, “got less money to do more — and went earlier, more often, and succeeded.”
NOT FAIR!
That looks a little too much like a capitalist success.
“Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick was testifying before the House Appropriations Committee on Thursday to defend Trump’s tariff policy when a snarky Rep. Madeline Dean (D-PA) decided to try to entrap him with a question about tariffs on bananas while holding the fruit.”
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/06/snarky-democrat-reps-interrogation-commerce-secretary-howard-lutnick/
Our nation’s prop comics.
Except she isn’t wrong and Lutnick, to my surprise, is an idiot.
She slipped on her banana appeal?
I thought that was Carmen Miranda?
Smoke gets in your eyes
While tens of thousands of Canadians have had to flee their homes in scenes reminiscent of what has occurred in recent years in California, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s AirNow page is showing air quality moderate to unhealthy throughout a large swath of the U.S., with the worst conditions in Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan and Indiana.
Fischer says we’d all better get used to it. The hotter, drying conditions that come with climate change are making these annual fires across North America, and in other parts of the world, the new norm.
“Wildfires are happening more frequently. They’re getting bigger. They’re emitting more smoke,” Fischer says. “The climate models are projecting that we’re going to have more frequent, more severe wildfires.”
It’s global warming. It has nothing to do with the inevitable life cycle of old growth forests. Trees live forever. Nothing changes in the natural world except for man made destruction.
They are deliberately doing poor forest management so they can blame climate change.
*Puts on tinfoil hat*
It is just a coincidence that all of these fires are happening in blue fever swamps. Also, I remember the mid-’70s. These little fires aint nuthin.
Summation of a conversation just now –
Limnology class decades ago we studied Loch Ness. It is an interesting lake because it has an exaggerated wind effect. That is when wind blows across a lake and the water is pushed up on one side. Loch Ness is long, straight and skinny so when the wind lines up with it the effect is quite exaggerated. In studying the lake we looked at an exploration where a boat with lidar went end to end mapping the bottom. Every single grain of sand, ever bump, every sunken log was seen. Every fish was counted right down to the last minnow. Not one tadpole went unseen.
Of course the Nessie people wanted to know, well, you know what they wanted to know.
“There is no Loch Ness monster.”
“Yes there is! It is just hiding in caves under the bottom! That’s why you didnt see him!”
This is a common human trait.
I brought this up because a relative was telling me all about the James Webb telescope. He has just found out about it. Apparently the cosmology world is in a bit of a tizzy over their failure to see the Big Bang (disclaimer – when they taught me about that in 5th grade science I thought it was bullshit, have since and do now)
Anyway he was puzzling over that and what it means. I told him about Loch Ness. I told him the Big Bang was hiding in a cave on the bottom of the lake.
I think he is mad at me now.
To be fair I have had that conversation a number of times with other people and it always goes the same.
Case closed
A former employee of the Department of Government Efficiency says that he found that the federal waste, fraud and abuse that his agency was supposed to uncover were “relatively nonexistent” during his short time embedded within the Department of Veterans Affairs.
“I personally was pretty surprised, actually, at how efficient the government was,” Sahil Lavingia told NPR’s Juana Summers.
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Lavingia said the overall message at DOGE was transparency and a vibe of “ask for forgiveness, not permission.” So, when a blogger asked for an interview about Gumroad, he agreed. And when asked, he talked about his work at DOGE, including how little inefficiency he saw compared to what he was expecting.
There is surely nothing quite so useless as doing with great efficiency what should not be done at all.
When you tell a lie it is supposed to have some seed of truth in it somewhere so the recipient has a chance to suspend disbelief.