A fine addition to anyone’s What Are We Reading list!
I want to start out with a thank you to our article/post contributors. I am going to be able to take a week off, in the near future, and we won’t miss a beat. In other site news, we are looking to get away from WordPress (Hell) and go somewhere else (Purgatory or better). If/when we decide and get going forward, you all will get a heads up. But think in terms of months, not days.
Now, onto the Links!
Comment section is all yours.
“Illegal Treatment of Mineral Waters”
Sounds about as dangerous as the dieselgate scandal.
Just drop all the rule makers to the bottom of the sea….
Also First. A significant First. Or a Foist, depending on the part of the country you are from.
*Thrusts hips
I First in solidarity with your First.
Ahem, undocumented treatment. No water is illegal!
Joomla?
Drupal?
Medium?
Wix? 😂
Probably Joomla.
Okay, now I’m thinking about my own blog, since I’ve been cleaning up broken links and suchlike. I found a plugin that gets rid of Gutenberg, puts Classic Editor back, but is NOT the Classic Editor plugin (it was causing me problems, so I had to ditch it), AND I need more straightforward CSS access. https://wordpress.org/plugins/disable-gutenberg/
Investigators are looking at the fuel line switches. Either as a pilot or mechanical error.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jul/14/air-india-plane-crash-report-boeing-fuel-switches-check
Boy, if only someone had linked that news above…thanks for reading.
Gruniad vice UPI, so technically not the same link even if the same story. [ducks and runs while laughing maniacally]
Mr. Imprudent, that kind of thing will make Swiss grab his halberd and be up in arms.
But the UPI won’t have the correct narrative …
OK, boys, he’s over here.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/07/14/supreme-court-trump-education-department-workers/84070683007/
Supreme Court lets Trump fire hundreds of Education Department workers
An ideologically divided Supreme Court on July 14 allowed the Trump administration to fire hundreds of workers from the Education Department and continue other efforts to dismantle the agency.
The court’s three liberal justices opposed the order, the latest win for President Donald Trump at the high court.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor said the majority handed Trump the power to repeal laws passed by Congress “by firing all those necessary to carry them out.”
“The majority is either willfully blind to the implications of its ruling or naïve,” Sotomayor wrote, “but either way the threat to our Constitution’s separation of powers is great.”
Some happy news.
If the president can’t fire members of the executive, I think that’s a far bigger problem for the constitution. At whose pleasure do they serve? The unions?
I can grasp the argument that he can’t just close the whole thing outright because Congress passed a law, but unless Congress passed a law saying that a certain number of employees are needed to carry out those tasks, there’s no basis for claiming that their jobs are untouchable without legislation. This shit isn’t that complex or deep.
The progressive vision – the bureaucracy insulated from “politics”.
“unless Congress passed a law saying that a certain number of employees are needed to carry out those tasks”
^This. Hopefully it will cause Congress to actually do their job and stop delegating shit, and keep them too busy to get into other mischief.
2-chili had a pretty good explanation.
TLDR: if you hobble it by executive order, it can be brought back to health by EO
Link: https://reason.com/2025/07/07/the-department-of-education-is-in-limbo-lets-kill-it/
Unless it’s a Democrat EO. Then it has the force of a constitutional amendment.
Just in time for the July 17 protest, too. Give ’em something to whine about.
I recall a certain president instructing the FedGov to not enforce marijuana laws. And nobody on the left cared.
I recall recent presidents ignoring immigration laws they didn’t like and the left cheered.
TOK, it is now time to deploy my favorite excuse…
*ahem
That’s different.
the threat to our Constitution’s separation of powers is great
The separation of powers would be threatened by the judiciary dictating staffing levels of another branch.
Great news.
The best!
The bad news, of course, is that somehow we have gotten to the point that the President needs the courts’ permission to manage the Executive Branch.
It’s cool the police delivered the pizza.
The cynic in me thinks they were hoping to get a plain sight offense to arrest the people who ordered the pizza.
I don’t find this cute at all. They arrested some stiff during a traffic stop (reasons aren’t given) and then made a news story out of delivering a fucking pizza. Fuck them.
Should have read the final sentence. They got the guy on racing and reckless driving. As someone arrested for “racing” once before because some off duty cop claimed another guy speeding on the highway was going side by side with me (he wasn’t – I slowed down once I saw another cop attempting to pull me over), I call bullshit.
Me, too. But recreational MJ is legal in AZ.
As per the airline incident ” switches controlling fuel to both engines were in the “cutoff” position immediately before the aircraft lost all power shortly after takeoff.”.
That article seems to push that the mechanical guards were perhaps not robust enough.. Those switches still take a positive action/force to move.
I prefer this article in a trade magazine:
https://avweb.com/aviation-news/air-india-report-confirms-fuel-cutoff/
I would trust your source better than mine, Doc.
It still implies there was a SB saying that the switches needed to be checked, and that some had failed and should be replaced.
“Almost immediately, one pilot asked the other why he had moved the switches, but the second pilot said he did not move them”
So do we find out that with a bad switch it is possible to just “touch” the area and turn of both of them?
I just read a different airplane failure where they accidentally moved another control… and didn’t respond in time.
https://www.aero-news.net/index.cfm?do=main.ajTextPost&id=1780d282-b911-419b-9d0f-0baad8954bdb
(that was an early report, the final NTSB concludes that the mixture was moved to cutoff, which could be done when you reduced the throttle and had your hand in a weird place…
“when you reduced the throttle and had your hand in a weird place…”
What are you saying about Air India stewardesses, Doc?
Were the authorities trying to find the French Connection?
You wouldn’t think Nestle would stoop so l’eau would you?
Inspector Clouseau is not amus-ed.
All of ya…
https://popeyesfrance.fr
Were they quik about it?
“We investigated ourselves, and blame the French and their mineral water!”
[thunderous applause]
Did he escape from Bagne de Cayenne (Devil’s Island)?
He escaped like a butterfly?
Well played.
“He was apprehended while emerging from a cellar early on Monday and his accomplice has yet to be found.”
Damn he actually got out.
In TOK family news, the youngest kid is back in the Midwest. Her mother-in-law is in hospice and doesn’t have long. My son-in-law will be there on Wednesday. Hopefully his mom holds out for a few more days. Also hopeful they will send him to shore duty after all this, otherwise he’s on the hook to pay for flights back to the Middle East.
That’s awful. I’m sorry you’re going through the fire, TOK.
It’s kind of mixed. Terrible story, his mom was pushed down the stairs by a boyfriend while she was pregnant with his sister (whom she delivered). She had brain damage and was in a nursing home since he was little, and he was raised by grandparents. They knew this day would come eventually, but the timing is rough. But she gets to see him early, for 20 days, and his chief is pushing for shore duty. So we’ll see what happens.
Sorry to hear, TOK.
Sorry
[Supreme Court] allowed the Trump administration
Allowed?
ALLOWED?
AI ‘Nudify’ Websites Are Raking in Millions of Dollars
Millions of people are accessing harmful AI “nudify” websites. New analysis says the sites are making millions and rely on tech from US companies.
Two things…
One: I did not know this was a thing
Two: I volunteer STEVE SMITH for nudification. The new pics would be epic.
Three, make it three things: I sense the possibility for abuse. If any pictures of nude Hillary Clinton make it into a Wednesday post by a certain somebody… well. It just better not happen.
Edit stupid post:
https://www.wired.com/story/ai-nudify-websites-are-raking-in-millions-of-dollars/
Visualize the sound of Velcro…
The cat is out of the bag at this point. We’re pretty close to people assuming every photo is fake.
‘Harmful…’
Beat me to it.
Add a girl on social media and you’ll see her in various states of undress already. No app needed.
People have had access to Photoshop or similar for decades. This just makes it a lot faster.
I fail to see what can be done about it. People post shit on social media for public consumption. It doesn’t really belong to them at that stage. The notion that you need to get someone’s consent to create a fake image of them naked is ridiculous no matter how uncomfortable it makes some people.
And yea, these girls are already showing everything off online so who the fuck cares.
Do I need consent to draw or manually create a fake nude image of someone? No. Never have. What if I wanted to draw nudes of Donald Trump on the Lolita Express? It’s protected speech.
But I suspect we’ll get some laws mandating consent that will be toothless and/or the apps will be banned entirely like the porn bans (for all intents and purposes, that’s what they are) in Red states that have gone into effect.
On another note, social media has devolved (or evolved, depending on your perspective) into soft core porn and ads more than it is anything social at this stage.
Brochettaward:
The ease at which people are willing to give up their privacy to the world in return for access to a site is still shocking to me.
I thought being social always meant drinking, nudity and ads.
Not just online.
ROMP TARIFF’ Brothel ‘introduces 50% Trump tax on American customers – sending price of full service sky high in tit-for-tat move’
Secret service hardest hit.
Hahahahaha. In no way will that backfire.
They will just expense it.
They just write it off!
You don’t even know what a write off is.
Raven Nation:
But THEY do, and they write it off!
/spasms
Hey, Rocky! Watch me pull a rabbit outta muh hat!
Before I go further, let me get to the critical thing that has to happen down the road for this to really be a positive story. Democrats have to retake Congress and the White House. Democrats have to win back political power and revive the tax credits down the road.
Okay, with that important caveat out of the way, how does this temporary removal of subsidies help these industries? Here are the key ways it helps the EV industry:
Assume a landslide.
EVs and solar are so popular that people have to literally be paid to adopt them over fossil fuels.
After the recent mass layoff at the State Dept, TMITE were reporting on how “hundreds of state department employees will now be released into the wild,” a thinly-veiled threat, and a repackaging of the “RIFed NSA employees will sell their secrets to foreign governments” threat.
The NSA threat backfired because most people read that and thought “if they would betray the US over this, then we don’t need them anyway; and can hang them for treason when they are caught.”
The State Department threat backfired because RIFed employees mostly worked for such critical programs as the Office of Global Women’s Issues; the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor; and the Office of Science and Technology Cooperation. Yes, I trembled in my boots at the thought of OGWI running free and unfunded in society.
I can’t wait for this threat to be extended to the RIFed DoEd employees. Oh, noes!
Sure, downsized feds may unwisely use the time when they are still on the taxpayers’ payroll to cause mischief, but by early 2026 they’ll all be scrambling for jobs, Soros et als will only be able to absorb so many of them, and they will find their job prospects limited.
All the fired USAID employees are getting picked up by beltway nonprofits (at excellent salaries.)
Interesting. I wonder how long the funding for those jobs will last? Perhaps just payback for the people who diverted US Tax dollars to those nonprofits.
That’s only sustainable with FedGov dollars.
Tonio – tough to say. Some of that nonprofit money isn’t Fed money – it’s coming from big foundation laundries like Gates, RWJ, etc. But some of it definitely is coming out of the government.
From what I can see, the spigot really hasn’t turned off in any meaningful way, but to be fair it’s only been a few months at this point.
The mass layoff at State was . . . *checks ntoes* . . . A 2% RIF. Two. Percent.
𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐚 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭.
Missed y’all but hope to see you for HH
https://www.pineconepresscitizen.com/news/2025/jul/09/remers-ninth-annual-bigfoot-days-july-11-and-12/
20 miles. You can participate in the search but you gotta have a ticket.
I shudder to think what happens when you find him…
STEVE SMITH
GET HAPPY HAPPY
WHILE HIS BALLS
GO SLAPPY SLAPPY
ON YOUR BUUUUUUM!
After subsidies are removed, it makes automakers cut costs and get more competitive in order to make sales in a tougher market.
Down the road, when (if) incentives are brought back (by Democrats, of course), automakers won’t raise prices, or at least not that much, and the cost cutting will have helped the market.
Wheeee1
Once they are competitive we will increase subsidies to really knock out the competition.
All the fired USAID employees are getting picked up by beltway nonprofits (at excellent salaries.)
ALL? Doubtful. But I’m sure the best and the brightest have had little difficulty find a home.
Most of those non-profits got their money from USAID so…….
I don’t think that’s actually true. I have some visibility into a few of these outfits, and most of their government grant money seems to be coming from NIH and HHS. Also, the aforementioned giant foundations.
Those employees will remember who helped them when they return to power.
This. It’s an investment. A Dem gets back in and rehires them all.
The Giant Ugly Clusterfuck Bill brought back deductibility for auto loan interest? Splendid. Good thinking.
What’s next? The return of deducting credit card interest?
Damn: I read a story the other day where a lot of auto loans in the US are now for 72 months.
I believe 96 month loans are available. The average of new loans is in the high 60s.
ROAT: actually that might have been what I read. Eight years on a car loan is nuts.
I see refinances in the future.
Most of those non-profits got their money from USAID so…….
Don’t forget Ford and Rockefeller and Carnegie and their upstart pals Gates and former Mrs Jobs and Bezos.
Tariffs on what- vodka and caviar?
President Donald Trump on Monday threatened Russia with steep tariffs and announced a rejuvenated pipeline for American weapons to reach Ukraine, hardening his stance toward Moscow after months of frustration about unsuccessful negotiations for ending the war.
——-
Trump said he would implement “severe tariffs” unless a peace deal is reached within 50 days. He provided few details on how they would be implemented, but he described them as secondary tariffs, meaning they would target Russia’s trading partners in an effort to isolate Moscow in the global economy.
I thought we had strangled Russian foreign trade already.
And just how do we collect tariffs on Russian goods purchased in Brazil or Zimbabwe?
We tariff Zimbabwe and Brazil for trading with Russia.
People are going to be furious when prices skyrocket for balalaikas, matryoshkas, and samovars.
The legislation increases sanctions and places 500% tariffs on products imported from countries that buy Russian oil, gas and other exports. Trump on Monday proposed unilaterally implementing 100% tariffs.
“I use trade for a lot of things,” he said. “But it’s great for settling wars.”
——-
However, the tariffs could still have a dramatic effect, depending on how they’re implemented.
Adding a 100% tariff on China, on top of import taxes already in place, would essentially halt trade between the United States and China, the world’s two largest economies.
In a joint statement, the co-sponsors of the sanctions package working its way through Congress, Graham and Democratic Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal, praised Trump for having “made a powerful move.” They also defended their legislation, noting, “The benefit of our approach is that it blends congressional authorization of tariffs and sanctions with flexibility for presidential implementation, making it rock solid legally and politically.”
What could possibly go wrong?
Especially with those two geniuses at the wheel.
Armchair fire chief
Arizona’s governor is calling for a “comprehensive and independent” investigation after a wildfire in Grand Canyon National Park torched thousands of acres and destroyed dozens of structures, including the iconic Grand Canyon Lodge.
——-
“While the flame was started with a lightning strike, the federal government chose to manage that fire as a controlled burn during the driest, hottest part of the Arizona summer,” Hobbs wrote on social media.
The Dragon Bravo Fire started July 4 and was initially managed with a containment strategy, according to the National Park Service. On July 11, the fire jumped multiple containment lines and started to spread rapidly, ultimately consuming the 1937 lodge and numerous historic cabins. The lodge was the only place to stay in the less-visited North Rim area of the national park.
I Yellowstone the policy is to let backcountry fires burn, and defend buildings and people. How did they lose all that stuff on the north rim? That’s the question.
Arizona losing control of control burns is a time honored tradition.
Website is still advertising booking for a double Queen rim view.
The Forest Service policy in California at least is to let fires started by lightning burn.
“How did they lose all that stuff on the north rim”, you ask?
Sounds like “the fire jumped multiple containment lines and started to spread rapidly”.
Clicked too soon.
But praise Allan that Governor Mediocrity is demanding an investigation. Otherwise, I am sure nobody would have looked into it.
Everbody daid?
Or did all my tulpas go to dinner at the same time again?
I’m here.
Me too, now. Long catch-up nap. After a week off, shifts yesterday and off today at 2. Home Run Derby now, though I don’t give a shit ’bout it. I still have tomorrow –> Thurs off, two normal days off and that goofy hip injection Thurs.
Fun trivia: The day before and after the MLB All-Star Game are the only two days in the US without any (real) games in any of the Big Four sports. Thought that may be furthered: Outside my family and US citizenship, being a die-hard Cubs fan is about the only group I ‘identify’ with. I don’t count careers or bands I’ve been in as an adult, cuz those never felt like ‘identities.’ Reality and experience, yes, but why would I ‘identify’ as a teacher? Doesn’t make sense to me. Granted Mom’s from Chicago, but Wrigley *does* feel like the most pristine American Cathedral left. Certainly a cultural holy place, with pilgrimage strongly encouraged.
Sports are the most biologically, culturally ‘pure’ ways for folk to have (usually) non-violent, consensual spats and disagreements with other groups of humans. It’s a beautiful release valve for the tribal nature ‘we’ all theoretically have, to one extent or another.
Huh?
I’m here but a little drunk.