rjshae

Brought to you by the party of "reduce government spending": GOP bill would fund $1B in White House "security upgrades" for Trump’s ballroom Yes, the supposedly "privately funded" government ballroom is now requesting a massive inflow of taxpayer money. For a ballroom.

Yes, I've long since resigned myself to the fact that institutions will need to be rebuilt following the smoking crater named Redacted. Foreign policy and World standing may never recover.

Still one of the all time great female vocalists

The Russians shipped oil to Cuba without the intervention of the US military. Remember? Sanctioned Russian tanker docks in Cuba after US allows passage despite energy blockade But yes, it's borderline behavior that should be reviewed by Congress. My particular concern is the use of military strikes against unarmed fishing vessels, which seems a pretty clear-cut human rights violation if not a violation of international law. Yes, Congress should be concerned about that, but the Republicans are too cowed by this administration.

Perhaps you believe this is the hand waving argument by the politicians, but a blockade is a war-like act by international law. Ergo, it must be authorized by Congress.

Well my post was satirical, but yes. It's unclear how you can run a military blockage without maintaining a state of military conflict, in which case Redacted has exceeded his 60-day deadline. WIthout renewal of the war powers act, it's presumably an unconstitutional act. I wonder if the administration can be sued for unconstitutional behavior, and have the SCOTUS end the blockade? (Sheesh, my editor kept trying to change 'sued' to 'used'. 🤨) But I suppose such a lawsuit would be tossed because it's in the purvue of Congress.

New Lithium-Plasma Engine Passes Key Mars Propulsion Test

Redacted's grand Iran strategy is just to keep lying. Live updates: Trump administration says war in Iran has been ‘terminated’ before 60-day deadline Gee, I guess we "won" then. 🤨 Strait of Hormuz: Daily throughput is currently 5% of average. Good look with that "victory".

In an ideal world with no racism, I think the decision makes a certain logical sense. Unfortunately, this isn't an ideal world. I'm not quite sure how they can address the issue other than through a constitutional amendment. Maybe require the district apportionment to somehow be based on ranges of median income? But I'm not sure that would survive a constitutional challenge.

US is issuing commemorative passports with some ugly man's mug inside Fortunately, normal passports will still be issued. But the border guards should carefully examine people carrying one of those "commemorative" passports. Who knows what they're carrying in those body cavities?

It's weird how every single streaming service seems to have its own peculiar quirks. The Apple TV quirk is if you fast forward past the end of an episode, it loops around to the start of the same episode. face palm... Most don't seem to recognize when you've finished an episode and reached the credits; if you exit, it leaves it still in the credits, rather than setting up the next episode. Anyway, I just finished watching the two available seasons of Silo, which I rather enjoyed despite the dystopian nature. Apparently they have two more seasons to go, with the third coming out in July. The setup reminds me of Snowpiercer, with the whole pseudo-class structure setup, here based on the floor level. I'd imagine it would work just as well with a generation ship series, which I'm surprised nobody has tried yet.

Looks like the already low net IQ of the administrative branch has just plummeted. Trump fires all 24 members of the U.S. National Science Foundation’s governing body I guess that'll teach us not to build windmills.

Fruits and Vegetables Might Be Linked to Lung Cancer Risk in Non-Smokers. Cool, Cool, Cool (FARK.com) Eating fruits, vegetables and whole grains may increase chance of early onset lung cancer (Keck Medicine of USC) I'm kind of hoping this is fake... but I suspect it isn't.

Perhaps we're heading toward a "Pan European Treaty Organization" (PETO) in which the USA and Canada will be cooperative partners, rather than co-signers? That would put the political control in the hands of the EU.

Tsk, tsk, only Redacted's staff are allowed to make that sort of insider trade. Guess we'll have to teach him a lesson. Americans deserve to know who’s behind those suspiciously timed Iran war-related trades and bets

With Germany and Japan looking to re-arm, it looks like Pax Americana is coming to an end (after a brief 80 years). Even Canada is now holding its nose when dealing with the USA.

I've really been enjoying the sci-fi on Apple TV. For All Mankind, Foundation, and Severance are all good quality series IMO, although quite different in tone.

Nations that build up a dominant military will always have the temptation to use it to resolve their disputes.

Virginia voters approve new congressional map favoring Democrats, CBS News projects To quote Nelson Muntz, "Ha ha!" As expected, the long-term effect of this politically-selfish redistricting battle will be a wash, as the state-side party advantages average out. What it really does is disenfranchise voters in the impacted states, and allow the parties in those states to field more extreme candidates.

True, but it can still get a whole lot worse. If we keep trying to lower the emission rate, it might slow the climate change sufficiently to be manageable. Plus, it has already been demonstrated how economically destabilizing it is to depend on oil as an energy source. Renewables will presumably be less subject to foreign instabilities. Anyway, Europe and N. America have this to look forward to: 'Nations need to prepare now': Key Atlantic ocean current is much closer to collapse than scientists thought

Iran war accelerates America’s breakup with the world From the global perspective, a positive impact from the USA-Iran conflict is that many parts of the world may lean more strongly toward renewable energy sources. Per the above article, this will likely increase the world's dependance on China, while limiting the long-term strength of USA oil exports. If Redacted was a rational person, this would surely be a point of concern for his political agenda (given that he's leaning heavilt into oil rather than renewables as energy sources). I'm looking forward to responsible governance of this country; only 2.5 more years to go.

Yes it could be a coincidence. I'm sure the deaths of multiple Iranian atomic scientists seemed mysterious as well... 😉

Suspicious deaths, disappearances of space, nuclear scientists raise alarms These 8+ have happened since 2023. Okay, here's a conspiracy theory for you... what if this is revenge for: Assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists currently standing at 19 deaths since 2010.

I finished off the last series I wanted to watch on HBO/Max,* so I switched over to Apple TV (which has a Roku channel now!). HBO/Max has some really good series (e.g. I enjoyed The Last of Us, Warrior, Banshee, Game of Thrones, House of the Dragon, Euphoria, and... Gossip Girl 😉), but it's a bit more pricey than Apple (which is an odd thing to say, I suppose). I've been enjoying the Foundation series, which has some amazing sets and a cool story. Man, they must have spend a ton of money on this series. Plus I'm going to enjoy some of the MLS games, particularly the Seattle Sounders. Now for Man C. vs. Arsenal match...

Sadly, harsh despotisms often seem better able to withstand economic pressure than democracies, and the Iranian theocracy just crushed the political resistance. Politically, I think it's also question of how much the economic impact will sway the vote in this year's midterm election. This is an unpopular war with the American electorate, so there will likely be a stronger voter turnout as a result. Redacted could spend the last two years of his term dealing with the fallout.