Musk: Trump will ‘go after’ people ‘pushing the lies’ about Tesla
Apparently co-President Musk thinks it’s terrorism to tell people they shouldn’t further enrich him by buying swasticars. Tough shit, Elon. Why don’t you go ahead and move to Mars right now, and leave human beings alone?
“We’re Watching You”
Olympus E-M10 IV, M.Zuiko 60mm f2.8 macro lens, f/5, 1/60s, ISO 1000. Along FR 5824 near the Eugene to Crest Trail.
Finished reading: Brain on Fire 📚. This one initially seems to be in the “I had psychiatric problems but survived” genre. But then it turns out that author Susannah Calahan is actually diagnosed with a rare auto-immune disease. A scary look at what it’s like to almost die before the doctors figure it out.
“Embrace”
Olympus E-M10 IV, M.Zuiko 14-42 kit lens @ 41mm, f/6.3, 1/13s, ISO 2000. Along the Eugene to Crest Trail.
White House withdrawing Stefanik nomination to serve as US ambassador to UN
Because they’re worried they might lose a special election in a district that Trump carried by 20 points last year. Gee, that “mandate” evaporated pretty fast.
Steakholder Foods Secures $250,000 Grant Installment for 3D-Printed Eel Alternatives
On the one hand, I’m happy to see more cruelty-free meat alternatives. On the other, I can’t imagine ever eating 3D printed “food.” The overlaps between vegan and ultraprocessed are getting worse.
I see the online April Fools jokes have already started. Remember folks, 99% of you aren’t as hilarious as you think you are.
Might be about time to re-read some Saul Alinsky.
Justice Department goes to bat for Trump in hush money case
With all the other shit going down, it’s easy to forget that co-President Trump is still a convicted felon.
Democrat members of Congress are calling for an investigation of Signalgate by the DOD Inspector General. Perhaps they’ve forgotten that the Inspector General was (illegally) fired two months ago.
Notably missing from Signalgate coverage: the focus on this one chat disguises the fact that decision-making by disappearing Signal messages is probably business-as-usual. That would explain why all the principals are so dismissive of concerns - they do this all the time.
CIA director: ‘No assessment’ US at war with Venezuela amid use of Alien Enemies Act
Gee, you mean the President lied when he invoked the Alien Enemies Act to send people to an El Salvadoran prison without due process? I am shocked, shocked to find such things going on in this establishment.
Tulsi Gabbard said the release of the additional screenshots by The Atlantic today “were a refresher on what happened.” But she said she stood by her responses to the Senate yesterday, when she said she did not recall that the Signal chat included the timing or order of the strikes on the Houthis.
Micro.blog has been a trouble-free pleasure for a month. Upping my subscription to yearly. Thanks @manton!
On the plus side, the Supreme Court slapped down the Fifth Circuit (again) and said that yes, ghost guns and kits could be regulated as firearms.
I just hope someone in Congress is keeping a list of all the fools, liars, and traitors in the current administration to indict when (and if) the country comes back to its senses.
Here Are the Attack Plans That Trump’s Advisers Shared on Signal
See inside the clown car, thanks to The Atlantic. You might want to read this sooner rather than later. I suspect there will be a strong effort from the administration to get this information suppressed.
Finished reading: The Whisper of the Axe 📚. I’d guess most people only know Richard Condon thanks to THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE, but he wrote a whole bunch of wacky conspiracy novels. In this case, it’s the story of a grassroots movement to stage a huge terror attack in the US on July 4, 1976, funded by heroin sales and aided by covert Chinese training in a hidden terrorist camp. Featuring many secret agents, brainwashing, organized crime, and double-crosses, it literally resolves in the last sentence on the last page, and then leaves the reader wondering. A fine read.
NASA website axes a pledge to land a woman and a person of color on the moon
File under “sad but no longer surprising.” I will be surprised if co-President Musk doesn’t kill Artemis entirely in order to focus on his Mars obsession.
Finished reading: The Eagle’s Shadow 📚. Though this was Jame Branch Cabell’s first published novel, it comes comparatively late in the reading order of the Biography of Manuel, so I’m just getting to it (for the second or third time, I forget). It is a somewhat slight comic novel along traditional “boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl” lines, complicated by a bit of comic business including multiple wills and a number of Lichfield personalities (who you will have met in other of his books, if you’ve been reading the whole set). I have the 1929 Storisende Edition (#1138 of 1590 numbered copies) which, in addition to being a physically lovely book, contains an appendix reprinting letters from the NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW. The bulk of these letters, from the novel’s first 1904 publication, deplore the awful vulgarity and profanity of the heroine (she says “Damn you!” in one pivotal scene) and mostly do not believe a well brought-up woman would even know that sort of language.