Welcome to Sunday, February 2, 2025, and it’s Groundhog Day! The livestream video is below; Punxsutawney Phil will be dragged out at 7:26 Eastern time to determine if he sees his shadow. If he does, we will have six more weeks of winter weather; if he doesn’t, Spring will come early.
UPDATE: The rodent saw his shadow, so we have six more weeks of cold weather. Keep your coats handy!
It’s also Hedgehog Day, World Ukulele Day, California Kiwifruit Day (a friend calls them “gorilla balls”), Sled Dog Day, World Wetlands Day, Candlemas (celebrating the fictional presentation of young Jesus at the Temple), Marmot Day, Tater Tot Day (they make an awesome casserole), Crêpe Day, Heavenly Hash Day, and World Leprosy Day (the preferred name is now “Hansen’s Disease“).
To honor World Ukulele Day, here’s a fantastic rendition of “Something,” a George Harrison Beatles song, played live at the Royal Albert Hall at the “The Concert for George”. This was the first anniversary of George Harrison’s death (November 29, 2002). Paul McCartney begins by playing the ukulele, Harrison’s favorite instrument. Clapton makes an appearance, along with other stars you’ll recognize if you know rock. I love this version, and George would have loved it too. It begins simply, with Paul playing George’s ukulele, and transitions to the full Monty.
One of the readers’ comments says this, “Paul is playing a 1920’s Gibson Tenor Ukulele that was gifted to him by George. George Harrison had a very impressive ukulele collection, including two of George Formby’s banjo ukuleles.”
Readers are welcome to mark notable events, births, or deaths on this day by consulting the February 1 Wikipedia page.
Da Nooz:
*Trump began taking revenge on the FBI by firing six of its top officials because they were involved in the January 6 prosecutions, And there are many more to come:
The Trump administration plans to scrutinize thousands of F.B.I. agents involved in Jan. 6 investigations, setting the stage for a possible purge that goes far beyond the bureau’s leaders to target rank-and-file agents, according to internal documents and people familiar with the matter.
The proposal came on a day that more than a dozen prosecutors at the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington who had worked on cases involving the Jan. 6 riot were told that they were being terminated.
The moves were a powerful indication that Mr. Trump has few qualms deploying the colossal might of federal law enforcement to punish perceived political enemies, even as his cabinet nominees offered sober assurances they would abide by the rule of law. Forcing out both agents and prosecutors who worked on Jan. 6 cases would amount to a wide-scale assault on the Justice Department.
On Friday, interim leaders at the department instructed the F.B.I. to notify more than a half-dozen high-ranking career officials that they faced termination, according to a copy of an internal memo obtained by The New York Times.
The acting deputy attorney general, Emil Bove, also told the acting leadership of the F.B.I. to compile a list of all agents and F.B.I. staff “assigned at any time to investigations and/or prosecutions” relating to the events at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 — the day a mob of Trump supporters stormed through the halls of Congress.
In issuing his directive, Mr. Bove, who has overseen an opening volley of threats, firings and forced transfers since the inauguration, cited Mr. Trump’s executive order vowing to end “the weaponization of the federal government.”
Under President Joseph R. Biden Jr., the government waged a “systematic campaign against its perceived political opponents,” including by deploying law enforcement to pursue its rivals, he said,’
It is expected that a narcissist with a personality disorder would indeed take revenge on those whom he sees as enemies. But in doing this, Trump himself has weaponized the federal government, using it as a club to beat anybody who did something he didn’t like. There is no doubt that many of those who engaged in the January 6 insurrection, and many of those who were pardoned or had their sentences commuted, were guilty as hell, and instead of judiciously pardoning those who did virtually nothing, Trump is aiming at the FBI agents engaged in the prosecution. As they say, this is not good optics.
*And he’s also taking revenge on Mexico, Canada, and China by threatening to impose stiff tariffs on products coming into the U.S. from those countries, and even imposing tariffs on products from the EU!
The U.S. will impose tariffs on computer chips, pharmaceuticals, steel, aluminum, copper, oil and gas imports as soon as mid-February, President Trump said Friday, opening a new front in his looming second-term trade wars.
“That’ll happen fairly soon,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, adding that he also wants to hike tariffs on the European Union, which has “treated us so horribly,” though he didn’t specify when or how high the duties would be. A representative for the European Union didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
The announcement for those sector-based and EU tariffs appeared separate from the 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico, and 10% tariffs on China, which he had said would be implemented Saturday.
The duties previewed by Trump would come on top of existing tariffs on those products, he said, waving away any concern about the levies increasing inflation or snarling global supply chains.
“I think there could be some temporary, short term disruption and people will understand that,” Trump said. “The tariffs are going to make us very rich and very strong.”
In the short-term, leaders in Mexico, Canada and China—and CEOs of American companies—were hyperfocused on whether the president will include carve-outs for major industries that have lobbied him hard in recent days. His team has been in negotiations over how to potentially dial back tariffs on those countries from the across-the-board version the president has pledged, but officials have warned that Trump may still decide to go through with a full-throated approach.
Trump had said the Mexico and Canada tariffs will take effect if the countries don’t take steps to stop migration and drug trafficking over U.S. borders. He had promised to take a combative position with China over its role in the fentanyl crisis.
In the meantime, Canada, in a stiff rebuke, announced that it will impose tariffs on some American goods, which may cost American jobs. The tariffs, moreover are targeted at red states:
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada laid out more than $100 billion in retaliatory tariffs against the United States late Saturday, in a forceful response to President Trump’s decision to impose levies on a range of Canadian goods. But he made clear that Canada was doing so reluctantly.
“We don’t want to be here,” Mr. Trudeau said in a somber televised address from Ottawa that evoked the deep bonds between the two neighbors and close trading partners. “We didn’t ask for this.”
Mr. Trudeau spoke hours after President Trump hit Canada and Mexico with tariffs of 25 percent on all goods, with a partial carve out for Canadian energy and oil exports. Mr. Trudeau said that Canada would swiftly impose its own “far-reaching” retaliatory tariffs of 25 percent on 155 billion Canadian dollars ($106 billion) worth of U.S. goods.
Before Mr. Trudeau’s prime-time address, Canada had indicated that it would tax Florida orange juice, Tennessee whiskey and Kentucky peanut butter — products from states with Republican senators. Mr. Trudeau said on Saturday night that Canada’s tariff list would also include products like beer, wine, vegetables, perfume, clothing, shoes, household appliances, furniture and sports equipment, and materials like lumber and plastics.
There is no way that these tariffs will not result in higher prices to the consumer. I mean, computer chips? Metals? Avocados from Mexico? Consumers will notice and Trump voters will remember that high prices was one of the two major concerns that made them go for the Orange Man. This will not make them happy. As my father (an economist) taught me, tariffs are never good as they not only raise consumer prices, but lead to trade wars, which appear to have started already.
*Over at The Weekly Dish, Andrew Sullivan has”Some thoughts about how to grapple with Trump 2.o” in his latest column, “Keep calm, carry on. . . and wait ” He argues that the Democrats, but digging in on issues like immigration and DEI, are simply digging themselves into a hole. (Remember that Sullivan, like many of us, voted for Harris while holding his nose.)
For ten years now, the resistance has echoed Madonna, and opposed Trump as a fascist, racist, un-American harbinger of democratic collapse. That ended up as Kamala Harris’ final argument in 2024. And in 2025 … it’s exactly the same! The DNC tweets that Trump is “Rolling back 60 years of progress on civil rights.” Top Dems are bringing in psychologists to cope with Trump’s “authoritarian behavior.” Turn on MSNBC — and it is forever 2017. Nicolle Wallace and Joy Reid are still trotting out Hitler comparisons — though this time, on Holocaust Remembrance Day. Trump is still putting non-whites in cages — though this time, it’s federal workers.
And new polling shows that Kamala is still the front-runner for the nomination next time around. If she balks, why not Dukakis? He’s only 91. A spring chicken by Dem standards. Meanwhile, the DNC hopefuls are backing a truly vital reform: a pledge “to appoint more than one transgender person to an at-large seat, and that the pick reflects the diversity of the trans community.” Not just trans but BIPOC trans! And a host at the DNC forum, Jonathan Capehart, is blaming racism and misogyny for Kamala’s loss — and everyone on stage agrees.
All I can say is that this is undeniably good news for Trump. He knows how to beat Democrats at this game, and he will continue to do so. By opposing him furiously on everything — especially immigration and DEI — the Democrats will deepen the ditch they are already flailing about in. This week, New York Magazine published a cover-story about a party hosted by a black Trumpite, neglected to mention him, cropped the cover-photo to exclude several black faces, and then ran a headline about the “cruelty” of white Trump supporters. It’s an exhausted, racist trope — but Brooklyn hipsters love it. And who doesn’t want a national party that primarily appeals to Brooklyn hipsters? It’s worked so well so far!
Here’s the Big Crop for uber-woke New York Magazine:
New York Magazine literally cropped all the black people out of this cover photo and then complained that “the entire room is white” https://t.co/gCatY1lZzG pic.twitter.com/VhoaiJhqg1
— Christopher Barnard (@ChrisBarnardDL) January 27, 2025
Sullivan’s advice for Democrats, which is eminently sound but is being largely ignored by the party:
But if I were the Dems, I’d be less interested in the views of urban, Gaza-obsessed nonbinaries than those of your average American voter of any race. And the polling thus far suggests they like Trump’s immigration policies, still hate hiring on the basis of identity, and want less intervention abroad. In a NYT poll, 71 percent of Americans (including 54 percent of Dems) align with Trump on pushing back against sex reassignment for children; and 79 percent (including 67 percent of Dems) support him on preventing biological men competing with women in sports. That’s a mandate of sorts.
But Americans also strongly oppose pardoning violent J6 criminals, deporting those who came here as children, and prosecuting political opponents (73 percent oppose this, including 58 percent of Republicans). Americans want a leaner government, but if Trump brings chaos, they’ll rebel. They’re nervous about tariffs, and entitlements. In other words, if you calm down, support him on those issues where he is popular, and oppose him on those issues he isn’t, you might regain some traction by 2026.
Above all: do not make this a binary choice. If you do, Trump wins. Make it multiple choice, and he loses half the time. Focus on where Trump is vulnerable. Yes, on egregious violations of the law, or incompetence, call him out immediately. That’s how the spending freeze was unfrozen; that’s why Grassley and Durbin are already telling Trump to obey the law on his firing of Inspectors General. Judges are mobilizing. And this is how it is supposed to work. The Founders understood that the energetic executive they wanted could also over-reach. The Congress and courts were their solution. This is not the end of democracy. It’s just a testing period.
Yes, the last two sentences are right. This is NOT the end of democracy, and we will have more elections. If anybody wants to bet me that there will not be a Presidential election in 2028, I’ll bet against you–big time.
*Using the University of Çhicago as an example, the National Review discussed the issues posed when grad students are forced to pay dues to a union that espouses political positions they find repugnant.
s Jay Kaplan walked through the Gaza solidarity encampment at the University of Chicago wearing a “Bring Them Home Now” dog tag supporting the Hamas-held hostages, protesters followed and filmed him. “Antisemitism abounded” at the encampment, said Kaplan, a doctoral candidate in molecular engineering. But his graduate student union championed the cause in emails and on social media, offering to help members facing university discipline. The union also committed itself to the BDS (boycott, divestment, and sanctions) movement, whose co-founder Omar Barghouti rejects the Jewish people’s right to self-determination in Israel, their ancestral home. According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), “the BDS movement doesn’t seek a two-state solution; it aims to dismantle the Jewish state.”
Kaplan was required to join the graduate union, with its $648 yearly dues, or forgo membership but pay it an equivalent amount as an “agency fee.” That’s because of an Obama-era National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) decision that in 2016 turned graduate students like Kaplan into employees. It makes them subject to unionization and payment of dues as a condition of their academic positions in private-sector institutions, except in 26 states with right-to-work laws that make union membership or payments voluntary.
If he bucked the requirement at UChicago, Kaplan would be terminated from his program. “The thought of paying money to a union that actively trashes my homeland and my beliefs made me sick,” Kaplan, who is Jewish, told me. His religious identity is tied to the land of Israel, which is deeply embedded in Jewish text, prayer, and ritual practice. He requested and eventually received a religious exemption under Title VII of the U.S. Civil Rights Act, which allows private-sector employees to divert their union dues or agency fees to charities, as it protects “all aspects of religious observance and practice as well as belief.”
With the number of graduate student unions across the U.S. increasing dramatically following the NLRB decision, more who are dedicated to their faith have turned to Title VII. Like Kaplan, they view the religious-objector route as a way of limiting their association amid a surge in union activism for ideologies that are irreconcilable with their deeply held beliefs.
But despite Title VII’s broad view of religion — lack of ritual observance is not necessarily a disqualifier, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) regulations stipulate — exemption-seekers are hitting hurdles as the urgency to disengage from their unions intensifies.
Christians are objecting too, with one arguing that ““We really value the relationship that God, as described in the Bible, has with the people of Israel, and the belief in the one true God, that’s what we base our whole faith on.”
As one of my colleagues said, “Unions clearly don’t follow Kalven principles [of institutional neutrality]. Indeed, one of the most important roles that unions play is as political lobbyists. They are not a University of Chicago affiliate, so they have that right. And, if students choose to be members of the union, they are accepting that reality. What’s offensive is that all graduate students have to pay the agency fee to fund a union that some see as anti-Semitic, even if they do not join the union.” And the National Review agrees:
Just as unions are free to agitate for positions that stray from core concerns of wages and work conditions, it stands to reason that employees whose faith conflicts with those ideologies likewise should be free: from funding, and in any way associating with, unions promulgating them.
Here is a link to the lawsuit brought by a group Graduate Students for Academic Freedom against the union and its local representing students at the University of Chicago. It looks like a winner to me.
*Finally, remember when Kamala Harris was interviewed on CBS’s widely-watched show “60 Minutes,” and people pointed out that the interview looked as if it had been edited to pare down Harris’s word salad? At the time, CBS refused to hand over the tape or a transcript, which seems to violate journalistic standards (see the last item in the Nooz here). Trump of course made a loud noise, but so did the Free Press, while of course the MSM largely ignored this, though it’s their bailiwick. Trump sued CBS for $10 million, and the station has just agreed to release the transcript:
CBS says it will turn over an unedited transcript of its October interview with Kamala Harris to the Federal Communications Commission, part of President Donald Trump’s ongoing fight with the network over how it handled a story about his opponent.
Trump sued CBS for $10 million over the “60 Minutes” interview, claiming it was deceptively edited to make Harris look good. Published reports said that CBS’ parent company, Paramount, has been talking to Trump’s lawyers about a settlement.
The network said Friday that it was compelled by Brendan Carr, Trump’s appointee as FCC chairman, to turn over the transcripts and camera feeds of the interview for a parallel investigation by the commission. “60 Minutes” has resisted releasing transcripts for this and all of its interviews, to avoid second-guessing of its editing process.
The case, particularly a potential settlement, is being closely watched by advocates for press freedom and by journalists within CBS, whose lawyers called Trump’s lawsuit “completely without merit” and promised to vigorously fight it after it was filed.
The Harris interview initially drew attention because CBS News showed Harris giving completely different responses to a question posed by correspondent Bill Whitaker in clips that were aired on “Face the Nation” on Oct. 6 and the next night on “60 Minutes.” The network said each clip came from a lengthy response by Harris to Whitaker’s question, but they were edited to fit time constraints on both broadcasts.
One might even think that CBS supported Harris’s candidacy by judicious editing, though they did invite Trump for an interview (he refused). But I always thought that Harris didn’t have her neurons together enough to be a good President (though a better one than Trump), and I’m appalled that even now people are vetting her as a candidate in 2028. At any rate, it will be big fun to see her words in black and white.
Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili’s discovered the iPhone but missed the chance to take a good selfie:
Andrzej; What are you doing?Hili: I’m learning to take selfies.
Ja: Co ty robisz?Hili: Uczę się robienia selfie.
*******************
Here is my friend Natalies’ cat in Berlin; her name is Stupsi, and she says this
Stupsi sagt: „Ich liebe Sonntag morgen.“ [“Stupsi says, ‘I love Sunday morning]:
From Things With Faces:
From Cat Memes:
From Strange, Stupid or Silly Signs. Some curmudgeon made cards to chastise bad parkers!
On Thursday Swedish authorities announced that Salwan Momika, an Iraqi immigrant, was killed near Stockholm for having burned a Qur’an in public in 2023. Five men have been arrested.
Salwan Momika was an Assyrian Christian from Iraq. He knew better than anyone the truth of radical Islam and how non-Muslims are treated under Sharia.
He sacrificed his life trying to warn the West about it.
RIP, hero. https://t.co/ZmhXntCMyk pic.twitter.com/XshcsISlPT
— Dr. Maalouf (@realMaalouf) January 30, 2025
From Jez; there’s a whole thread of funny school-related things. Here are two:
9. That is so sweet pic.twitter.com/WhpbFRglSH
— Wolf of X (@tradingMaxiSL) January 31, 2025
From Simon. Larry the Cat, the Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office, wishes you a belated Caturday. Here is a BAD CAT!
Happy #Caturday
— Larry the Cat (@number10cat.bsky.social) 2025-02-01T15:13:10.832Z
From Malcolm: more BAD CATS acting up at becdtime!
cats when you’re trying to sleep 😹 pic.twitter.com/ik5Ddf2leZ
— Posts Of Cats (@PostsOfCats) January 13, 2025
From Luana, demonstrating Andrew Sullivan’s dictum, “We’re all on campus now”:
My take is that the walls of a federal law enforcement agency shouldn’t look like the walls of a middle school. https://t.co/bXOwcrPaQj
— i/o (@eyeslasho) January 31, 2025
From the Auschwitz Memorial, one that I reposted:
A 12-year-old French girl was killed with cyanide gas upon arriving at Auschwitz.
— Jerry Coyne (@evolutionistrue.bsky.social) 2025-02-02T11:22:29.355Z
Two posts from Dr. Professor Cobb. First, he enjoyed seeing the maloha yesterday and told Amar so. Amar respo0nded with more photos. It does look at if its beak is green, and if that’s a female at upper right, the species is sexually dimorphic:
Many of our Malkohas have these striking feature Matthew. Here is collage of a few.
A brittle star (an echinoderm) catching a squid, obviously from a video taken by a submersible. Watch the video! If you look at the Wikipedia article, it doesn’t mention any such behavior, though they’ll catch small crustaceans.
Since I mentioned the brittle star catching a squid in prior post, might as well share! @echinoblog.bsky.social was even calling in when it happened! That's a predation event I'll never forget. #MarineLife youtu.be/oHN4sWAuBVc?…
“Consumers will notice and Trump voters will remember that high prices was one of the two major concerns that made them go for the Orange Man. This will not make them happy.”
But they won’t blame 45 2.0. Maga is a cult.
Precisely. Trump fans are largely immune to persuasion. As the man himself noted, he “could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody” without losing much support.
I am hoping consumers will flip, as the narrative goes to naming high prices after Trump. Trump bacon prices. Trump appliance prices, and so on. Maybe not the Mega cultists, but the swath of new Trump voters might.
As most people don’t bother to listen to what Trump actually says, it’s worth pointing out that he has repeatedly and explicitly linked raising tariffs and ending the Federal income tax. I think, if I had 25% of my income back in my pocket, that would be a win, even against a rise in the cost of imported goods. At the same time people and companies don’t have to buy goods with high tariffs if their are cheaper domestic alternatives, and companies will undoubtedly work to make these available and capture that market.
A lot of ifs in that analysis. If the federal income tax were abolished (it hasn’t been, nor does that actually appear to be in the offing any time soon). If there are cheaper domestic alternatives (there frequently aren’t because the relevant domestic supply chains for key raw resources–stuff like lithium and cobalt, for instance–don’t exist). And the implied if of US companies magically overcoming extant supply issues, building currently non-existent manufacturing infrastructure, and making it all better.
If wishes were horses…
Could tariffs raise enough money to abolish the federal income tax?
The answer is clearly “No.”
See, for instance, this analysis by the Peterson Institute for International Economics:
https://www.piie.com/blogs/realtime-economics/2024/can-trump-replace-income-taxes-tariffs
And then there are distributional effects of partially replacing income taxes by tariff revenues (i.e, a consumption tax on imported goods), i.e., some households will benefit from this and other will be hurt (the analysis by the Peterson Institute looks into this as well).
I can confirm this. They find excuses for everything:
“He’s playing 3D chess! You aren’t smart enough to understand.”
But remember, not everyone who voted for Trump is part of that cult–anymore than everyone who voted for Harris is part of the Woke cult.
It’s independents and swing voters who decide the POTUS race.
Oh wow, thank’s for highlighting Something – found the whole Concert For George on my subscription service –
Indeed the most beautiful use of ukelele I’ve ever heard – I love the arrangement of the intro, and – not sure why, but it brought to mind Honey Pie and how Paul could effortlessly evoke that 30s-40s sound …
Canadians, including me, are angry against the US. Yesterday in Ottawa, the US national anthem was booed at the hockey match between the Minessota Wild and the local Senators team.
Don’t be mad at people like me who think the tariffs are a stupid idea. It’s Trump who should be booed; the rest of us love our Canadian friends!
No sir, I’m not angry against you or any other good US people.
Yes, it is Trump and Trump alone who is behind the Tariffs. That such a crass buffoon has so much support is bewildering.
The always bang-on Andrew Coyne posted a brilliant letter the other day on all of this. Do a search (with quotes, so you find it easier) of this:
“Nothing mattered, in the end. Not the probable dementia, the unfathomable ignorance, the emotional incontinence”
RE: “That such a crass buffoon has so much support is bewildering.”
I suppose it’s bewildering to a Democrat. It’s independent voters that account for Trump’s win, and these voters have different priorities than you. Of course, I understand there is the temptation to think that “everyone who thinks different than I is stupid or evil” …
The Globe column’s paywalled (still – it was published back in November), but here’s a fairly lengthy quote from it – https://take-note.ca/2024/11/09/andrew-coyne-is-frightened-and-so-am-i/
I don’t think Trump has that much support. Rather, I think voters gave up on Democrats.
I agree. I was reading the NYT last night on tariffs and there were many Canadian commenters. Many were furious, saying they were going to cancel their NYT subscriptions and were altering holiday plans to go elsewhere.
But that doesn’t make sense. NYT does not support Trump and neither do most of its readers. WSJ is more conservative but does not support tariffs.
Many Americans can’t stand Trump. I’ve read their comments. So I won’t be cancelling anything.
Cancellation of something or somebody is the go-to idea these days when people are angry or frustrated.
War is not personal until it affects one personally, then it becomes personal.
I am not sure how much trouble it would be to import the medication that keeps me alive form an alternative export country, or start making it in Canada. The red tape in medical industry is atrocious and it takes years. Meanwhile, I will have to pay what is effectively a US tax, to get this horse piss extract from Pfizer.
But Matthew, there is no reason why you should need to obtain your American drug from another supplier. The American manufacturer is not going to refuse to sell it to you and the Canadian Government is not going to prohibit you from buying it. It is also not going to tariff medical products because that would just make free universal healthcare even more expensive for provincial budgets and for Canadians without drug insurance than it already is. So you will not be paying any “US tax” for your American horse piss. (If the Canadian dollar falls, then yes all our imports will be more expensive whether we tariff them or not. But our exports will be cheaper, reducing the price sting of U.S. tariffs.)
What you can be sure of is that no Canadian generic knock-off maker is going to step up and invest in manufacturing in a country whose people talk war with the country that supplies the molecules it needs to manufacture anything. We have decided we don’t want an innovative pharmaceutical industry in Canada. People who rely heavily on drugs have to live with that and count on being able to buy their innovations from foreign countries. Just as we who decided we didn’t need much of a military and then decided to trans what we still have are going to have to live with that.
Yeah. I’m Canadian and just don’t understand what Trump is trying to do. I’m not going to blame every American for his actions, especially the ones who aren’t blindly pro-Trump. The people are separate from the government.
Totally bush-league performance, and not the first time.
Those Canadian fans still bought tickets, didn’t they, knowing the gate would be split with the American-based team? Rene, you don’t like it when anglophone Canadians boo the national anthem when it’s sung in French, do you?
Besides, Minnesota voted for Kamala Harris.
Ooo look – Agitprop!
Stupsi the Kitteh is a real cutie! Will we start having Stupsi Dialogues too?
The curmudgeon chastising drivers for their poor parking is far from alone. Here we call these drivers “Peter Parkers.” Leaving notes on cars is common, as is shaming on social media. I’ve left a few notes myself, but only for egregious Parkers, such as the Mercedes sedan parked across three (3) handicapped spaces. I don’t understand why this car was not towed. (Because it’s a Merc..? Because it displayed a handicapped placard?)
Drivers who park in handicapped spaces without a placard just infuriate me. I’ll leave a note or call a tow truck every time.
However, I do not have professionally printed cards. I just use Post-It notes that I carry in my handbag in case I need to write something down.
My favorite Peter (or Petra?) Parker was a driver who somehow managed to back an extended-cab pickup truck into a space designated for compact cars only. I had to stop and watch Petra do this; she actually impressed me with her maneuvering skills. Then she was unable to open her truck door to exit her vehicle. She began banging on her dashboard and yelling at me to help her get out. She was alone in her truck. I just shook my head and walked away. What did she think was gonna happen?
No doubt you have seen a driver, by him-/herself, with a handicap sign park in a handicap space, get out and independently walk into a store without even the slightest hint of a limp. Likely that person has a handicapped family member, but if that family member is not in the car how is that the driver is possibly entitled to use a handicap space? One also sees able-bodied folks park in fire lanes instead of a (handicap?) parking space 20 feet away.
Filippo, I’ve seen all these things.
So many humans suck.
I particularly notice the cars occupying handicapped parking spaces because my late grandmother had a placard for a space and selfish jerks kept parking in them. I also notice (the lack of) wheelchair ramps and able-bodied people occupying handicapped seats on public transit.
It simply pisses me off.
Where I live you’ll often see big 4×4 trucks in Tesla charging spaces. Take that electric car owners!
Are these free charging stations provided by the business as a courtesy, Mark, or are they commercial for-pay charging kiosks analogous to gas stations? If the former, I can see why the trucks park in front of them and it’s no skin off the nose of the business that provides free electricity. If the latter, you would expect the owner to be motivated to tow the truck away to protect his business. Price signals are wonderful.
They are courtesy charging stations at a grocery store- they’re also the farthest away from the entrance. There are at least 6 stations and there’s never more than one truck blocking a station, so it’s no biggie for EV owners. Just someone telegraphing they’re a jerk.
The charging stations I’ve seen are very close to the entrances of businesses and close to the elevators in parking garages.
I suppose everywhere is different.
When I was working at the invertebrate exhibit at the National Zoo I cared for a tank of Brittle Stars. They didn’t move much till you put food in the water (probably chopped shrimp) and then all their arms would wave around, capturing pieces of shrimp. That they might be a threat to an organism as big as that squid would not have occurred to me.
And then the battle for the squid. It was fascinating. I had no idea their behavior was so complicated.
Painting over the words of affirmation at the FBI academy with gray paint is appalling. Gray is a dead color (shade of black, really) and why it has been popular in recent years is beyond me.
Grey is also a shade of white.
Dirt is less visible on it.
Years from now, when the US economy is in ruins, the justice system is in tatters, our children are suffering from all sorts of vaccine-preventable illnesses, and Trump declares that he needs to remain as president and there will be no election, The “Free” Press and anxious Andrew Sullivan will still be blaming Kamala Harris and the Democratic Party.
With regard to the tariffs, Trump really does want Canada as the 51st state and Greenland as a US protectorate. Don’t kid yourselves, he will do whatever it takes to make it happen. Meanwhile, Canada has a number of last resort options… closing Canadian airspace to US flights, closing the St. Lawrence Seaway to ships traveling to and from US ports, closing Canada-Alaska border crossings, stopping US shipping from accessing west coast Canadian waters, shutting down NORAD, which really only benefits the US, stopping Canadian subsidiaries of US corporations from paying dividends to their parents. The question is do Canadians have what it takes to make the sacrifices that will be needed to fight back. Probably not.
What will this week bring from the White House? Probably nothing good.
I hope that things won’t deteriorate to the point where such drastic measures are needed. I agree that Trump really does want to swallow up Canada. I think you’ll find that Canadians will use everything we’ve got to remain The True North Strong And Free if it comes to it. Our love for Canada and for our freedom is fierce. 🇨🇦
Any one of those acts would be a causus belli and would justify a declaration of war and invasion. All of them together and you might as well hoist the Stars and Stripes and be done with it so no one gets hurt. I do hope no one in the Canadian Government is listening to suggestions like that. No country has a right to trade with any other country it wishes on its own terms. We will just have to cope with a lower standard of living or find other countries that want to buy our rocks and trees at prices that will pay, through taxes, our universal free health care, guarantee trans rights, and move along with a very expensive reconciliation project.
Or not. President Trump has said he wants to annex Canada using economic warfare. There doesn’t seem to be any reason to doubt he will if he can. To be technical we would almost certainly be annexed not as as a state but as a (single) territory to avoid destabilizing the American political structure. Then the Congress might some day get around to deciding whether to make any new states. Might take a while. Alaska waited 92 years and there are still disloyal Alaskans who want to secede. There are dangers in admitting a state with 40 million sullen resentful unwilling citizens….who would vote to the left of California.
Trudeau has announced a bunch of tariffs on some US products. That seems a sensible response.
Someone noted that Canada borders on Denmark. It‘s true: on Hans Island. It should join the EU, for real. The EU also cannot realistically buy energy from the USA anymore, as that would be hypocritical as well as nonsensical, since the USA left the Paris Accord (not before subverting it by making it non-binding).
What’s the point of imposing limitations on oneself, and then reward energy production of the country that subverts the whole endeavour and also is on track to seal the end of humanity with its historic pollution, as well as new comittment to continue the destruction of the world’s ecosystems through accellation of Climate Change towards desastrous tipping points.
The EU should buy energy from the USA, however, because the alternative is buying it from Russia.
With regard to the firings, especially in the FBI, it can, and has been, argued that the people fired were engaged in politically motivated actions that were an abuse of their authority. They should be fired.
It has been argued that the Earth is flat, too.
And the very act of firing these FBI agents is politically motivated, so what’s your point?
PETA wanted the groundhog ceremony replaced with a “weather reveal cake”.
Trump is traveling over well-trodden ground in imposing tariffs. Let me quote from A Lincoln “Give us a protective tariff, and we shall have the greatest nation on earth”. The history of the US supports Trump, not his opponents. The US built its industries behind protective tariffs. The average US tariff rate in the 19th century was quite high. Over 20% on all imports and considerably higher (say 40%) on imports subject to import duties.
It’s not the 1800s.
There are resources that Canada has that the US doesn’t, such as vast amounts of potash. Potash is a major component of fertilizers that farmers need to boost productivity to profitable levels. This ridiculous across-the-board 25% tariff is going to cause the price of a lot of goods to rise.
The US also exports a lot of goods but now, no one is going to want to do business with a belligerent, threatening country.
Trump is just acting like a psychotic bully and most of the world more or less hates him at this moment. He’s even threatening to take over sovereign countries. Look at his post on “Truth.Social.” He’s saying that Canada shouldn’t even exist. You think that’s good? His post almost reads like a declaration of war.
It is rather unlikely that Harris will be the Democratic nominee in 2028. A few (highly germane) points. She got exactly zero delegates back in 2019. She lost in 2024 (for which Democratic party insiders will never forgive her). She ran a dismal candidacy in 2024. She ‘only’ had 4 times as much money as Trump and of course enjoyed the support of the mainstream media. She lost anyway. In 2026, she may well run for governor of California (and will likely win). According to various sources, that job rules out a run (by her) for the presidency in 2028. A key point is that Democrats don’t want her in 2028. Who will be the Democratic nominee in 2028? G. Whitmer? C. Booker? G. Newsom? R. Warnock? Someone else? I have no idea.
And then there was OJ’s further Bush League performance of ordering Hegseth, who of course snapped to attention, to request that the Army Corps to release water from two lakes in CA ostensibly for firefighting in LA, but which will instead wind up where it will be lost to evaporation without a chance to reach LA, further never having a chance to reach the crops this summer that it was being held for. Oh, and imperiling land along the way.
Another link (non-partisan) from the standpoint of water users…and this is a red/purple area of CA. Lotsa Trump banners still flying in the local farms and orchards here in the SJ valley.
https://sjvwater.org/trumps-emergency-water-order-responsible-for-water-dump-from-tulare-county-lakes/?fbclid=IwY2xjawIMi2dleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHe0UQKl7Nm4bXWpfltnJF2pfLrI7b33-gqnDPsoxne3W6vJ57tteF98tkg_aem_Q13apRG2Mr0iIgsEGnOXtg
OTOH, if Orange God gets his way, there won’t be enough workers to harvest the crops that would have grown if they were to get enough water. And less worry about H5N1 bird flu spreading via dairies; there won’t be enough workers to keep them running.
Meanwhile, Elon Musk now has access to our SS#s, Medicare identities, etc.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/elon-musks-doge-commission-gains-021627102.html
This is the money quote and could apply to just about everything Trump has done for the last 2 weeks.
“This decision was clearly made by someone with no understanding of the system or the impacts that come from knee-jerk political actions.”
S. Momika’s murder in Sweden has prompted some people online to burn a certain holy book. As Momika did publicly and spectacularly.
There needs to be more of this. Many large problems are collective action problems that require an initial spark. Consider closer to home one tractor company ditching DEI, giving cover for many other large companies to do the same.
With Islam there has been a terrible LACK of collective or individual action to counter its danger. Momika was one of the first. The internet and social media make collective action problems easier to solve.
Hopefully many people outraged by his murder will gather their matches and gasoline and defend free speech and secularism.
D.A.
NYC
Trump’s brain disorder is a real problem. The retributive attacks against the FBI and the anger-induced tariffs on our trading partners are manifestations. Trump attacks with a broad brush; the rest of the government tries to rein his diktats in by carving out details using finer strokes. Can the sane people in the government keep up with the impulsive President Trump or will his nutty moves push us into a crisis? Will Trump himself have enough sense to undo his mistakes? Having a brain disorder, can he even admit that a crisis exists if his actions precipitate one? (He did undo the freeze on grants and loans last week—a sign that he retains at least some ability to recognize a mistake and make a correction.)
With President Trump in office for four years, it’s impossible even to imagine what will come next. If the past two weeks is any indication, we’re in for a chaotic time in the U.S.
Grad student unions are as silly as unions for students on athletic scholarships. You have one right as a grad student and that is to have a pathway of coursework and research which, if you work hard enough, will achieve an advanced degree and qualify you to apply for jobs and begin an adult career.
I counted myself extremely lucky to be accepted into a graduate program, and unbelievably lucky to have stipends over that time…some stipends requiring teaching or grading duties; others pure fellowships; but always covering tuition, minimal rent, and food so that I could focus on the studies at hand. Graduate school is a means to an end, not a career.
You kids get off my lawn!
Here’s a fun headline and blurb…as the coup continues…
USAID security leaders placed on leave after trying to keep Musk team from classified info, officials say
The Trump administration placed two top security chiefs at the U.S. Agency for International Development on leave after they refused to turn over classified material in restricted areas to Elon Musk’s government-inspection teams, a current and a former U.S. official told the Associated Press on Sunday.
The two USAID security officials — John Vorhees and deputy Brian McGill — were legally obligated to deny access.
Members of Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, known as DOGE, eventually did gain access Saturday to the aid agency’s classified information, which includes intelligence reports, the former official said.
I beginning to understand one thing: why Trump picked people who seemed manifestly unqualified (like Hegseth): they’re 100% loyal and can be counted on to follow his orders.
I think loyalty is the only qualification they needed.
Yep, and that was one of the main reasons his critics were saying Trump 2.0 would be dangerous. No adults in the room this time around.
The grad students’ case seems like a slam dunk. In 2018, in Janus v. AFSCME, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that requiring public employees to pay union dues is a violation of their First Amendment rights. The ruling stated that compelling employees to pay union dues is a form of compelled speech, which is prohibited by the First Amendment.