Monthly Archives: September 2025

President Trump at the big military meeting in Virginia:

During a 71-minute speech to senior military leaders in Quantico, Virginia, President Donald Trump suggested that the military use “dangerous cities as training grounds.” [CNN/Politics]

It’s like watching somebody suggest to a rocket engineer that launching a rocket would be so much easier using a trebuchet.

Well, I suppose this is still better than blowing everyone up at the meeting as a way to get rid of all those old-timers, invalidated with their outdated ideas concerning how to run things.

Steve Benen provides a quote from Truth Social so I don’t have to visit that site:

In a semi-coherent 232-word rant published to his social media platform, the president described [The New York Times] as “one of the worst and most degenerate newspapers in the History of our Country,” adding that the outlet “has engaged in a decades long method of lying about your Favorite President (ME!).”

“(ME!)“? Does the author, presumably Mr Trump, have doubts that his readers will actually not understand that their favorite President is Mr Trump?

Or is the President, aware his piss-poor policies are making him less popular than the liberals, feeling that he needs to remind them of their loyalties?

Or maybe he just figures everyone else has the same dementia he has.

For those readers who’ve seen one or more episodes of the TV series Horrible Histories (2009), a Scholastic Productions product intended for the child demographic that sought to teach history through farce, the movie Horrible Histories: The Movie – Rotten Romans (2019) is an extension. Employing over-emphasis and characterizations potentially irritating to adults, it portrays Nero in Rome, and a Roman legion facing Queen Boudica in England, with a hapless Roman who is banished to that legion, and how he survives, at least for a while, in the land of barbarians, some of whom are in his own legion.

If it’s to your taste, great! We made it through the series with laughter, but the movie was a bit much. So enjoy it if you can.

In case you were wondering whether vaccines benefit society …

The covid-19 vaccines cost $79 billion to develop and deliver globally, but provided health and economic benefits worth between $5 trillion and $38 trillion globally in the first year alone, based on avoided infections, hospitalisations and deaths. That is a return on investment of between $60 and $475 per dollar invested. [“Covid-19 vaccine benefits worth up to $38 trillion in first year alone,” Michael Le Page, NewScientist (20 September 2025, paywall)

Fascinating.

While random reading I ran across this in “From ‘Tractors’ to Cell Therapy Clinics: Unproven Medical Procedures,” Curtis E. Margo, Skeptical Inquirer (September/October 2025, paywall) …

[Historian James Harvey Young (1915–2006) ] named the chapter [in The Toadstool Millionaires] featuring Elisha Perkins “Galvanizing Trumpery.” He created this memorable pun by linking the dual meanings of the verb to galvanize with the word trumpery from fifteenth-century French (tromperie, “to deceive”), which later in English would come to mean “worthless” and “of no or little value.”

I’m not sure this is a pun, although the subject, Mr Perkins, was engaged in electricity-related scamming (in the late 18th century), and galvanizing has an electricity-related definition, also known as electrogalvanizing.

But that is beside the point, which is really below me, but it being a Saturday morning a bit of humor is in order, and if it’s at the expense of proponents of uninhibited wealth-pursuit, so much the better.

Wondering what to make of ‘social influencers?’ Here’s Maya Sulkin at The Free Press:

[Sophie] Cohen said she’s now living the life of her dreams. “I make a great living. It’s a dream lifestyle. I fully work for myself.” She used to be embarrassed to admit her job was “content creation,” but not anymore. “It has become this very aspirational career, because there’s all the glamour of it, like the events and the free stuff. But I think the biggest luxury is not having to work a nine-to-five. And I think, in this day and age, for many young people, that’s what they want to be doing.” …

Influencers make money in two ways. First, companies pay them to promote products or brands. And second, as influencers accumulate followers—and begin to attract advertising—they are paid a percentage of the ad revenue.

Is it any wonder that so many Gen Zers want to be influencers?

I’d call them ‘celebrities,’ folks who are glamorous  because they exist, not because they’ve achieved something impressive. The entire thought that mere existence, and I do mean mere, makes you great.

It’s a repugnant recipe for running a life, it seems to me, and I don’t think they get it. Yet. Age, that wicked devil, has one more trick to play on you: afflicting you with wisdom only in your old age.

And when it comes to Jimmy Kimmel, another cave-in has occurred:

The blackout of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” is over.

Sinclair and Nexstar, the two major station groups that preempted the talk show earlier this month, are allowing the show to return to their ABC-affiliated stations on Friday evening.

This means that Kimmel will be seen again in major cities like Washington, DC, Nashville, and Seattle, as well as several dozen other markets. [CNN/Business]

And why? In this tense political atmosphere, it’s hard to say if this is to be trusted :

Some affiliates of both Nexstar and Sinclair had been inundated with calls from frustrated Kimmel fans in recent days.

Believable, at least.

Andrew Sullivan is caught on the horns of a smelly dilemma:

The difference between Kimmel and the rest, of course, is that Kimmel is on a broadcast network, which is supposed to serve the “public interest” and is subject to government licensing. And what those networks have done these last few years — especially in late night — has been to become aggressive, partisan opponents of Trump and MAGA and subsequently, much more unforgivably, craven apologists — and even propagandists, in the case of Colbert — for Biden. They decided to cater to only one half of the country, and relentlessly mock, ridicule, and demonize the other half. Johnny Carson, they ain’t.

From what little I’ve read, the motivations of shooter Tyler Robinson are not at all clear. He was brought up in gun culture. That’s precious little to go on.

For Sullivan, though….

But the tit-for-tat is at Orbán levels now, with state institutions directly canceling private entities. That is a difference in kind, not degree. It’s where cancel culture becomes outright authoritarianism. FCC Chair Brendan Carr’s mob-like threats against broadcast networks this week — we can do this “the easy way or the hard way” — were pure Budapest. Nexstar needs FCC blessing for a merger, so within hours of Carr’s encouragement, they and their 60 affiliate stations balked at Kimmel’s lie. Disney, faced with losing 40 percent of a late-night audience that had already declined by almost half in 2025, swiftly caved.

And the Trump right isn’t coy or shy about any of this. They love cancel culture, they now declare, and want the state to be fully involved in it. The leverage is federal and immense: funds for universities and schools, contracts with law firms, IRS and DOJ investigations of critics, ICE arrests of immigrant students for criticizing Israel, visa revocations for the ideologically problematic, and now open threats to broadcast licenses if they don’t please Trump.

In Sullivan’t view, if Trump frightens you, the alternative is hardly better. Which is an echo of my own wish that both political parties lose and disband, preferably in 2026, as these two parties have become corrupted by arrogance.

Consider this Earl’s arrogance and self-importance, and then get back to me. I’ll try to hose you off.

Well, there’s nothing like advocating for the abrogation of the Constitution in defense of a corrupt felon to get you a nomination for the Earl Landgrebe award:

An Arizona Republican lawmaker on Wednesday called for the execution of a Democratic congresswoman because she urged people upset with President Donald Trump to protest in the streets.

Kingman[, Arizona] Republican Rep. John Gillette wrote on the social media site X that U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, a Democrat from Washington, was calling for the the government to be overthrown and should be hanged.

“Until people like this, that advocate for the overthrow of the American government are tried convicted and hanged.. it will continue,” Gillette said in response to a video of Jayapal. [AZ Mirror]

Note that Mr Gillette is a Representative in the Arizona House of Representatives.

And maybe Jayapal did?

The post Gillette responded to claimed that Jayapal was making a call to violence because she said protesters should be “strike ready” and “street ready.” The Arizona Mirror watched the video in its entirety and found no calls to violence or advocating for overthrowing the government; it was focused on “non-violent resistance” to Trump and advising people on how to do that.

Yeah, this sounds more like an attention-craving move, which makes it twice as bad.

Pentad:

A group or set of five things or elements.

EXAMPLES

• The pentad of the five elements: earth, water, fire, air, and spirit.
• In linguistics, a pentad might refer to the five key aspects of a narrative.
• During the presentation, we focused on a pentad of essential marketing strategies.

[Vocab Dictionary]

Noted in “Everybody wants your 5-star rating. Even your cardiologist.” Ashley Fetters Maloy, WaPo:

Sometimes what’s irksome is the sheer audacity. One X user described a delivery guy rooting around in her garage then asking for a five-star review; another was put off by a waiter who asked for one despite reeking of cigarette smoke. Many people have revealed their policies of giving negative reviews when asked specifically for positive ones or using surveys to complain about surveys; some describe feeling harassed or badgered, even bribed or quid pro quo’d into giving their experience the full pentad of approval. I, for one, remember that years ago a WaveRunner tour company in New Jersey withheld souvenir photos — me and each of my bridesmaids breezing past the Statue of Liberty, naturally — until I had left a five-star review on Google that mentioned the staffer who had asked for it by name.

Unlike Parkinson’s disease, I do not know anyone who has Huntington’s Disease, a genetic problem which results in various neurological problems, with no cure.

And there’s still no cure, but according to this report, it appears a fairly effective, and expensive, cure has been discovered.

Once a way to fix a problem is discovered, the cost can often be optimized away. Hurray for the Brits!

Cryostat:

The word cryostat is a word of compound meaning from the roots cryo, which means cold, and stat, which means static or stationary. A cryostat is an instrument used to sustain very low temperatures at -238 degrees Fahrenheit (-150 Celsius) or below, for many medical, engineering, and scientific uses. The chemicals to maintain these temperatures are baths of liquid helium for tissue specimens or liquid nitrogen for cryonics patients. The inner vessel of a cryostat is similar in construction to a vacuum flask; and there is a precision cutting instrument for sectioning tissues known as a microtome inside the freezer portion of the cryostat. [All the Science]

Noted in “Quantum device detects all units of electricity at once,” Karmela Padavic-Callaghan, NewScientist (30 August 2025, paywall):

This integration was challenging because both devices rely on fragile quantum phenomena that can only be observed at very low temperatures – so low they must be operated in special fridges called cryostats. Traditionally, one device also required a magnetic field that disrupted the operation of the other.

Yeah, that entire title just left me baffled, and the content was no help.

The goat entrail this time around yields unsurprising results, as Adelita Grijalva (D-AZ) succeeds her late father, Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ), in Arizona’s House seat in Arizona District 7. The late Representative was reelected 63.4%-36.6% in 2024 in a total of 271,000 votes; his daughter outdid him, 70.7%-27.5% from a total of 82,000 votes, the latter percentage being for Daniel Butierez (R-AZ), who does not list any relevant political experience.

As we know, special elections are a challenge to interpret, or perhaps a path of good intentions. Still, the newly minted Representative, who lists no relevant experience, did well.

A bit more detail about the Waffle House Index:

Without claiming any credit from sending this letter, I see Disney’s caved to, well, probably their customer base, according to The Hollywood Reporter:

Jimmy Kimmel is getting back on the air. …

“Last Wednesday, we made the decision to suspend production on the show to avoid further inflaming a tense situation at an emotional moment for our country,” ABC parent The Walt Disney Co. said in a statement Monday. “It is a decision we made because we felt some of the comments were ill-timed and thus insensitive. We have spent the last days having thoughtful conversations with Jimmy, and after those conversations, we reached the decision to return the show on Tuesday.”

I’ve seen reports of Disney’s customers canceling subscriptions in droves, but nothing official. And, if true, it’d be disappointing that it was the clompclompclomp of customer feet that drove them to retract an action plausibly, but not officially acknowledged, taken in response to FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr’s remarks, rather than principle. But at least it least it happened.

There’s more to this story. Let me clarify that Disney, Paramount, Artists United, all of these studios and news sources and whathaveyou, exist because of principle, a principle embedded in the First Amendment of the United States that defines and defends the right to speech uninhibited by government, whether it be speech or press. The symmetrical part of that principle is that those who benefit from it, Disney, et al, must also defend it when someone tries to take advantage of their governmental position to inhibit that speech. Why? For the thoroughly practical reason that most, even all of them cannot continue to exist if that principle ceases to be applied. When your existence depends on whim, you don’t exist, you merely survive – if lucky.

The next question, then, is the next move by Skydance, who bought ABC, parent to The Late Show With Stephen Colbert. Will they, too, rescind the impending closure of The Late Show? Or are they not as vulnerable to customer desertion as Disney? And how loudly will Erick Erickson scream if the closure is rescinded? He was rather certain it was all about the losses ABC was allegedly suffering at the time. Too bad I can’t find the post in question.

Some fall pics for relaxation:

WaPo is reporting as breaking news that the nominee for U.S. Attorney  of the Eastern District of Virginia, Erik S. Siebert, has resigned:

A top federal prosecutor in Virginia has resigned amid pressure from the Trump administration over his decision not to seek indictments against two of the president’s political foes, three people familiar with the matter said.

U.S. Attorney Erik S. Siebert, in the Eastern District of Virginia, submitted his resignation as the head of that office Friday evening, the people said, moments after President Donald Trump told reporters in the Oval Office: “I want him out.”

Siebert was, of course, nominated by Trump. I wonder if this is the same as withdrawing the nomination, or if there’s a nuance I’m missing.

The rub here is that even a U.S. Attorney can end up in prison if they are caught and convicted of abusing their office. I don’t know Mr Siebert’s qualifications, and as he hadn’t been confirmed, there’s no news from the Senate as to same, but it appears that he knows enough about the law not to venture into a self-destructive disaster.

Trump, like any child, didn’t take well this news:

… a recent determination Siebert made that there was insufficient evidence to pursue a mortgage fraud indictment against New York Attorney General Letitia James (D), according to four people familiar with that investigation. Siebert also declined to prosecute former FBI director James B. Comey based on allegations lodged by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, two people familiar with that inquiry said.

And it’s worth noting that everyone against Siebert aren’t putting their liberty at risk, isn’t it?

Among those pushing for Siebert to be fired was Bill Pulte, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, who has accused several of the president’s prominent adversaries, including James, of committing mortgage fraud, according to people familiar with the matter. They added that Ed Martin, the Justice Department official who is overseeing criminal investigations based on Pulte’s allegations, also pushed for Siebert to be removed.

Along with a President whose Republican-wing SCOTUS-bestowed immunity will presumably protect him as well. So we see the profound foolishness the decision in Trump v. United States.

This is perhaps more important than the persistent failures of the nominee for U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro. She seems to just be a clown occupying an important position. Such is the fate of media personalities, and applies to social influencers just as much as conservative TV hosts.

Steve Benen expresses discomfort at the self-importance of the conservatives when it comes to rule of law:

Not surprisingly, voters on the left weren’t exactly eager to endorse indifference to the rule of law: 11% of Democratic voters and an identical number of voters who describe themselves as liberals said presidents should put side rules and laws.

But on the right, it was a different story: 36% of Republican voters, 38% of voters who backed Donald Trump and 40% of “very conservative” voters all expressed support for a president “willing to break some rules and laws to set things right.”

I use self-importance because these conservatives consider their views to be more important than the rule of law, of their fellow, and co-equal, citizens.

And, oddly enough, it reminds me of the behavior of the transgender advocates. As I’ve mentioned before, their failure was to not put their issue, and their views on it, up for debate, but rather impose their views, via the law, on their fellow citizens.

This is in violation of one of the most basic tenets of liberal democracy, that of not imposing arbitrary regulations sans debate upon the citizenry.

The arrogance of both sides continue, to the great destruction of the American polity. Will the independents figure it out and force it out? How about MAGA, which must seek redemption?

Gammon:

Gammon meat is cured, salted meat from the hind legs of a pig.

During processing, a ton of salt is added to pull moisture out. This allows the bacon meat to cure, dry safely, and develop different flavors. [CarnivoreStyle]

New one on me. Another source suggests it’s mostly a UK and Irish word. Noted in this video, in the promotional section.

French movie poster.
Source: Wikipedia.

Fantastic Planet (1973; French: La Planète Sauvage) looks like something the Monty Python troupe might have created: an animated tale of humans taking the role of pets to their gigantic overlords, the Draags on the Draag home planet. The human orphan infant Terr, adopted by Draag child Tiwa, manages to survive to his teen years, and, more importantly, learns to listen in on the psychic school lessons delivered to Tiwa.

He escapes to find ‘wild’ Oms, or humans, surviving on the leavings of the Draags, It’s a rough world, but Terr is ready for it, and his knowledge is unique among the humans. His learning keeps the humans alive, no doubt a theme, as the Draags, irritated at the activities of a clearly inferior race, including having babies much more quickly than the Draags, and discovering the murder of a Draag by the humans, determine to be rid of the humans. Then it’s a race against to get off the planet.

The ending is sufficiently loony to be worthy of this sort of movie, and seemed nearly incoherent.

And it’s a lot like Monty Python’s animated bits, with no attention paid to plausibility in the midst of all the apparent whimsy, and some awfully horrible animal behaviors best not described. The animation itself fascinated my Arts Editor, ranging from sketchy, but recognizable, half-naked figures, to simple stick figures at the human massacre.

I’m not sure about enjoying this story, but it does force the audience to pay attention and do a bit of thinking. Which is more than a lot of movies today. Tellingly, we were both sure we wouldn’t make it to the end, but, despite some snarky remarks on our part, we saw it right to what we believe was the end; the print we viewed came to a very abrupt end.

To: Bob Iger, CEO, Disney,
c/o Disney’s Corporate social responsibility team

Sir,

I write to remind you of an important distinction. Your position atop a storied American corporation is not a trophy to be placed on your mantlepiece. It is, instead, a position of measureless responsibility. Briefly, you are responsible for preserving and advancing the company in a sustainable manner. That includes a recognition of those elements of the society in which Disney matured that were necessary, namely democracy.

Insofar as demands from the current Administration may have influenced and encouraged a decision to suspend Mr Kimmel, I am asking that the suspension be reversed. Confirming the Administration’s worst tendencies will benefit no one in the long view, as arbitrary and capricious decisions are a hallmark of those whose tenure in power is marked by a disdain for democracy, its laws and traditions.

I reiterate: revoke Mr Kimmel’s suspension. Disney will be the better for it.

Sincerely yours,

H. A. White, Jr.

Here’s an example of a predictable risk that is much more easily executed on the crypto variety of currency:

Israel’s Ministry of Defense announced on Monday that it was ordering the seizure of 187 crypto wallets that allegedly belong to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC.

In a document detailing the seizure order, the ministry’s National Bureau for Counter Terror Financing (NBCTF) said it was “convinced that the cryptocurrency wallets” in the list are property of the IRGC and are “used for the perpetration of a severe terror crime.”

The IRGC is sanctioned as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union, and Israel, among other countries.  [TechCrunch]

Sure, the blockchains on which cryptocurrency is based makes claims of being distributed, but it’s not distributed like cash, now is it? It takes a lot of work to collect well-hidden cash. Crypto-wallets? The big exchanges either cooperate with the government, or they locate their servers out of the reach of said governments – and those governments’ protective elements.

There’s a reason we have governments, and it isn’t, at its best, to be parasites. They provide protection, but, at their worst, they can be extremely destructive.

And basing currency on computers just makes it more vulnerable.

I giggle when my stomach is printed.

Mickey 17 (2025) explores a religious society that considers at least one life to be completely expendable. What happened to Mickeys one through sixteen?

They’re gone, dead.

He’s a specialist on a colony ship, a ship sent to another planet, analogous to the British colonization of Australia. He’s the guy that gets sent into dangerous situations, such as ship repair or exploring a cave. If he doesn’t make it, his body is reprinted and the memories from the now-dead Mickey, assuming his memory was conserved, is added to the new Mickey.

Dying still hurts, though. Perhaps worse is that he’s almost a joke in the ship, but he eventually acquires a partner willing to disregard his occasional disappearance.

But, equally fascinating, is that ship leadership is a much like a religious charismatic leadership, willing to do anything to fulfill the hole in their soul that needs adoration.

It all comes to a head when there is suddenly two Mickeys existing, a definite blasphemy that cannot be permitted, AND they discover the planet they’re set to colonize already has an intelligent population, they just didn’t recognize it immediately, If they’re not handled delicately they may wipe out the colony ship.

Meanwhile, Mickey’s partner is in ecstasy, what with two Mickeys and all.

Mickey 17‘s all rather interesting, and not at all heavy. Which may discourage some viewers, but sometimes difficult moral questions are best dealt with via humor, rather than pedanticism.

So don’t be afraid of it. The future’s dystopic in this story. Have some fun with it. We’re still human, at least for these storytellers.

I’m becoming more and more convinced the issues of honesty, truth, integrity, earnestness, all wrapped up in a single word – anyone have a candidate? – is going to become the focus of a nation-wide discussion once both political parties have been kicked out of office, whether electorally or violently. Steve Benen has a convenient summation:

Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale (2025) wraps up the story involving Lord Grantham, his wife Cora, and their upcoming retirement, while Mary must endure a stumble or two that may stop her from assuming control of the Abbey. The Great Depression has descended upon the world, and the storytellers do not make either error of omitting any damage to the family fortunes, or putting them in penury; damage there is, and that is used to teach the lesson of flexibility.

It’s well done, with fine acting, a paucity of critical information to keep anticipation florid, and a sober recognition that reality is higher up the ladder than sordid social conventions. If you’re a Downton Abbey fan, proceed directly to the start line; if not, but are interested, binge the series and previous movies first.

And enjoy the sprinkling of wry, dry humor throughout.