63 Years Ago Today

The Rolling Stones played their first gig at the Marquee Club in London, England 63 years ago today.

63 f%$#ing years.

Makes me feel old. 

Of Course Amazon is Lying to You

Have you heard the latest?

It turns out that the widely announced discounts on Amazon's "Prime Day" are a wholly manufactured artifact of price increases in the weeks before the highly hyped event.

What, you mean that Amazon is f%$#ing its customers?

Well, knock me over with a РС-28 Сармат missile.  (Specific cases fully documented at the link)

Amazon Prime Day is a four-day sale promoted by the mega-retailer as a rare opportunity to secure "deep discounts" on a variety of consumer items. In reality, Amazon deploys deceptive tactics to exaggerate its markdowns and create a false sense of urgency. Featured items are often available at similar or lower prices at other times.

Nevertheless, major media outlets produce a massive number of "articles" promoting Amazon Prime Day, as if it is a genuine news event. This isn't an accident. Amazon provides financial incentive for news organizations to produce this content.

………

List price inflation has been a systemic issue with Amazon Prime Day for years. In 2022, the New York Times' Wirecutter reported that, for many featured items during Prime Day, "the 'before' price is artificially inflated to make it seem like you’re getting a bigger discount than you really are." In 2019, Fast Company found that "prices are often artificially raised" before Prime Day and other Amazon sales "only to be dropped to create the 'discount.'" In 2017, a company that sells foot deodorizers said that Amazon almost doubled its list price "on Prime Day to make it look like people were getting a discount, when they were actually paying full price." A 2017 study by Consumer Watchdog found "61 percent of all reference prices were higher than any observed price charged by Amazon in the recent past 90 days."

Amazon also engages in a variety of tactics to imbue shoppers with a sense of urgency to buy items right away. This might explain why the company insists on continuing to call the event "Amazon Prime Day" even though it now lasts 96 hours. The idea is to communicate that if a consumer does not buy something now, they will end up wasting money by buying it for a higher price later.

Once again, I feel compelled remind you that if an employer treats its own employees like sh^%, they will treat their customers like sh%$.  

Amazon treats its employees horribly.

'Nuff said. 

Well, a Bit of Good News

A federal judge in New Hampshire has accepted all children covered by Donald Trump's executive order on birthright citizenship as a class and issued an injunction.

It should be noted that the Supreme Court ruling striking down earlier injunctions was not on the constitutional merits of the EO, and they said that such an injunction could only apply to litigants or members of a class action lawsuit.

Given the corrupt and partisan nature of the Supreme Court, I expect that this injunction will be shut down, and that SCOTUS will eventually invalidate the 14th amendment because 6 of the 9 members are political hacks.

A federal judge on Thursday blocked the Trump administration from enforcing a contentious executive order ending birthright citizenship after certifying a lawsuit as a class action, effectively the only way he could impose such a far-reaching limit after a Supreme Court ruling last month.

Ruling from the bench, Judge Joseph N. Laplante of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire said his decision applied nationwide to babies who would have been subject to the executive order, which included the children of undocumented parents and those born to academics in the United States on student visas, on or after Feb. 20.

The Trump administration has fought to challenge the longstanding law, laid out in the Constitution, that people born in the United States are automatically citizens, regardless of their parents’ immigration status. Judge Laplante’s order reignites a legal standoff that has been underway since the beginning of President Trump’s second term.

 "Reignites a legal standoff?"  Seriously, the New York Times is calling this a, "Legal standoff?"

Trump's order is clearly corrupt and unconstitutional.

Seriously, the Times is broken beyond repair. 

It's Thursday ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Short version:  Initial claims fell by 5,000 to 227,000 and continuing claims rose by 10,000 to 1.97 million.

My take on what this means is that employers are loathe to pay the costs of laying people off, and are equally loathe to pay the costs of hiring.

It's an economy on the precipice.  

This is Gonna Leave a Mark

There is throwing shade, and then there is throwing Chicxulub impact level shade:

too much of a pussy to ask for a divorce so he's lowkey aksing ICE to handle it https://t.co/qNQhOnrRo3

— Yasha Levine (@yashalevine) July 10, 2025

This is probably not fair to John Fetterman, but honestly, I do not care.

If This Joke Were Any Darker, Kristi Noem Would Rendition it to a Salvadoran Gulag

I'm sure that I should that I am sorry for this, but I am not sorry one little bit. 

Here is the joke: 

Someone should tell Sirhan Sirhan that RFK, Jr. is cheating on his wife with Jodi Foster.

I came up with this gem on my own in the car this evening.  

If you are wondering what the F%$# is wrong with me, it's a pretty long list. 

Electric Power Just Came Back On

So, my blogging style will be slightly crimped this evening.

Busy Night

For a good reason.

I had two firsts:

• My first homemade fresh pasta.
• My first spaghetti carbonara.

It went pretty well, though it took about 3 hours, what with me learning the ways of working pasta and the pasta machine.  (The one with the hand crank)

Also, it's turkey bacon and turkey pastrami, and vegan Parmesan because using ham or mixing cheese and meat in my wife's kitchen, (I just cook there, but she sets the rules) would result in acute lead poisoning, because it would treif up the dishes.

She would not shoot me, she would implant the bullets manually if I used traditional ingredients.

Recipes:

Fresh Semolina and Egg Pasta

Ingredients
•    1 cups all-purpose flour
•    1 cups semolina flour
•    1 pinch salt
•    3 large eggs
•    1 tablespoon olive oil
Directions

1. Sift all-purpose flour, semolina flour, and a pinch of salt together in a large bowl. Make a mountain out of flour mixture on a clean surface; create a deep well in the center. Break eggs into the well and add olive oil. Whisk eggs very gently with a fork, gradually incorporating flour from the sides of the well. When mixture becomes too thick to mix with a fork, begin kneading with your hands. 
   
   
2. Knead dough until it is smooth and supple, 8 to 12 minutes, Dust dough and work surface with semolina as needed to keep dough from becoming sticky. Wrap dough tightly in plastic wrap; allow it to rest at room temperature for 30 minutes. 
   
   
3. Roll out dough with a pasta machine or a rolling pin to desired thickness. Cut into your favorite style of noodle or stuff with your favorite filling to make ravioli. 
   
   
4. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook pasta in the boiling water until tender yet firm to the bite, 1 to 3 minutes (or longer depending on thickness). Drain immediately and toss with your favorite sauce. 

Pasta Carbonara

Ingredients

• 1/2 lb spaghetti
• 3 eggs large
• 1/2 cup Pecorino Romano freshly grated
• 5 slices turkey bacon diced
• salt
• ground black pepper
• olive oil
• scallion

Directions

1. In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta according to package instructions. Once ready, drain the pasta and save a bit of water in reserve.
   
   
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs and Pecorino Romano. Season with a pinch of salt and a generous amount of ground black pepper. Mix well.
   
   
3. Heat a skillet over medium to medium high heat. Cook turkey bacon with olive oil until brown and crispy, and add in scallion towards the end. Set aside and reduce the heat to low.
    
4. Quickly, while the skillet is still hot, stir the pasta + egg mixture and toss until spaghetti is coated. 
   
   
5. Toss the pasta consistently so you don't scramble the eggs. Add in a bit of reserved pasta water (if necessary) until desired consistency is reached.
   
   
6. Stir in the turkey bacon and scallion. Top off with more cheese and serve.

 

Well, That Answers All of My Questions

So, according to Kash Patel and his Jeffrey Epstein had no client list and definitely committed suicide in his jail cell.

Like, totally.  I am SO glad that we now have that resolved. 

I'm like TOTALLY convinced that there is no coverup.

Have I mentioned that US Attorney General Pam Bondi said a few months ago that she had the list on her desk?

President Trump's Justice Department and FBI have concluded they have no evidence that convicted sex offender and disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein blackmailed powerful figures, kept a "client list" or was murdered, according to a memo detailing the findings obtained by Axios.

To say that this has the reek of corruption is an understatement.

When Will the App be Available on Android?

There is an app called ICEBlock available for the iPhone.

It's a lot like Waze, only for sharing information about masked fascist goons.

The Trump Administration threatened CNN for just mentioning it. 

I wanted it ported to Android:

There’s an app out there that Trump administration officials hate so much that, according to them, even reporting on it is a crime.

So I’m reporting on it. And you should download it. And you should tell your friends and neighbors to download it, too.

It’s called ICEBlock. It’s a clever app that lets people report ICE sightings, then warns any people who are nearby. You can download it on your iPhone here or here. It’s available in 14 languages.

“When I saw what was happening in this country, I wanted to do something to fight back,” ICEBlock developer Joshua Aaron told CNN. (Here’s the story in Spanish; here’s the video.)

Aaron said he sees parallels between Trump’s deportation efforts and Nazi Germany. “We’re literally watching history repeat itself,” he told CNN, “and so I thought ‘What if there was an early warning system?’”

The app, which is modeled after the popular Waze traffic app, allows users to anonymously add a pin on a map showing where they have spotted immigration enforcement activity and post optional notes. Other users within a five-mile radius then receive a push alert notifying them of the sighting.

………

But Trump and his aides have responded to news about the app with fury, hyperbole, and threats. They’re so inflamed, in fact, that they’re conflating the app and CNN’s reporting on the app, calling for CNN to be investigated and prosecuted. 

It's almost enough for me to get an iPhone.  (Not really)

The programmer argues that Android cannot provide the same level of privacy as the iPhone, but this a matter of considerable debate.

My first take, and I am not a software guy, is that the author is conflating the Android App Store with Android, which allows for things like side loading (trivial in Android) and a number of alternate techniques that can be used in Android's less restrictive programming environment. 

What I think does not matter though, I'm not going to be porting this to Android. 

Skeet of the Day

Link (Image because the author does not allow embeds)

This is a pretty good description.  The Apartheid Era Emerald Heir Pedo Guy™ wants to create a white supremacist party. 

My snark is, "Elon wants to form a 3rd party? I did Nazi that coming.

Maybe Lockheed-Martin Rat-F%^$#ery

A British F-35B experienced mechanical problems and was forced to land in India.

It now appears that they cannot fix the aircraft on site, and so they will have to pull it apart and ship it back to the UK. 

This seems a bit extrema, and I'm inclined to believe that Lockheed-Martin's death grip on maintenance for the aircraft is responsible for this.

Either the maintainers do not know how to repair the system, or are not allowed to repair the system because of LM restrictions 

Otherwise, you could just fly parts in and fix it:

The UK’s F-35B fighter jet, currently grounded at Thiruvananthapuram International Airport in Kerala, couldn't be repaired on-site and is now likely to be dismantled, CNN-News18 reported, citing top government sources

According to the sources, the British Navy is sending a larger aircraft to transport the jet and has assured that all dues — including parking and hangar fees — will be settled with India, the report claimed.

I think that this sort of crap is why Boeing got the "F-47" contract.

The USAF does not want to deal with the Lockheed-Martin IP roach motel maintenance model.

Pass the Popcorn

It appears that the real estate website Zillow is ruffling some feathers by blocking exclusive home listings.

An increasing number of real estate agents are not putting some units on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), largely because this allows them not to split the sales commissions with other entities.

Real estate agents engaging in this practice are suing Zillow. 

The interesting thing here is how changes in the real estate industry, most notably recent court rulings against collusion on commissions, have led to realtors looking for new ways to make money:

Real estate brokerages increasing look to be in decline.

Pretty much every potential homebuyer looks for houses on the internet, scouring listings for the right facade and envisioning their couch in glossy photos of empty living rooms. A lot of the time, that digital touring pays off: The National Association of Realtors recently found that about half of purchasers end up finding the winning property online. For many house hunters, the never-ending cyberquest for that dream home includes a stop (or many) at Zillow.

If you count yourself among the 221 million monthly visitors who scan Zillow or one of its affiliated portals, like Trulia, you probably won't notice any change in your home-scrolling habit on June 30. But it's an important date for the biggest name in home search. Behind the scenes, Zillow is using its vast machinery to fight a battle that could determine where you find your next house — and whether it even appears on Zillow at all.

Starting Monday, Zillow will be banning home listings that have been marketed publicly by a real estate agent — which includes everything from planting a for-sale sign in the front yard to posting on Facebook — without being shared in the local databases that feed home listings to the rest of the real estate industry, including Zillow and other search websites, within one business day. The move is part of a broader fight over "exclusive inventory" or "hidden homes" — basically, properties advertised in some places but not others. In an attempt to seize more control over their listings, agents at some real estate brokerages have been advertising homes in internal databases or posting them only on their own websites, out of reach of the search portals.

While the fight has been going on for a few years, things have recently turned especially ugly. Compass, the largest real estate brokerage in the US by sales volume, sued Zillow in federal court last week over the new blacklist, and industry execs have spent months trading barbs via social media, speeches, and email blasts that reached thousands of agents across the country.

I'm inclined to think that all of this fighting amongst themselves is a good thing.

It means that all of the players in the real estate market are much focused on lobbying legislators to give them freebies.  

Tries to Kill It, Then Takes Credit for It

After trying to kill congestion pricing in New York City, and after the political blow-back forced her to approve a watered-down version of the program, Kathy Hochul is now taking for its undeniable success. (earlier posts here)

This is not a surprise:

Gov. Kathy Hochul and the MTA on Saturday touted congestion pricing as a “huge success,” saying 67,000 fewer vehicles are entering Lower Manhattan each day, while mass transit ridership is up across the board.

The program is also on track to reap the forecasted $500 million in revenue in 2025, allowing the MTA to move forward with $15 billion in improvements to subways, buses, and the Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North Railroad systems, officials said.

………

“Six months in, it’s clear: congestion pricing has been a huge success, making life in New York better,” Hochul said in a statement.

The dip in vehicle volume – 10 million all told – has led to substantial drops in traffic delays, the governor’s office said. At the Holland Tunnel, rush hour delays are down 65%. And drivers coming into the city are getting back 7 minutes for every hour spent commuting, according to the governor’s data.

Traffic accidents are down as well. Last week, the city’s transportation department published data showing 87 people were killed by motorists during the first six months of 2025 – down significantly from the 128 deaths reported over the same period last year.

At the same time, public transportation ridership is up. Subway riders are up 7%; bus ridership is up 12%; LIRR ridership is up 8%; Metro-North ridership is up 6%, and Access-A-Ride ridership is up, 21%.

To quote (probably, it might be Tacitus) John F. Kennedy,"Success has many fathers, but failure is an orphan."

I'm not surprised.  Taking credit for successes that you opposed is Political Hack 101 .

OK, This Might Be the Best Headline of the Day

Is This How ICE Barbie Got Her $50,000 Rolex?

The New Republic, on  revelations that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem received $80,000 in kickbacks from a PAC she founded

As an FYI, we saw the Rolex on her wrist when she did a torture porn photo shoot at a Salvadoran gulag.

First, let me state that I don't get the whole "Rolex" thing.  The last time I wore a wristwatch, it was a $30 (ish) Timex Datalink Watch in the 1990s which stored a phone list on it and had a battery life of over a year.  (Yeah, modern smartwatches suck, but I digress)

I don't get why people buy Rolex watches. 

Notwithstanding the wonderful headline, the go to reporting on this is from ProPublica, who broke this story.  (TNR links back to them)

In 2023, while Kristi Noem was governor of South Dakota, she supplemented her income by secretly accepting a cut of the money she raised for a nonprofit that promotes her political career, tax records show.

In what experts described as a highly unusual arrangement, the nonprofit routed funds to a personal company of Noem’s that had recently been established in Delaware. The payment totaled $80,000 that year, a significant boost to her roughly $130,000 government salary. Since the nonprofit is a so-called dark money group — one that’s not required to disclose the names of its donors — the original source of the money remains unknown.

Noem then failed to disclose the $80,000 payment to the public. After President Donald Trump selected Noem to be his secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, she had to release a detailed accounting of her assets and sources of income from 2023 on. She did not include the income from the dark money group on her disclosure form, which experts called a likely violation of federal ethics requirements.

Experts told ProPublica it was troubling that Noem was personally taking money that came from political donors. In a filing, the group, a nonprofit called American Resolve Policy Fund, described the $80,000 as a payment for fundraising. The organization said Noem had brought in hundreds of thousands of dollars.

There is nothing remarkable about a politician raising money for nonprofits and other groups that promote their campaigns or agendas. What’s unusual, experts said, is for a politician to keep some of the money for themselves.

………

While she is among the least wealthy members of Trump’s Cabinet, her personal spending habits have attracted notice. Noem was photographed wearing a gold Rolex Cosmograph Daytona watch that costs nearly $50,000 as she toured the Salvadoran prison where her agency is sending immigrants. In April, after her purse was stolen at a Washington, D.C., restaurant, it emerged she was carrying $3,000 in cash, which an official said was for “dinner, activities, and Easter gifts.” She was criticized for using taxpayer money as governor to pay for expenses related to trips to Paris, to Canada for bear hunting and to Houston to have dental work done. At the time, Noem denied misusing public funds.………

In 2023, the nonprofit spent only about $220,000 of its war chest — with more than a third of that going to Noem’s LLC. The rest mostly went toward administrative expenses and a roughly $84,000 travel budget. It’s not clear whose travel the group paid for.

The nonprofit reported that it sent the $80,000 fundraising fee to Noem’s LLC as payment for bringing in $800,000, a 10% cut. A professional fundraiser who also raised money for the group was paid a lower rate of 7%.

………

Noem’s outside income may have run afoul of South Dakota law, according to Lee Schoenbeck, a veteran Republican politician and attorney who was until recently the head of the state Senate. The law requires top officials, including the governor, to devote their full time to their official roles.

“There’s no way the governor is supposed to have a private side business that the public doesn’t know about,” Schoenbeck told ProPublica. “It would clearly not be appropriate.”

Silly rabbit, the Trump administration will never prosecute!

By the standards of Trump, Noem is a f%$#ing choir boy. 

Headline of the Day

I Don't Know How to Explain to You That You Shouldn't Buy Concentration Camp Merch

—Rafi Schwartz on The Discourse Blog

There is, of course, a American Holocaust Museum gift shop, and there is also an book store run by the Memorial and Museum Auschwitz-Birkenau Former German Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camp.

They both contain historical books, memoirs, etc.

I understand this.  It's part of their mission. 

That being said, the new US Everglades Concentration Camp T-Shirt being sold by the Florida Republican Party is something else entirely. 

It's a f%$#ing rock band tour t-shirt. 

Credit where credit is due: It turns out the federal government can still accomplish big things when it’s sufficiently motivated. That’s the good news.

Unfortunately, it seems like the only thing motivating the government these days is the overtly racist desire to purge the United States of whichever bloc of marginalized undesirables Stephen Miller is mad about on any given day. That’s the only possible explanation for how Florida was able to construct a massive migrant detention center on an infrequently used airport tarmac deep in the Florida Everglades in a single week.

“Clearly from a security perspective, if someone escapes, there’s a lot of alligators you’re going to have to contend with,” explained Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. “No one is going anywhere once you do that. It’s as safe and secure as you can be.”

In spite of being dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” by Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, this remote facility has almost nothing in common with the infamous California penitentiary, which, although a notoriously cruel gulag, was nevertheless part of—and subject to—the laws of the federal penal system. This new Florida installation, on the other hand, seems totally detached from any sort of judicial oversight or pipeline, ostensibly serving instead as a semi-permanent receptacle for people kidnapped by (presumably?) ICE agents. So what do you call a massive “camp” of people “concentrated” together by the government outside the normal judicial system?

The t-shirts and other merch being sold by the Florida Republican Party show us who they are.

They are people who should have been drowned at birth.

They are people who will only make the world a better place when they die.

These are not people you can deal with. 

If the FBI Can Use It, so Can the Sinaloa Cartel

Various law enforcement agencies love them some data bought from third party data brokers to cast a wide dragnet that would otherwise not be allowed by law.

They love insecure phone systems and communications providers who sell user data for the same reason.

It turns out that Mexican drug cartels like these things for all the same reasons, except, of course they are not constrained by things like due process:

The Sinaloa drug cartel in Mexico hacked the phone of an FBI official investigating kingpin Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán as part of a surveillance campaign “to intimidate and/or kill potential sources or cooperating witnesses,” according to a recently published report by the Justice Department.

The report, which cited an “individual connected to the cartel,” said a hacker hired by its top brass “offered a menu of services related to exploiting mobile phones and other electronic devices.” The hired hacker observed “'people of interest' for the cartel, including the FBI Assistant Legal Attache, and then was able to use the [attache's] mobile phone number to obtain calls made and received, as well as geolocation data, associated with the [attache's] phone."

“According to the FBI, the hacker also used Mexico City's camera system to follow the [attache] through the city and identify people the [attache] met with,” the heavily redacted report stated. “According to the case agent, the cartel used that information to intimidate and, in some instances, kill potential sources or cooperating witnesses.”

What happened here is a direct response of law enforcement, both in the US and worldwide, leaning on communications providers to leave back doors open.

To paraphrase E.E. "Doc" Smith, any technology that can be devised by law enforcement can also be deployed by criminal entities. 

Happy July 4th Everyone

A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

—The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, July 4, 1776.

Thanks, Elon

I'm actually serious here. 

 It appears that Elon Musk's botched attempt to buy the Wisconsin Supreme Court election has resulted in the formal legalization of abortion in the Badger State.

It appears that the Apartheid Era Emerald Heir Pedo Guy's™ skills in over-promising and under-delivering finally led to something good.

Much better than things like "Full Self Driving" where his lies actually kill people:

A divided Wisconsin Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed abortions to continue in the state, blocking a 19th-century law that for a time effectively banned the procedure in nearly all instances.

The ruling is a victory for abortion rights advocates — who helped flip the elected court’s ideological makeup in 2023 — and puts protections for the procedure on firmer footing. It represents a setback for abortion opponents in the swing state, who had hoped Wisconsin would join the states that limited or banned the procedure after Roe v. Wade was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2022.

Health care providers in Wisconsin temporarily stopped offering abortions after that decision three years ago in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which ended a constitutional right to abortion in the United States. The providers said they feared they could be prosecuted in Wisconsin under an 1849 law that has been widely viewed as banning most abortions.

………

On Wednesday, liberals who control the court invalidated the 1849 law. The decision fell along ideological lines, with the four liberal justices in the majority and the court’s three conservatives dissenting.

The ruling means health care providers can continue to offer abortions until 20 weeks post-fertilization, with the only exception after that point in pregnancies being cases in which the patient’s health is at risk. Wisconsin mandates an ultrasound and a 24-hour waiting period before most abortions.

The state continues to limit medication abortions by requiring that providers dispense abortion pills in person and that patients go for a follow-up visit after taking the medication.

………

The high court upheld [Dane County Judge Diane] Schlipper’s finding that abortion is legal in Wisconsin but used different reasoning. The majority concluded the 1849 law had banned nearly all abortions but determined the legislature had functionally repealed it through post-Roe measures addressing “every aspect of abortion including where, when, and how healthcare providers may lawfully perform abortions,” Justice Rebecca Dallet wrote for the majority.

“That comprehensive legislation so thoroughly covers the entire subject of abortion that it was clearly meant as a substitute for the 19th century near-total ban on abortion,” she wrote.

Now, how about Wisconsin Democrats trying to reverse the restrictions on abortion listed above.

We know that criminalizing abortion is  electoral poison almost everywhere in the United States.  

Make Wisconsin Republicans drink that Kool-Aid. (Actually, at Jonestown, the drank Flavor-Aid, but I degress)

Linkage

• New York City Council Proposes Legislation to Make Bodega Cats Completely Legal (Laughing Squid) I did not know that Bodega cats were a thing.
• Trump’s Budget Transforms ICE Into the Gestapo (MindWar) The budget bill will grow ICE into the largest "Law Enforcement" agency in the federal government.
• The world's oldest boomerang is even older than we thought, but it's not Australian (ZME Science) This was found in Poland.
• Biologists Uncover Previously Unknown Structure Hiding Inside Human Cells (Gizmodo) It transports materials across the cell, and then vanishes.  Kewl.
• Ancient DNA Unlocks the Secret Recipe of Roman Fish Sauce (Gizmodo) It doesn't really, it confirms the documented descriptions from the periods.  Short version, they have confirmed sardines.
• That Dropped Call With Customer Service? It Was on Purpose. (The Atlantic) Absent strong government regulation, the only way that things change is if people go Luigi Mangione on CEOs of companies that do this.  If I'm on the jury for that, I vote to acquit.

Matt Stoller explains how monopoly rents, and things like not enforcing the Robinson–Patman Act, which prevents price discrimination, have led to rising grocery prices and food deserts:

It's Thursday ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Initial claims


Continuing claims The numbers look good on initial inspection, but the monthly job numbers look bad upon further examination. (The Friday numbers come out Thursday because of the 4th of July holiday)

Specifically, the unemployment rate fell from 4.2% in may to 4.1%, but this was because 329,000 people stopped looking for work, and are no longer counted.  

The job number, which indicates 149,000 new jobs is largely an artifact of the school year ending, which creates a seasonal adjustment that boosts government jobs numbers.  Private hiring was up only74,000.

The labor participation rate also fell to a 2½-year low of 62.3%.

Meanwhile, on the unemployment filings beat, the numbers were better than forecast, with initial claims falling and continuing claims flat.

Initial claims for unemployment insurance were 233,000 in the week of June 28, down 4,000 from 237,000 in the week ending June 21, revised from 236,000. The Action Economics Forecast Survey expected 240,000. These data are seasonally adjusted by the Department of Labor. The 4-week moving average was 241,500, a decrease of 3,750 from the previous week’s average of 245,250, revised from 245,000.

The total number of unemployment insurance beneficiaries – also known as “continuing claims” – in the week ended June 21 was 1.964 million, unchanged from the prior week’s level, which was revised down from 1.974 million. The 4-week moving average was 1.954 million, up from 1.938 million in the previous week, revised from 1.941 million. This is the highest level for this average since November 20, 2021, when it was 2.004 million.

There is definite softening in hiring.  I'm still looking for work, and don't expect any feedback from my interviews until next week at least, as we are into the summer vacation season.

Damn. 

We Are F%$#ed

See the blue spot south of Greenland and Iceland As my reader(s) may recall, I have suggested that the potential for anthropogenic climate change causing a collapse of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) could change climate significantly, particularly in Europe, where it could cause a temperature drop of 5-15°C (9-27°F).

The problem is that the anything near a remotely accurate measurement of the AMOC has only been done over the last few decades, so there is not good data to see how this massive current has changed. 

Total volume of the AMOC is about  18 Sverdrup (Sv) or 18,000,000 m³/s, which made observations extremely difficult in the past.

Well , a group of researchers believe that they have found a correlation between AMOC flow rate and the temperature of the cold spot in the Atlantic Ocean south of Greenland.

Given that we have surface temperature readings going back centuries for the Atlantic, this allows us to see trends, and the trends ain't good: 

For months – if not years – debate has raged among scientists over the general health of an ocean current system critical to regulating Earth’s climate – arguing over whether or not the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (or AMOC) is slowing down.

This week, researchers looking into the root cause of a centuries-old patch of cold water south of Greenland and its resistance to the overall warming trend of the Atlantic Ocean, has come to one simple conclusion. That it is.

Landing on only one explanation for the observed ocean temperatures and patterns in salinity across the region, researchers from the University of California, Riverside concluded that the AMOC – a massive current system responsible for moving warm, salty water northward and cooler water southward at depth, is indeed weakening.

“People have been asking why this cold spot exists,” said University of California, Riverside climate scientist Wei Liu, who led the study with doctoral student Kai-Yuan Li. “We found the most likely answer is a weakening AMOC.”

The AMOC acts like a giant conveyor belt, delivering heat and salt from the tropics to the North Atlantic. A slowdown in this system means less warm, salty water reaches the sub-polar region, resulting in the cooling and freshening observed south of Greenland.

………

Together, Li and Liu analysed a century’s worth of this data, as direct AMOC observations go back only as far as 20 years. From these long term records, they reconstructed changes in the circulation system and compared those with nearly 100 different climate models.

Their paper – published this week in Communications Earth & Environment – shows that only in the models simulating a weakened AMOC were outcomes generally matched to the real-world data. Models that assumed a stronger AMOC didn’t come close.

“It’s a very robust correlation,” said Li. “If you look at the observations and compare them with all the simulations, only the weakened-AMOC scenario reproduces the cooling in this one region.”

………

With limited direct data on the AMOC, temperature and salinity records provide a valuable alternative for detecting long-term circulation change, and for helping to predict future climate scenarios.

This does not bode well for our society or our planet.

This Sh%$ Is Nightmare Fuel

A skull that resembles Rex from Toy Story has been found in North Central Texas. The nearly complete skull of an over 280 million-year-old amphibian will eventually be displayed at the Texas Through Time Fossil Museum.

For more info: https://t.co/YNfEV0f3jw pic.twitter.com/UQlUpJTR85

— IGN (@IGN) June 24, 2025

Not Rex from Toy Story


This Guy

So there I am surfing the web, and I come across the following hed, "Paleontologists Find Skeleton That Weirdly Looks Exactly Like Barney the Purple Dinosaur."

I had to share this.

I will not suffer alone:

Deep in the heart of Texas, a goofy-looking dinosaur skeleton has been unearthed — and it's got a funny head that makes it look like a dead ringer for Barney, the purple lizard of 90s television fame with the annoyingly cheery voice.

As the Houston Chronicle reports, the dinosaur in question — called Eryops megacephalus — has a wide, grinning smile on a large flat skull that sits on four squat legs. Paleontologist Andre LuJan told the newspaper that he found the skeleton of the semiaquatic ancient amphibian recently in Archer County, in a quarry that dates back to the Permian era, about over 280 million years ago.

"This is an exciting discovery," LuJan told Chron. "It's a well-known animal and not considered rare, but this discovery is significant because even though it's damaged, it is nearly complete, and that is far more uncommon or even rare than finding fragments."

 The horror.....................

Ecch (Tweet) of the Day

One noteworthy thing about Iran's borders is, unlike much of the Middle East, they were not drawn for them.

The territory they hold today looks much the same as the realms they have held since antiquity. pic.twitter.com/JyRbKk7OJB

— 𝗠𝗮я𝗮𝘁 (@maratkaryan) June 27, 2025

This provides essential perspective.

Every other country in the Middle East, Near East, and North Africa is a creation of the colonial powers.

This necessarily effects their society and how they view themselves. 

Poundy McPoundFFace, Dammit!

The Bank of England is requesting public comment regarding updating its bank notes.

To my reader(s) in the UK, you know what to do: 

Bank of England banknotes have showcased notable historical figures since 1970, when William Shakespeare became the first person other than the monarch to feature.

The Bank said there are many ways to represent the UK on banknotes, and six potential themes have been identified.

They are notable historical figures; architecture and landmarks; arts, culture and sport; noteworthy events in history; innovation; and nature.

The public can also suggest other themes for the Bank to consider.

It said banknotes take a multi-year process to design, test and print, to ensure they are high-quality, resilient and accessible.

………

Depending on which theme is selected, the Bank said it may seek further feedback from the public on the specific images that could be used to show the chosen theme.

It said it will give updates, announcing the final note designs in due course.

Examples of how themes could be depicted include portraits of people from history who have made an important contribution to UK society and culture, for the notable historical figures theme.

The Bank will not represent living people on its banknotes, with the exception of the monarch.

The architecture and landmarks theme, meanwhile, could be depicted by images of buildings and other places, such as castles, bridges or heritage sites across the UK.

I am being a good boy, and I am not suggesting a "Goatse" theme. oops

Light Posting for a While

For a good reason.

I'm doing homework for a bunch of interviews with a bunch of companies.

I'm not sure why it is picking up, but it is, and hopefully I will find something soon. 

Headline of the Day

Europe’s Daddy Issues

—Jacobin, on NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte's stunningly obsequious behavior toward Donald Trump

While there are legitimate reasons for people to disagree as to whether NATO is still necessary as a military force or not, it's position as a standards organization is indesputable, (STANAGs) the behavior of senior NATO officials in Europe is the strongest argument for sh%$-canning the whole thing.

NATO is to European self-governance as Charlie McCarthy is to script writing:

On Wednesday, Donald Trump and former Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte sat down for a press conference at the NATO summit in The Hague.

Asked about the ongoing war between Israel and Iran — a conflict that, despite his promises of peace and isolationism, Trump himself dragged the United States into — the president expressed his thoughts in characteristically inappropriate terms: “They’ve had a big fight, like two kids in a schoolyard. They fight like hell; you can’t stop them. Let them fight for about two, three minutes, then it’s easier to stop them.”

Usually whichever world leader happens to sit next to Trump just listens. Sometimes they force a smile, steal a concerned or confused glance at the cameras, or put on a poker face to try to hide their disbelief at the situation.

Rutte didn’t quite do this. Stooping down to — or rather below — Trump’s rhetorical level, he replied with all the tact and grace you’d expect from a seasoned statesman: “Daddy has to sometimes use strong language.” 

………

While some European officials were embarrassed by Rutte’s conduct (speaking anonymously, one source told Politico that “the sucking up was pretty over the top”), others followed his example. “The vibes were good,” someone else said. “This is the Trump effect.” Diplomats reportedly congratulated the president on brokering a cease-fire between Israel and Iran, one that both parties have since violated. The Dutch king took part in the operation too, inviting Trump — a well-known fanboy of all things royal and dynastic — to a palace sleepover.

The people who oppose NATO accuse it of being a lap-dog of US interests.

The people who support NATO respond with, "Here, hold my beer." 

Ecch (Tweet) of the Day

That awkward moment Peter Thiel realized he might be the very Antichrist he warned about
pic.twitter.com/D9JvGARDtD

— Mykhaïlo Golub (@golub) June 27, 2025

We need to remember that Peter Thiel has plans to be a literal vampire, so the idea that he is a some sort of mythic avatar of evil is not as strange as one might thing.

Certainly his work on AI and various projects that relating to war and surveillance would imply that he is at least antichrist adjacent.

You know, the neighbor of the beast, as opposed to the number of the beast. 

I would note that Thiel, much like his fellow "PayPal Mafia" member Elon Musk, appears to have gone off the deep end in a rather similar manner they both seem to manifest the same sort of insane libertarian eschatology. 

In Musk's case, it's, "Flee to Mars to save humanity," and in Thiel's case, it's, "Some bureaucrat is the antichrist because he wants to keep people safe."

Getting it Right(ish) the 2ⁿᵈ Time Around

Remember when the Democratic Party establishment (There is no Democratic Party establishment) decided to f%$# over Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and appoint a dying septuagenarian as the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee?

If you don't, you can click the link, but in any case, Gerry Connolly has predictably died of esophageal cancer, and a new ranking member needs to be selected, and this time, they selected a 47 year old 2 term Congressman from California, Robert Garcia to take the role.

Not only is he relatively young, but his record in Congress is fairly progressive, notwithstanding his past history as a young Republican.  

He defeated Stephen Lynch (D-MA), yet another septuagenarian in the process.

Garcia has said little about the consequence of his being selected at a relatively young age, which is probably all for the best. 

As Anna Russel Would Say, “I’m Not Making This Up, You Know.”

Tacky Little Candy Bar
(That's what she said)The new "Trump Phone" is made in China.

It's just a rebadged T-Mobile REVVL 7 Pro 5G.

This exceeds my capability for mockery, even that of mockery of the most juvenile sort.  

The Trump Organization has launched Trump Mobile and plans to release the T1, a smartphone that it says is "made in USA" at the same time that the iPhone 17 will launch. The problem is, the phone was made in China. 

Marking ten years after the launch of President Donald Trump's original presidential campaign, the Trump Organization has decided to launch its own mobile phone network. Dubbed Trump Mobile, it is a network that is being promoted as an All-American service," and heavily leaning on the Trump brand.

Trump Mobile frames itself as a "next-generation wireless provider," with mentions of it delivering "top-tier connectivity" and "unbeatable value." All with a "customer-first" approach and an "all-American service." 

………

In a post to X by analyst Max Weinbach, it seems that the T1 closely resembles the T-Mobile REVVL 7 Pro 5G. The specifications of the display and the odd camera resolutions match up with the T-Mobile device, along with other details.

 Seriously, I got nothing here.

Headline of the Day

Cuomo Doesn’t Blame Himself for Losing the Primary. Others Do.

—The New York Times

"Rat Faced Andy" ran an awful campaign.  He studiously avoided any exposure to the press and the voters because he knew that he faced questions and protests about sexually abusing his employees and killing grandma during Covid.

That's in addition to the fact that Cuomo is otherwise a corrupt motherf%%$#er, a bully, and a collaborator with the Republicans when he was governor. 

If your record is so bad you can't appear in even slightly uncontrolled public events, this is an inducation that you should not be running for office.

6 Corrupt Trump Vassals

In a 6-3 vote, the Supreme Court just green lit the Trump administration overturning birthright citizenship.

The ruling elentlessly partisan and relentlessly corrupt ruling.

The Supreme Court on Friday granted the Trump administration’s request to partially pause rulings by three federal judges that had blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship – that is, the guarantee of citizenship to virtually anyone born in the United States. By a vote of 6-3, the justices repudiated the concept of universal or nationwide injunctions, which prohibit the government from enforcing a law or policy anywhere in the country. The justices did not, however, weigh in on the question at the center of the three lawsuits before the court: whether the birthright citizenship order itself is constitutional.

The Trump administration will also likely continue to be barred from enforcing the order – which will not go into effect for 30 days – against the individual pregnant plaintiffs who had challenged it. But the court’s opinion, by Justice Amy Coney Barrett, left open the prospect of additional litigation in the lower courts about how much more the injunctions should be narrowed, as well as the possibility of class action litigation to challenge the order on behalf of groups of plaintiffs who were not part of the litigation before the court but would be affected by the order.

Barrett acknowledged arguments that “the universal injunction ‘give[s] the Judiciary a powerful tool to check the Executive Branch.’ But federal courts do not exercise general oversight of the Executive Branch; they resolve cases and controversies consistent with the authority Congress has given them,” she emphasized. “When a court concludes that the Executive Branch has acted unlawfully, the answer is not for the court to exceed its power, too.”

Justice Sonia Sotomayor dissented, in an opinion that she read from the bench – a signal of her strong disagreement with the majority’s ruling. She stated that the majority had ruled that, “absent cumbersome class-action litigation, courts cannot completely enjoin even such plainly unlawful policies unless doing so is necessary to afford the formal parties complete relief. That holding renders constitutional guarantees meaningful in name only for any individuals who are not parties to a lawsuit.”

This is Dredd Scott level sh%$.

Trump is going to use this to unconstitutionally deport anyone not actively involved in a lawsuit.

Theoretically, this ruling, and Trump's executive order, could be used to reinstitute the provisions of Dredd Scott and strip Black people of citizenship rights, because before the passage of the 14th amendment, that ruling declared that Black people could never be US citizens. 

We're going to see some Republican trying this soon.

The Spys Say, "Meh"

The initial report on the bunker buster attack on Iran has been leaked, and the reports appear to be rather underwhelming:

A preliminary classified U.S. report says the American bombing of three nuclear sites in Iran set back the country’s nuclear program by only a few months, according to officials familiar with the findings.

The strikes sealed off the entrances to two of the facilities but did not collapse their underground buildings, the officials said the early findings concluded.

Before the attack, U.S. intelligence agencies had said that if Iran tried to rush to making a bomb, it would take about three months. After the U.S. bombing run and days of attacks by the Israeli Air Force, the report by the Defense Intelligence Agency estimated that the program had been delayed, but by less than six months.

The report also said that much of Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium was moved before the strikes, which destroyed little of the nuclear material. Iran may have moved some of that to secret locations.

Needless to say, this has not made Donald Trump a happy camper:

As President Trump landed in the Netherlands on Tuesday for the annual meeting of NATO allies, he was desperate to hold together the fragile cease-fire between Israel and Iran, cursing and cajoling to make sure that history would remember him for bombing Iran’s nuclear sites over the weekend and brokering a peace deal days later.

But just hours after he landed, the leak of a new U.S. intelligence report cast doubt on his repeated claim that the American strikes had “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear programs. Mr. Trump started using the word “obliterated” before he received his first battle damage report, and since then, he has closely monitored which members of his administration have used the same language.

The report’s finding, while preliminary, was particularly damaging because it emerged from inside the Pentagon, which had carried out the strikes, and it concluded that the military action had only set Iran’s nuclear program back by a number of months.

Mr. Trump had been eager to celebrate his success at NATO and revel in the fact that he had conducted an attack that none of his predecessors had dared to launch. His view was backed up by Mark Rutte, the secretary general of the alliance, who wrote Mr. Trump a private message thanking him for his “decisive action” in Iran.

Needless to say, Mr. Rutte is a complete simp, and Trump had major butt-hurt

………

The upbeat demeanor crumbled once the intelligence reports started to leak out, with Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, blasting the findings as “flat-out wrong” and a “clear attempt to demean President Trump.”

Later that night, Mr. Trump appeared to dig in, posting on social media a series of quotes from administration officials, as well as the front page of one newspaper, using the word “obliterated” to describe the damage.

“Our bombing campaign obliterated Iran’s ability to create nuclear weapons,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told CNN on Sunday, in one passage Mr. Trump posted. “Our massive bombs hit exactly the right spot at each target and worked perfectly.”

You know this sort of failure is not uncommon at your age, Donald.  You may want to talk to your physician about a prescription for Fukitol™.

Side effects may include losses in the mid-term election losses, impeachment, and having your vice-president invoking the the 25th amendment to remove you from power. 

If you experience any of these side effects, discontinue the medication, transfer your assets to a Swiss bank, and flee the country. 

It's Thursday ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

And there is a lot of whiplash with today's report.

Initial claims, and the associated 4-week moving average, fell by 10,000, but continuing claims rose by 25,000  to 1.97 million.  (Including, full disclosure, yours truly)

While we are not seeing particularly high levels of layoffs, it does appear that hiring has fallen off of the proverbial cliff:

Recurring applications for US unemployment benefits rose to the highest since November 2021, extending a sharp increase over the past 1 1/2 month and signaling more people are staying out of work for longer.

Continuing claims, a proxy for the number of people receiving benefits, increased to 1.97 million in the week ended June 14, according to Labor Department data released Thursday. That was above all estimates in a Bloomberg survey.

The elevated level of continuing claims aligns with other surveys and data pointing to a slowdown in the labor market. This week a measure [Consumer confidence and consumer job availability sentiment] of job availabilities from a Conference Board survey that’s closely watched by economists fell to the lowest since March 2021. 

Initial claims, however, decreased, to 236,000 in the week ended June 21, lower than economists anticipated. And the four-week moving average of new applications, a metric that helps smooth out volatility, also dipped.

What is going on here is that the pandemic made employers realize that laying off people can be costly, so we are seeing fewer layoffs, but not hiring people is almost free, so what we are seeing is an unwillingness of employers to spend money on employees.

I would expect employers to stand pat over the next month or so.  (Crap!) 

I Did Not Expect to See This Headline in The Economist

The headline is, "Congestion Pricing in Manhattan Is a Predictable Success." (Alternate link)

This is not something from a publication that sees most sorts of collective action and government interventions as highly suspect.

Congestion pricing works:

Maura Ryan, a speech therapist in New York City, was dreading the introduction of congestion pricing. To see her patients in Queens and Manhattan she sometimes drives across the East River a couple of times a day. The idea of paying a $9 toll each day infuriated her. Yet since the policy was actually implemented, she has changed her mind. A journey which used to take an hour or more can now be as quick as 15 minutes. “Well, this is very nice,” she admits thinking. Ms Ryan is not alone. Polls show more New Yorkers now support the toll than oppose it. A few months ago, it saw staunch opposition.

Congestion pricing came into effect in Manhattan on January 5th, just two weeks before Donald Trump became president. So far it has been almost miraculous in its effects. Traffic is down by about 10%, leading to substantially faster journeys, especially at the pinch-points of bridges and tunnels. Car-noise complaints are down by 70%. Buses are travelling so much faster that their drivers are having to stop and wait to keep to their schedules. The congestion charge is raising around $50m each month to update the subway and other public-transport systems, and ridership is up sharply. Broadway attendance is rising, not falling, as some feared.

We've known this for decades, ever since Ken "Red Ken" Livingston implemented the program in London.

Making drivers pay for the negative externalities of their behaviors is good policy.

More generally, making anyone who shifts the costs of their behavior onto the rest of society is good policy. 

 

Yeah, the Status Quo is not Sustainable

I am referring to the corrupt and incompetent Democratic Party establishment (There is no Democratic Party establishment), where the latest bit of drama is AFT President Randi Weingarten and AFSCME President Lee Saunders have followed Parkland High School shooting survivor David Hogg out the door following clashes with DNC chair Ken Martin.

Mr. Martin is an aggressive defender of the  Democratic Party establishment (There is no Democratic Party establishment), and so once again, we see the Iron Law of Institutions at play, which is, as I have noted many times, "The people who control institutions care first and foremost about their power within the institution rather than the power of the institution itself. Thus, they would rather the institution "fail" while they remain in power within the institution than for the institution to "succeed" if that requires them to lose power within the institution." (Not my idea or term, this term was coined by Jon Schwarz)

They would rather fail than lose power:

The leaders of two of the nation’s largest and most influential labor unions have quit their posts in the Democratic National Committee in a major rebuke to the party’s new chairman, Ken Martin.

Randi Weingarten, the longtime leader of the American Federation of Teachers and a major voice in Democratic politics, and Lee Saunders, the president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, have told Mr. Martin they will decline offers to remain at-large members of the national party.

The departures of Ms. Weingarten and Mr. Saunders represent a significant erosion of trust in the D.N.C. — the official arm of the national party — during a moment in which Democrats are still locked out of power and grappling for a message and messenger to lead the opposition to President Trump. In their resignation messages, the two union chiefs suggested that under Mr. Martin’s leadership, the D.N.C. was failing to expand its coalition.

Both labor leaders had supported Mr. Martin’s rival in the chairmanship race, Ben Wikler, the chairman of the Wisconsin Democratic Party. Mr. Martin subsequently removed Ms. Weingarten from the party’s Rules and Bylaws Committee, a powerful body that sets the calendar and process for the Democratic Party’s presidential nominating process.

………

Mr. Martin has recently faced scrutiny and criticism from within the party. His leadership was openly challenged by David Hogg, a party vice chairman who announced he would fund primary challenges to sitting Democrats — an action long considered out of bounds for top party officials.

Mr. Hogg announced last week that he would not seek to retain his post after the party voted to redo the vice chair election, after it had been challenged on an unrelated technicality.

Notably, Ms. Weingarten had endorsed Mr. Hogg’s primary efforts, saying it was necessary to “ruffle some feathers.” 

Ken Martin is an avatar for the idea that the Democratic Party should be the party of Andrew Cuomo, who the good people of New York City soundly rejected yesterday.

The Democratic Party establishment (There is no Democratic Party establishment) is a major impidement, if not THE major impediment to the success of the party.

Headline of the Day

Jeff Bezos Alters Venice Wedding Plans After Threat of Inflatable Crocodiles

—The Guardian on protests against the Amazon founder's wedding excesses.

This Bezos wanted to take over the famous Scuola Grande della Misericordia in the center of Venice for his wedding.

Protesters threatened to block the canals with their copious cache of crocodile toys to prevent guest access through the canals.

I am amused:

Campaigners in Venice have claimed victory after Jeff Bezos was reportedly forced to change the venue for his wedding celebrations in the city as his guests started arriving on Tuesday for the three-day jamboree.

The main reception for the wedding of Bezos and Lauren Sánchez, a former TV journalist, was due to be held in the Scuola Grande della Misericordia, a majestic 16th-century building in the city centre.

But according to the No Space for Bezos group, the couple relented after activists threatened to fill the canals with inflatable crocodiles to block their celebrity guests from entering.

The event will instead take place in Arsenale, a historic complex of shipyards surrounded by fortified walls that will be much harder for the protesters to penetrate. 

 I am amused.

I Love This

I do not where this came from, but whoever did this is s f%$#ing genius.

Snark of the Day

'Heavily Armed' Vance Boelter Taken Alive, Sounds About White

—Conover Kennard at Crooks and Liars, commenting on the capture of alleged Minnesota assassin Vance Boelter

The headline is a commentary on how when the shooter is white, they are taken alive, and in some cases taken to Burger King, (Dylann Roof), while the more darkly complected suspects end up shot.

If that headline were any darker, a member of the Minneapolis Police Department would be choking it out under their knee. 

A Pleasant Surprise, for Once

In the race for the Democratic nomination for New York City Mayor, Zohran Mamdani has decisively defeated Andrew "Rat-Faced Andy" Cuomo. 

In the first round, led Cuomo by43.5% of the vote to Cuomo's 36.4%.

Given that in subsequent rounds Cuomo would need almost 4 times as many 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc. votes as Mamdani, and the fact that 3rd place finisher Brad Lander (11.3%) cross endorsed each other, he's pretty much a lead pipe cinch to get the Democratic Party nomination. 

My guess here is that being a corrupt scumbag sexual harasser bully who colluded with Republicans to keep Democrats from controlling the state senate had something to do with this.

What also might have had something to do with this is his decades long record of outright hostility towards the City of New York.

None of the above were likely to endear Cuomo to the average New York City voter. 

Given that the Republican nominee is Guardian Anglos founder right wing radio personality Curtis Sliwa, it can be concluded that the general election is not in doubt.

Zohran Mamdani, the 33-year-old democratic socialist who would become New York’s first Muslim mayor if elected, appeared set to win the city’s Democratic primary on Tuesday night, although it could be days before the final result is known.

After 91% of votes were counted in the primary’s first round, Mamdani, a state representative, had 43.5% of the vote. Andrew Cuomo, the former New York governor who had been a heavy favorite until recent weeks, was at 36.4%, and conceded on Tuesday night. Speaking at a campaign rally Cuomo said Mamdani had run a “really smart and good and impactful campaign”.

“Tonight is his night. He deserved it. He won,” Cuomo said. Brad Lander, the progressive New York comptroller, was third with 11.4%.

New York City uses a ranked-choice voting system, and as neither candidate is likely to reach 50%, the board of elections will now tally people’s second-choice candidates. Mamdani, who cross-endorsed with Lander last week, is predicted to benefit more than Cuomo from the count.

Mamdani’s stunning rise will serve as a rebuke to the Democratic establishment, and give hope to other progressives hoping to run in elections around the country. Cuomo was backed by deep pocketed donors and endorsed by a wave of centrist figures including Bill Clinton, but Mamdani benefitted from a surge of grassroots support among young people in particular.

In addition to Bill Clinton, Cuomo got such endorsements as James Clyburn, Michael Bloomberg and the most passive aggressive endorsement ever (which they claimed was not an endorsement) from the New York Times, but it mattered for nought.

I guess being an avatar of a corrupt political polity did not play well with the voters.

Pack the F%$#ing Court

The Supreme Court in an unsigned 6-3 decision has given the green light to deportations to 3rd countries without due process.

This is nakedly partisan and nakedly corrupt: 

The Supreme Court on Monday cleared the way for the Trump administration to deport immigrants to countries where they are not citizens, temporarily blocking a decision by a lower-court judge who said migrants must have a “meaningful opportunity” to contest their removal.

The court’s order, which drew a sharp dissent from the three liberal justices, was the latest of several allowing President Donald Trump to move forward with a major change in policy while litigation on the issue continues in lower courts. Each has been made as part of the court’s “emergency docket,” which means they are decided based on truncated court filings, not oral argument, and the justices do not always explain their reasoning.

As part of Trump’s mass deportation efforts, the administration has attempted to send groups of migrants, some convicted of crimes in the United States, to countries other than their own, including to conflict-ridden South Sudan. Four individuals initially filed a lawsuit in Boston on behalf of all migrants potentially subject to third-country removals, saying they are entitled to notice and an opportunity to raise fear-based claims before deportation.

………

Justice Sonia Sotomayor, joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, wrote a nearly 20-page dissent, criticizing the administration for violating the lower-court order and trying to send migrants to “a nation the State De­partment considers too unsafe for all but its most critical personnel.”

“Rather than allowing our lower court colleagues to manage this high-stakes litigation with the care and attention it plainly requires,” the liberals wrote, the majority was “rewarding lawlessness” by halting an order the administration has repeatedly defied.

“Apparently, the Court finds the idea that thousands will suffer violence in farflung locales more palatable than the remote possibility that a District Court exceeded its remedial powers when it ordered the Government to provide notice” to the targeted migrants, the dissent said. The conservative majority’s one-paragraph, unsigned statement did not explain its reasons for pausing Murphy’s decision. 

I don't know how to handle such a nakedly corrupt and partisan body, but Congress can regulate the supreme court, it used to require that justices spend a part of their time on the circuit courts, for example, and it needs to do so.

Robotaxi Fail

Some Texas politicians have asked Tesla delay its Robotaxi rollout.

If I were to guess the source of this request, my guess would be Musk, because the program isn't working, which is par for the course for Teslas's self driving technology: 

Texas lawmakers have officially requested that Tesla delay its planned Robotaxi launch in Austin by a few months due to a new law being implemented.

It’s a Godsend for Elon Musk.

As we previously reported, Tesla’s planned Robotaxi launch in Austin, Texas, now “tentatively” scheduled for June 22, is a moving of the goal post for Tesla.

CEO Elon Musk himself has previously described what Tesla plans to launch as “not really self-driving”, but the CEO is using the new strategy as a way to claim a win in autonomous driving after years of missed deadlines and failed promises.

Why this charlatan has been humored for so long is beyond me.

Exceeding My Capacity for Cynicism

The Trump administration is making plans to reverse the ban on the import of asbestos.

Seriously?

The inexorable march of American public health forward into the past goes merrily onward. From The New York Times:

Known as “white” asbestos, chrysotile asbestos is banned in more than 50 countries for its link to lung cancer and mesothelioma, a cancer that forms in the lining of internal organs. White asbestos, however, has been imported for use in the United States for roofing materials, textiles and cement as well as gaskets, clutches, brake pads and other automotive parts. It is also used in chlorine manufacturing.

Last year the Environmental Protection Agency, under President Joseph R. Biden, adopted a ban on the use, manufacture and import of chrysotile asbestos. It was the first legal constraint on a deadly substance since 2016, when Congress updated and strengthened the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act by requiring testing and regulation of thousands of chemicals used in everyday products.

Lord above, I thought we’d all agreed on asbestos. The scientific consensus is undeniable. Huge settlements have been paid out in lawsuits on behalf of hundreds of thousands of victims over the years. Everybody knows how to spell mesothelioma. (Hell, it killed poor Warren Zevon at 56.) But we had not reckoned with the new philosophies of American public health—No Carcinogen Left Behind and Truncated Lives Matter.

Un-dirtyword-believable.

Of Course He Did

Is anyone at all surprised that Bill Clinton has endorsed Andrew Cuomo? 

If anything characterizes the the political career of Bill Clinton, it is his unwavering support for the corrupt Democratic Party establishment (There is no Democratic Party establishment).

While not personally corrupt, his tolerance of, and willful blindness to, corruption from people percieved as his allies.

This was the case in Arkansas, this was the case in the White House, and this was the case with the Clinton Foundation. 

Unethical but legal and willfully blindness, has always been Clinton's modus operandi. 

To quote Zathras, "At least there is symmetry."

Linkage

• Kill the Editor (The Metropolitan Review) A rumination on the nature of Substack and life without editors.
• Toxic Origins, Toxic Decisions: Biases in CEO Selection (Hong Kong University Business School) An academic paper describe a study which indicated that if someone grows up in chemically contaminated neighborhoods, you are more likely to be insane and more likely to be made CEO. (So the movie Toxic Avenger is wrong)
• Ancient bread rises again as Turkey recreates 5,000-year-old loaf (Phys.org) The bread is a blend of the ancient grain emmer and lentils. Unfortunately, no recipe.
• World’s oldest fingerprint may be a clue that Neanderthals created art (The Guardian) Evidence that a Neanderthal drew a nose on a stone that resembled a face.  The more we know about Neanderthals, the more like us that they seem.
• The sun is killing off SpaceX's Starlink satellites (New Scientist) Increased solar activity is increasing atmospheric drag in low earth orbit, shortening the lifespan of Starlink Satellites.  Hey, Elon, God hates you to.
• They All Signed the “Harper’s” Letter. Where Are They Now? | The Nation Bari Weiss and the rest of the psychopathic hypocrites were bleating about how criticism of them was censorship.  They are nowhere to be found now that Trump is actually using law enforcement against his perceived enemies. 

A new dwarf planet seems to put a nail in the coffin of the theory is that there is another planet further out.

Good News Everyone!

Oregon has just passed a bill that bans corporate control of doctors' practices.

It turns out that UnitedHealth Groups's attempts to use the failure of its own payment system to take over now cash strapped medical practices did not go over well in the Beaver State.

When further juxtaposed with other UHC actions, which consisted of f%$#ing with the healthcare of 2 Oregon state reps, led to this bill passing:

Two days ago, [June 9, I just found the story] Oregon Governor Tina Kotek signed the nation’s strictest law against corporate control of health care practices in the state. It’s a major defeat for private equity and large health insurers, and something that advocates and physicians have been advocating for years, as more and more of the state’s capacity got bought up by financiers. It’s also a ground-breaking event that could catalyze the creation of a new health care system, one managed by medical professionals and patients instead of Wall Street. And it’s all thanks to UnitedHealth Group. 

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The logic of the bill is clear. As Oregon nurses noted in lobbying for the bill, corporate control of medicine is fundamentally antagonistic to quality care, as it removes decision-making from medical professionals and patients and puts it in the hands of financiers. For instance, private equity owned clinics charge 20% more for the same procedures. Such ownership arrangements increase costs, make patient outcomes worse, and foster physician burnout, and of course, there are no improvements to quality or access.

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And we can actually thank UnitedHealth Group, which provided Oregon with a particularly noxious experience in health care, and the political culture to do something about it. Because UHG’s tactics are so brazen and extensive the company actually screwed over two separate Oregon state representatives, both of whom have cancer, and both of whom in turn testified on behalf of the bill. To understand how UHG messed up so badly politically, it helps to look at the actual process of how the bill got passed.

In March of 2024, Optum, the largest for-profit medical provider in America and a unit of UnitedHealth Group, applied for emergency approval to take over a large primary and specialty physician practice in Oregon, the 600 person Corvallis Clinic in Western Oregon. If the Oregon Health Authority didn’t approve the acquisition immediately, the clinic claimed, it wouldn’t be able to cover rent, payroll or other expenses. Only UHG’s cash infusion could keep the doors open. And this claim was likely true, Corvallis was in desperate financial condition.

What caused Corvallis’ cash crunch? Well, its application to Oregon regulators was redacted, but the American Prospect reported what insiders all knew - a different UHG subsidiary, the Change Health payment network, had been hacked and was nonfunctional, which meant that hospitals, pharmacies, and clinics nationwide couldn’t get paid for their services. And that included Corvallis Clinic, which couldn’t get access to money it was supposed to be paid by, among others, UnitedHealth Group. In other words, UHG caused a cash flow crisis at Corvallis, and then swooped in to buy it on the cheap.

Two months ago, Oregon state representative Sarah Finger McDonald gave testimony to the state legislature on what happened next. It’s an ugly story.

The most obvious impact was on the working conditions in the Corvallis clinic; doctors had to see too many patients, and began burning out. Nine primary care doctors left. Now the clinic isn’t accepting new patients. All of the neurologists departed as well, leaving entire counties without any of those specialists. Three of five gastroenterologists departed, and the two remaining ones no longer do on-call work. Medicaid insured patients can’t really use the clinic anymore, and Optum closed the lab for six months. These experiences affected not just Corvallis patients, but the entire region. They put pressure on other physician practices to accept an extra caseload, especially of poorer patients. Similarly, the other labs in the area are overloaded, and patients have to wait hours for a simple blood draw. McDonald herself has cancer, and she explained how she has “spent a lot of time” sitting around at the remaining regional lab.

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This new law is fairly simple; Oregon is simply closing up the loopholes that allow corporations to sidestep its CPOM rules. The law doesn’t block investment by corporations in medical practices, but it prohibits control of clinical practices by anyone but licensed medical providers. Now, a clinician, not a banker, must have decision-making authority over staffing levels, wait times, clinical decisions and operations, and as well diagnostic coding decisions, billing and collection policies, price setting, and payer contract negotiations. 

The law also bans non-competes and gag clauses that lock in doctors and nurses, which was a major incentive for corporations to acquire practices and then worsen working conditions. It’s not ironclad; there are carve-outs for behavioral health, telehealth, and hospitals, and hospitals can still acquire clinical practices. iI’s also not immediate; It kicks into effect in three years, leaving substantial time to adjust, and it has a private right of action for enforcement, so aggrieved employees or competitors can litigate against lawbreakers. If you want the specifics, here’s the legislative analysis from the state Senate, and here’s a FAQ from Oregon Senator Deb Patterson, the main proponent of the bill.

The theory behind the corporatization of medical practices was that business guys could rein in excessive costs from those pesky medical professional.

This was never going to happen.  The finance guys can't fix things, they can only loot and defraud.