02 February 2026

Funny That

Even using Tesla's own highly suspect numbers, their Robotaxi is three times more likely to crash than a human driver, and this applies even when there is a safety driver behind the wheel.

I would note that Tesla's so-called full self driving would not be any more capable for a passenger car, which makes it, "Unsafe at any speed." 

Tesla’s nascent robotaxi program is off to a rough start. New NHTSA crash data, combined with Tesla’s new disclosure of robotaxi mileage, reveals Tesla’s autonomous vehicles are crashing at a rate much higher tha human drivers, and that’s with a safety monitor in every car.

The data

According to NHTSA’s Standing General Order crash reports, Tesla has reported 9 crashes involving its robotaxi fleet in Austin, Texas between July and November 2025: November 2025: Right turn collision

  • October 2025: Incident at 18 mph
  • September 2025: Hit an animal at 27 mph
  • September 2025: Collision with cyclist
  • September 2025: Rear collision while backing (6 mph)
  • September 2025: Hit a fixed object in parking lot
  • July 2025: Collision with SUV in construction zone
  • July 2025: Hit fixed object, causing minor injury (8 mph)
  • July 2025: Right turn collision with SUV
According to a chart in Tesla’s Q4 2025 earnings report showing cumulative robotaxi miles, the fleet has traveled approximately 500,000 miles as of November 2025. That works out to roughly one crash every 55,000 miles.

For comparison, human drivers in the United States average approximately one police-reported crash every 500,000 miles, according to NHTSA data.

That means Tesla’s robotaxis are crashing at a rate 9 times higher than the average human driver.

However, that figure doesn’t include non-police-reported incidents. When adding those, or rather an estimate of those, humans are closer to 200,000 miles between crashes, which is still a lot better than Tesla’s robotaxi in Austin.

I am of the opinion that self-driving cars remain more humbug than anything else, but even by the standards of this reality challenged endeavor, Tesla appears to be particularly bad at its execution as a result of Elon Musk's insistence that it eschew technologies such as radar and lidar, and instead rely entirely on cameras..

Just How Small is Donald Trump's Penis Anyway?

It appears that Donald Trump is so upset that people and performers are avoiding the Kennedy Center like the plague that he has announced plans to "refurbish" the complex which would result in it being closed for 2 years.

To be clear here, he's talking about knocking it down, and erecting another gold plated monstrosity in yet another example of architectural self-aggrandizement and bad taste.

We need to burn down everything that he built when he is gone.

President Donald Trump said Sunday that he plans to close the Kennedy Center for roughly two years for the facility to undergo construction. The proposal comes amid a series of cancellations and internal upheaval since he took over the arts institution and presidential memorial nearly a year ago and remade it in his name and image.

“I have determined that The Trump Kennedy Center, if temporarily closed for Construction, Revitalization, and Complete Rebuilding, can be, without question, the finest Performing Arts Facility of its kind, anywhere in the World,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. “In other words, if we don’t close, the quality of Construction will not be nearly as good, and the time to completion, because of interruptions with Audiences from the many Events using the Facility, will be much longer.”

Under Trump’s proposal, which he said is subject to board approval, the Kennedy Center could close on July 4, coinciding with America’s 250th anniversary, with construction beginning immediately.

“Financing is completed, and fully in place!,” Trump wrote. “This important decision, based on input from many Highly Respected Experts, will take a tired, broken, and dilapidated Center … and turn it into a World Class Bastion of Arts, Music, and Entertainment, far better than it has ever been before.”

Needless to say, anyone with any connection to the Kennedy Center, including members of the Kennedy family.

It's Monday, Jeffrey Epstein Day

Which is kind of like the worst, "Prince Spaghetti Day," ever.

In the past week, I have saved 19(!) articles for potential discussions.  Some are duplicative, so I will not be using them all. 

The lede here, as it is the most surprising, and perhaps important revelation, was that Trump's nominee to head the Federal Reserve was repeatedly on the list.

The new Jeffrey Epstein files released on Friday include "nauseating" details about President Donald Trump's pick to lead the Federal Reserve, according to one GOP analyst.

Rick Wilson, co-founder of The Lincoln Project, wrote in a new Substack essay on Sunday that the January 30 Epstein files dump included details about Kevin Warsh, who Trump recently announced as his pick to replace Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell in May. Wilson argued that Warsh's name appeared in the files "like a bad penny."

"It is a bit of timing so on-the-nose it would be rejected by a mediocre political thriller," Wilson wrote. "Warsh, a man whose resume reads like a checklist for the Davos-and-Hamptons set, isn’t just a “Wall Street veteran” or an Estée Lauder heir by marriage; he is now a recurring character in the Epstein ledger."

I'm pretty sure that someone in the White House is looking for another Trump toady to nominate, just in case.

 

Ghislaine Maxwell has filed papers saying that there are at least 29 other co-conspirators that the Department of Justice let walk away.

Ghislaine Maxwell may be locked up in the Club Med version of a Texas prison, but she just lobbed a rhetorical grenade straight into the middle of Washington’s most awkward silence.

Buried in a habeas petition that Maxwell recently filed in court, hoping to void her conviction, the convicted associate of Jeffrey Epstein references four potential “co-conspirators” and “25 men” who allegedly reached “secret settlements” connected to Epstein’s abuse—and were never indicted.

Which immediately raises the question Pam Bondi and her Department of Justice desperately want to avoid answering: Who are these men, and why are they still being protected?

(emphasis original)

The answer here is easy: No one was pursued beyond Epstein ecause, to quote the composer (not the political scientist) Frank Wilhoit, "Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition, to wit: There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect."

If there is anything in the Trump administration that even remotely approaches a deeply held belief, it is that rich white guys should suffer no consequences, ever.

Did you know that Elon Musk is so pathetic that he  begged for an invite to Epstein Island?

This was years after Epstein was convicted of sex crimes. 

What a miserable excuse for a human being.

Somehow, Elon Musk’s infamous outburst accusing Donald Trump of being in the Epstein files has managed to age both incredibly well and incredibly poorly.

Trump, as you’re probably well aware by now, has featured quite a bit in the DOJ’s ongoing releases of documents from its investigation into the deceased sex criminal and billionaire financier.

But now so does Musk, after the government released a new batch of millions of more files on Friday. They show that Musk had more than a few email exchanges with Epstein, including one correspondence where he asks to visit the convicted sex trafficker’s notorious island, where he allegedly brought dozens of underage girls to be abused.

“Will be in the BVI/St Bart’s area over the holidays,” Musk wrote in an email sent to Epstein in December 2013, referring to the region near Epstein’s Caribbean island. “Is there a good time to visit?”

“Anytime I will be there 28-7th,” Epstein responded the same day, with his characteristically thick layer of typographic errors.

“I will send heli for you,” he later added.

“Thanks,” Musk said.

The exchanges — which took place years after Epstein was first convicted of sex crimes against underage girls in 2008 — clearly contradict Musk’s claims about his relationship with Epstein in the past, which he has spent years downplaying. In 2019, he told Vanity Fair that he visited Epstein’s Manhattan house only on a single occasion, and just for half an hour. And the way he tells it, that was that. “He tried repeatedly to get me to visit his island. I declined,” Musk insisted.

Musk has firmly held that line ever since. For that matter, so has his chatbot Grok. But according to the newly released emails, Musk wasn’t declining Epstein’s invitations: he was inviting himself over.

………

Even more damningly in December 2012, Musk sent an email practically begging Epstein for an invitation to some debauchery.

“Do you have any parties planned? I’ve been working to the edge of sanity this year and so, once my kids head home after Christmas, I really want to hit the party scene in St Barts or elsewhere and let loose,” Musk wrote. He added that “a peaceful island experience is the opposite of what I’m looking for.”

………

Those were far from the only times the pair made plans. In April 2013, Epstein asked Musk if he’d be around to have “dinner with woody allen and crowd at my house,” referring to the influential filmmaker and actor who’s also been accused of child sex abuse. Musk replied that he “might be in town.”

Epstein also invited Musk to his island in September 2012, recommending he “bring your friend or friends.”

“Sounds good,” Musk wrote, “I will try to make it.”

And at least one email suggests the two had actually gotten together at one point. In September 2014, Epstein asked Elon, “are=you planning to do st barth again for xmas?” (St. Barth is Saint Barthélemy, where Musk has reportedly vacationed in the past.) 

I would be remiss if I did not quote the head in a Gizmodo article, "Don’t You Dare ‘Misinterpret’ Elon Musk’s Epstein Emails. Just the Facts Are Bad Enough."

In addition to the Apartheid Era Emerald Heir Pedo Guy™, we have numerous reports of rich and powerful people who continued to party with Epstein after his conviction, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor (former Prince Andrew), Bill Gates, Richard Branson, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, NY Giants Owner Steve Tisch, Sergey Brinwhite shoe Wall Street Lawyer Brad Karp, private equity mogul Leon Black, recently hired CBS contributor and health influencer Peter Attia, 2028 LA Olympic Chairman Casey Wasserman, NY real estate magnate (and major Andrew Cumo donor) Andrew Farkas 

And of course, literal vampire Peter Thiel plotted with Epstein for various purposes, including his ultimately attempt to extract his revenge on Gawker.

Meanwhile, why the Department of Justice did their best to protect Donald Trump and the rest of the rich white guys, they somehow managed to include the names, and in some cases nude pictures, of Epstein's victims.

The Justice Department published dozens of unredacted nude images on its website, showing young women or possibly teenagers whose photos were contained in files related to the wealthy sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

As part of its required disclosure of the Epstein files, the federal government was tasked with redacting both sexually explicit imagery and information that could be used to identify victims.

But in the process of reviewing more than three million pages uploaded to the Justice Department’s website on Friday, The New York Times came across nearly 40 unredacted images that appeared to be part of a personal photo collection, showing both nude bodies and the faces of the people portrayed. 

………

Other victims have expressed outrage that their names and other identifying information have been found in the files. Brittany Henderson, a lawyer for one woman who was identified in the files even though she had not previously been linked publicly to Mr. Epstein, called the redaction failures “abhorrent.” 

……… 

The redactions at times appear haphazard and contradictory, with some files shielding someone’s name and a duplicate file elsewhere making the name public. One email described an “Epstein victim list” but then left dozens of subsequent names exposed, except for one that was redacted. 

I do not believe that this was an accident.  I believe that this was an attempt by the Trump Administration to frighten and silence Epstein's victims. 

I wish that I had the guillotine concession for the lot of them.

Anyone Know of Any Good Recipes for Groundhog?

It's Groundhog Day………

After hearing that pretty much all of the rodent pests predicted a late spring, I want to roast Punxsutawney Phil and the rest of his ilk on a spit.

In other Groundhog Day news, this being of the Harold Ramis/Bill Murray version, I have another Epstein post that I am working on.

It's Groundhog Day………

Oh crap. 

01 February 2026

How Scary are the MAGAts?

So scary that it scares sovereign citizen nut-job Ammon Bundy.

Not so long ago, Ammon Bundy was the most famous right-wing militia leader in America. His two armed standoffs with federal agents had made him the face of the Patriot Movement: a loose assemblage of anti-government extremists, Second Amendment maximalists, and more than a few white nationalists. Even some mainstream elements of the Republican Party embraced him as a modern folk hero. But Bundy’s criticism of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown now threatens to make him a pariah within his own community.

In November, Bundy self-published a long essay titled “The Stranger,” in which he labeled the Trump administration’s treatment of undocumented immigrants a “moral failure.” “To call such people criminals for lacking official permission” to be in the country, he wrote, “is to forget the moral law of God, the historical truth of our own founding, and the Constitutional ideals that continue to define justice.” On a recent livestream following the killing of Renee Good in Minnesota, Bundy told his audience that ICE’s conduct “clearly looks like tyranny.” If the government threatened his family, he said, he would fight back by whatever means necessary.

I did not have that on my bingo card. 

25% Lower All-Cause Mortality

Get your vaccines.

new study covering 30 million Frenchmen shows that not only is there no increase in mortality from MRNA Covid vaccines, but mortality is significantly lower.

At a glance

  • Among 28 million French adults aged 18–59, those who received an mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine were less likely to die in the subsequent four years than those who remained unvaccinated, corresponding to a 25% lower risk of death from all causes.
  • Although vaccinated adults were 74% less likely to die from severe COVID-19, the reduced mortality risk persisted after COVID-19 deaths were excluded from the analysis.
  • The study found no increase in the risk of deaths from cancer, heart disease, accidental injury or any other major category: in every case, vaccinated individuals had equal or lower rates of death.
For years, a lingering question has shadowed COVID-19 vaccination campaigns: are mRNA vaccines safe in the long run?

While many studies have established that COVID-19 vaccines prevent severe illness and death in the weeks and months after injection, sceptics have continued to ask whether any hidden harms might surface later on.

Now, one of the largest long-term vaccine safety studies ever undertaken – including data from more than 28 million adults aged 18 to 59 – offers the clearest answer yet.

Get your damn vaccine.  Covid f%$#s you up.  MRNA, adjuvant, it does not matter. 

H/t Dr. Eric Ding

We Have Names

The two CBP agents who shot Alex Pretti in the back were Jesus Ochoa and Raymundo Gutierrez.

Spread their names around:

The two federal immigration agents who fired on Minneapolis protester Alex Pretti are identified in government records as Border Patrol agent Jesus Ochoa and Customs and Border Protection officer Raymundo Gutierrez.

The records viewed by ProPublica list Ochoa, 43, and Gutierrez, 35, as the shooters during the deadly encounter last weekend that left Pretti dead and ignited massive protests and calls for criminal investigations.

Both men were assigned to Operation Metro Surge, an immigration enforcement dragnet launched in December that sent scores of armed and masked agents across the city.

CBP, which employs both men, has so far refused to release their names and has disclosed few other facts about the deadly incident, which came days after a different immigration agent shot and killed another Minneapolis protester, a 37-year-old mother of three named Renee Good.

Pretti’s killing, and the subsequent secrecy surrounding the agents involved, comes as the country confronts the consequences of President Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration crackdown. The sweeps in cities across the country have been marked by scenes of violence, against immigrants and U.S. citizens, by agents allowed to hide their identities with masks — an almost unheard of practice in law enforcement. As a result, the public has been kept from one of the chief ways it has to hold officers involved in such altercations accountable: their identity.

………

Ochoa is a Border Patrol agent who joined CBP in 2018. Gutierrez joined in 2014 and works for CBP’s Office of Field Operations. He is assigned to a special response team, which conducts high-risk operations like those of police SWAT units. Records show both men are from South Texas. 

This information should have been made public by DHS, and ProPublica has done a real public service and some really good journalism.

A Plan So Cunning You Could Put a Tail on It and Call It Weasel

Get in. We're messing up Melania's Amazon search results
byu/mulcahey inesist

The Pitch

The Cover Art

The blurb.

Over on Reddit, someone has made a wonderful suggestion, that we all go to Amazon, and that we all, "Amplify the paranormal erotic thriller novel Melania: Devourer of Men so it ranks higher than her movie," on Amazon.

The eBook is free on kindle, so you can download it, and boost the algorithm, so that when someone searches for, Melania the documentary, they get this book instead.

This act is generally called, "Google Bombing," though in this case, it would be Amazon bombing.

Classic examples of Google bombing, are sucessful efforts to make the search for "Miserable failure," giving the result of George W. Bush, and the word, "Santorum," giving the result, "The frothy mixture of lube and fecal matter that is sometimes the byproduct of anal sex." 

Surely we can do the same to Melania