“Veterans hospitals are struggling to replace hundreds of doctors and nurses who have left the health care system this year as the Trump administration pursues its pledge to simultaneously slash Department of Veterans Affairs staff and improve care.”
“A string of previously undisclosed break-ins at Tennessee National Guard armories last fall marks the latest in a growing series of security breaches at military facilities across the United States, raising fresh concerns about the vulnerability of US armories to theft and intrusion.”
“Why Evangelicals Couldn’t Care Less About Trump’s Epstein Scandal”.
“In other words, the Egg McMuffin might be the answer to the question that has bedeviled economists since Donald Trump launched a global trade war on “Liberation Day”: When will the U.S. economy respond to these big new taxes?”
“The unlikely coalition fighting to keep Energy Star labels on your appliances”.
“It’s the end of an online era: AOL will end its dial-up internet service next month after decades in use.” Yeah, I had no idea it was still a thing either.
“In short, what we are witnessing is the FBI morphing, 117 years later, into the kind of nightmare national police force that Congress and the public feared the Bureau could turn into when it was first created in 1908, and which Director Webster and every other director made their mission not to let happen.”
“The President’s Policy is working as designed. Even as federal judges have ruled over and over that the Law Firm Orders are plainly unconstitutional, law firms that once proudly contributed thousands of hours of pro bono work to a host of causes — including causes championed by the ABA — have withdrawn from such work because it is disfavored by the Administration.”
RIP, Marina, 21-year-old white Bengal tiger who had been in Houston’s Downtown Aquarium.
“Judging Tesla Robotaxi On What It Does, Rather Than What Musk Says”.
“What alternative designs for the Senate might we consider, assuming that changes could be made possible? The most obvious tweak, of course, would be allocating senators proportionally to each state’s population. But some reformers, arguing we’ve outgrown the need for an empowered upper house, have suggested that the Senate could be transformed by amendment into a mostly ceremonial body, like the United Kingdom’s House of Lords, which itself was gradually disempowered in favor of the House of Commons. In 2018, Michigan Congressman John Dingell, the longest-serving member of Congress in American history, backed a much simpler idea: The Senate, he argued, should simply be abolished.”
“If we’re serious about confronting the threats facing American democracy, then it’s time to fully embrace blue state power. Not as a fallback, not to punish in retaliation against the people of red states, but as the confident exercise of power in the public interest, to make people’s lives better.”
“I’m 56 now, and if you’re recommending the same science fiction books to a ten-year-old today that would have been recommended to me when I was a ten-year-old — and were old and kinda dated even then — I think you should seriously reconsider recommending science fiction books to young readers.”
“‘I’m sitting behind the bench’: Inside sports’ escalating stalking problem“. A harrowing read. See also the story on NFL star Aaron Donald and his stalker, and why tennis is at the epicenter of the larger story.
RIP, Christophe de Menil, fashion designer and daughter of John and Dominique de Menil, founders of the Menil Collection.
RIP, Dorothy Caram, trailblazing educator, patroness of the arts, longtime advocate for Houston’s Hispanic communities.
RIP, Danielle Spencer, former child actor best known for What’s Happening!! who went on to become a veterinarian.
A book checked out from the San Antonio Public Library (SAPL) has been returned nearly 82 years after its original due date.
“I have been reading Loomer’s deposition for more than seven hours now — hey I finally finished! — and I have many, many, many thoughts, which I will share with you because I love and hate you very much.”
“Centers for Disease Control and Prevention workers whose jobs have been reinstated after dizzying Trump administration disruptions say they remain stuck in a budgetary, political, and professional limbo.”
“A couple of sitting justices would likely leap at the opportunity to cast Obergefell into the dustbin of history. But it is pretty clear that they haven’t yet secured a majority for their mission. And in the unlikely event that they do, Kim Davis’ case will not be the vehicle they use to eradicate the equal dignity of same-sex couples.”
“Anna Delvey’s Bunny Dumping Controversy Explained”. Yeah, I can’t believe I just wrote those words either.
“Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones could soon be forced to stop airing his Infowars show and give up the company’s property, including everything from desks and microphones to the Infowars brand name.”
“I fell down the fake food rabbit hole“.
Go read this interview with Weird Al. We are lucky to be alive at the same time as he is.
“I go back to a point I’ve made repeatedly over the last six-plus months. We are fundamentally in a battle over public opinion. If a decisive majority of the public opposes Trump his rule and criminality won’t stand.”
“4 out of 5 US troops surveyed understand the duty to disobey illegal orders”.
This is exactly the kind of evasion that anti-abortion zealots used to hide behind whenever one of theirs killed a doctor or firebombed a clinic. It was BS then and it’s BS now that it’s anti-vaxxers doing the same.
Happy 20th birthday, Fangraphs! May you have many more.
RIP, Takè 16-year-old red panda at the Houston Zoo.
“We are fundamentally in a battle for public opinion.”
Then it’s a shame that the Democrats have been openly contemptuous of their voter base for so many years…
Fangraphs is nice but the correct answer is B-ref.