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Musk is out. DOGE isn’t.
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At least 12 DOGE staffers remain legal employees or advisers of the companies they worked at before DOGE.
And at least nine continue to receive corporate benefits from their private-sector employers, including stock vesting plans.
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— ProPublica (@propublica.org) June 14, 2025 at 7:45 PM
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Reminder: the Trump admin put a 22-year-old in charge of the country’s domestic terrorism prevention office.
He graduated college last year. And has no known national security expertise.
But he did work for the Trump campaign.
www.propublica.org/article/trum...
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— Eric Umansky (@ericumansky.bsky.social) June 14, 2025 at 1:39 PM
What happens when interns run the government? Decisions based on lack of experience.
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AOC puts her finger on it: all the Republican talk is about illegal aliens because Republicans are trying to end legal immigration.
Ocasio-Cortez closed her remarks in the hearing by addressing talk of “illegal vs. legal immigration” and focusing on the Trump administration’s aggressive stance on the issue.
″[They’re] making people undocumented by removing legal status, ending legal status, and then having the audacity to call them ‘illegal’ when they were here documented,” Ocasio-Cortez added.
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While you were watching the action unfold in LA, did you see a small group of veterans staging a quiet sit-in at the capital?
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Last night, Capitol Police arrested roughly 60 veterans and their family members outside the U.S. Capitol. The group had gathered to hold a peaceful sit-in on the Capitol steps, but police intentionally set up a barrier of bike racks to prevent them from demonstrating.
— Alt National Park Service (@altnps.bsky.social) June 14, 2025 at 8:02 AM
Check the video: they handcuffed him and forced him to stumble away without his walker.
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No Kings Day was a huge success. Alt National Park Service, who had thousands of volunteers out at the rallies aiding and counting, has published its final count. By the 3.5 Percent rule (3.5% of the population engaging in peaceful protest can make real political change) they estimated it would take 10 million people showing up to make a difference. Look at this!
(Seraph4377 asked yesterday if we can trust Alt National Park Service numbers. Good question. National Park Service is familiar with crowd estimation but Alt NPS is not quite the same entity. Strength in Numbers has a crowd-sourced estimate of 4-6M. 50501 has “over 11 million.” MSM seems to be going simply with “millions.” Has anyone seen a more official estimate?)
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Shout out to Alf and kraigo: In spite of the danger of an assassin on the loose and the warning to stay home, Minnesota showed up. Standing up for democracy takes courage. Minnesota has it.
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So many good photos in which the photographer or drone had to back up so far that the crowd looks like dots! So many great signs! Here are just a few.
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So these MAGA people tried to disrupt our protest. 30 minutes later and buying chocolate milk for the pregnant wife? Sold. They knew nothing because of Fox. Turned them to our side. @marcia2527.bsky.social @meidasjordy.bsky.social @beachandtreesplz.bsky.social @meidastouch.com
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— jakeschu.bsky.social (@jakeschu.bsky.social) June 14, 2025 at 12:16 PM
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Raskin: You are not our king, and we are not your subjects. We will never be your subjects. All of us born here on this land are citizens and your executive order is nothing but bad graffiti on the Constitution, and we're going to wash it off today
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— MeidasTouch (@meidastouch.com) June 14, 2025 at 12:07 PM
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The king’s big party was a flop. bilboteach showed Trump’s picture yesterday so I won’t repeat it, but that face clearly said, “This is the worst birthday party ever! I wanna go home!”
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And what was it with the soldiers on parade so out of step? Was it the oddly grating loud pop music from Trump’s younger days throwing them out of rhythm, or...
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More encouraging judicial action, this time aiming to protect voting rights.
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🚨BREAKING: A federal judge halted provisions in President Donald Trump’s anti-voting executive order issued earlier this year, saying that the 19 states challenging the order have shown a “substantial risk” that it would disenfranchise eligible voters. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...
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— Marc Elias (@marcelias.bsky.social) June 13, 2025 at 7:57 AM
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In case you missed it, the head of FEMA quit this week as Trump works to undermine the organization. States have only a few months to prepare to go without federal emergency backup.
“We want to wean off of FEMA and we want to bring it down to the state level,” Mr. Trump said on Tuesday during a news briefing in the Oval Office. “We think after the hurricane season we’ll start phasing it out.”
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Stay tuned for the next episode of The Apprentice! This odd item from New York Times (readable) suggests that Trump is using the same dramatic techniques he learned on the Apprentice set for oval office diplomacy. They’re plenty dramatic. Not very diplomatic.
“This is going to be great television, I will say that.”
So concluded President Trump after a stunning Oval Office confrontation in February, in front of live cameras, in which he and Vice President JD Vance took turns castigating President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine and held out the prospect of withholding support for the country invaded by Russia.
At a May meeting with President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa, Mr. Trump brought his own television, playing video clips to support his false claims that white South African farmers have been the victims of genocide. The ambush, which also found Mr. Trump showing a news image actually taken from the Democratic Republic of Congo, left Mr. Ramaphosa scrambling to respond. But again, the cameras broadcast it all...
On “The Apprentice” Mr. Trump was adversarial and mercurial. Anything could set him off. He might judge a contestant too assertive or not assertive enough, too meek or too mouthy, too disrespectful or too sycophantic. He was like a mythical beast, in a lair of spring-loaded traps, who might grant you a wish or devour you depending how you answered its inscrutable riddle.
The article goes on to explain similarities between the show and his “diplomacy” from his methods to his room design to his golden decor.
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MN Sen. John Hoffman and Rep. Melissa Hortman, as well as their spouses, were shot by a man impersonating a police officer.
No more masks for law enforcement, ICE, anyone.
We need to see faces, badges, and judicial warrants EVERY TIME
No more unmarked vehicles.
www.fox9.com/news/melissa...
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— Leia🇨🇴🇺🇸 (@theswprincess.bsky.social) June 14, 2025 at 8:41 AM
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Why aren’t they in any sort of uniform? They look like a cosplay militia.
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Sunday Science
Why the greater concern about Iran’s nuclear facilities right now? Because now they’re set to enrich uranium a whole lot faster. Here’s how:
First, a series of chemical processes refine the uranium and then, at high temperatures, each uranium atom is bound to six fluorine atoms. The result, uranium hexafluoride, is unusual: below 56 degrees Celsius (132.8 degrees Fahrenheit) it is a white, waxy solid, but just above that temperature, it sublimates into a dense, invisible gas.
During enrichment, this uranium hexafluoride is loaded into a centrifuge: a metal cylinder that spins at tens of thousands of revolutions per minute—faster than the blades of a jet engine. As the heavier U-238 molecules drift toward the cylinder wall, the lighter U-235 molecules remain closer to the center and are siphoned off. This new, slightly U-235-richer gas is then put into the next centrifuge. The process is repeated 10 to 20 times as ever more enriched gas is sent through a series of centrifuges.
Enrichment is a slow process, but the Iranian government has been working on this for years and already holds roughly 400 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60 percent U-235. This falls short of the 90 percent required for nuclear weapons. But whereas Iran’s first-generation IR-1 centrifuges whirl at about 63,000 revolutions per minute and do relatively modest work, its newer IR-6 models, built from high-strength carbon fiber, spin faster and produce enriched uranium far more quickly.
Iran has been installing thousands of these units, especially at Fordow, an underground enrichment facility built beneath 80 to 90 meters of rock. According to a report released on Monday by the Institute for Science and International Security, the new centrifuges could produce enough 90 percent U-235 uranium for a warhead “in as little as two to three days” and enough for nine nuclear weapons in three weeks—or 19 by the end of the third month. (Scientific American)
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This house paint sweats, and that’s a good thing! Especially in hot, humid Singapore.
Hong and two other material scientists from Nanyang Technological University developed a cement-based paint that combines three cooling strategies: radiative cooling, evaporative cooling, which our skin uses, and solar reflection. In the study, the scientists painted three small houses: one with regular white paint, one with commercial cooling paint that uses only radiative cooling and one with their new formula. After two years of sun and rain in Singapore, the first two paints had turned yellow. But “our paint was still white,” says coauthor Jipeng Fei. Unlike other colors, white helps materials maintain their high reflectivity and cooling performance.
The paint’s porous structure holds water and slowly releases it, like the body does sweat. It reflects 88 to 92 percent of sunlight, even when wet, and emits up to 95 percent of the heat it absorbs. Nanoparticles boost reflectivity and strength, helping the paint maintain its white color over time. A small amount of polymer and salt help retain moisture and prevent cracking. Tests showed the house covered in the new paint used 30 to 40 percent less electricity for air conditioning than the other houses. (Science News)
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Your air conditioner could help balance the grid. Normally power plants adjust to deal with rising and falling power demand.
We wanted to see if we could help balance the grid with frequency regulation using home air-conditioning units rather than power plants – without affecting how residents use their appliances or how comfortable they are in their homes...
Every few seconds, our system slightly changed the timing of air-conditioning compressor switching for some of the 100 air conditioners [in the test group], causing the units’ aggregate power consumption to change. In this way, our small group of home air conditioners reacted to grid changes the way a power plant would – using more or less energy to balance the grid and keep the frequency near 60 hertz...
The air conditioners were able to provide frequency regulation at least as accurately as a traditional power plant. Therefore, we showed that air conditioners could play a significant role in increasing grid flexibility...
We found that home temperatures did not deviate more than 1.6 Fahrenheit from their set point. Homeowners were allowed to override the controls if they got uncomfortable, but most didn’t. For most tests, we received zero override requests. In the worst case, we received override requests from two of the 100 homes in our test. (Scientific American)
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Happy Fathers Day!
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It’s also the birthday of Waylon Jennings (1937-2002)
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It’s Big Boy Day, in honor of the burger and the restaurant that bears its name.
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It’s National Foam Party Day.
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And National Megalodon Day. Unfortunately, no megalodons are here to celebrate.
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It’s National Turkey Lovers Day. Now? In June?? Yes, now. The National Turkey Federation doesn’t want you to wait until Thanksgiving. There are lots of ways to enjoy it, they say: “Ground turkey, turkey tenderloin, turkey sausage, and turkey bacon are some of the more popular ways to enjoy this delicious meat. Summertime grilling includes turkey burgers, turkey drumsticks, turkey breast, and turkey hot dogs. Delis offer turkey sandwiches as a popular lunch choice, too.” Which sounds rather like:
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It’s National Photography Day!
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And National Smile Power Day! Share a smile.
I’m out tonight so I’ll say “Cheers, everyone!” now. Have a great Sunday evening.
