Elon Musk probably believes that if he could download his brain into an AI-operated interstellar probe, load the probe with frozen genetics of those he deems worthy, and point it toward the nearest star to restart society 75K years hence, that would be worth sacrificing every living person on earth.

Pro tip: if the Pope preaches the Gospel, and you respond by saying you have a problem with the Pope, the faith leader you're disagreeing with isn't actually the Pope.

#EpsteinArch

The nice thing about this 3-hour wait in the TSA line is that it gave me time to email all my idiot reps in Congress. #waitingforthegop

Man, does giving Trump a toy trophy and an inaugural donation even mean anything anymore?

Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew N. Ferguson Issues Warning Letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook

Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew N.

ftc.gov

Suppose Trump wanted to establish a new MAGA paramilitary to go into blue states with no mission other than stirring things up and sending the message those who disrespect MAGA should get accustomed to intimidation and bullying. Would that look any different from what's happening today?

Republicans voted in ‘16 for a candidate who liked to “grab” women. They can’t be surprised that the dominant story of his tenure would be which women he grabbed.

So apparently we're bombing boats with no evidence they carry drug runners, and then pardoning crypto execs *convicted* of helping actual drug runners launder their money. Well, I guess you can't accuse of us of employing a double standard. We're now ignoring due process in both directions.

Republicans used to debate whether conditioning highway funds on implementing a drinking age was disrespectful of state sovereignty. Now they endorse one state's governor sending his troops into another state over the objection of the state's government. So much for the party of federalism.

Texas is ready to “study” free speech, i.e., decide who gets to have it

Texas legislative committees will study freedom of speech on college campuses in wake of Charlie Kirk killing

The committees were made to honor slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk and come as university faculty have come under online scrutiny.

texastribune.org

I don't know how to talk about policy and leadership choices with people who are willing to believe cities in which they joyfully vacation and in which their friends live happily are in fact so overrun with violent criminals that martial law is the only viable path forward.

If Texas Republicans want me to believe they actually care about the Ten Commandments they could start by voting for a president who follows even one of them.

The ruling on universal injunctions confirms John Adams' view that “Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” A decent president wouldn't need to be ordered to stop violating the constitution once a court stated the law.

Why is living under government better than living under warlords and anarchy? Because when we give government the exclusive power to protect (or take) life, liberty, and property, we bind it not to take those things without due process of law. Government without due process is just another warlord.

Well, huh, I wonder why that's the top search being conducted

In his second inaugural, Washington called himself the "chief magistrate." He knew the presidency was an office of high trust, but still just an office; a job managing a government of vital but limited powers. The president is no king; we make no oath, pledge no allegiance, and owe no fealty to him.

A stock's price is just the expected value of a company's future income stream. So when Trump causes the entire market to fall, it means he's convinced investors that an America with Trump at its helm will be less productive and generate less wealth than the economy we had before.

When Grandpa has to come out of retirement to make ends meet, you can tell him that's just the price we needed to pay to make sure that guys who put police officers in the hospital on Jan 6 could get their pardons.

If you’re a Senate Republican, your first priority this morning should be introducing a bill to end Congressional delegation of the tariff taxation power to the White House.

US Senate Republicans pass measure to move forward on Trump's tax cuts

The U.S. Senate approved a Republican budget blueprint early on Saturday that aims to extend trillions of dollars worth of President Donald Trump's 2017 tax cuts and sharply reduce government spending.

reuters.com

Trump's skill at convincing normies to accept his shameless flouting of law and tradition has long been unique; no successor has emerged who hypnotizes MAGA to worship his own power without Constitutional justification or restraint. But frighteningly, Elon Musk may be on the way to learning how.

Saying we should have a strategic crypto reserve is like saying we should have a strategic baseball card reserve. Just admit it: you want to give public money to buddies who "own" a speculative asset with no inherent value.

If Putin invaded Alaska, would Trump defend it? Or does he think everyone within an arm's reach of Russia should surrender for peace?

Slava Ukraini.

About tech companies making "settlement" donations to the Trump library: there will never be a library. At most, this "library fund" will buy part of a Trump golf resort or rent an exhibit room at Mar-a-Lago, there will be no research center, and all the money will flow directly to the Trump family.

For what it's worth, over the 32 years from 1990 to 2022, the US averaged less than 1 fatality per 100 MM aircraft-miles. In the year 1960, before the Civil Rights Act or Equal Employment Opportunity Act became law, the rate was above 44 deaths per 100 MM aircraft-miles.

Trump today perfectly encapsulates his entire approach to governance: "We do not know what led to this crash, but we have some very strong opinions and ideas." May we all hope the next four years of favoring opinions over facts doesn't create the same death toll that it did in 2020.

The Bishop Budde reactions confirm how Trump and the MAGA base share the same emotional wellspring. Trump is still hurt that old money doesn't respect him. MAGA resents how urban elites look down on them. Both are offended that electoral wins haven't delivered the respect they so crave.

Perhaps today demonstrates that history does not progress toward justice and good in a straight line—it sometimes retreats, and diverts, and wanders—at least let us remember that it has progressed before, and with hard work will again.

It feels like most of the people who want to ban books in libraries never go into libraries other than to find books they want to ban.