I know it is silly even to engage such ideas, but I suppose there are some who still imagine something other than demented and malevolent intentions are possible.
Sunday, August 23, 2026
When Canada Is Dead And Gone
Not that there was much chance of Canada acquiescing to the Mad King's desire to have it be the "51st state," but we can see that this would not have been some sort of merging of equals with appropriate representation (how many senators does Canada get?), but colonial conquest.
Everyone Gets To Use A Pencil
The flip side of President Deals never sticking with his deals is nobody else is obligated to, either.
About Time Someone Said It
I'm no Carney superfan, but he does seem to have figured Trump out.
After opting against a trade deal with American counterparts, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Canada's government 'recognized from the start' that the U.S. has changed. 'We recognized that sometimes its signature was written in pencil,' Carney said.
It is very funny that one of the dealbreakers was the US demanding they trash their various French dual language requirements. Like asking the US to cancel football.
Saturday, August 22, 2026
Coordination
This is illegal, but since laws aren't real anymore, we can at least laugh.
Allies of Mike Rogers, Michigan's GOP nominee for the U.S. Senate, have asked AIPAC not to advertise on his behalf, triggering a rupture with the powerful but polarizing pro-Israel group.
Rogers spoke with AIPAC chair Michael Tuchin in Los Angeles last week. The next day, AIPAC shelved an already-cut video ad targeting Rogers' Democratic rival, outspoken Israel critic Abdul El-Sayed.
I do remember when people in DC did take this stuff seriously, to the extent that certain people wouldn't be in the same room with other people.
Soylent Beef Is Made Of PEOPLE
What is the mystery meat?
But when a reporter asked the most basic question about the arrangement — where exactly is all this beef coming from? — Trump refused to say.
"On the beef deal, which countries did you make the deal with?" a reporter asked Trump Friday afternoon.
"I don't want to say," Trump responded.
President Deals Strikes Out Again
Oh no was trump engaged in bad faith negotiations?
A fresh wave of US tariffs on a wide array of Canadian goods came into effect on Saturday after a last-minute breakdown in trade talks.
Announcing the suspension of negotiations shortly before the Friday night deadline, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said he would impose reciprocal tariffs on US goods "dollar for dollar".
Carney said "last-minute changes in the US proposed terms were unfair, uneconomic, and called into question the reliability of any deal".
I saw the headline and was curious about what happened, given that all the recent reports had been about how Canada was going to cave and agree to some sort of deal. Unsurprisngly, willingness to deal with President Deals didn't work out!
Friday, August 21, 2026
Ground Beef
Genuine question: are people concerned about beef prices concerned specifically with the price of ground beef?
Somewhat answering my own question: the internet tells me almost half of beef consumption is ground beef. Also this is about 2% of ground beef consumption so...
The Health Of Our Big Beautiful President
I know what excuses all the journalists will make, but there are endless hours of cable news to fill with speculation, endless hours that they often do fill with speculation, and they are not speculating about this.
So much not speculating that I suspect it is ordered from above that they do not.
So much not speculating that I suspect it is ordered from above that they do not.
Junk In The Trunk
The most convincing suggestion I've seen is exoskeleton mobility device.
Seriously, what is going on with Trump’s rear end here? It looks like he has some sort of contraption back there
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) August 16, 2026 at 3:43 PM
[image or embed]
Sure Why Not
Or, more appropriately, what for?
The National Space Transportation Policy directs the Secretary of War, NASA, and other agencies to identify federal land for an additional reentry site within 90 days, part of a push to support more than 1,000 launches and reentries annually by 2030.
The policy also calls for priority airspace corridors, transparent range scheduling, and a "commercial-first" approach to national space transportation needs.
It directs NASA to facilitate commercial transportation to the Moon and robotic access to Mars, building on a separate executive order Trump signed in December outlining plans to return "Americans to the Moon by 2028 through the Artemis Program."
Elon and SpaceX are involved with Artemis - critical roles though not all of them - so good luck with that!
Blue Origin’s demonstration lander represents a number of the capabilities that will be featured in their Blue Moon Mark 2 lander, which will be used for crewed landings on the Moon’s south pole. The test lander doesn’t include the BE-7 engine of the Blue Moon Mark 2, but it does include a life support system and crew habitation area, which will allow the crew to live and work onboard while it’s docked with the Orion spacecraft.
After the two separate, SpaceX will launch its Starship Version 3 rocket, with a docking adapter on the nose of the upper stage. That Starship will be the target for Orion to dock, but because it won’t have a crew habitation area, the astronauts will remain onboard Orion while the two are mated.
“Now with respect to SpaceX, I think you’re what you’re witnessing, you’re seeing an increase in launch cadence, and that’s critical. If they’re able to launch again in early September after their last launch and continue to track inside the month, potentially every couple of weeks before the end of the year, that’s going to — we’re going to feel very good about their time to contribute to Artemis 3 next year,” Isaacman said.
SpaceX is so gonna be ready I promise I mean they're increasing cadence which is really critical and of course they're gonna be ready no lies no worries did I mention we're gonna feel very good if they do this thing which they're gonna do no really they're gonna do it.
At Least The War Is Over
I am curious if they really have any new and exciting sanctions for Iran, a country not a stranger to such things, or if this is just mostly bluster to hide surrender.
As a result, experts say, Mr. Trump is stuck in a conflict with limited leverage, a demonstrated vulnerability and an emboldened adversary. Even as Iran reels from shortages and inflation, Mr. Trump is likely to increasingly feel the pressure of the approaching midterm elections in the shadow of an unpopular war and high gas prices. It is a dangerous combination, experts say, that could prompt Iran to sense American weakness and lash out.
“They read him now as not wanting to escalate militarily,” Dennis B. Ross, a former Middle East negotiator for presidents of both parties, said of Iran’s leaders. “That creates an incentive for them to show that they may escalate militarily.”
Mr. Bessent told CNBC on Thursday that the Treasury Department would hold a news conference about the new measures targeting Iran next Monday. He said traders had been wrong to bid up the price of oil in response, given that the administration’s new economic threats were a sign there would not be an immediate return to full-scale bombing.
No full-scale bombing, but also no genuinely open strait, so I am not sure what exactly we think the impact on oil prices should be.
As I suggested yesterday, Trump was making noise that the sanctions would hit any 3rd parties, but I'm not really sure there's much room for that.
Thursday, August 20, 2026
Probably In About Six Months To A Year
We might create Commander Data one day but the idea that the spicy chatboats are going to become sentient is ridiculous. Belief in the probability signals a type (gullible, self-important, self-styled smartest guy in the room, likely has given his chatbot a woman's name).
Rising Stars
Obviously I don't trust the Trump FBI about anything, but Swalwell's life trajectory has certainly changed.
Federal agents seized electronic devices from former Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell at the San Francisco airport on Saturday and then raided his home in Washington, DC, the next day as part of an ongoing probe connected to sexual assault allegations, sources familiar with the investigation told CNN.
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