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You knew that replacing all the qualified people with those less endowed with talent in the country’s most important roles probably wasn’t going to go well. But in the back of your mind, you hoped someone like Pete Hegseth could keep it in his pants long enough for American history to limp toward a safer era. But no luck. He started a war he was convinced would be as easy as dropping some seamen from their fishing boats. But this nut proved harder to crack. War is harder than it looks. Hegseth whipped out the nation’s most powerful conventional weapons and sprayed ammo all over the Middle East. He and his boss announced climactic victory multiple times. But it turned out this was a case of premature obliteration. Emission accomplished. Mission, not so much. The discharge was dishonorable. And thus we find the world’s most powerful military in a state few of us imagined prior to this administration. We have a surplus of testosterone, but a shortage of weapons. The launchers are erect, but the defense secretary has them shooting blanks. The incompetence is, in a word, lethal.
+ As you might imagine, Hegseth’s boss is going ballistic. “President Donald Trump’s frustration over the Iran war boiled over at Camp David last week, where he demanded answers from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on why he had apparently been misled on extreme munitions shortages that now threaten to limit military options with Iran.”WaPo (Gift Article): Trump, Hegseth clashed at Camp David over Iran missile depletion concerns. “The president asserted overnight that the United States has ‘massive amounts’ of munitions, saying in a post on Truth Social that ‘large amounts are being manufactured and shipped to the U.S. as needed.’ The “’leakers’ of these treasonous statements are being hunted down.” (”Massive.” “Large.” If I didn’t know better, I’d think someone was compensating for something.)
+ Let’s hope this is an exception when it comes to Trump’s proclamations and that it’s true that we have massive amounts of munitions, because the reported shortage isn’t just impacting Iran. It’s endangering Ukraine and emboldening our enemies around the world. The Atlantic (Gift Article): How the U.S. Squandered Its Strategic Advantage. “The United States is running out of missiles. After five months of war with Iran, stockpiles of long-range weapons are so low, current and former U.S. defense officials told us, that they don’t believe the U.S. has enough to combat a threat in Asia. The remaining supplies, depending on the munition, are as low as 20 percent of what the Pentagon would like to have in hand. And stores of sophisticated interceptor missiles, such as Patriots and Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missiles, are too depleted to give or sell the weapons to Ukraine or effectively defend against Iran’s launch of ballistic missiles. Even when troops see Iranian missiles approaching, they are forced to decide in a matter of seconds whether to expend a limited number of interceptors or hope for the best.” (That’s what the rest of us have been doing since Trump and Hegseth took over.)
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Jumpin’ Jack Newsflash: It’s a Gas, Gas, Gas
There’s something in the air. And there’s going to be a lot more of it if you live in the vicinity of one of the many natural gas-powered AI data centers being built (often without public input). “If built as planned, the gas burning plants — scattered across states including Texas, Ohio and Wyoming — could release as much planet-warming pollution in a year as roughly half of all the passenger vehicles in the United States, according to estimates based on permits, regulatory filings and other data compiled by the Environmental Integrity Project. They would also produce harmful pollutants including particulate matter, formaldehyde and smog-forming nitrogen oxides that can contribute to heart disease, asthma, lung cancer, strokes and other ailments in people living nearby.” NYT (Gift Article): Trump’s Vision for A.I. Dominance Comes With Major Air Pollution.
+ “Data centers like Stargate, along with their accompanying power plants, are proliferating across the country, helping to satisfy an immense demand for artificial intelligence. And despite lofty promises to fuel data centers with renewable energy, data shows AI companies are mostly relying on gas to satisfy their insatiable energy demands. Nationwide, nearly 60 data centers are planning to build their own gas plants to avoid connecting to the grid.” The Texas Tribune: Planned Texas data centers could emit more greenhouse gases than many countries.
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Taking the Fifth Away
“Thursday’s vote was along party lines, and came after Fauci refused to answer lawmakers’ questions in a hearing last week about the government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, citing his Fifth Amendment right to avoid self-incrimination.” Senate Homeland Security committee votes to hold Fauci in contempt of Congress. They’ve ignored the rest of the Constitution. Why not the Fifth Amendement...
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Maltese Dodge
From Malta to Yalta, watch my tax returns alta... From the NYT(Gift Article): How Malta Became a Tax Haven for Crocs and Other U.S. Companies. “Consider Crocs. One of the world’s most profitable shoemakers sells its signature chunky clogs to 150 million customers across 100 countries annually. Yet, come tax season, the Broomfield, Colo., company has claimed that all its global profits were actually earned in this two-person office. Welcome to Malta. The tiniest country in the European Union, with roughly the population of Milwaukee, it is home to turquoise water beaches and a raging nightclub scene. It is also the world’s hot new corporate tax haven.” (For those not in a position to appoint an attorney general, this is one way to lower a tax bill.)
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Extra, Extra
One Flu Over the Cuckoos’s Nest: “The approval of the vaccine, called mFLUSIVA, which is manufactured by Moderna, follows a series of blows to mRNA research directed by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., including the cancellation of 22 projects meant to develop vaccines with mRNA technology.” FDA Approves Moderna’s mRNA Flu Vaccine.
+ Rare Conditioning: “The recurring power outages combined with the stifling heat have created collective insomnia on the island as residents struggle to get through the night. While some like Ríos García have slept on the boulevard, others struggle to get some rest on balconies and front porches. The day of the latest blackout on Sunday, the temperature hit 93 degrees Fahrenheit (34 Celsius), but ended up feeling like 106 F when combined with the Caribbean’s 80% humidity levels.” Cubans sleep on seaside boardwalk to seek relief from crippling blackouts.
+ FCC No Evil: “The change, if not stopped by courts, will make it easier for Carr to allow broadcast mergers that result in more favorable news coverage for President Trump. Carr has consistently threatened to revoke licenses from broadcasters who have drawn Trump’s ire, including by ordering an early license review of all ABC-owned stations.” FCC kills TV ownership cap, claiming authority over limit set by Congress.
+ Alphabet Order: “In the AI industry, Google prides itself on seeming like the adult in the room: quiet, stable, time-tested. On Wednesday, even as the company announced its largest AI org shakeup yet, Google and its leaders presented a unified front, keeping their messaging focused on how the changes tee up future success. But the reality is that the laundry list of executive changes likely signal deeper issues within Google’s AI organization.” The Verge on the messy politics behind Google’s big AI shakeup.
+ Trade Association: “Surging retail trading isn’t just transforming markets; it’s also highly correlated with demoralization in young men, according to a new study.” Some 64% of Young Men Day Trading Stocks Feel Like Failures. “The findings were strikingly similar to outcomes among men who gamble.”
+ Offline Retaylor: “Just a month before Taylor Fresh Foods began grappling with a sweeping multi-state lettuce recall, the Salinas-based company filed a civil lawsuit against one of its former presidents and his wife, accusing the couple of a yearslong, $32 million embezzlement operation.” These folks spent a lot of lettuce.
+ The Ultimate Jiving Machine: “Starting last week, BMW