A Geek Goes Flying

Decision:  https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.450934/gov.uscourts.cand.450934.64.0_1.pdf? At this early stage of the proceedings, the Court must determine whether the President followed the congressionally mandated procedure for his actions. He did not. His actions were illegal—both exceeding the scope of his statutory authority and violating the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. He must therefore return control of the California National Guard to the Governor of the State of California forthwith [...] federal overreach risks instigating the very behavior that the federal government fears. To put a finer point on it, the federal government cannot be permitted to exceed its bounds and in doing so create the very emergency conditions that it then relies on to justify federal intervention. [...] President Trump’s June 7 Memo marks the first time that a President has invoked § 12406, lawfully or not, against the wishes of a state governor. Regard...

Anyone in any way surprised by “ incredible instability ” in a Trump administration has a very short memory; for example, doesn’t everyone remember the Chief of Staff game of musical chairs ? Or the drama surrounding Gen. Mattis’ last days ? Etc., etc., etc. Trump is by definition arbitrary and capricious, and, as Jon Stewart summed up so succinctly , his staffers “have to go along [with the bullshit] because [they’re] in the service of an impulsive man-baby that you have to lie to, so he doesn’t turn his firehose of vindictiveness onto you.” Sigh. Speaking about Trump’s first term, one of Trump’s several Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Kelly, opined : “[Trump’s staff] kept the train from careening off the tracks. The climate—the work environment—is always set by the boss. And people, generally speaking, endured it as long as they could. Until they couldn’t.” Sounds about right, for then and now. Donald Trump  

Most transparent president in the history of the country? (This is from May 2019, but he’s still making the claim.) Then explain why they won’t admit “China [isn’t] going to pay” the tariffs? Nope, going to dodge and attack and point at Biden again ? Sigh. Telling how freaked out the Trump admin was at the notion: https://www.sfgate.com/business/article/amazon-is-not-planning-to-show-added-tariff-costs-20300466.php ... https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/29/white-house-blasts-amazon-over-tariff-cost-report-hostile-and-political-act.html Aliexpress is apparently making this information available (they don’t really have to kowtow to Trump in any way ....) Glad I got my Retroid Pocket 5 order in just under the wire! Jon Stewart is 🔥, as always:

I feel like we need an updated version of Knoll’s Law of Media Accuracy ‡ for the Age of Memes. For the record, I’m not a fan of the Trump administration, or what they’re doing to the government. That said, I was recently sent this and wanted to clarify (from my limited, but somewhat greater than the average bear, knowledge of aviation): Trump didn’t cause these crashes. Meme incorrectly linking Trump’s antics to recent aviation accidents. 1/20: Trump guts the FAA. I can’t find a source for this? I don’t see anything here , for instance. 1/22: Trump disbands the Aviation Security Advisory Committee [?], declares he has ended DEI [?] and restored “excellence and safety” in air travel [?]. Here’s a White House “ fact sheet .” (I guess we’re back to “ alternate facts .” (Example: The “[a]lmost unbelievably, as a diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiative, the Biden FAA specifically recruited and hired individuals with “severe intellectual” disabilities, psychiatric issues, and com...