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Friday’s Forum
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20 responses to “Friday’s Forum”
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Knew this was coming.
Navy discusses renaming aircraft carrier after Trump instead of heroic Black sailor
Navy leadership is discussing renaming a Navy aircraft carrier after President Donald Trump, according to two U.S. officials.
The ship, which is still under construction, has been set to be named the USS Doris Miller in honor of an enlisted sailor who famously staffed an anti-aircraft gun during the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, during World War II despite not having been trained on the weapon. Miller, a mess attendant, grabbed the gun during the attack and is credited with shooting down at least one Japanese plane and dragging wounded U.S. sailors to safety.
Miller was the first Black service member to receive the Navy Cross — the Navy’s second-highest honor.
Truly stolen valor.
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On the one hand, Miller shot down enemy aircraft and saved the lives of fellow sailors. On the other hand El Taco is responsible for hundreds of thousands of trump virus deaths, is a convicted felon, was found liable for sexual assault, was found liable for defamation, was impeached twice (with more to come), tried to tear down the US government, and has swindled and conned billions of dollars. Not to mention he started the stupidest war in history, and is mishandling it badly, or that his incompetent secretary of war crimes can’t even keep a carrier adequately supplied.
Geez. That’s a tough choice.
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Oh, joy. What could possibly go wrong?
Pressure mounts to allow treated oilfield waste in Texas rivers and on rangeland
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality is developing two permitting programs for re-using treated produced water. The agency began accepting permit applications to discharge the treated wastewater into rivers in 2024 but has yet to issue any permits. The agency released a proposed rule earlier this year to allow treated produced water to be applied on land for irrigation or rangeland restoration.
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Elected officials and industry leaders warn that Texas is at the “precipice” of running out of underground space to dispose of the nearly 1 billion gallons of wastewater that oil and gas production generates every day in the Permian Basin.The toxic wastewater, known as produced water, is usually injected underground into disposal wells. But these wells have increased underground pressure, triggering earthquakes and blowouts. Instead of underground injection, the oil industry is now seeking alternatives to treat and reuse produced water.
Given that, because of severe ground water subsidence, at least in Houston, we are moving to surface water for our water needs, this needs to be watched.
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A Natalie letter:
https://x.com/TheRickWilson/status/2090763006581907849
Same thing but Bluesky:
https://bsky.app/profile/kalimurray.bsky.social/post/3mtkuaf6dis2b
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Emptywheel post on Natalie contains excerpts from WSJ piece:
First though Marc Caputo:
In a story that broke the news that Harp had posted a video promising Trump would bring about a “unified Reich,” Caputo instead focused on her gatekeeping role.
Perhaps more than anyone else, Harp gatekeeps much of what Trump sees on social media and reads in the news.
“IF YOU WANT THE PRESIDENT TO SEE SOMETHING, the best route is Natalie,” says a knowledgeable source who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the internal workings of Trump’s inner team and who has passed information to the candidate via Harp. “Don’t underestimate her importance.”
Much later in the story, Caputo described that Trump’s campaign staffers didn’t supervise Harp.
“No one spends as much time on this campaign around him as Natalie,” said one insider. “If people think she’s an airhead because of her looks, they don’t understand how smart she is and how much the president relies on her.”
The campaign’s co-managers, Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita, don’t directly oversee Harp and, the source said, and essentially leave her alone.
“Natalie fills a role and Chris and Susie know that’s what he wants,” the source said, “so they focus on other things.”
WSJ:
In the WSJ’s story from yesterday introducing Harp to those just checking in, they describe her the same way: She’s the gatekeeper.
To Democrats, Harp is one of the president’s chief enablers. For Republicans, she is Trump’s gatekeeper. A well-timed text to Harp can unlock access to Trump, giving well-known lobbyists and fringe figures alike an audience with the most powerful man in the world.
They, too, emphasize that no one supervises Harp — still not Susie Wiles, not Trump’s comms team, not what they euphemistically call his national security team.
The shortest path to getting something on the Resolute Desk, the people said, is often through Harp. One person close to the White House said that Harp’s cellphone number is even more precious than Trump’s.
White House officials say Harp hasn’t taken a single vacation day since joining the Trump administration and remains in constant contact with the president, sitting in on Situation Room meetings, Oval Office meetings and meetings aboard Air Force One in his private office.
While all executive staff work for the president, Harp reports exclusively to Trump and no one else, according to people familiar with the dynamic. She has at times ruffled feathers among White House aides by immediately following through on Trump’s directives without first checking in with the chief of staff, the communications office or the national-security team.
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President Donald Trump said he will temporarily allow up to 300,000 metric tons of ground beef to be imported without tariff quotas in an effort to reduce beef prices for U.S. consumers and provide dwindling domestic cattle herds time and opportunity to grow.
Seems like a tacit admission that tariffs raise prices.
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We are back in the US of A. Miss the ocean in Portugal, it was nice sitting on the terrace watching cruise ships steam past and identifying tankers on my ship finder app. Good times for an old man.
In Vegas, in the house we’ve bought and are now pouring money into, there’s a distinct lack of ocean. But there are compensations. We have a dead-on view of the strip from our bedroom, and the balcony and from the bathroom where I can stand and pee and see all the pretty lights. Astrid the Wonderdog and I tend to get up early so we sneak quietly out onto the balcony and watch for the moment when the sun peeks over the mountains.
In the other direction we are right up against the mountains which are beautiful in a severe, lifeless, no-pity sort of way. These are mountains that offer you nothing but a chance to fall into a crevice and end up cutting off your own hand.
Unfortunately I have a pinched nerve that’s causing pain and weakness in one leg. So, not really all that helpful at unpacking. I’m using a cane, which is one of those dire mortality markers. I hit 72 and I guess the warranty expired on my body. I feel I’m no longer LARPing as an old man, I am an old man.
Best things about being back in the States? I have a car again. I have marijuana and Amazon and a garbage disposal. The marijuana is particularly helpful since I’m gobbling acetaminophen which means I can’t drink. Cruel irony when you consider that I finally have access to the best Bourbons.
I’ve been writing. I have completed a memoir, MY LAST NAME. Katherine is slowly vetting it and taking out some of the more lurid bits which still leaves a pretty appalling document. I’m setting up a Patreon to move the memoir, and a pair of crime thrillers I wrote a while back, and The CEO of HELL which I finally finished. Oh, and an experiemental YA novella called FERAL.
I’ll be ranting and whatnot as well, and I’ll also probably write about the Disney+ adaptation of ANIMORPHS, about which I have very mixed feelings. But the thing I’m most interested in is a sort of unfinished writing project called GUNS and DRAGONS. I’m going to write that ‘in the open,’ in other words, posting chapters as I write them, in their unfinished form, showing the evolution of a book, with all the editing, back-tracking, renaming etc in the open. I guess we’ll see how that works.
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The U.S. Navy is considering renaming the under-construction aircraft carrier CVN-81—initially slated to be the USS Doris Miller honoring a Black Pearl Harbor war hero—to instead name it after President Donald Trump, an unprecedented move for a sitting president.
“Dorie” Miller was a U.S. Navy sailor who was the first black recipient of the Navy Cross and a nominee for the Medal of Honor. As a mess attendant second class aboard the battleship USS West Virginia, Miller helped carry wounded sailors to safety during the attack on Pearl Harbor. He then operated an anti-aircraft gun and, despite no prior training in gunnery, officially shot down one plane (according to Navy Department records), but Miller and other eyewitnesses claimed a range of four to six.
Donald Trump is a draft dodger who said that avoiding sexually transmitted diseases during the 1980s and 1990s were his “personal Vietnam”, stating that the dangers of the dating scene during the HIV/AIDS epidemic felt “equivalent of a soldier going over to Vietnam. -
For this weekend I plan to make chicken parmesan with my own recipe. So:
Chicken milanesas with grated parmesan mixed with the breading. Then cooked in the air frier.
For the sauce I’m thinking to caramelize a whole onion, add some garlic, and some turkey chorizo. Then tomato pure and spices, including a parmesan rind.
Cheese traditionally is mozzarella. It’s hard to find good quality here. most stores have imitation mozzarella rather than the real kind. So, we’ll see what I find in the stores on Saturday. A good option, IMO, would be smoked provolone.
Since I bring the meal to work, I plan to keep the chicken, sauce, and cheese separate, and assemble it before microwaving.
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