OTB relies on its readers to support it. Please consider helping by becoming a monthly contributor through Patreon or making a one-time contribution via PayPal. Thanks for your consideration.
Friday’s Forum
31
Comments
Categories
Tags
31 responses to “Friday’s Forum”
-
Well this is interesting…
Trump’s former Senate pick backs Democrat in New Hampshire
I don’t know if this is a rats-deserting-sinking-ship thing, or if the Sununus have simply outworn their welcome, or if it’s FINALLY dawning on some Republicans that their party is permanently cooked if they don’t start wresting it back from Trump, but I am here for it.
Welcome to the resistance, Don!
-
In an era of arrogant prick Republicans, John Sununu stood out. Perhaps his son is showing that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, and New Hampshire has had its fill of arrogant pricks, and doesn’t want to send another one to Washington. (The current king of APs is Stephen Miller, but Ka$h, Todd, and Scott B are jealously eyeing the throne.)
-
A least for Balduc, it’s about revenge, Sununu’s brother endorsed Balduc’s opponent in the 22 R primary in such a manner that he had trouble raising money for the Nov election. Many of the others are long time Never Trumpers or have axes to grind with the Sununu family.
The Union Leader has a good article on this endorsement.
-
-
Real or junk science? Will results be reported to serviceman’s commanders? Hmmm.
Routine testosterone screening of US troops may require extensive follow-on care, study finds
A quarter of troops measured below testosterone thresholds, a study of Army personnel found, with similar results compared to the general U.S. population.
According to the research, published Thursday in JAMA, 20% of male soldiers younger than 30 years had testosterone levels less than the threshold established by the American Urological Association of 300 nanograms per deciliter, or ng/dL. Roughly a third of service members — 32.8% — aged 30 and older fell below the threshold.
According to the analysis, one-time testosterone testing of troops determined that 100,691 active-duty soldiers had morning testosterone levels of less than 300 ng/dL.
…
The interest in testosterone replacement therapy in the DoD follows a growing $4.5 billion industry centered around testosterone, with the hormone touted as a supplement that contributes to increased physical performance, sex drive, concentration and youthful energy.
…
Studies in 2018 by the NIH on 800 older men demonstrated that testosterone therapy improved erectile dysfunction, libido and mood, but had little or no improvement on measures such as fatigue, memory or overall well-being. -
Apparently, the “Russia, Russia, Russia” hoax is not a hoax.
But none dare call it treason.
Exclusive-order to limit Starshield for Ukraine came from inside White House, sources say
The order to limit a satellite system used by Ukraine for battlefield communications and drone operations came from inside the White House, according to two US officials and a Western official briefed on the matter.
The officials said leaders at the Defense Department received a message that the SpaceX Starshield service for the Ukrainian military needed to be slowed.
The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, did not specify who in the White House made the decision or who was responsible for implementing the order. The Pentagon is the biggest customer of Starshield, which is the military-grade version of the Starlink service.
-
-
The EU and ESA do already have a similar system with some number of satellites in low-earth orbit. The main differences, as I understand it, are that they have don’t have many satellites yet, and the terminals are much costlier (currently) than Starlink’s. But I’d expect that the fu**ery seen with Starlink has incentivized the EU to quickly expand and economize their system. I mean, even Russia is launching their own system.
-
The EU is already doing the equivalent of Starshield to provide service to government agencies starting in 2030. Doing something on the order of Starlink is beyond the EU’s reach until they have access to a “price equals internal cost” launch service as SpaceX does. As I understand it, SpaceX’s internal cost for a Falcon 9 launch is $10M; their standard base retail price (eg, what they would charge the EU) is $74M.
-
-
We got an inside look at the White House decision making process in early 2025 after journalist Jeffrey Goldberg was included in the Signal group chat concerning the decision to strike Houthi positions in Yemen. In that case, Stephen Miller made the call and was joined by Hegseth. Whatever trump knew of it or didn’t, he was not part of that greenlighting discussion. I don’t see why the decision-making process would’ve changed substantially.
-
-
I knew it was just a matter of time for Adolf to make an EV with a large carbon footprint.
You’d think someone who’s involved in launch systems for his ISP would understand the energies involved.
Simply put. Flying cars are not a good idea, and they wouldn’t eliminate traffic if they could be made at scale and be safe for the average person to operate.
-
I just saw a video of that on X. (Link unavailable without signing up for something, Marginal Revolution has it.) As someone with degrees in Mechanical and Aero Engineering and some auto racing experience and understanding of the technology, may I say that demo was deeply, deeply, unimpressive. It “flew” downward on inertia and rocket thrust for maybe six seconds. The only remarkable thing is the eagerness to waste a few million in company funds on this.
-
-
-
-
I praise Zacharia for going M-F, as well as not lasting the day
She could be a very useful measurement for a workweek where you’re planning on skipping out early. It’s a measurement with a built in work-life balance.
Better than 33 Scaramuccis to a year, with two days left over (three on a leap year)
-
-
-
-
-
-
Yesterday, an elementary school in Bend, Oregon was attacked by an active shooter (16 years of age) who managed to murder 3 students and a teacher before he was shot and killed by an armed parent who was in the parking lot when the shooting occurred. Another student and teacher are in critical care.
In my lifetime:
A distant cousin was killed at Sandy Hook. (I would have included a link, but the bloody details of this shooting are closely held. I do know that the shooter sprayed a closet full of students and a teacher and killed them all.)
A courtesy nephew was at Thurston HS in Springfield, Oregon when a fellow student attacked the school, killed 4, and wounded 22 (1998).
A shooter attacked the grocery story where I shop and killed the Safeway employee who tried to stop him.
The federal offices in the county where I live have barriers between the employees and public after the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge occupation.
Our county just implemented state of the art security screenings like you experience at the airport.
Active shooter drills and mandated reading on how to defend oneself against an active shooter is common place.
I’m praying that our community will pass a school bond measure to replace and repair all of our schools. I’m assured that active shooter defensive measures will be in place, but the shooter at the Bend school yesterday was able to blast his way through the locked door.
Thanks for listening. I needed to share. I just wish the media would truly describe the horror of these shootings.
-
This seems to have flown under the radar:
In the FT US proposes unfreezing Russian assets (paywalled)
A non-paywalled report by Meduza.Basically to “assist” US “peace negotiations” Europe should unfreeze Russian assets and transfer them into a fund controlled by Washington.
One wonders who the controllers of such a fund might be.
Though not for long.The European response in public was a polite refusal.
In private I suspect more like “Do you think we just came down the motorway on roller-skates?”In the FT report:
“These are assets that are frozen in Europe …This our matter and we decide upon it.”
“They were told that this is simply not going to happen.”The Trump administration is coming close to a full breach with Europe, over a matter that most key European actors consider of vital interest, namely that Russia cannot be permitted to defeat and subordinate Ukraine.
-
-
Whether it’s to help Putin, or to fulfil his own purblind greed and ambition and narcissistic rage at being frustrated, I suspect a lot of others are now expecting Trump to increasingly test the the limits.
And rather like Professor Taylor recently I have doubts as to how far Congress will able to restrain him even, given the Democrats will almost certainly not attain overriding power.
Will sufficient Republicans abandon Trump to make up the difference if MAGA is cratering?
That’s weak reed to lean on.I have a nasty feeling a real crisis in the Western Alliance is coming down the tracks.
-
-
The more fundamental problem is that even post-Trump, the Alliance has to deal with the problem that the US has been demonstrated to not be a bi-partisan ally, but a highly conditional one, dependent on US domestic politics.
Outcomes after the next election could be a Democrat ascendancy, a Dem president with a MAGA-inflected Republican Congress, a MAGA Mk2 President (ie Vance), or a post-MAGA Republican president (Rubio?), either of the latter with varying Congress configurations.
The basic lesson for Europe is, that unlike 1945 to 2016, it cannot rely upon the US. Even a Democrat ascendancy is likely to continue to attempt (imho in vain) to “pivot to the Far East” at the expense of the Middle East and Europe.
Europe must therefore seek strategic autonomy.
“De Gaulle was right” is being thought in many European governments.Acting on the consequences of this are going to be politically and economically painful: budgets, taxation, welfare spending, internal politics, the limitations of current European Union. institutions, etc.
Personally, I’m not only developing a nostalgia for the 1990’s but echoing M:
“Christ, I miss the Cold War.”
-
-
Meanwhile, in the Middle East:
Iran has hit some dozen tankers in the last couple of weeks.
This is an obvious “f@ck you” to Trump.
And there are indications the South Yemen vs Houthi war is getting hotter.
Also that the Saudis are pressing Pakistan to deliver promised military support in exchange for financial support re Houthis.The thing is, all of the Saudi allies have reasons to nope out re Houthis.
Egypt fought there in the 1960’s, the Turks in the 1900’s, and neither have happy memories.
And Pakistan look at it and think: “Just like the Taliban? Oh my.”But the Houthis do seem determined to push their luck.
