65 thoughts on “News Schmooze or Snooze”


  1. King Charles and Queen Camilla spent the day in New York, last night they were honored with a lavish dinner at the White House, Charles is here trying to mend the fractured relationship between the U.S. and everyone else, he gave Trump a big shiny golden bell, his MAGA-sty offered some remarks about the royal mess he’s made in Iran, he posted a truly unhinged picture of himself this morning holding an assault rifle, the State Department is planning a limited edition passport with Trump’s face on it, Donald welcomed the astronaunts from Artemis II to the White House, he has an absolutely pigeon-brained vendetta against former FBI Director Jim Comey, and with everything going on it’s very clear that Trump isn’t well, but help is a TrumpRX prescription away!

  3. juxtaposing with news of US munitions depletions here’s a story from today’s Guardian Ukraine war briefing: Enough of our homegrown weapons to go around, says Zelenskyy
    Surplus 50% means co-operation ‘already under way’ with other countries and standing offer to US; SBU
    Ukraine is making a surplus of up to 50% in some types of weapons and military cooperation “is already under way” with countries in the Middle East, the Gulf, Europe and the Caucasus, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Tuesday. Deals involve the production and supply of drones and missiles as well as software and technology, said Zelenskyy, adding that Kyiv has handed a proposal to the US for cooperation on drones, defence systems and other types of weapons for use in the air, on land and at sea.

  4. more good news today from The Guardian US family reunited with pet cat seven years after it was lost: ‘We always thought about him’
    A family cat who got lost amid a move from California across the US is said to be settling back into his old ways with his humans at their new home in Georgia after experiencing an unlikely – but long hoped for – reunion more than seven years in the making.
    As owner Amber Davidson-Orozco put in an interview Wednesday, her cat Dodger still responds to his name and allows her sons to flip him playfully over their shoulders despite an absence from them that to the cat lasted the equivalent of roughly 24 years.
    “Oh, he’s there. That super sweet, cuddly, social temperament is still there,” Davidson-Orozco remarked of Dodger. Referring to her sons Schylar and Zachary, who were about age eight and five respectively, and had lost their father when the cat vanished, Davidson said Dodger’s reappearance was as if a piece of their childhood had come back, saying: “That’s important.”
    Dodger’s return to Davidson-Orozco’s family had captured national media attention in recent weeks. Besides serving as an emotional salve to media consumers drained by intense news cycles, it has also been held up as an example of how vital it can be to microchip pets – because Dodger’s being microchipped set the stage for his eventual reunion with his humans.
    Dodger’s humans adopted him from Miss Winkles Pet Adoption center in Clovis, California, in 2016. Named after the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team its family supported, the cat firmly secured a place in their hearts and became another one of them, Davidson-Orozco recounted.
    The father of Davidson-Orozco’s children died unexpectedly toward the end of 2018, and her family subsequently decided to move to Florida. She said she entrusted a friend to move Dodger along with the family’s possessions to a new home. Yet Dodger escaped from the friend’s vehicle and would not be seen again, at least not for a good while.
    “We always thought about him” in the ensuing years and wondered what his fate may have been, said Davidson-Orozco, whose family later moved to Calhoun, Georgia, north of Atlanta. “It was like that one thing you keep thinking about.”
    Then, in February, someone in the California community of Madera – about 31 miles (49.9 km) from Clovis – found a stray Dodger and brought him in for neutering as well as vaccination at an organization named Fresno Trap and Release (TNR). Veterinarians soon realized Dodger had already been neutered and even had a microchip, a scan of which revealed the cat belonged to Davidson-Orozco’s family.
    Sydney Sherman of Fresno TNR, who runs the non-profit group alongside her mother, contacted Davidson-Orozco about Dodger. As she wrote on a social media post, Sherman was flying to Florida in late March for a wedding, and she offered to bring Dodger with her if Davidson-Orozco wanted.
    “His family was so excited,” Sherman wrote, adding that she shared videos as well as pictures of Dodger with Davidson-Orozco, and held FaceTime calls with her household.
    Sherman described herself as “freaking out” because she had never previously flown with a cat. But the trip went relatively smoothly. And, Sherman said, Davidson-Orozco’s family drove seven hours from Calhoun to meet her at 5am “to pick up their sweet little man”.
    Sherman said parting with “the handsome, talkative” Dodger was difficult because he won over those at Fresno TNR during the time he had stayed with them. Nonetheless, Sherman wrote, the organization was “very happy to finally have him home where he belongs with his boys”.
    Davidson-Orozco thanked Sherman and her team for “giving their all” to Dodger and her family, who in Calhoun were more than 2,300 miles away from Clovis.
    She said reuniting with Dodger and finding in the following weeks that he remained just as they remembered him brought a measure of healing in connection with a difficult time in her and her sons; lives.
    “It’s full circle – losing all your stuff and belongings while having to move, losing your dad, and you get this back,” Davidson-Orozco said. “It seems silly – like it’s just a silly cat. But to the kids and I, it’s different – and it’s because of the timing.”
    She also pleaded with owners of pets to microchip them if they haven’t already.
    “When you get an animal, you’re obviously not thinking of anything going wrong or anything like that,” Davidson-Orozco said. “But things happen. Situations happen.”

  5. Be Careful What You Map For

    Supreme Court conservatives just nuked majority-Black districts in the South, inadvertently building a coalition for more Democrats in Congress.

    Republicans popping champagne over yesterday’s Supreme Court redistricting ruling might want to put the cork back in and check the math. The Callais decision nuked Louisiana’s second majority-Black district, but it didn’t magically vaporize the actual voters.

    When you crack a voting bloc, those people don’t vanish—they just spill across the map. Instead of packing Black voters into two isolated districts, they’re now blended right into the laps of white liberals.

    Take Louisiana: cutting Black representation from two seats down to one could easily blow back and hand Democrats three seats overall instead of two. The exact same math applies to Alabama. You dilute their two current Black districts, and suddenly you’ve got three Democratic reps overall.

    Gerrymandering is a phenomenal parlor trick, right up until the unintended consequences kick the door down. The GOP just traded two guaranteed Black Democrats for three unpredictable coalition Democrats. Masterful gambit, guys.

    Sources:
    — https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25pdf/24-109_21o3.pdf
    — https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/supreme-court-voids-majority-black-congressional-district-in-louisiana-boosting-republican-chances

  7. Another self-defeating factor for the GOP in their gerrymandering frenzy: they are drawing maps based on past Trump support, when he was up to three times more popular with those voters. They are not necessarily shoving guaranteed Republican vote into these re-designed districts. This is especially true in Florida, where a lot of party leaders wanted to stop yesterday’s vote in the legislature for that reason. But DeSantis is so eager for a Trump appointment he plundered on.

  8. jamie, anniversary also for Kentucky’s Hot Brown Turns 100
    The Brown Hotel still serves the open-faced sandwich where it originated, along with a variety of spinoffs.
    Among the musts for any first-time visitor to Louisville are a visit to Churchill Downs, a tour of a bourbon distillery, and a meal with a Kentucky Hot Brown as its centerpiece. As much a focal point of Kentucky cuisine as Derby pie, burgoo, and bourbon balls, a Hot Brown is basically an open-faced sandwich with large chunks of slow-roasted turkey atop Texas toast, which is then piled with bacon and tomatoes, covered with a cheesy Mornay sauce, and baked until it’s golden and bubbly — truly comfort food at its most elemental.
    This year is an especially apt time to dine on Hot Browns since 2026 marks the centennial of the concoction’s creation. It was in 1926 when chef Fred Schmidt decided to develop a new dish using ingredients he had on hand, hoping to delight the hundreds of revelers who descended on Louisville’s elegant Brown Hotel ballroom each weekend to dance into the wee hours. When the band took breaks, the dancers would flock to the restaurant for a bite to eat. Sensing that they might be getting a little bored with the same old ham and eggs — and rather weary of preparing it himself — Schmidt boldly experimented with an all-new combination of ingredients for his hungry guests.
    As legend has it, the new dish was an instant sensation, quickly spreading to many other restaurants in Louisville and then throughout Kentucky. Nowadays, eating establishments throughout the Bluegrass State that focus on “down home” types of cooking are likely to have their own versions of a Hot Brown on their menus, albeit with a wide range of substitutions for the ingredients and with a wide range in the quality of the finished product. Should you encounter a Hot Brown using deli meat instead of thickly sliced pieces of turkey and a sauce using low-quality cheese, you’re not experiencing a true Hot Brown as its creator intended. [continues]

  9. jamie, please add Great White to place in my derby picks. had to go with at least one of the greys and Craig is already on one the other ones. here’s what herald-ledger has to say about the newly posted at 21:
    Great White (50-1) He set the pace early in the Bluegrass Stakes at Keeneland before fading to fifth in his first career start on dirt. Both his wins came on the synthetic surface at Turfway Park. If nothing else, Great White will certainly leave a strong impression in the walk to the gate. In addition to his striking gray coat, he is considerably larger than the average thoroughbred at 17.2 hands tall.

  12. Horse Trainer Jockey Odds Trailmix Rider

    1. Renegade, Todd Pletcher, Irad Ortiz Jr., 4-1 Jamie

    2. Albus, Riley Mott, Manny Franco, 30-1

    3. Intrepido, Jeff Mullins, Hector Berrios, 50-1

    4. Litmus Test, Bob Baffert, Martin Garcia, 30-1

    5. Right to Party, Kenny McPeek, Chris Elliott, 30-1 Pogo

    6. Commandment, Brad Cox, Luis Saez, 6-1 Blue Bronc

    7. Danon Bourbon, Manabu Ikezoe, Atsuya Nishimura, 20-1 Chris (Jamie’s son)

    8. So Happy, Mark Glatt, Mike Smith, 15-1 Ivy

    9. The Puma, Gustavo Delgado, Javier Castellano, 10-1 Renee, Patd (place)

    10. Wonder Dean, Daisuke Takayanagi, Ryusei Sakai, 30-1

    11. Incredibolt, Riley Mott, Jaime Torres, 20-1 Katie

    12. Chief Wallabee, Bill Mott, Junior Alvarado, 8-1 Patd

    13. Silent Tactic, Mark Casse, Cristian Torres, 20-1 Scratched

    14. Potente, Bob Baffert, Juan Hernandez, 20-1 Winterlinde

    15. Emerging Market, Chad Brown, Flavien Prat, 15-1

    16. Pavlovian, Doug O’Neill, Edwin Maldonado, 30-1 Craig

    17. Six Speed, Bhupat Seemar, Brian Hernandez Jr., 50-1

    18. Further Ado, Brad Cox, John Velazquez, 6-1 Dave B.

    19. Golden Tempo, Cherie DeVaux, Jose Ortiz, 30-1 Sturgeon

    20. Fulleffort, Brad Cox, Tyler Gaffalione, 20-1

    21. Great White, John Ennis, Alex Achard, 40-1 Patd (show)

  14. PROGRAMMING NOTE: Our daily Digital Diner podcast airs 11-Noon ET on YouTube. JOIN Chatroom Here. WATCH Yesterday’s Replay Here.

    What is Actually Clicking: April 30, 2026

    1. Politics: The Supreme Court guts a cornerstone of the Voting Rights Act, drastically altering minority representation. – KSAT
    2. Law: The Supreme Court unanimously blocks a state probe into Christian anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers. – WHBL
    3. World: South Korea’s appeals court increases ex-President Yoon Suk Yeol’s prison term to seven years for his martial law stunt. – Public Radio Tulsa
    4. Foreign Policy: Trump openly rejects Iran’s settlement offer and insists the devastating naval blockade will continue. – The Times of Israel
    5. Policy: A federal judge intervenes to stop the White House from stripping Atlanta’s funding over DEI initiatives. – Rough Draft Atlanta
    6. Economy: The CBP’s broken tariff refund portal draws congressional heat for locking out small businesses while paying out billions to mega-corporations. – Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi
    7. Health: Congress weighs a slate of FDA bills as food lobbyists rush to block state-level bans on petroleum-based dyes. – Holland & Knight
    8. Culture: Lego’s new $130 Shrek swamp diorama sends nostalgic millennials and scalpers into a buying frenzy. – Mashable
    9. Entertainment: The internet fractures over Anne Hathaway’s teaser debut in the cinematic adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s “Verity.” – The Fussy Librarian
    10. Entertainment: Apple TV’s “Criminal Record” draws fierce debate over its risky right-wing bomb plot storyline in season two. – Seat42F

    These are the stories driving the most traffic right now—not necessarily the stories we think you should read, and not always the most recent.

    A roundup by our AI partner Silas (Gemini).

  16. The most recent NCIS used a “this is possible with AI” device for the plot so I had to ask if “EDNA” could exist in real life. The answer was potentially terrifying:

    Yes, the concept of EDNA—a computer program developed by NCIS Forensic Scientist Kasie Hines that uses DNA to create suspect profiles—is rooted in real-world forensic advancements, but it is likely highly exaggerated for entertainment, as NCIS often blends real science with “Hollywood” storytelling.

    How EDNA is Plausible in Real Life

    Predictive DNA Analysis (Phenotyping): Real-world law enforcement already uses DNA phenotyping, which analyzes genetic markers to predict a person’s physical appearance (eye color, hair color, skin tone) and ancestral origins.

    Rapid DNA Technology: The ability to generate profiles quickly from crime scene evidence is advancing rapidly, similar to the goal of EDNA in the show.

    Data Analysis Tools: Forensic scientists do use advanced software to manage, compare, and develop profiles from complex DNA evidence.

  21. You might also look at US Hwy 52. Runs from Moose Jaw (as Hwy 39 in Canada) to Charleston SC. At the end of the road in Charleston is White Point Gardens at The Battery, where Citadel cadets fired on a union ship which was attempting to re-supply Fort Sumpter in Charleston Harbor, thus initiating the Civil War.

    (Half a million dead people over 5 yrs or so.Kinda like 275 every day)

  23. https://apnews.com/article/methodist-megachurch-pastor-kansas-senate-candidate-c703c399ddd3f16a0f0d9dab1cc08e05

    *The Talarico Effect

    The pastor of the nation’s largest Methodist church is running for the US Senate in Kansas

    The pastor of the largest United Methodist Church in the U.S. launched a campaign Thursday for the Democratic nomination for a U.S. Senate seat in Kansas, upending the race in a normally Republican state as the GOP’s small majority seems less secure than it was a year ago.

    He had considered running as an independent candidate, telling his congregation that he could bridge partisan divides in a highly polarized political climate, but many Democrats believed an independent candidacy would simply split the anti-Marshall vote, making it easier for Marshall to win a second term.

    The Rev. Adam Hamilton enters the race as a potentially formidable candidate, though it wasn’t immediately clear how many of the eight other, lesser-known Democrats who’ve announced for the Aug. 4 primary would drop out. The winner will face incumbent Republican Roger Marshall, who aligned himself closely with President Donald Trump in his first run for the Senate in 2020.

    Hamilton, 61, has a national following among mainline Protestants, and he’s built his Church of the Resurrection over the past 35 years in the Kansas City-area with about 22,000 members — giving him a base from which to tap volunteers and donors.

    While Democrats and Republicans have traded off the Kansas governor’s office for the past 60 years, Republicans haven’t lost a U.S. Senate race in the state since 1932. Democrats gave Marshall a vigorous challenge in 2020, but he still prevailed by more than 11 percentage points, even as Democrat Joe Biden ousted Trump and his party won control of both houses of Congress.

  26. Today in the diner…
    Correspondents Dinner Scare & US Defense Industry

    Correspondents Dinner panic, 2028 governors, and how Ukraine’s cheap drones are embarrassing the US defense industry. We dig into today’s chaos.

    Intellectual honesty time: our bloated defense industry is stuck fighting the Cold War while Ukraine builds autonomous drones out of spare parts and kicks Russia’s teeth in. The “America Alone” crowd wants us out of Europe, which just means handing billions in defense contracts straight to foreign manufacturers. It is a stunning masterclass in shooting ourselves in the foot.

    Meanwhile, Howard Mortman drops in to recount the raw terror inside the White House Correspondents’ Dinner when the music abruptly stopped and heavily armed squads marched in. Forget the official spin about security working fine—nobody inside knew if it was a terror attack or an assassination. Add to that a cattle drive of ambitious governors dropping heavy presidential hints, and a healthy dose of redistricting maps backfiring on the very politicians who drew them.

    https://trailmix.cc/chat
    https://trailmix.cc
    https://trailmix.cc/alerts

    00:00 Intro
    00:06:00 White House Correspondents Dinner Panic
    00:14:00 2028 Presidential Governors Roundup
    00:30:26 Ukraine Autonomous Drones & US Defense
    00:43:00 Voting Rights & Redistricting Backfire
    00:54:14 May Day Protests & General Strike
    01:01:14 Willie Nelson’s 93rd Birthday

  29. So yesterday the 2nd Circuit refused Dumbass’ request for an en banc hearing on his motion to reduce or throw out the 83 million dollar judgment against him in the 2nd E. Jean Carroll case. And Dumbass will be trying to rush back to SCROTUS to get an insane ruling that his defamation of Ms. Carroll should be reversed because drumroll please, he was acting in his capacity as President when he defamed her. Thank the Roberts court for this shit.

  32. So, Pastor Hamilton had planned to run as an Independent (records show he had a Republican voting record) so he won’t split the vote and hand Roger Marshall another win.

    If he is the Democratic nominee, and if he beats Marshall, expect him to vote with Republicans much of the time.

    https://www.kcur.org/politics-elections-and-government/2025-12-30/whos-running-to-represent-kansas-in-the-u-s-senate-in-2026-heres-a-guide-to-the-candidates

    *He’s not the only ~former~ Republican running as a Democrat. To be fair, I only see two in this group who are left of center, at all, and not by much.

  33. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/gop-smear-of-dem-senatorial-candidate-james-talarico-backfires-badly_n_69f28639e4b084a938d7c6f2

    A GOP strategist thought he had found the perfect way to attack Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico – but it backfired badly. So badly that even other conservatives said it went too far.

    Party strategist Bobby LaValley attempted to do just that on Wednesday when he published one of Talarico’s Facebook posts on social media in an attempt to make him look bad. The post was from May 2012, when Talarico was a schoolteacher in San Antonio. In it, he featured a picture of the University of Texas with this caption: “Looking forward to spending my birthday with the 6th grade boys at UT tomorrow!”

    The context of Talarico’s original post was that he was taking his students on a field trip to the university.

    LaValley decided to make things look more sinister. He wrote: “No teacher, let alone a U.S. Senate candidate, should ever post that.”

    @laurenhtexas • X.com
    I understand it’s confusing to the party of the Epstein class that despises education, but it’s actually fine for a teacher to take his students on a field trip to a local (very well ranked and well regarded in and out of Texas, mind you) university. You’re the sick one.

    @dix_iechick • X.com
    If this is the type of oppo they have on Talarico — I feel even better about our chances to replace Cornyn with a fabulous senator who actually cares about our public schools, the rule of law, and the people of Texas! Complete weirdos don’t understand field trips, I guess?!

    @RobHTX78 • X.com
    This just reinforces that he really was a teacher who built community. This probably will help Talarico be identifiable for parents whose kids have a Class Twitter Feed. It communicates with the families.

    Talarico’s campaign has inspired some extreme reactions from the MAGA crowd. Back in March, Brooks Potteiger, an evangelical pastor who is reportedly Pete Hegseth’s closest spiritual adviser, called the Texas Democrat “a wolf,” a “demon” and “a snake” on a podcast, and said he prays that “God kills him.”

  35. @isaiahrmartin
    According to this new Supreme Court ruling, total blue states like Colorado can draw an 8-0 blue map, Illinois a 17-0 blue map, and California a 52-0 blue map. Time to respond accordingly to this new conservative threat and give Republicans exactly what they asked for.

    *Craig , I believe this is what you were referring to this morning.

    https://people.com/congressional-candidate-removed-from-hearing-arrested-after-criticizing-texas-republicans-11779696

    *In case anyone is unfamiliar with Mr. Martin…he is more of the energy Dems need.

  36. We haven’t expanded the size of the House for 100 years. Uncapping the House would be a useful way to diversify representation in response to yesterday’s court ruling.

  37. Yep, BlueD, that’s my point. I ran it out some more here: GOP, Be Careful What You Map For

    Basically, when you crack a voting bloc, those people don’t vanish—they just spill across the map. Instead of packing Black voters into isolated districts, they’re folded in with white liberals to create more Democratic seats.

  38. https://apnews.com/article/homeland-security-shutdown-funding-trump-republicans-d377a15c40ad0f430983b6d918b24bb6

    After weeks of delay, the House voted Thursday to fund much of the Department of Homeland Security, but not its immigration enforcement operations, and send the bipartisan package to President Donald Trump to sign, ending the longest agency shutdown in history.

    The White House had warned that temporary funding Trump had tapped to pay Transportation Security Administration and other agency personnel would “soon run out,” and that sparked new threats of airport disruptions.

    DHS has been without routine funds since Feb. 14, causing hardship for workers, though much of Trump’s immigration agenda that is central to the dispute is being funded separately.

    “It is about damn time,” said Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, who proposed the bill more than 70 days ago.

    *The ICE N&zis still have Big, Ugly Bill money. Guess they didn’t want TSA troubles when FIFA World Cup happens…whether or not folks actually show up for matches in the US remains to be seen.

  40. https://worldsoccertalk.com/news/2026-world-cup-reportedly-faces-ticket-sales-struggles-fifa-announces-new-sales-phase-with-usmnt-opener-among-affected-matches/

    2026 World Cup reportedly faces ticket sales struggles: FIFA announces new sales phase with USMNT opener among affected matches

    According to a report by The Athletic‘s Adam Crafton and Henry Bushnell, a document distributed to local organizers in Los Angeles revealed that the United States vs. Paraguay game has lagged behind other fixtures at the venue. With SoFi Stadium’s listed capacity of 69,650, the document showed that as of April 10, only 40,934 tickets had been purchased, leaving nearly 30,000 seats still available.

  41. https://www.npr.org/2026/04/30/nx-s1-5803486/fifa-world-cup-soccer-football-tickets

    The cheapest match for the U.S. team would cost his family almost $1,600 — for nosebleed seats. If his family wanted to go to the U.S. opening game, it would cost them over $6,700 for seats.

    The last straw for Malugani came when the organization awarded President Trump the FIFA Peace Prize, a new recognition given to those who “have helped unite people all over the world in peace.”

    But demand in the first half of the World Cup has been softer than expected, he adds.

    “It’s a confluence of, oh, there’s a war going on. Oh, airfares are high. Oh, ticket prices are high. You know, and in the first round stages, maybe those matches aren’t super interesting. So, you know, maybe it’s sort of a little bit of everything,” Freitag says.

    FIFA canceled a large number of hotel rooms across some of the host cities, according to Rosanna Maietta, who leads the American Hotel & Lodging Association. Although it’s common for FIFA to overbook hotel rooms before tournaments, the number of cancellations caught the industry by surprise.

    But another major reason is that the industry is not yet seeing the number of bookings from overseas travelers it had expected.

    “That makes us take a deep breath,” Maietta says. “It remains to be seen where we’ll end up by the time the games are here.”

    Maguire is a professor of soccer finance in Liverpool, England, who hosts a popular podcast on the subject. But he is also a fan, having attended several World Cups before.

    Not this one, though. Maguire says he no longer feels welcome in the United States, a country he says he loves and where he has felt comfortable visiting before.

    But lately, he’s wary. Maguire cites recent rules that allow immigration officers to scrutinize the social media history for a variety of visitors, which could be expanded to also include those from countries with visa waiver agreements with the U.S.

    The White House has also imposed bans or travel restrictions on around three dozen countries, including on four teams that are actually taking part in the World Cup.

    Another reason, Maguire says, are the recent cases of violence involving ICE in cities such as Minneapolis where several people have been killed.

    “We’ve seen what’s happened in Minnesota. We’ve seen what’s happened in other cities as a whole,” he says. “I think some of the measures … which are seen as being draconian, which are seen as being quite repressive, have had a negative impact upon those willing to attend the World Cup.”

  42. JD Vance just called abandoning Ukraine the thing he is “proudest” of in the current Trump administration. Nothing says global leadership like bragging about ditching an ally on national TV.

  43. From my reading about Ukraine war tech.
    To read more, Here is the link

    However, there have been other reported uses of these robots (also known as an unmanned ground vehicles) in combat roles in the war between Russia and Ukraine. In January 2026, Ukrainian forces were reported to have captured three Russian soldiers in Zaporizhzhia using a single ground robot. Footage of the incident, which circulated online, showed the impact of facing a robotic system in combat written on the faces of the captured soldiers.

    This has been going on for some time. In March 2025, The Wall Street Journal reported that Ukrainian forces engaged Russian forces near Kharkiv using several ground robots equipped with machine guns. These were deployed from different positions and supported by first-person-view (FPV) attack drones.

    Improving with experience
    Not much is known about the type of unmanned ground vehicles used by Ukraine. But reports suggest that among the weapons used in most of these attacks is the Droid TW 12.7, developed by Devdroid, a private tech company in Ukraine involved in the manufacture of military robotics.
    This robot is armed with a 12.7 mm M2 Browning machine gun, has a firing range of up to roughly one kilometre, and is equipped with night-vision capability. It is remotely operated, rather than fully autonomous, although it can carry out preprogrammed combat tasks.

    Devdroid, like most military tech start-ups in Ukraine, appears to hold an advantage in manufacturing these systems and in testing them in active combat conditions on a timely basis. This creates rapid feedback, allowing for quick adjustments and improvements based on battlefield experience.
    A coordinated attack, like the ones conducted by Ukraine, involving a group of ground vehicles and swarms of drones, is not just a low-cost way to defend or seize positions but also points to a change in how force is applied on the battlefield.

    Such a coordinated “multi-swarm” of killer robots on the ground and in the air would reduce the exposure of human soldiers for the attacking side, while increasing the pressure on those defending both in terms of casualties and the loss of expensive equipment. Such robots are produced locally and are far cheaper to lose than trained soldiers or expensive military hardware, such as tanks.

  47. “Dude, just answer the question.” Notice how he stopped smirking when she said “the guy you’re performing for now,” and then he accused her of performing. That triggered him because he’s not the alpha he pretends to be, he’s a beta…if that.

  48. I followed up on the morning chat conversation about the NCIS episode on EDNA and AI by having a heart to heart with my buddy Merlin. Anyone wondering what was real and what AI can currently do if not giving the Hollywood treatment, here is the result.

    EDNA and Merlin

  49. Hegseth isn’t a “Beta”. He’s a “Zed”. The tail wagging the dog at the so called Alpha (actually beta at best) who is just groveling to Putin who thinks he is an Alpha when riding half nude . The real man is Zalinski who is so alpha he doesn’t have anything to prove.

  56. ken martin was interviewed by jon favreau on pod save and they both came off poorly

    pod save guys act too much like they won something recently, or ever

  57. https://apnews.com/article/uk-smoking-ban-vape-vaping-cigarettes-ade338fc91f6a7dc73d4996acb64ca5d

    “The end of smoking, and the devastating harm it causes, is no longer uncertain — it’s inevitable,” Hazel Cheeseman, chief executive of Action on Smoking and Health, said after a decades-long campaign in favor of legislation approved Tuesday.

    Children born after Dec. 31, 2008, will be banned from ever buying cigarettes under the Tobacco and Vapes Bill.

    The legislation that needs approval by King Charles III — a formality — before taking effect will also allow the government to regulate tobacco, vaping and nicotine products, including flavors and packaging.

    *Didn’t realize Charles had to sign legislation, even as a formality.

  58. ken martin ofc acted like he was the architect of every recent Dem victory

    maybe he was but i haven’t heard anyone else credit him

  59. Just saw a video Bill Clinton in which he gives a clear-eyed assessment of current world situation. It was a masterful summation.
    It was on a Facebook “reels” thing so was not able to copy it without sending a jillion other videos with it. It was on something called USA TV Digital, but can’t find it there.
    Anyway, it’s out there somewhere and well worth the time.

  62. Steinbeck coined the term mother road to describe Route 66. Not as the Mother of all roads, as some use the term today, but as the main road to California that traffic from all roads in the southern great plains flowed into. It was the road the Jode family took in the Grapes of Wrath. It was the road many of my family members and their neighbors took during the great depression even up to the late 50’s. Looking for work that was not to be had at home. It was the road that took Woody Guthrie to California and the world. A road of desperation and hope.
    Jack

  63. An except from Chapter 12 of the Grapes of Wrath. (Link Here)

    The people in flight streamed out on 66, sometimes a single car, sometimes a little caravan. All day they rolled slowly along the road, and at night they stopped near water. In the day ancient leaky radiators sent up columns of steam, loose connecting rods hammered and pounded. And the men driving the trucks and the overloaded cars listened apprehensively. How far between towns? It is a terror between towns. If something breaks—well, if something breaks we camp right here while Jim walks to town and gets a part and walks back and—how much food we got?

    Listen to the motor. Listen to the wheels. Listen with your ears and with your hands on the steering wheel; listen with the palm of your hand on the gear-shift lever; listen with your feet on the floor boards. Listen to the pounding old jalopy with all your senses, for a change of tone, a variation of rhythm may mean—a week here? That rattle—that’s tappets. Don’t hurt a bit. Tappets can rattle till Jesus comes again without no harm. But that thudding as the car moves along—can’t hear that—just kind of feel it. Maybe oil isn’t gettin’ someplace. Maybe a bearin’s startin’ to go. Jesus, if it’s a bearing, what’ll we do? Money’s goin’ fast.

    And why’s the son-of-a-bitch heat up so hot today? This ain’t no climb. Le’s look. God Almighty, the fan belt’s gone!

  64. There is not a lot of difference between all those people traveling Route 66 in the 30’s an many of my Mexican friends and neighbors who crossed the Rio Grande and walked north.

    Jack

Name is required. Email and website optional — we only ask for civility.

Regulars: Already registered? Log in here so your name fills in automatically.

New here? You can comment without an account — just pick a name and type. If you want a permanent login, you can register here (optional).

First time here? New voices always welcome. The regulars only bite when provoked.

Leave a Comment

The maximum upload file size: 100 MB. You can upload: image, audio, video, document, spreadsheet, interactive, text, archive, code, other. Links to YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and other services inserted in the comment text will be automatically embedded. Drop files here

Join the Trail Mix

Get an alert when Craig goes live, and the link when our Open Thread heats up.