Open Thread

What’s on your mind?

Comments

[darkknight9]

I'm honestly afraid to bring up anything this sensitive... it brings out the worst of the worst... but is this a fair assessment?

Joseph (Jake) Klein

It is increasingly clear that @reason must drop @VolokhC in order to maintain a libertarian foreign policy stance. Volokh’s blog has repeatedly published misinformation regarding Israel’s war crimes, written by @ProfDBernstein and others, to defend continued American intervention for Israel.

Now they are proudly endorsing blacklisting conservatives for the “crime” of being critical of America’s relationship with Israel. This is the opposite of the libertarian position, and it should not be advanced by our flagship publication.

[Kazinski]

HaHaHaHa.

Its not sensitive its ridiculous.l, if for nothing else for the proposition that Reason which has published at least 697 pieces decrying cancel culture in the last 7 years would cancel someone for their views, including the blog which probably drives at least half the trafic to this site.

[Kazinski]

HaHaHaHa.

Its not sensitive its ridiculous.l, if for nothing else for the proposition that Reason which has published at least 697 pieces decrying cancel culture in the last 7 years would cancel someone for their views, including the blog which probably drives at least half the trafic to this site.

[Kazinski]

I was thinking that the Administration's claim that they were cancelling off shore wind farm leases for National Security Reasons was suspect.

But it turns out offshore windfarms can seriously degrade radar performance. And in an age of drones and autonomous drone ships thats a real danger.

This long tweet is heavily footnoted with the studies that show irs a real concern,and creates a legitimate National Secure vulnerability.
https://x.com/i/status/2003204608714256474

[santamonica811]

Kaz,
Go with your first instinct. OF COURSE it's not the real reason the Trump administration is doing this. It's because Trump has made it one of his policies to oppose wind power and to sabotage wind power.

Yes, one can imagine some doomsday scenario, where a drone ship is piloted towards America, AND some evil genius has figured out the exact path where offshore turbines diminishes our radar, AND this means that instead of getting a 75 minute advance warning, we only get a 71 minute advance warning, AND somehow this extra 4 minutes makes all the difference in terms of blowing the ship out of the water vs having a lethal attack on The Hamptons' beachcombers. Yes, in the existential sense...it IS possible. But it's also obviously bullshit.

It's noteworthy that the ban on foreign consumer drones has now taken effect. So, for anyone who wants to buy a new DJI drone (the consumer drones that are vastly superior to anything made in America), you're out of luck. The ones you now own are grandfathered in, so we current owners are okay. Except...the ban also applies to spare parts, so we're SOL if anything breaks. Fortunately, my sister is a professor in Montreal, so I will have a workaround. But the vast majority of current drone owners are fucked. At least till 2029, when a new administration comes in. (Trump's rationale for this drone ban was . . . wait for it!!! . . . yeah; you guessed it: National security.) LOL

[Kazinski]

I was talking about a merchant ship or an autonomous drone ship launching aerial drones at critical infrastructure, military targets, or civilian targets.

And its not a question of if, its when.

I posted this story a week or two ago about Russian drones launched from merchant motherships incursions into Europe.

https://ioplus.nl/en/posts/how-seven-students-unmasked-russias-drone-motherships

Nothing to worry about there?

[DDHarriman]

You forget how these people reason:

santamonious811 beliefs = Trump * -1

No evidence or facts will move them.

[Frank Drackman]

My "Spare Parts" are a back up Drone (Mini4K) that I've put 3 miles on (versus 90 on the first one I fly regularly)
They included a bunch of Spare Propellers, so far I've only had to replace 2 of the 8 whose tips broke off (thanks to a power line, I thought I had bought the model with "Collision Avoidance" I didn't)
It flew fine for miles with the 2 tips broken off, but while hovering it would yaw just a bit to that side. Working on getting around that pesky 400 ft Altitude limit.

Frank

[bloocow2]

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/22/us/politics/trump-administration-ambassadors-posts.html

This isn't surprising anymore, and I don't expect to find that much sympathy here, but recalling this many career diplomats is pretty nuts to me. These are people who are professionals, who have local relationships and understand the contexts they're working in, and will carry out US policy regardless of whether they personally agree with it or not--and if they weren't comfortable with that, they would resign.

Who on earth are they going to be replaced with? Or are they just not going to be replaced...

[santamonica811]

I think you're missing the point. Trump's goal was never to replace bad career workers with better ones. It was to get rid of experienced workers, so that different agencies and areas of government would function poorly. Feeding his argument of, "Look how badly X Dept is running. Evidence that we could/should get rid of the department entirely."

As Trump's idiocy goes; it's actually a pretty clever plan. I think our govt is worse off not having a well-functioning FEMA, CDC, Dept of Ed, etc. But I admit that lots of people in this country take a different point of view. (Until a natural disaster hits their area, and they beg for federal and state aid, of course.)

[Davedave]

I think you're ascribing rational motives to Trump's behaviour, but in fact it's mere coincidence that his random action happens to come with a relatively rational explanation, rather than a sneaky plan. He isn't cunning, he's flailing around doing whatever he feels like. He resents the success of others, so he harms them.

[bloocow2]

Yeah, with Trump I don't think it goes beyond "these guys were appointed by the Biden administration, they gotta go!"

It doesn't matter if they were non-partisan appointments, it doesn't matter if they're good at their jobs, it doesn't matter if US foreign policy in the region is screwed as a result. All that matters is petty revenge.

[Commenter_XY]

Government bureaucrats are replaceable. We are talking about 30 State Department bureaucrats, it is not the end of the world. Surely, there are 30 bureaucrats somewhere within the State Department with some time on their hands.

[Kazinski]

The EU is implementing Global Carbon Tariffs for imports into the EU, starting Jan 1, 2026 thats expected to amout to a 10-30% tax on imports depending on their carbon footprint.

They passed the regulation for this in 2023 so its not in retaliation inspired by Trump's Tariffs.

https://theconversation.com/how-europes-new-carbon-tax-on-imported-goods-will-change-global-trade-and-our-shopping-habits-270496

Don't they know tariffs are bad?

[Kazinski]

Axios is reporting that contrary to claims that the Administration refused to provide a response about the CECOT story, they actually provided several responses, that were not included in the piece.

https://x.com/i/status/2003253518413758834

That does seem out of character, I don't think I've seen many 'no comments' from this Administration, in fact they often talk way, way too much.

So that claim by the reporter and producer was false. No surprise there.

[Commenter_XY]

Aye Me Maties...another oil tanker 'pirated' by the US Navy.

The Congress has been briefed. I do not hear a hue and cry for impeaching POTUS Trump over VEN policy (which includes snuffing out drug dealers and drug smugglers in intl waters), or even changing VEN policy (the six nutjobs don't count). Why?

What is the legal status of the oil that is seized? Does it need to be returned to VEN? Could it be re-sold, legally?

[OzzyDerKoenig]

I'd like to see 545 U.S. 1 (2005) get overruled. Been writing about it, actually, although I don't have a credential.