Because It's Friday

UPRR 4014 without a diesel.

4014 has reported been fitted with full PTC, so it doesn't need a diesel for control purposes. That must have been no mean feat to install on an eighty-year-old locomotive.

The Problem is in Your Own House, Mitch

Sen. Mitch McConnell has written an opinion piece in the NY Times saying that we cannot afford to repeat the mistakes of the 1930s. This is a non-paywalled link to the piece.

What McConnell only hints at is that the difficulty in the 2020s when it comes to resisting Russian aggression comes from within his own party, just as it did in the 1930s, when the isolationists (and the Nazi sympathizers) were also in his own party.

The recent gains on the battlefield by the Russians were as a direct result of Republicans delaying aid to Ukraine for nearly half-a-year. Of course, you won't hear McConnell acknowledging that fact, either.

So his opinion peace is pretty weak sauce.

A D-Day Survivor

USS LST-510, still in service as the M/V Cape Henlopen. She runs year-round between New London, CT and Orient Point, NY.

No Dark Matter?

A study, published today in The Astrophysical Journal, challenges the current model of the universe by showing that, in fact, it has no room for dark matter.

I'm not a physicist. But I have been skeptical of the hypothesis of dark matter/energy ever since I first read an article on the subject.

("Read" is a bit of an overstatement. I usually couldn't get past six paragraphs in Scientific American before they might as well have printed the rest of the article in Swedish, for all that I could understand it. But I digress.)

Dark matter/energy always struck me as being a massive fudge factor. But, since I couldn't get through the articles on it, it made little sense to write the science magazines and suggest that this particular emperorer has no clothes.

Still, this is what science does: Look at the data, the observations, and try to come up with a hypothesis as to how things work. More data, better observational tools and then the hypothesis changes to accomodate that.

ESCing These Down, Here

But The COFF’s Supporters Believe This

I think that, if somebody tried to claim that the prosecution of Hunter Biden was an assault on all gun owners, they would get roundly laughed out of the public space. But that doesn't stop either Don Snoreleone from claiming the same thing or his cultists from believing it.

D-Day Plus 80

It was eighty years ago that the Western Allies landed on the coast of Normandy to bring the war to that part of Hitler's short-lived empire.

Seven divisions of soldiers. Twenty thousand paratroopers. Ten thousand airplanes, an unbelievable number by prewar standards. Over five thousand ships. The tide had already turned against Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union's forces were slowly rolling up the Wehrmacht and the Waffen SS. D-Day meant that now the jaws were closing in on both sides. Ten months of hard fighting later and the war in Europe was won.

Ten Medals of Honor and one Victoria Cross were awarded for bravery on D-Day.

None of the soldiers, sailors and airmen who fought there and who still live are under 95 years old. They will soon fade into history. But what they did in their fight against fascism will not soon be forgotten.

(And no, they were not "suckers" and "losers". Regardless of what someone else thinks.)

Everything Even Somewhat Associated With Felonious Don Dies

Exhibit 845,325: Epoch Times.

The arrest of an executive at The Epoch Times in a money-laundering scheme this week has drawn attention to a media outlet that has lived largely in the shadows since its founding in 2000 and a transformation during the Trump administration.

Federal prosecutors in New York charged Weidong “Bill” Guan of Secaucus, N.J., chief financial officer of The Epoch Times, of steering at least $67 million in criminal proceeds, much from fraudulently obtained unemployment insurance benefits, to the company, its affiliates and himself. Guan pleaded not guilty but was suspended by The Epoch Times, which agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.

The case calls into question the future of a company that was a key online supporter of Trump and spreader of conspiracy theories.

The cultish aspect is weird, too. Even if few in the West give a shit about Falun Gong. But it is interesting how things connected to or supporting Felon^34 seem to wither and die (or, if human, get indicted).

Piss Off Xi and Remember This Day.

On this day, 35 years ago, the Chinese government/CCP murdered thousands of its citizens who only desired freedom.

One of the candidates in our election praised the Chinese government for gunning down its citizens. You know who that was.

Spacing These Down, Here

Not quite a train wreck, but close enough: