In January 2026, the U.S. government approved the potential sale of American-made missiles to Denmark to strengthen its defensive capabilities in and around Greenland. On its face, the transaction looked routine: a NATO ally purchasing weapons through the Foreign Military Sales program to improve readiness and interoperability.
Job cuts at the IRS's tech arm have gone faster and farther than expected, with 40 percent of IT staff and four-fifths of tech leaders gone, the agency's CIO revealed yesterday.
There seems to be a deep-seated association between sounds and shapes.
A banner of U.S. President Donald Trump has been unfurled outside the headquarters of the Justice Department in the latest effort to stamp his identity on a Washington institution.
The Department of Justice's (DOJ) latest disclosure under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which was suppose to explain why any documents were withheld and providing the legal basis for shielding any names, was a long list of names as disparate as Janis Joplin, Julian Assange and former Vice President Dick Cheney ... read more
Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band - Canyons of Your Mind (1969)
www.youtube.com
Lyrics excerpt ...
...
[Spoken:]
This is the B side of our platter, sports fans
And I'm singing for you just covered in sequins
[Sung:]
In the canyons of your mind
I will wander through your brain
To the ventricles of your heart, my dear
I'm in love with you again!
'Cross the mountains of your chest
I will stick a Union Jack
To the forest of your cheek
Through the holes in your string vest
...
I remember when Pres Biden wanted to hire more IRS auditing personnel.
And the Republican reaction ...
IRS won't hire armed auditors, will add criminal investigators, new chief says (April 20230
www.reuters.com
... Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Danny Werfel on Thursday said the agency will not hire any armed auditors with $80 billion in new funding, an attempt to dispel Republican assertions the IRS plans to build an "army" of 87,000 armed agents.
Werfel, sworn in as the tax agency's chief on April 4, acknowledged to a House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee hearing that the IRS Criminal Investigations division would hire additional staff authorized to carry firearms, but said this division does not conduct audits.
Werfel, asked how many armed revenue agents would be hired to increase the number of audits on wealthy Americans and large businesses, said, "None, sir."
But later, he said statistics cited by Republican Representative Adrian Smith sounded "about right" that the IRS would hire some 360 Criminal Investigation special agents over the next five years, for a net gain of 1,200 after retirements.
"Our CI division or Criminal Investigation Division, they do not conduct audits," Werfel said. "What they do is, they are investigating acute issues of fraud and tax evasion. And typically, they're armed when they're putting themselves in danger." ...
Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band - I'm The Urban Spaceman (1969)
www.youtube.com
Lyrics excerpt ...
...
I'm the Urban Spaceman, baby
I've got speed
I've got everything I need
I'm the Urban Spaceman, baby
I can fly
I'm a supersonic guy
I don't need pleasure
I don't feel pain
If you were to knock me down
I'd just get up again
I'm the Urban Spaceman, baby
I'm making out
I'm all about
I wake up every morning with a smile upon my face
My natural exuberance spills out all over the place
I'm the Urban Spaceman
I'm intelligent and clean
Know what I mean?
I'm the Urban Spaceman
As a lover, second to none
It's a lot of fun
I never let my friends down
I've never made a boob
I'm a glossy magazine, an advert in the tube
I'm the Urban Spaceman, baby, here comes the twist
I don't exist
...
Not the first time the UK has balked at Pres Trump's actions...
UK pauses intelligence-sharing with US on suspected drug vessels in Caribbean (November 2025)
www.theguardian.com
... Britain has suspended the sharing of intelligence with the US on suspected drug trafficking vessels in the Caribbean amid concerns information supplied may be used to engage in lethal military strikes by American forces.
Such a decision -- a rare rupture between the normally close military allies -- would indicate that the UK does not believe the Trump administration's controversial practice of sinking boats allegedly used by drug traffickers is legal. ...
... The Brain-Rot Pandemic ...
The obligatory mention ...
BrainDead
en.wikipedia.org
... .BrainDead is an American political satire science fiction[1][2][3] comedy-drama television series created by Robert and Michelle King.[4]
The series stars Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Laurel Healy, a documentary film-maker who takes a job working for her brother Luke (Danny Pino), a U.S. Senator, when the funding for her latest film falls through.
Assigned as his new constituency caseworker, she discovers that Washington, D.C. has been invaded by extraterrestrial insects which are eating the brains and taking control of people, including members of Congress and their staffers.
Much of the internal comedy of the series was that, in the altered reality of Washington, D.C. politics, only a few people noticed.
CBS announced a 13-episode straight-to-series order on July 22, 2015. The show premiered on June 13, 2016. ...
I also note that when I watched that series, in the background of many of the scenes was a TV set showing then candidate Trump speaking.
imo, it was an amazingly prescient TV series of the time.
This skit from the 70's always causes me to smile ...
Firesign Theater - Attack by UFO Eggs (1975) (3 1/2 minutes)
www.youtube.com
"Honey, they're in everybody's eggs...."
:)
Found this ...
For Bass and LAFD, there's no watering down how bad 2025 has been (December 2025)
www.latimes.com
... The year was already a debacle for the Los Angeles Fire Department and Mayor Karen Bass, with multiple stumbles before and after the epic January blaze that obliterated Pacific Palisades, so it was hard to imagine that things could get worse in the closing days of 2025.
But they have.
A blistering Times investigation found that the Fire Department cleaned up its after-action report, downplaying missteps.
In other words, there was a blatant attempt to mislead the public.
And Bass representatives said they requested that her comments in the final minutes of a video interview " in which she admitted that "both sides botched it" in the Eaton and Palisades fires " be edited out because she thought the interview had ended.
Please.
Together, these developments will echo through the coming mayoral election, in which Bass will be called out repeatedly over one of the greatest disasters in L.A. history. We're a long way from knowing whether she can survive and win a second term, but Austin Beutner and any other legitimate contenders are being handed gifts that will keep on giving.
In the case of the altered report, kudos to Times reporters Alene Tchekmedyian and Paul Pringle, who have been trying all year to keep the LAFD honest, which is no easy task.
In the latest bombshell dropped by the two reporters, they dug up seven drafts of the department's self-analysis, or after-action report, and found that it had been altered multiple times to soften damning conclusions. ...
@#6 ... Pedo 47 seeks to protect weedkiller at center of barrage of lawsuits ...
Meanwhile, the Judge appointed to the case seems to have a reputation of being a ~cut-to-the-chase~ Judge.
Bayer Draws No-Nonsense Missouri Judge to Vet Roundup Deal Plan
www.bloomberg.com