Here are the books I finished reading in 2025.

Tech Billionaires Threaten To Flee California Over Proposed Vest Tax  - The Onion

“If the legislature passes this measure, you can bet that countless entrepreneurs and venture capitalists are going to pack their bags and move their gilet collections to Texas,” said tax advisor Aaron Faucher, who confirmed that several of his clients, including Larry Page and Peter Thiel, had already begun transferring garment bags to states more friendly to billionaire wardrobes.

More Roomba Vacuums Get Matter Support for HomeKit Integration - MacRumors

iRobot’s added Matter support comes as the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy earlier in December. iRobot has been sold to Picea Robotics, a Chinese company that already manufactures some of the Roomba devices.

Good thing the Biden anti-trust enforcers didn’t allow iRobot to fall into the hands of Amazon!

Oh No! Russian Forces Invade Alaska While NORAD Distracted Tracking Santa - Babylon Bee

“We had 30,000 personnel all tracking Santa’s sleigh over Africa, which was pretty dumb now that I think about it. We probably should have had at least someone keeping an eye on the Russians.”

Winter storm warning.

❄️

Powerful Rest And Fluids Industry Influencing Doctors’ Treatment Of Colds - The Onion

We’ve had the cure for the common cold for nearly 40 years, but it’s still ’rest and fluids, rest and fluids.’ Why? Because these guys are getting paid through the nose, that’s why.”

Nativity. ✨

In a Wild Year for Markets, Investors Who Did Nothing Did Just Fine - WSJ

Markets were assailed by a trio of disruptive forces this year. Yet investors were rewarded for doing nothing. 

If you owned U.S. stocks at the start of the year, you made good money. If you owned foreign stocks, even better. If you held Treasurys, you did well. And if you parked up in cash, the yield stayed high.

Cheers!

Nissan’s U.S. Boss Says the Automaker Lost Its Way - WSJ

Meunier, 58 years old, who worked at Nissan for 17 years on three continents before leaving in 2019 to run Stellantis’s Jeep brand

Wow, cut his teeth at Nissan then moved over to Jeep. This guy really knows his way around a poor quality vehicle!

Christmas Eve.

It’s that time of year again: detailed tax planning!

U.S. Bans New China-Made Drones, Sparking Outrage Among Pilots - WSJ

The Federal Communications Commission on Monday banned all drones and critical components made in a foreign country, and all communications and video-surveillance equipment from major Chinese drone manufacturers SZ DJI Technology and Autel Robotics.

This one stings; DJI is the Apple of drone technology. I hope the threat is real because I can’t name a single other hobbyist drone brand.

DJI accounts for around 70% to 90% of commercial, local-government and hobbyist drones in the U.S.

Uh-Oh: Car You Honked And Swore At For Driving Too Slow Just Turned Into Your Church Parking Lot - Babylon Bee

At publishing time, Nabors had decided to address the issue head-on by joining a different church.

We’ve all been there.

I’m excited to finally launch Applied Bioethics Magazine with its inaugural issue, The Human Person.

Enjoy!

Trump Goes for the Stoner Vote - WSJ Opinion

As we reported last week, young pot users are showing up with rising frequency at emergency rooms with uncontrolled vomiting and psychotic symptoms. One study this year found young users had a sixfold higher risk of heart attacks and fourfold greater of strokes. Yet the same Administration that targets Tylenol—which has proven benefits and minimal risks—now says marijuana is fine.

I didn’t think Public Health could be any less credible.

Some risks in life are worth taking.

❄️🛷

Christmas shopping.

🎅🏼

That moment when your alarm to wake up relies on HomeKit, and your whole HomeKit system goes down.

💤

Christmas tree day 🌲

Study Finds 80% Of Americans Lack Social Connections To Pull Off Heist - The Onion

“When it comes to putting together a crew with the skills needed for a bank job or a jewel heist, a majority of Americans reported knowing just one or two guys, tops,” said lead researcher Jane Iannitello, adding that only 20% had any safecrackers in their lives, a mere 16% knew any hacker prodigies with a rebellious streak, and fewer than 5% had access to Taiwanese acrobats doubling as masters of disguise.

I like to think that 9am is the most productive hour of my workday. It always feels just right.

Early morning of writing.

☕️

Is there anything more satisfying in web design than consistency?

Atheist Looks Forward To The Warmth And Cheer Of Arbitrary Cultural Traditions With No Transcendent Meaning - Babylon Bee

“The shopping season is one of my personal highlights every year, because I get to remember how ultimately useless this finite material existence really is. Happy holidays, everyone!”

First I was buried in snow; now I’m buried in files on my desktop.

🗂️

Snowy morning.

❄️

Thanksgiving Mass.

Mall Santa Prepares For Seasonal Gig By Cutting Off Ankle Monitor - Babylon Bee

“Nothing is going to stop me from making it to my shift as a mall Santa. I made a commitment, parole violation or no parole violation.”

Fire time.

Late autumn twilight in the backyard.

🍁

Felicity: “Dad, when will it warm up again?”

June.

☃️

I really hate touching anything made with microfiber.

First snow ❄️

Can You Spot The Differences Between These Grokipedia And Wikipedia Articles? - Babylon Bee

Grokipedia: The Babylon Bee is a hilarious source of misinformation and they owe Elon $44 billion.

Solid joke.

‘VeggieTales’ Releases New Episode With Evil Orange Character Who Deports Mr. Lunt - Babylon Bee

President Orange sent his ICEberg lettuce troops into our city to round up all the foreign-grown vegetables.

Financial Advisors Recommend Throwing Away Unopened Bills - The Onion

“As soon as you see an envelope reading ‘notice, final warning’ just immediately toss it in the recycling. That warning could be for anything. Plus, how can you owe something that you don’t know you owe?”

Fall drives.

Two years in captivity, the hostages are all home. What a day!

🇺🇸🇮🇱🇪🇬🇹🇷🇶🇦

I’m finally cleaning out old house paint left from previous owners.

By the numbers:

• Two decades worth of paint
• 30+ gallons
• 100% annoying

Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning

🍿

Apple picking day.

I am absolutely blown away by Realmac’s Elements.

Predawn heavy rain moving through bringing cooler air with it. Enjoying the acoustics as I read the paper on the couch.

🌧️

Long morning of only catching up. That’s okay, the progress of this weekend was well worth it.

Project complete; this is where I’ll be hanging out.

What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and what has not entered the human heart, what God has prepared for those who love him

• 1 Corinthians 2:9

Up!

🍿

It’s two years since my garage was organized. That changes today.

Most business owners I know struggle to find the perfect one-liner that encapsulates their value proposition. This isn’t their elevator pitch, but the simple explanation they can share in a social setting when they’re asked, “What do you do for work?” Sure, some professions are simpler than others. We’ve all hired electricians, seen builders work, and know a doctor. But even within those professions, there is a wide range of practice.

It’s been more than a decade since I left my nonprofit job, and just last week I found myself stumbling over the same question at a block party. I write and communicate for my clients every day, yet I had trouble putting into words exactly what I do. It was time to figure it out.

I graduated with a degree in Philosophy. It’s not a market-based credential, like law or education, but a wide-open field. Are many companies hiring for philosophers? Is there an extreme shortage in the Department of Intellectual Inquiry at Fortune 500 companies? No. Philosophy’s true strength is its framework. The process of thinking through even complex topics, reducing them to their most basic structure, and examining their essential nature is incredibly valuable in every industry and organization.

Philosophy is my firm’s differentiator, but how does it tie together sales tax audits, contract review, website design, systems development, file management, or any of the dozens of assorted tasks I’ve performed for clients? In every instance, I’ve used philosophy to deliver clarity in complexity.

Business owners, leaders, and entrepreneurs have more responsibilities than they have time. Every minute spent on back-office tasks is time that could be better invested in growth and serving existing clients. I take on the complexity, untangle it, and bring my clients the clarity they need to make informed and confident decisions.

Figuring out how to describe what I do was complex, but by following my own process, I finally arrived at an answer. I run a management consulting firm that handles back-office complexity so leaders can focus on growth.

Getting out of bed and walking early is the morning is never easy, but the ability to carry that win with me throughout the day is incredibly motivating.

There is something deeply soothing about looking up at the sky.

Democrats Stare Down the Political Risks of a Government Shutdown - WSJ

Democrats reveled in their willingness to rally together on what many believe to be a winning issue: lowering healthcare costs.

Reviving subsidies for health insurance premiums isn’t lowering healthcare costs. The price is the same, regardless of how the payment is divvied up.

Terrible: Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield Will Now Deny Your Claim If They Can Determine That You’re Well-Liked Enough To Get By With A GoFundMe - Clickhole 

“Determining factors for whether someone qualifies to be denied coverage because a well-promoted GoFundMe would probably cover all associated costs of the illness or injury include, 1. A solid follower/friend count; 2. Involvement in some public activity, such as playing in a band or being an influencer; 3. A decent enough personality that it is likely people who know you will gladly help cover your treatment; and 4. An illness or injury tragic enough to garner significant sympathy from the public.” 

Israel-Qatar Derangement Syndrome - WSJ Opinion

But Doha didn’t complain nearly as much in June when Iran fired ballistic missiles at U.S. troops stationed in Qatar. Why now is the West and even the Trump team pretending it was a crime to strike Hamas’s head office?

Relic of the True Cross.

The Utah Governor Urging America to ‘Disagree Better’ - WSJ

“Social media is a cancer in our society right now, and I would encourage people to log off, turn off, touch grass, go hug a family member, go out and do good in the community,” he said at the news conference Friday.

The cross was designed to be a tool of intimidation, oppression, torture, and humiliation. A method of execution so crude, cruel, and twisted that it could be used to simultaneously punish and advance the political goals of the State.

The paradox of Christianity is that Christ took that tool and transformed it into the sign of true hope, true love, and true freedom.

Late summer nights.

Why Apple’s Lackluster New iPhones Will Still Pay Off - WSJ

All of the updates were widely expected, and the lack of surprises led Apple’s stock to slip 1.5% on Tuesday following the event.

The only people who care about one day price movements are day traders and financial writers.

First signs of fall. 🍁

‘I Hope Someone Names A Frozen Pizza After Me’ Thinks Red Baron While Being Shot Down In WWI Dogfight - Babylon Bee

At the time, Australian forces dismissed his thoughts as incoherent death throes because they had no idea what pizza was, but we now know that he was an intelligent man who loved pizza and wanted to make it more accessible and simple to enjoy at home.

Charlie Kirk’s Assassination Feels Like a Hinge Point - WSJ Opinion

An assassination is the intentional and deliberate killing of a person for political reasons. It has a purpose: to alter events, to remove a leader, to intimidate and punish enemies.

What we all have to do now is not let that purpose succeed.

I asked Father Gerald Murray what advice might be hopeful. Charlie Kirk, he said, wanted to share “the eternal truths that make life meaningful and joyous. He did so by reasoned argument and dialogue. His example should inspire us to pick up the baton that fell from his hand.”

Cities Put Daniel Penny Scarecrows On Subways To Deter Crime - Babylon Bee

“The jig is up, boys! Let’s get out of here!” shouted a would-be criminal after seeing a Daniel Penny scarecrow on the train.

The greatest risk in life is to waste it outside of God’s plan.

-Pope Leo XIV

Canonization of Carlo Acutis and Pier Gorgio Frassati

🍿🇻🇦🇮🇹

Spirit Airlines Is Struggling, and Rivals Smell Blood - WSJ

Struggling to find its footing after a federal judge last year struck down a $3.8 billion acquisition by JetBlue Airways, Spirit filed for its first bankruptcy in November.

The ruling looks worse by the day. All it did was empower the legacy carriers to get stronger against a zombie Spirit and weak JetBlue.

For 1,000 days, starting in August 2018 and ending in May 2021, I wrote a haiku each day. I used to organize that project on its own page on my website, but I found it to be too cumbersome to manage. Thanks to MarsEdit & Micro.blog’s automation tools, I’ve now painstakingly tagged every haiku and they’re now sorted in my Archive.

Apple Makes Music Push in Radio After Losing Ground to Spotify - WSJ

The deal with digital radio platform TuneIn is the first time Apple Music’s six radio stations will be available outside the company’s app.

Apple has radio stations?

Fires, hoodies, pasties, and fudge.

Pirates Under Fire For Directly Marketing Team To Children - The Onion

The team knows that no sane adult would willingly become a Pirates fan, so they have to go after minors. They hook children early because they know the cycle of hope and despair is addicting, and if young kids start watching games, there’s a good chance they’ll grow up to be season-ticket holders. They know that Pirates fandom is linked to depression, anxiety, and even suicidal ideation, but they don’t care.

Satan Takes Trump To Roof Of White House To Offer Him All The Kingdoms Of The World - Babylon Bee

“Go away, Satan! For verily, I tell you, America first!” Trump reportedly sneered. “Besides, I’m the leader of the free world, you dummy. Those kingdoms are pretty much mine anyway. They do whatever I want, believe me.”

Raccoon snacks.

Trump Takes Back Old Position At McDonald’s To Boost Weak Jobs Report - Babylon Bee

“I can’t talk too long, I’ve got to finish these orders before the end of my shift, and then I have to take a call to broker a peace deal between Pakistan and India,” Trump said. “Those jobs numbers were ridiculous. I fired the lady who made them up. She’s gone. Nasty woman. Lots of people have jobs. Not her, but lots of people, believe me.”

Everyone’s got to pitch in.

Texas Democrats Fled to Illinois to Protest Congressional Redistricting. But Pritzker’s State Is a Gerrymandering Hot Spot. - WSJ

Just three of 17 Illinois congressional districts—about 18%—are represented by Republicans in a state where President Trump won 44% of the 2024 vote. The nonpartisan Gerrymandering Project at Princeton University awarded the congressional map approved in Illinois in 2021 with two “F” grades, one in the category of partisan fairness and another for geographic features.

Threat to our democracy.

“They decided to cheat and we’re going to respond in kind.”

Not a great quote from the DNC chair.

August Saturday morning.

Why is Chick-fil-A so good at everything EXCEPT coffee?

Big Lots Closes All Stores After Therapist Helps Company Work Through Hoarding Tendencies - The Onion

Finally closing the doors on its last remaining outlet after getting rid of an unwieldy stockpile of variety goods, the discount retailer Big Lots ceased operations Wednesday following a therapy program in which the company’s roughly 30,000 employees confronted their self-destructive hoarding tendencies.

Respect. 📦

Trump Administration Weighs Charging Patent Holders New Fee to Raise Revenue - WSJ

Commerce Department officials are discussing charging patent holders 1% to 5% of their overall patent value, a shift that could dramatically increase fees, according to people familiar with the matter.

Patents are already expensive; there’s the filing fee but the attorney fees to get you through the complex process is through the roof.

Now the government is going to guess the future economic value of a novel invention?

This is stupid.

And the fees wouldn’t go to the debt as advertised; it just becomes a new slush fund.

Enjoying the evening with some rum, the new Brad Thor book, and my full titanium bookmark.

As North Koreans Shun State Propaganda, Kim Tries a Flashier TV Show - WSJ

Now, as North Koreans—particularly urbanites and younger people—gain furtive access to foreign news and entertainment, the country’s leader, Kim Jong Un, is trying a different tactic: television dramas that expose the regime’s weakness. The goal, analysts say, is to manage people’s expectations and rally them to overcome the country’s many hardships.

The result is a new television series that honestly depicts the everyday corruption that is rife in North Korea. Local officials embezzle grain, farmers fail to meet quotas and people bribe their superiors. It also portrays family conflict in contrast to official support for family harmony.

American Sentenced to 8½ Years in Prison for Helping North Koreans Get Jobs at Nike, Other U.S. Firms - WSJ

In the morning, she would turn on racks of computers covered with Post-its that had information about the companies they belonged to. Then North Koreans would log in remotely through Chapman’s farm and work for the companies.

Sort of a red flag?

When I migrated the Catholic Husband blog, I broke all of the links. There was no way around it.

I’m slowly going through the posts on this blog to update links. After that, I’m going to finish tagging and building out the archive of my Haiku project.

Just some nice little summer improvements.

The Crown Versus the Truckers - WSJ Opinion

The National Post’s Chris Selley writes that last week an Alberta man who fatally stabbed a 52-year-old stranger while out on bail for three other attacks was handed a sentence of, you guessed it, seven years.

Canadian prosecutors want the same seven year sentence against two protest leaders who, among their other heinous crimes, counseled fellow truckers to ignore a court order regarding honking.

Of note, the core use of government power that the protesters opposed was struck down as unconstitutional.

Miles and miles of bike lanes.

Just no bikes.

Biden Excited to See What Autopen Comes Up With For His Memoir - Babylon Bee

“To be clear, that autopen is going to know more about my presidency than myself,” Biden confirmed.

This ‘Roth Evangelist’ Spent Years Turning His Retirement Portfolio Entirely Roth - WSJ

For the Rosses, the all-Roth strategy is a bet that tax rates will be the same or higher when they take money out of the accounts. Paul thinks that because of the U.S. government’s deficit spending, “tax rates probably only have one way to go over the long term, and that is up,” he said.

The financial talking heads all focus on the math of why pre-tax makes more sense than Roth, but they never address this point. How can tax rates go any lower?!

New neighbors. 🦝

Stunningly beautiful day.

Morning mist.

Elmo Leads Division Of Panzers Across Polish Border - Babylon Bee

“Elmo says move forward! Ha ha ha! Elmo is expanding his territory!” the small, furry, red Muppet was heard shouting from the top hatch of his Panzer tank.

Mission accomplished.

When my alarm goes off, it’s time to walk. No matter what I do, I make a choice. Do I choose to make progress or to watch the pitch pass me by? When I’m sitting down with coffee, it’s time to pray. No matter what I do, I make a choice. Do I choose to intimately connect with who I am or waste 15 minutes of my day on YouTube? Again and again throughout my day, I’m offered these choices.

I know that when I put in work, when I take action, I gain the result. When I walk every day and eat well, I feel better. When I pray throughout the day, I have more stamina and virtue. So why is it so easy for me to walk away from these good things?

Michael Hyatt calls it the “resistance.” A psychological force that opposes our good and bold actions. It’s the internal dialogue that tries to keep us totally sedate in life. Fear, self doubt, and uncertainty cause the resistance to paralyze us. Paradoxically, while trying to keep us “safe,” the resistance is really holding us back from greatness.

We don’t have to live every day perfectly. But when it’s time to put in the good work and your psychology resists, step up and overcome.

Let freedom ring.

Happy Birthday, America!

🇺🇸🦅

A moment of peace.

Act on this word. If all you do is listen to it, you are deceiving yourselves. There is, on the other hand, the man who peers into freedom’s ideal law and abides by it. He is no forgetful listener, but one who carries out the law in practice. Blest will this man be in whatever he does.

• James 1:22,25

Thomas Massie Unveils Small, Ugly Budget Bill With A Great Personality - Babylon Bee

Sure, the President’s bill is getting all the attention from all the guys in Congress, but sometimes it’s better to look deeper than just what’s on the outside.

The Lord’s voice flashes flames of fire. The Lord’s voice shaking the wilderness, the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh; the Lord’s voice rending the oak tree and stripping the forest bare.

- Psalm 29

When you’re on a deadline and the kids decide to pitch in.

Trump Bombed Iran. Here’s How 12 Media Outlets Covered The Story - Babylon Bee

The Babylon Bee — Iranian Nuclear Facility Escapes Bombing By Identifying As Mar A Lago (That’s Right We Just Have The One Joke)

Trump Meets the Moment on Iran - WSJ Opinion

Mr. Trump gave Iran every chance to resolve this peacefully. The regime flouted his 60-day deadline to make a deal. Then Israel attacked, destroying much of the nuclear program and achieving air supremacy, and still the President gave Iran another chance to come to terms. The regime wouldn’t even abandon domestic uranium enrichment. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei wanted a bomb more than peace.

…

Much of the press has fixated on the idea that Mr. Trump has now joined or even started a conflict. But Iran has been waging regional and terrorist war for decades. It’s as likely that he has helped end it. Leaving Iran with a hardened nuclear enrichment facility after an Israeli military campaign would have been a recipe for maximum danger, all but asking Iran to sprint to a bomb.

What Are The Deeply Buried Sins In Your Heart You Need Jesus To Drop A Bunker Buster On? - Op-Ed By Chet Skatington - Babylon Bee

When you see that B-2 stealth bomber flying over Tehran, I want you to think - what if Jesus was piloting that?

Trump Organization Launches Trump Mobile Cell Phone Service - The Onion

“Sorry, I’m locked in a two-year cell contract with Kim Jong-Un.”

I see now that Jesus first strengthens my soul and makes it capable of abiding with Him, for otherwise I would not be able to bear what I experience at such a moment.

St. Faustina, Notebook II, Entry 566

You saw my condition Had a plan from the start Your Son for redemption The price for my heart I don’t have a context For that kind of love I don’t understand I can’t comprehend All I know is I need You

Matt Maher

Israel Takes Control of Iran’s Skies—a Feat That Still Eludes Russia in Ukraine - WSJ

“Basically, what Israel did with Iran is what Russia wanted to do with Ukraine: They thought they could pull off some cloak-and-dagger thing, and infiltrate and decapitate the Ukrainian regime,” said Michael Horowitz, an Israeli geopolitical analyst. “But it turned out that the Ukrainian society has a resilience and cannot be so easily penetrated—whereas when it comes to Iran, the regime is so unpopular that it’s easy to find people there who will agree to work with Israel.”

Do You Have Experience In Nuclear Engineering? Check Out These Exciting New Job Openings In Iran - Babylon Bee

Suddenly and without warning, multiple exciting positions in the field of nuclear energy research became available, creating opportunities for experienced engineers to step in and start working immediately.

The Phantom Tollbooth

🍿

Israelites Protest Prophet Samuel With ‘Yes Kings’ Rally - Babylon Bee

“We don’t want to live in freedom!” said one marching Benjamite. “We keep looking at all the other nations around us and the way they have a person bossing them around and living in opulent luxury while everyone else toils endlessly to funnel wealth to the royal family, and we wish that could be us. We don’t want liberty, give us oppression!”

LEGO Sneaky Sasquatch

Amazon Teases Next James Bond Will Face Off Against Threat Of Collective Bargaining - The Onion

With a new contract looming, 007 must do everything in his power to prevent workers across the globe from unionizing, bargaining, and possibly even striking against their generous employers.

You called, you shouted, and you broke through my deafness. You flashed, you shone, and you dispelled my blindness. You breathed your fragrance on me; I drew in breath and now I pant for you. I have tasted you, now I hunger and thirst for more.

St. Augustine

Love letter from my daughter this morning.

Project Manager: I need a carpet material that is extremely cheap and it must hold on to dirt and hair forever.

Automotive Enginner: Hold my beer.

Banana.

Time to get moving.

Trump Responds To Putin’s Charge Of Him Being Emotional With An All-Caps Tweet - Babylon Bee

At publishing time, sources said that President Trump had last been seen writing “HOW’S THIS FOR EMOTIONAL?” with a Sharpie marker on bombs before ordering preparations to be made for an airstrike on Moscow.

Apple CEO Tim Cook’s Bad Year Keeps Getting Worse - WSJ

State and federal lawmakers are threatening the app store with legislation to require Apple to verify user ages. While the bottom-line impact of such a move is unclear, it could reduce teen spending or even empower parents to limit teen engagement on smartphones more fully.

Sign me up.

Afternoon cold brew and memories of my grandparents.

Mental Health Win! This Smoke Detector Gradually Wakes You Up Using A Gentle Blue Light And Soothing White Noise So It Doesn’t Negatively Affect Your Circadian Rhythm If You Have A House Fire - Clickhole

First Alert’s new CalmRefresh+ smoke alarm solves a major issue with literally every other smoke detector sold today: the jarring, ear-piercing sounds they make during a fire that cause you to jump out of bed with anxiety, disrupting your natural sleep cycle in an incredibly invasive way.

Man Honors Fallen Soldiers By Purchasing Refrigerator At Incredible Discount - Babylon Bee

“This is for all those who paid the price for our freedom,” said Reese as he handed his credit card to the cashier. “I can think of no better way to esteem their memory than to buy a high-quality Whirlpool refrigerator at a steep discount. Thank you, heroes. You are gone but not forgotten.”

How the Student Loan Crisis Will Show Up in the Economy - WSJ

Yannelis also worries that, as a result of former President Joe Biden’s attempts to forgive swaths of student debt, many borrowers didn’t really expect they would need to start paying again and built their budgets around that belief.

We never could’ve foreseen this outcome.

Summer flame.

Sky at sunrise.

Canopy.

55 degree with a cool breeze and a low cloud deck is my idea of a nice Saturday morning.

Sunrise over the meadow.

It’s a daily challenge to stay focused at my desk with children streaming through my office. But it is cute how Veronica hovers around. She filters in and out through the day, bringing with her different activities to enjoy on the floor or on my couch

Exploiting The Vulnerable: Scammers Tricked This Elderly Woman Into Buying The Cleveland Browns - Clickhole

After Beverly told family members she now held a majority ownership stake in the Cleveland Browns, they immediately realized Beverly had been the victim of a fraud scheme and attempted to contact the scammers, but it was too late: The number had been disconnected and $30,000 had been drained from Beverly’s bank account to pay for a historically junk NFL team that may as well be worth pennies.

Oof, you hate to read stories like this. Hang in there, Beverly!

Internet infrastructure work in the neighborhood is slowing me down today. Just got back from a four mile walk and a fresh shave. Time to lock it in.

🏃🏻🪒👨🏻‍💻

I have 67 podcasts in my queue. It’s hard to manage and is likely over 50 hours of listening time.

Today feels like a good day to declare podcast bankruptcy.

We interrupt this school day for some brief railway engineering.

Mastery at work.

Jake Tapper Uncovers Startling Evidence That Biden’s Decline Was Covered Up By Jake Tapper - Babylon Bee

The bombshell report was detailed in a new book by Jake Tapper. It chronicles years of egregious cover-ups and collusion between the White House and a cooperative and corrupt press, including several newly leaked conversations between aides about putting Biden in a wheelchair for his second term. At the center of the scandal, it appears, is someone named Jake Tapper.

Sad: AOC Unable To Obtain Real ID Because She Died On Jan 6 And Is A Ghost - Babylon Bee

“It’s not fair that only ‘living people’ are eligible to obtain these Real IDs, while people like me and millions of other Democratic voters are barred from getting them due to the simple fact that we’re dead. Prejudice is alive and well in America, even though I am not.”

The Bee Explains: How A Conclave Works - Babylon Bee

How are the votes cast?

Each Cardinal places their red hat on the head of their pope of choice. Once the stack of hats on someone’s head reaches the ceiling of the Sistine chapel, that man is declared Pope.

Trump Promises To Negotiate Peace In India As Soon As They Take Him Off Hold - Babylon Bee

“They assure me my call is very important to them,” said Trump, still waiting. “That guy who placed me on hold, was it Kevin? It didn’t sound like a ‘Kevin’, to be honest. I told him it concerned nuclear war, and then he said he would need to talk to his manager and asked if I could hold. I like this music, I really do, very good beat. But it’s really a long hold, and I don’t think Kevin is going to be getting a good survey at the end of this phone call, I’ll tell you that.”

Canopy is awake with lots of birdsong at first light.

Millions of Student-Loan Borrowers to Face Collections - WSJ

The collections process was standard before the pandemic pause. Still, its return is likely to be a strain for borrowers who reoriented their budgets around not paying their loans during the lengthy reprieve.

Your government at work; giving false hope and setting the wrong expectations.

Not Fooling Anyone: This Hippopotamus Is Clearly On Ozempic - Clickhole

The caption on the photo of the newly trimmed and toned hippo claims, “Frisky loves her watermelons and playing in the pond,” but we’re not buying it. There’s no way that a diet of watermelons and an exercise regimen of playing in a pond resulted in nearly 1,000 pounds of fat loss.

With No Pope to Oversee Them, Cardinals Stay Up All Night Playing Goldeneye And Building Pillow Forts - Babylon Bee

But at some point during the funeral proceedings, it dawned on one of the cardinals from Africa that they could really stretch this whole conclave business out as long as possible and get in some great “bro time.”

Actually Grilled Cheese

Gretchen Whitmer Sneaks Into White House Again - Babylon Bee

My people told me I had a meeting, and in comes this person wearing a set of curtains. Like a black ghost. That’s what she looked like. But she wasn’t scary, she was actually very nice. A nice black ghost, whoever she was.

Parenting Experts Share Tips For Talking To Kids About Being Heir To Throne Of Small European Kingdom - The Onion

Discovering their royal birthright as a small European nation’s sovereign can be a rocky period in a child’s life, so it’s important that parents remind them that it’s perfectly normal to be surrounded by a scheming coterie of backstabbing advisors vying for their favor.

Goodnight, Sweet Prince: It’s Time To Move The Software Installer To The Trash - Clickhole

The moment your software successfully downloads is a joyous one, of course, but tinged with sadness, too. For though it means you may finally use your application as you wish, you must first part ways with the one who led you here.

We all love ourselves more than other people, but care more about their opinion than our own.

Marcus Aurelius

Unbelievably gorgeous day.

☀️

First night of the grilling season!

🍔

Dalai Lama Quietly Cancels Scheduled Meeting With JD Vance - Babylon Bee

“His Holiness the Dalai Lama realized he was double-booked,” said a spokesmonk. “He was looking forward to meeting Vice President Vance and hopes to do so someday, but he forgot that he was supposed to go to that one place and meet someone and talk about something. It’s important and has nothing to do with today’s unfortunate news about Pope Francis.”

Daughter’s first tax return.

Pentagon Fires Commander of Greenland Base That Vance Visited - WSJ

“I do not presume to understand current politics, but what I do know is the concerns of the U.S. administration discussed by Vice President Vance on Friday are not reflective of Pituffik Space Base,” Meyers wrote in the email, according to a defense official.

What a dumb thing to say.

do bananas help with restless leg syndrome – Cure For Restless Leg Syndrome

While bananas are a nutritious addition to any diet, relying solely on them for RLS relief might not provide comprehensive results for everyone.

Great copywriting.

🍌

Israelite King Would Just Once Like Prophets To Say God Is Pleased and Everything Is Dandy - Babylon Bee

Prophets are always telling him about droughts or lost battles or that he will die, and it’s not fun, says the king. “Just once, I’d really like God to say I was doing a good job, you know?”

Touching: Amy Coney Barrett Adopts MS-13 Gang Member - Babylon Bee

The 28-year-old Honduras native said he is grateful for the trust and compassion the Barrett family has placed in him. “The only reason I turned to violence — allegedly — was because of a lack of strong authoritative figures in my life,” the newly re-named Jose Barrett said. “I have finally found where I belong — in the home of an upper class white family.”

You May Be Excited About The Switch 2, But Have You Considered Making The ‘Switch 2 Following Jesus’? - Op-Ed By Chet Skatington - Babylon Bee

Switch 2 is 450 bucks and that’s almost as bad as selling your soul to the devil. Jesus will give you all this and more — for free.

5 Times It Was Clear Neil Armstrong Believed He Was Searching For A New Route To India - Clickhole

2. When the rocket was going upward and he kept looking down to Earth saying, “Isn’t it back there?”

Accounts from crew members confirm that as the rocket approached the moon, Armstrong repeatedly said he was pretty sure they were supposed to make a turn, not just go upward. He was also described pointing back toward Earth while insisting he could see the Taj Mahal.

Financial Advisor Announces It’s Time To Panic, Urges Clients To Make Hasty, Emotional Decisions - Babylon Bee

“I’m encouraging all of my clients to abandon any semblance of a long-term strategy and to pull the trigger on whatever your emotions tell you to do."

I’m not much of a concert person. I’ve been to musical performances, but never at an arena, and I never went just for that specific person. I think the “biggest” artist that I’ve seen live is Matt Maher. I was excited, after discovering Forrest Frank a little over a year ago, to get tickets to his Child of God Tour.

Since I control the music in our house, I will often play Forrest throughout our day or while running errands around town. The kids sometimes even request his music. The beats are fun, there’s a degree of playfulness in the accompaniment and the lyrics, and even my youngest knows the lyrics.

Alison and I took our two oldest kids with us, which was a treat knowing that it would be a late night.

We had dinner at Chick-fil-A, handed the youngest two off to their grandmother, and drove to the arena. It was easy to park and get inside. I stopped by the concession stand to get popcorn and water, and we settled in. The arena started off comfortably full, but by time Forrest took the stage, it was completely packed. 10,000 fans, enjoying live music and prayer.

Forrest did a great job with the show. The set list was perfect, there was lots of engagement with the crowd, and even the set was fun. At one point, he plugged in his laptop, opened Logic, and showed us how he put together Good Day with all 200+ individual sound components.

There was also a peek behind the veil. Forrest shared some of his story, and the why behind his music.

In addition to his released music, we were treated to a few unreleased songs. In one of them, he invited the audience to be on the track. He got an iPhone, opened the Voice Memos app, and then recorded us shouting lyrics. I read an article, that I now cannot find, that said this is how modern music is made; artists sending each other samples recorded on their iPhones and included in the final track.

The night did not end until late. Many families with younger kids started leaving early, and I was tempted to do the same. After a few minute break, Forrest and band returned, turned up the volume, and closed out with two huge performances of Drop! and Never Get Used to This.

It was a great night.

It’s been 12 years since the series finale of The Office and NBC still promotes it heavily to get new subscribers to Peacock.

What a show.

The US Government (wastefully) spent $6.8T in all of 2024.

Trump’s tariffs destroyed $6.6T of market value in two days.

Trump Excitedly Wakes Up And Checks Under His Pillow To See If The Tariff Fairy Has Left New Manufacturing Jobs - Babylon Bee

But, alas, when Trump checked under his MyPillow, he didn’t find any new manufacturing jobs from the Tariff Fairy.

And his investments were down 10% in two trading days.

Monday night

Rushing into the Lake

Last day of the ski season

Apple Reassures Siri Team Members Feeling Disappointed and Embarrassed by Apple Intelligence Delay - MacRumors

In a ‌Siri‌ team meeting, Apple senior director Robby Walker acknowledged that employees might be feeling “angry, disappointed, burned out and embarrassed” following the ‌Siri‌ delay, but he praised the hard work of employees and the “incredibly impressive” features they developed, saying that Apple would continue to work to “ship the world’s greatest virtual assistant” to Apple users.

I think they probably need a “MobileMe” type meeting to straighten things out.

Enough Is Enough: Supreme Court Rules First Amendment Does Not Apply To Meghan Markle - Babylon Bee

The emergency ruling came following outcry over Markle’s continual attention-seeking and upheld a ruling made in the court of public opinion that the Duchess of Sussex should just shut her yap.

Trump Orders Drone Strike On Thomas Massie - Babylon Bee

Massie was wiped out in a counter-argument operation carried out by U.S. Special Forces in the nation’s capital, following an earlier threat by the president that he should be “PRIMARIED,” which sources confirmed was top-secret government code for “taken out by a drone.”

Big stack of thank you notes for work, ready to go out with tomorrow’s mail.

Putin Rejects Immediate Cease-Fire in Ukraine - WSJ

Any pause in fighting at this point would be in Ukraine’s interests, he said, adding that Russia wanted a truce that led “to a lasting peace and the elimination of the root causes” of the war, which he described as a crisis.

That didn’t take long. Good work, everyone! Now we know what Putin wants as a price for peace, the elimination of root causes, like Ukrainian sovereignty. Shouldn’t be too hard to appease that little demand.

Ukraine Turns Table on Russia With Cease-Fire Proposal, but Putin Has Little Incentive to Sign - WSJ

“If Russia says ‘yes’, that’s very good news, and we’ll begin that process and do everything we can to move that process forward,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday. “If they say ‘no,’ it’ll tell us a lot about what their goals are and…what their mindset is.”

This is so naive. Bludgeon your ally, the victim, then hope the aggressor signs on? And when they don’t, what was the point?

Jeanne Shaheen Says She Won’t Run for Re-election, Complicating Democrats’ Path to a Senate Majority - WSJ

In a mid-February poll by Blueprint, a firm affiliated with Democrats, 65% of voters agreed with the statement, “No one has any idea what the Democratic Party stands for anymore, other than opposing Donald Trump.”

It was a winning strategy for 10 years; it worked until it didn’t.

Should be a flashing yellow light for GOP because they’re courting the same problem when DJT leaves the stage.

Misinformation - Indie Microblogging

Perhaps we lose something when everything is moderated at the same level. When everything is sanitized and politically correct.

This is at the heart of Micro.blog’s effort to combine both blog hosting and a social timeline. Each half of the platform has its own purpose and its own requirements for moderation. On the social side, there’s less tolerance for being a jerk or harassing others. On the open web hosting side, there’s more freedom to yell into the void.

My knife collection blogging isn’t going super well. Mostly because I tend to reach for the same sub-set of knives everyday.

New challenge: I’m going to go in sequential order. I’ve already covered #1 and #2, so on to the next!

Southwest CEO: Employees ‘Want’ Assigned Seating, Paid Bags - AirlineGeeks.com

“A lot of the policy changes that we’re making, it’s very clear that our employees want them,” Jordan said.

The excitement was palpable when we laid off all those folks!

“Our employees wanted to move to assigned seating because it clears up the job in the gate of policing boarding and policing pre-boards and those kinds of things,” he stated.

Because Delta, United, and American never have any trouble with people boarding outside of their assigned boarding groups or abusing the pre-boarding system.

Interview with Om Malik - Indie Microblogging

I wrote a piece pointing out that Twitter now is the Fox News of social and Bluesky is probably gonna become MSNBC because like all those people who were on Twitter are gonna go there.

Where do the rest of us go?

There is beauty in order.

Perfect! Nearly 3:00pm and I’ve just finished my tasks to start my work day.

What will I accomplish now?

👨🏻‍💻

Southwest Airlines self-immolated this morning with its press release announcing additional changes coming to their product offering.

The Wall Street Journal reported out the details,

Southwest Airlines plans to start charging for checked bags, a seismic shift that will boost revenue but potentially give its fiercely loyal passengers a reason to shop around.

The cracks at Southwest started to emerge soon after its merger with AirTran. It’s once fun, customer-centric culture fragmented as the cost-conscious AirTran employees were folded into the company without the benefit of years steeping in its culture. They didn’t understand the Southwest mindset, and it showed. Customer service declined, and overall quality started the long slide that brings us to today.

In business, you can either have the best product or the most engaged fans. You can make a lot of money with a small, but reliable customer base. And Southwest did throughout its history except for recent years.

Southwest will never be a big 3 airline, especially with its all-737 fleet and its inability to get to far-flung destinations in a single, cohesive network. They’re largely a domestic player and, as a result, has to differentiate and excel in its core business. Their irreverent culture of fun stood out among airlines; they sought a relationship with their customers, not just a transaction.

The new leadership at Southwest folded to activist investor pressure last year, prioritizing short-term financial gain over long-term company health. The corporate raiders will benefit from the increased economics and will sell out when they hit their profit target, while destroying value and obliterating the brand.

Every sacred cow, in a span of months, has been slaughtered:

The airline has already been whittling away at some of its most distinctive features, last year saying it would ditch open seating and redesign plane cabins to sell some with extra legroom. Its vaunted employee-first culture suffered a body blow last month when the carrier slashed 1,750 corporate jobs in its first mass layoff.

What’s left? Another middling airline, indistinguishable from its competition, with really wacky scheduling, an inconvenient point-to-point network, and mediocre management:

“You cannot be stubborn about change,” Jordan said last summer. “At the same time, we’re going to stick to our values.”

What, exactly, are those values again? Not the best, not the cheapest, not the most fun, not really much of anything.

RIP, LUV.

The Rise and Fall of the ‘Napa Valley of Cannabis’ - WSJ

Every day, patients arrive at the emergency department of the UCHealth’s Parkview Medical Center in Pueblo with conditions brought on by cannabis, said Dr. Karen Randall, who works in the ER. Some are psychotic, a more common condition nationwide since legalization has spread. 

Heartwarming: When This Farmer’s Land Was Repossessed By The Bank, He Started Growing His Crops Inside His Imagination, Where They Could Never Be Taken Away From Him - Clickhole

Daryl now spends his days envisioning waking up at the rooster’s crow and stepping outside into the morning’s brisk spring air to plant perfect row after perfect row of restaurant-grade produce. From there, he goes on to milk his cows and collect giant eggs from his flock of blue ribbon hens, all of them completely safe from the threat of repossession thanks to their secure location inside his mind’s eye.

Reading on the back porch while the sun takes its sweet time setting.

Search And Rescue Team Responds To Call From Injured Hiker Lost Inside Local IKEA - Babylon Bee

“Dave is in great shape, but IKEA is known for being one of the hardest places to get out of. I know he’s ok, but I’m just worried about him.”

Windows open; welcome, spring!

☀️

Oof, noon already.

Entering His A-List Socialite Era: Joe Biden Just Renamed Hunter ‘Parfait’ - Clickhole

Biden went to the courthouse and legally changed his son’s name to “Parfait,” a name that reportedly came to him “while eating a parfait.”

How Was I Supposed To Know ‘Business Casual’ Didn’t Include An Authentic 101st Airborne Paratrooper’s Uniform? - Babylon Bee

They say “dress for the job you want,” and you do that just one time, and all of a sudden security is tackling you and yelling, “That guy has a grenade!”

Husband Holds Up ‘False’ Paddle During Argument With Wife - Babylon Bee

As his wife continued nagging him about all his faults, the solitary paddle bobbed up and down at specific moments during her tirade to speak for the silent man who couldn’t get a word in edgewise.

Stormy meadow.

U.S. Pauses All Military Aid to Ukraine, White House Says - WSJ

“The president has been clear that he is focused on peace. We need our partners to be committed to that goal as well. We are pausing and reviewing our aid to ensure that it is contributing to a solution,” a White House official said in a statement.

Strong agree. The Ukrainians need to learn a lesson from their peace-loving counterparties who serve mostly peacefully with their North Korean-augmented infantry and Iranian drones striking hospitals and civilian infrastructure.

A senior administration official said all of Trump’s top national security advisers agreed with the decision to pause the aid after several meetings on the issue.

The smartest guys in the room.

Russia invades, takes 20% of the country, commits atrocities, and we’re concerned about the degree of Ukrainian gratitude?

This is not a winning strategy. This is Saigon II: Trump Edition.

Not making Vance or Rubio look too intelligent, either.

Who’s Afraid of Medicaid Reform? - WSJ Opinion

Nearly half of the states have received federal permission to spend Medicaid dollars on housing, and a dozen have for food. What are federal low-income housing vouchers and food stamps for again?

Mr. Biden’s HHS even blessed California’s plan to spend federal Medicaid dollars on “activity stipends” for art and music lessons for children and club sports. Oregon is tapping Medicaid to pay for cooking classes, air conditioners and mini-refrigerators. Some Republican states have joined this all-you-can-spend Medicaid buffet.

The Washington Post’s Freedom Turn - WSJ Opinion

As for our discerning readers, our respectful counsel is: Accept no substitutes. Sample the competition but come back for the real thing.

That made me laugh.

Steep Drop in Credit Scores Hits Student-Loan Borrowers - WSJ

Garcia, the California nurse, said she didn’t resume making payments because she had applied for a program that lowers payments based on income. The program, SAVE, was created under the Biden administration and is being challenged in courts.

The government is very good at helping people.

House Hunters Episode Derailed After BlackRock Buys All 3 Properties - Babylon Bee

We were getting ready to present our featured couple with their three options, but at the last moment, we were notified that BlackRock had purchased all three properties and would never allow them to hit the market again.

U.S. to Hit Chinese Ships With Hefty Port Fees - WSJ

The proposal also mandates that a certain amount of U.S. exports are moved on U.S.-flagged and U.S.-built vessels. It seeks to restrict 1% of U.S. exports this year to vessels run by U.S. operators. The restriction would increase over time so that in seven years, 15% of exports would need to move on U.S.-flagged vessels, including 5% on U.S.-built vessels.

So many bad ideas.

Birds, squirrels, and now deer. Everyone loves seeds!

Russia Wants to Erase Ukraine’s Future—and Its Past - WSJ

“The big war started with an essay on history, and the guy who wrote that essay is still running the show,” said Serhii Plokhy, director of the Ukrainian Research Institute at Harvard. “So the idea that this is all about territory and that you have to make a deal, somehow drawing the border in the right place…is based on not understanding what this war is about.”

It’s easy to forget that smoke detectors expire after 10 years. The ones in the new house were 23 years old. Yikes!

A Leatherman and 5-7 minutes per unit was all it took to swap the wiring harness and keep the family safe.

🚒

Trump Proposes Two Golf-Course Solution For Gaza - Babylon Bee

No one’s going to want to fight anymore when they could be driving balls down the fairway. We’re even going to have a gift shop that sells little bumper stickers that say, ‘I’d rather be golfing.’

Trump Fires Top Pentagon Officers in Sweeping Overhaul - WSJ

the moves caused shock waves in the armed forces and Congress and raise questions about Trump’s attempts to assert control over the Pentagon leadership after clashing with it repeatedly during his first term. 

Pretty shocking that the Executive branch, which holds authority over a civilian-led military, would assert control over said military.

Scrub-a-dub

🚙🧽🫧

Compassionate, Merciful U.S. Lets Canada Win One - Babylon Bee

The Americans collectively decided that they had had enough winning and wanted to let their downtrodden neighbors to the north pick up a rare victory.

American values 🇺🇸

Trump Is Planning to Take Control of the Postal Service, Officials Say - WSJ

“The U.S. Postal Service is wildly popular with the American people, and its service is essential and irreplaceable,” said Rep. Don Beyer (D., Va.)

“Wildly popular?” I don’t know about all that.

The last box is empty.

📦

Object Left On Stairs Begins Weeks-Long Migration To Bedroom - Babylon Bee

Experts say the migration could take anywhere between 2 days and 6 years.

There are dentists on every corner and they’re all equally impossible to get in with.

Trump Tilts Toward an Ukraine Sellout - WSJ Opinion

Ukraine has delayed elections while it is operating under martial law and fighting a war for survival. Its constitution allows this, and Britain under Nazi siege didn’t hold an election during World War II. Was Churchill a dictator?

Ukraine’s democracy is fragile and would be stronger if it could affiliate with Western institutions like the European Union. The only dictator in the war is Mr. Putin, who poisons exiled Russians on foreign soil and banishes opponents to Arctic prison camps. Call us when he holds a free election.

Required reading, start to finish.

Trump Endorses ‘Big Beautiful’ House Budget Bill, Torpedoing Senate Border Effort - WSJ

President Trump said he wants border spending, tax relief and spending cuts passed in one bill led by House Republicans, undercutting the Senate’s efforts to quickly pass a narrower measure and throwing another wrench into what has become a messy effort to advance his agenda.

Another disaster waiting in the wings.

Trump Criticizes Zelensky, Calling Him a Dictator - WSJ

Trump has said he wants to quickly settle the war in Ukraine. He has increasingly blamed Ukraine—and Zelensky personally—for the invasion while engaging with Putin about ways to end it.

DJT is waaayyyyyy off the reservation with this. He’s setting himself up to have an outcome worse than Vietnam and Afghanistan… combined.

Forever ✱ Notes - A free framework for Apple Notes

Forever ✱ Notes is not an app, but a simple framework and scalable digital note-taking method for Apple Notes. It’s free and created to last—forever.

This might be what I’ve been looking for.

Zelensky Decries Peace Talks Without Ukraine, Trump Says He Had His Shot For Years - The War Zone

“They’re upset about not having a seat, well, they’ve had a seat for three years, and a long time before that,” Trump told reporters Tuesday afternoon. “This could have been settled very easily…”

Wrong.

Southwest Airlines to Slash Corporate Workforce in First Mass Layoff - WSJ

Even as the appetite for travel has surged, the airline’s labor costs have increased—in part because of new agreements with unions.

Nothing happens in a vacuum. The first layoffs in its history, eliminating core brand features, what even is Southwest anymore?

WINNING: Trump Announces Plan To Attack The British And Prussian Forces At Waterloo - Babylon Bee

Trump, who was seen wearing a bicorne hat around the White House today, had grown increasingly intent on displacing the British Empire from its perch on the global stage, going so far as to ask his military advisors for strategies to disrupt British trade routes to India. “The battlefield is a scene of constant chaos,” Trump reportedly said.

I’m getting this sinking feeling that the disruptions that 2020 brought to the pilot & maintainers labor market have caught up to us and the golden era of aviation safety is going on hiatus for the near term.

Trump Unsure What Department He Has To Cut To Make JD Vance Go Away - The Onion

“I’ve tried the Education Department, USAID, the FBI, and still he keeps showing up,” said Trump, who lambasted the 40-year-old vice president as “the very definition of fraud and waste.”

Political Profile: Kristi Noem - The Onion

Who Trump Thinks She Is: Sarah Palin

I don’t like fake holidays.

Vance Speech Denouncing E.U. Censorship Censored By E.U. - Babylon Bee

“Vance’s hateful comments about censorship have no place in public discourse and must be censored,” announced German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. “We will not tolerate such hateful rhetoric against our censorship regime.”

The laborer deserves his payment. And his afternoon coffee break in a comfy chair.

☕️

One change per day; a simple goal worth pursuing.

NATO Is Ukraine’s Future and Always Will Be - WSJ Opinion

It should be a very simple calculation for Mr. Putin: Get out now while the getting is good, because Europe and the U.S. are committed to raising the Ukrainian military to a NATO standard even without it being a NATO member.

Mr. Putin has learned his military is no match for a properly equipped NATO force. His Ukraine misadventure is rapidly degrading his ability to compete in the long run. Mr. Putin will continue to pretend his war isn’t a disastrous miscalculation for which his country will be paying for generations to come. The peanut gallery should not be fooled.

Apple Intelligence Siri Overhaul Could Get Delayed - MacRumors

Apple is running into engineering problems and software bugs that could push back the launch of the new functionality.

Literally the only Apple Intelligence feature users actually need.

Joann Fabrics Announces Plans To Make Mishmash Store Out Of Shuttered Locations’ Scraps - The Onion

Friday afternoon slowdown

DOGE Staffer Arrives at Internal Revenue Service Headquarters - WSJ

Kliger has asked for meetings with senior officials and was interested in the agency’s head count, according to an IRS employee. The IRS has about 100,000 workers after a recent expansion. It is in the middle of the busiest portion of its year in preparation for the mid-April individual income tax filing deadline. 

Well, well, well… how the turntables…

Few things in life are as unpleasant as folding laundry with dry hands.

🧺

Quiet time. 📰

Gabbard and Kennedy. Oof.

As I was upgrading Catholic Husband, I came across a post that I wrote in January 2017 called On Hiatus. I had completely forgotten that I took all of 2017 off.

Since restarting in November of that year, I’ve written over a third of my entire blog.

Rest is a good thing.

Honda, Nissan End Merger Talks, Leaving Nissan to Seek Other Partners - WSJ

Honda had initially agreed to a merger structure in which the two automakers would sit side-by-side under a single holding company. The companies said Thursday that Honda—whose market value is about five times Nissan’s—later sought to make Nissan a subsidiary.

I hated this deal.

FAA Wants Permanent Helicopter Restrictions at Reagan Airport - WSJ

The path the American Airlines regional jet took toward Runway 33 required it to turn toward the right and then bank left to line up for its landing. That route crosses over a lane for helicopters at a relatively low altitude.

This is the core problem and nothing else. You’ve got a 200’ altitude restriction on helicopters, but the traffic on short final is going to be bumping into that.

The intersection off of Runway 33 is the problem. So move the routes for greater separation or close 33 permanently.

Snowfall in the woods ❄️

Usually when the house is quiet, the four children are up to no good.

Occasionally it’s because they all found a book to read and the 4 year made herself a butter sandwich.

📚🍞🧈

I set up a scanner in my client’s office so that they could send me copies of physical documents.

I now realize that all I did was set up a modern fax machine.

📠

Hello again, Dropbox.

📦

Apple Completes Pixelmator Acquisition - MacRumors

Apple could eventually integrate these apps into iOS, iPadOS, and macOS, but for now they remain separate and available from the App Store.

I would be absolutely devastated if Apple folded it into the OS and killed the standalone app. Pixelmator is far too valuable, and important, to get swallowed up and relegated to tiny updates at the margin only once every twelve months.

Hamas Gets Biden-Appointed Judge To Overturn Trump’s Order To Release Hostages - Babylon Bee

On Monday, Trump issued a stern ultimatum to Hamas to release all remaining hostages by noon on Saturday or face dire consequences, but sources confirmed that Hamas leaders obtained a ruling from a judge appointed by the previous administration to effectively tie Trump’s hands.

lol, this is a clever one.

All lawsuits against the Executive branch get a lot of attention when filed, but I think on average less than 1 in 10 succeeds. It’s incredible that our government and its three branches have functioned so successfully for this long.

That’s funny, I could’ve sworn there was a bird feeder here earlier?!

The Magnificent 7 Are So Last Year. Cash Cows Are the New Kings. - WSJ

Plenty of investors, including Joel Greenblatt of “Magic Formula” fame, and even Buffett himself, ignore the academic straitjacket plaguing some value indexes.

Yeah, owning every publicly traded company in the market so you never have to pick winners and losers is so naive.

Nutrition Win: Pope Francis Has Announced That Communion Wafers Will Now Contain 19 Grams Of Protein - Clickhole

This is going to go a long way to help Catholics reach their RDA!

I started publishing on my other blog, Catholic Husband, in 2013. Since then, I’ve published regularly and have ended up with a collection of over 1,000 blog posts. 2013 was the golden age of blogging, and I spent considerable time designing the website in Rapidweaver.

Running your website requires many choices, the most important of which is the platform on which you build. Users who build their online identity on Facebook, Twitter, or even MySpace found themselves at the mercy of the platform rules. The content is locked away forever and almost impossible to unlock. A similar problem can arise when building your site.

We can never know who will be the winners and losers in the future. I chose to run all of Catholic Husband through Rapidweaver and its built-in blog plugin. It was a good choice at the time, but as the years passed, fewer Rapidweaver users used the blog plug-in. The product kept improving, but the blog plug-in ended up frozen in time. Updates slowed to a trickle, with the last major improvement coming in 2018. Realmac Software, the developer of Rapidweaver, doesn’t even use their own blogging solution for the company blog.

Recently, I wanted to change the design of the site in Rapidweaver, but I had to use pre-built themes for them to work on the blog. Themes were everything in 2013 and 2014, but in the last few years, everyone has moved to frameworks and modular design. I couldn’t make any of the themes still available work the way that I wanted.

So this left me at an impasse. Web technologies change constantly, and improvements were out there, ready to be had. All the while, Catholic Husband was locked away. What kept me locked in to Rapidweaver was the difficulty of exporting all those posts, the challenge of redirecting old links (Rapidweaver doesn’t use a standard nomenclature for the blog plug-in), and the belief that a fix was coming.

In the end, I concluded that I might be the most prolific active user of the Rapidweaver blog plug-in, and updates weren’t coming. I also came to terms with the reality that coming up with redirect rules for over 1,000 posts was more work than it was worth.

Catholic Husband is a substantial part of my writing portfolio, and I wanted to break it free. I spun up a blog on Micro.blog, tweaked the design using CSS, and updated the catholichusband.com DNS records to point to its new home.

Over three days last week, I re-posted all 1,015 blog posts, giving them not just a new home, but a new portable URL using a standard naming convention. It was a lot of work, and it was tedious, but now it is done.

My writing now has a new, modern home. I have access to the latest standards and technologies, the site is incredibly fast, and there’s even a built-in search function that Catholic Husband for the first time. To top it all off, there’s a native subscribe capability that lets readers get updates via email without having to rely on the unreliability of Mailchimp.

This was a project worth my time and effort. Catholic Husband is free, and ready to move forward on the modern web as a growing collection of my thoughts and experiences, in a way that’s built to last.

I need to figure out my sidewalk clearing plan. For now, ice-b-gone. ❄️

Genius Outsmarts Bank By Using Credit Card To Pay Off Other Credit Card - The Onion

At press time, sources reported that Garett had successfully cleared his debt in a feat of financial brilliance by canceling his credit card with a negative balance.

Life hack.

Trump Tells U.S. Treasury to Stop Minting Pennies - WSJ

In a post on the Musk-owned social-media site in January, DOGE said the penny “cost U.S. taxpayers over $179 million in FY2023.”

We probably have enough in circulation to meet demand for the time being, and one cent has lost all its value, but this is the natural consequence of monetary policy and inflation.

How Elon Musk Can Bring Air Traffic Under Control - WSJ Opinion

America’s air-traffic control system is decades behind those of Australia, Canada, Germany, Italy and the U.K. While these nations build safer, cheaper and more effective digital control towers that can be stationed off-site, the FAA continues to build the traditional towers of years past. While American control-tower staff share flight information with each other via paper flight strips, other countries use electronic flight strips with interactive displays and real-time data. Other providers subscribe to a global space-based surveillance system to track aircraft where there is no radar, such as over the oceans. The FAA doesn’t.

We literally invented aviation.

Decorating Valentine’s Day cookies. ❤️

I do not like weekends at the gym.

Introduction - Indie Microblogging

It’s time for a return to what made the web great. This book is about how. It’s both a history and a guide. How the web used to be, and how it should be again.

I’ve been thinking about, and working on, my website lately. Now seems like the right time to finally enjoy Manton’s book.

I ended up, painstakingly, moving the blog. I’m going to write up a longer post to memorize this big step because this is a watershed moment.

New shoes are fun. Grabbed them from a local, real life, shoe store.

Is it wrong to think that a chocolate flavored coffee is too chocolate-y?

☕️

I’m at an impasse.

The Catholic Husband blog is 12 years old with 1,000+ posts, but they’re locked into an arcane blogging system.

I don’t know if I should painstakingly move them one-by-one onto a new system or just accept that they’ll forever be trapped.

Bishop with shapes by Lucy.

FBI Agent On Remote Pacific Island Still Investigating January 6 Protesters - Babylon Bee

“I’ve got you now, Lectern Guy,” the as-yet unidentified agent was heard saying as he reviewed the terrifying moment when a lectern was moved twenty feet.

Man Who Drank Coffee And Ate Three Strips Of Bacon Ready To Take On The World - Babylon Bee

According to family members, David was running late for work so he skipped his usual breakfast of sugary cereal fortified with 27 vitamins and minerals. He even skipped his routine cup of healthy orange juice, which led to him ingesting this unusual concoction of caffeine and saturated fat which oddly seemed to power him up for the day.

Major Money Mistake: 5 Reasons Why Food Is The Worst Investment You Can Make - Clickhole

Food has lower return rates than stocks. If you bought Amazon stock in 2000, it’d be 9,000% more valuable today. If you bought dinner in 2000 instead? Odds are, that dinner is currently worth $0.

Who needs chairs?

Single Men Begin Dressing As Illegal Immigrants Hoping Kristi Noem Will Detain Them - Babylon Bee

“He almost got away with it,” said ICE agent Michael Oxner. “The hat, the mustache… that’s what they all look like. It was a foolproof disguise. Unfortunately for him, when our interpreter started to question him in Spanish, he could only respond with the words ‘taco,’ ‘burrito,’ and ‘chalupa.’ That tipped us off. Turns out he only wanted to meet Kristi Noem.”

Volkswagen cancels ID.7 sedan for US - The Verge

But with the Trump administration expected to eliminate EV incentives, Volkswagen is scrapping its plans to bring the ID.7 to North America.

In other words, this is a product that is too expensive and can only be propped up with government support.

People don’t want EVs today, they might in the future, but not today. So maybe we should stop rolling out 7,000 new EV models every year.

‘Scram, Ya Dirty Rats!’ Shouts Tommy Gun-Wielding Melania Chasing Democrats Out Of Town - Babylon Bee

“Youse all got til midnight tonight to pack up and go on the lam, or you’ll be wakin’ up to a lead breakfast, ya got it?”

macOS Sequoia 15.3 and iOS 18.3 Enable Apple Intelligence Automatically - MacRumors

For users new or upgrading to iOS 18.3, Apple Intelligence will be enabled automatically during iPhone onboarding.

I don’t like that. 🤖

Biden Issues Last-Minute Pardons to Family Members, Fauci, Ahead of Trump Inauguration - WSJ

“I wonder what criminal activity Biden is concerned they need a pardon from?” said Sen. Ron Johnson

Wow, who knew Joe Biden knew so many corrupt figures.

TikTok Ban Upheld by Supreme Court - WSJ

The Supreme Court unanimously upheld a federal law requiring TikTok’s Chinese owners to sell or shut down the social-media app by Jan. 19, siding with Congress’s national-security concerns over the platform and its users’ claim that the ban violates the First Amendment.

9-0; I hope this poison goes away forever. TikTok’s lawyers never denied the allegation that they were controlled by the CCP.

Biden Says Equal Rights Amendment Is the ‘Law of the Land’ - WSJ

Friday’s statement from the president puts pressure on U.S. Archivist Colleen Shogan, the Constitution’s official custodian. Shogan recently concluded she lacked authority to recognize the ERA’s ratification more than 40 years after a congressionally-set deadline expired.

lol, such courage.

The expiration date on the proposed amendment was 1979. Five states have since voted to rescind their ratification and the 38th state (Virginia), by Biden’s count, ratified this expired proposal in 2020, before he even took office.

Now with three days left on his contract, he acts boldly!!!

I’m now firmly in the camp supporting a severely shortened lame duck period. Inauguration should be 30 days after the vote.

Corporate Security Detail Not Sure Why They Guarding Crock-Pot CEO - The Onion

“A person from the company called in a panic last week and said the CEO needed to ‘beef up’ his security detail, but when we asked what sorts of threats he was facing, they just kept saying he’d ‘made a lot of enemies lately’ and wouldn’t elaborate”

9 References To Trump In The Bible - Babylon Bee

“He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth.” (Isaiah 53:7)

A reference to the gag order imposed on him during his witch trial.

‘I’m Going to Plot Your Demise for My Entire Workout.’ Gym Regulars Can’t Wait for You to Quit Your Resolution. - WSJ

“She said we should open a chain of pop-up gyms on January 2nd that slowly turn into bars by mid-February,” he said. “The business was called ‘Resolutions.’”

I just ate cheddar cheese rubbed with lavender and espresso.

What a time to be alive.

🧀

Game afternoon with the girls.

🏴‍☠️

It’s hard to beat the local hardware store.

🔧

Snowfall

Trump Becomes First Former President Sentenced for Felony - WSJ

Donald Trump was sentenced Friday to no punishment

True poetry; a non-sentence for a non-crime.

“This defendant has caused enduring damage to the public perception of criminal justice,” Steinglass said.

The prosecutor gets this fact exactly backwards.

What a fantastical waste of prosecutorial resources in a city so dangerous that the state National Guard has to be deployed to the public transit system to maintain order.

But those business records, tho.

The robot vacuum’s work here is done.

🤖

And now, back to our regularly scheduled programming

Biden Blocks Sale of U.S. Steel to Japan’s Nippon Steel - WSJ

In an order Friday, the White House required the companies to abandon the deal within 30 days unless Cfius agrees to extend the timeline.

We spend a lot of time posturing.

New chair day.

It took me three years, but I’ve finally implemented a cable management system for my desk that works.

It’s always nice to get your new year plans crossed off your list early.

❄️

Hail, Theotokos!

Maybe we should call ourselves the Febreeze Brothers, ‘cause it’s feeling so fresh right now.