A blog about societal, cultural, and civilizational collapse, and how to stave it off or survive it. Named after the legendary character "Crazy Eddie" in Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle's "The Mote in God's Eye." Expect news and views about culture, politics, economics, technology, and science fiction.
The time has finally come to break my silence on America's national bird, the bald eagle.
There is also an AI summary.
Lawrence explores the fascinating reality of North America's endemic Bald Eagles, examining their surprising habitats and unique behavioral traits. This look into the conservation success story uncovers the history behind their near-extinction and remarkable recovery.
I've been slacking on one of my traditions, including a drink video for my holiday entries, so I'm making up for by including National Day Calendar's WORLD MARTINI DAY | JUNE 20.
Shaken, not stirred. Do you enjoy a good martini once in a while? Let us know in the comments.
Detroit isn't having all the fun in the Great Lakes State. WNEM TV5 in Saginaw, Flint, Midland and Bay City reported Juneteenth plans in Flint for 54th year.
Flint Mayor Sheldon Neeley said Flint was the first city in Michigan to officially recognize Juneteenth in 2020, a year before the federal government.
I didn't know that about Flint, so I learned something new. That makes today a good day.
When you look at Federally declared disasters across the U.S., there’s a surprising blank spot in the Southwest region. What’s up with that? Is the Southwest really a safe haven from natural disasters? Or is there a more sinister explanation for this giant hole in the map? On this episode of Weathered, we talk to the folks who made this map, and some of the world’s leading experts on climate risk to find out what’s really going on.
My wife and I watched this video together on the big-screen TV in our bedroom. I guessed the lack of natural disasters in the American Southwest was because there aren't a lot of people there and that the dark secret was the heat. The first guess wasn't true; the Phoenix–Mesa–Chandler, AZ MSA has an estimated population of 5,228,938 while the Las Vegas–Henderson–North Las Vegas, NV MSA has an estimated population of 2,407,226.
The second guess was dead on. That's no surprise, as I blogged about Phoenix being the hottest city in the U.S. in 2021 and mentioned its record heat in 2023twice. What is surprising is that heat waves don't count as federal natural disasters covered by FEMA. The commenters found the reason dismaying: "You don't get disaster declarations for mortality. You only do it for economics." Ecurewitz responded "That’s the most American statement ever." RandomAngle9 commented "The fact that heat doesn't 'qualify' as a disaster because it doesn't destroy buildings, only people, says everything about how we value human life in policy." Speaking of policy, Florida banning municipalities from protecting workers from heat shows that DeSantis wasn't only bad on COVID-19. He and the rest of the Republicans on Florida are bad on climate and weather, too.
The trailer alone demonstrated that Underdogs deserved this nomination. Unfortunately, I doubt it will win this award. It's competing against 2000 Meters to Andriivka with six nominations including Best Documentary, Songs from the Hole with four nominations including Outstanding Arts and Culture Documentary, and The Stringer, also with four nominations including Outstanding Investigative Documentary. I expect grit will win over wit.
I was wrong; wit beat grit in Outstanding Writing: Documentary.
Secrets of the Penguins deserved this nomination, but I doubt it will win. Instead, I think it's between Turning Point: The Vietnam War with five total nominations and Love + War with four nominations. Both are also nominated for Best Documentary. The sounds of combat would probably impress the journalists and documentarians, possibly even more than the sounds of nature or music. If the entertainment professionals in the Creative Arts Emmys were voting, they might give WE WANT THE FUNK! the advantage. Not here; electorates matter.
I think the same of Underdogs' chances for Outstanding Sound: Documentary. Given the competition in its categories, it has an apt title.
Don't even think about getting a bigger boat! Let us know in the comments the largest fish you ever caught.
When Marlo Anderson mentioned that a Danish scientist had figured out that the "dragon's tongues" were really giant sharks teeth in 1666, I thought "that has to be Nicolaus Steno." It was.
In 1667, Danish naturalist Nicolaus Steno made a discovery that forever changed the way we viewed the oceans forever. The fossils were thought to have been the petrified tongues of dragons or snakes, but what Nicolaus realised was the truth was equally, if not far more terrifying. These strange objects were actually the fossilized teeth of the largest shark to have roamed the oceans, the megalodon.
I plan on lecturing on Steno's contributions to geology on Thursday and I will include this factoid. One of my students is really into sharks and he'll enjoy it.
I have more material, but I feel like being a good environmentalist and conserving my resources for next year. May I remember to celebrate on time then. In the meantime, stay tuned for the News & Doc Emmy Awards won by Underdogs for Wayback Wednesday.
This is in the same overall series as Secrets of the Whales, Secrets of the Elephants, and Secrets of the Octopus, all of which earned nominations at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards. That, and its award-winning producer and director, bode well for its award chances at these Emmy Awards.
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I'm rooting for Secrets of the Penguins...
I got my wish; Secrets of the Penguins won Outstanding Nature Documentary.
On the other hand, I was happy to be wrong about Outstanding Cinematography: Documentary, for which I wrote, "Secrets of the Penguins is in very good company, including 2000 Meters to Andriivka with six nominations including Best Documentary, which is my pick to win both that award and this category." I repeated that thought in 'Underdogs' earns four News & Doc Emmy Award nominations: "Underdogs might be more deserving than Pangolin: Kulu's Journey and as deserving as Secrets of the Penguins, but I still think 2000 Meters to Andriivka is the favorite to win Outstanding Cinematograpy: Documentary." Nope, Secrets of the Penguins won Outstanding Cinematography: Documentary. I'm glad that nature beat warfare.
Speaking of Underdogs, it also won two News & Doc Emmy Awards, so I think I will cover it next. Stay tuned.
Previous posts about the 57th News & Doc Emmy Awards
"Yankee Doodle" was a traditional song (Roud 4501) that predated the American Revolution and was adapted by both British and Americans to mock one another in the eighteenth century. So we felt it was a fitting tune to repurpose on the occasion of the 250th anniversary of the birth of the United States, and the No Kings musical protests occurring this weekend which happens to be the 80th birthday of Donald Trump.
The word 'doodle' likely comes from German 'Dödel' meaning fool or simpleton or nob. It may also reference Low German 'dudel' = playing music badly. So it works whether you like or hate this parody arrangement! The earliest known version of the lyrics was the 1750s when it was sung during the Seven Years' War (or "French and Indian War" in the colonies), and it had become a patriotic song for the USA by 1781, when new verses mentioned a certain George Washington, who also crops up in ours as a bringer of political or national liberty (though, of course, also a slaveholder and denier of liberty).
I promised another Sunday entertainment feature, so follow over the jump for the remaining most read post and top social media shares about entertainment during the 15th year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News.
There's a lot that unites us as humans. How much we sleep, how much we eat, how much we travel... wait, what? Yeah, turns out that the vast majority of human populations have the same average amount of travel time per day. Here's what the research says about why that is, and how learning this could shape our future.
Hosted by: Madelyn Leembruggen (she/her)
78 minutes? I've been on the low side of that average time for years, but I did enough to contribute to the average 20 years ago, when I drove 48,000 miles in one year and 40,000 miles per year from 2000-2005. I'm glad I'm no longer doing that. Follow over the jump to see how I'm doing now.
Happy Flashback Friday! I promised "Stay tuned for another winner at the News & Doc Emmy Awards along with a retrospective of posts on a related theme" for today and get to both of those after I lead into them beginning with SciShow explaining How Instagram Hacks Your Brain.
Do you feel addicted to social media? You're certainly not alone. Social media and our brains have a messy relationship, and researchers are working hard to understand what's going on, who might be more or less at risk, and why.
Hosted by: Hank Green (he/him)
Can't Look Away: The Case Against Social Media is the Emmy winner I'm featuring today and it's all about how social media algorithms make the platforms addictive and how they especially harm teenagers. Howtown examined another possible cognitive harm in What the actual science says about "brain rot".
Are TikTok, Reels, and YouTube Shorts actually destroying our attention spans, or is “brain rot” just another moral panic? In this video, we dig into the science behind short-form video and attention, from debunking viral goldfish statistics to explaining real cognitive psychology experiments testing analytical thinking and prospective memory. We break down what researchers actually mean by “attention span,” how infinite scroll and autoplay feeds are genuinely different from previous forms of media, and what lab tests can and can’t tell us about the mental effects of short-form video.
As much as I have proclaimed "Behold the power of the YouTube algorithm," I at least had the choice of clicking on the preview of the intriguing video the program presented to me. With YouTube shorts, TikTok, and Instagram reels, the only choice I have is to watch the next video or stop watching unless I see the preview of the short on my YouTube home page, where I still have the choice to click. It's one of the reasons I generally avoid TikTok, the other being the ownership, both old and new. Do I think the format is making me stupid? No, although it's certainly distracting, entertaining, and surprising, especially as Instagram reels, some of which I find educational. That loops back to Hank Green's observation about Instagram hacking my brain. I like closing loops.
The second loop to close is today's featured News & Doc Emmy Award winner.
After I watched Can't Look Away's trailer, I declared, "I don't have to look at the other two trailers; I think this is the winner." I was right; it won. Congratulations!
Follow over the jump for the final loop, today's featured post from the 15th year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News, which was also about a legal action against social media.
CNN FILMS PRIME MINISTER WINS TWO EMMY® AWARDS, INCLUDING BEST DOCUMENTARY
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CNN’s recognition extended to the Documentary Emmy® Awards on Thursday night, where CNN Films’ Prime Minister won Best Documentary and Outstanding Politics and Government Documentary. The acclaimed film premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, earning the Audience Award for World Cinema Documentary before being acquired by HBO and CNN Films. Released theatrically by Magnolia Pictures, Prime Minister is available to stream now at CNN.com/Watch, on the CNN app, and on HBO Max.
Dame Jacinda Ardern posted a thank you speech to her Instagram.
Tonight the incredible team who made the documentary simply titled “Prime Minister” won the Emmy for best documentary. From the sidelines I saw these talented directors, editors, and producers all come together to create a film (which I have still only watched it in its entirety once..) that feels like the most accurate portrayal of what it’s like to lead with your heart on your sleeve. My huge congratulations to them all, especially Michelle Walshe and Lindsay Utz who co-directed it. But here, I want to make a special mention of Clarke, the first person who picked up a camera. I wasn’t the easiest person to film, and nor through the years of being PM was I the easiest partner. But that never changed the amount of support he gave in return. Our loved ones don’t choose politics, but they are still on the front line alongside us every day, cheering us on, keeping life at home going, reminding us why we’re there. So thank you, Clarke. Now it’s my turn to cheer you on xx
Clarke spoke at the awards tonight, and he saved his final words, rightly so, to thank New Zealand. Our home. We will both forever be grateful for the privilege of a lifetime.
Congratulations to Dame Jacinda, the documentarians, CNN, and HBO!
Since it's Throwback Thursday and the subject is politics, follow over the jump for the top serious political posts written during the 15th year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News.
The tongue-twisting I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General, performed live during Gilbert and Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance, directed by Mike Leigh at English National Opera.
Andrew Shore plays Major General-Stanley, with Joshua Bloom as Pirate King and Claudia Boyle as Mabel in this ENO production by film director Mike Leigh.
About The Pirates of Penzance:
With sentimental pirates, blundering policeman, absurd adventures and improbable paradoxes, The Pirates of Penzance is Gilbert and Sullivan's most popular comic opera.
A swashbuckling farce of brilliant humour and razor-sharp wit, it's chock-full of memorable melodies, including the famous tongue-twisting patter song from the Major-General.
This production was directed by directed by BAFTA-award winner Mike Leigh, who makes his operatic debut.
Randy could have been more pompous, but he has Pervert Hoover for that.
Randy isn't the only one revisiting the past. My readers gave enough page views to three posts from the 2016 election that they joined the most read entries of the 15th year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News. Follow over the jump for their stories.
“Lyin’ Eyes” was written by Don Henley and Glenn Frey, released by California’s rock legends The Eagles in 1975. It was apparently inspired by their visions of many beautiful younger women with older husbands in Los Angeles, who they imagined leading double lives and lying and cheating. So it’s a story about moral reprobates, hypocrisy, double standards, and virtual self-prostitution, which made it perfect to adapt to address J.D. Vance’s latest foray into European politics.
Plenty of muck-stirrers had already sought to whip up anger and outrage in the wake of the tragic murder of Henry Nowak, and the horrendous footage and troubling backstory. These included Nigel Farage, Tommy Robinson, Rupert Lowe, and Elon Musk. But Vance – who had met several of the more disturbing UK ‘politicians’ last summer – in his inimitable style took things to a new level.
Vance showed wanton disregard for the grieving Nowak family’s own stated request: “We do not want his death to be used to create further division, hatred, or tension.” He shared footage of the eighteen-year-old’s ghastly final moments, let down by mistakes by British police officers under huge stress, and crassly linked it to fears about migration, civilisational collapse, hatred, invasion and anger. It was a sick message that has been amplified on Twitter/X and, at point of writing, has over 10m views.
We didn’t even have time to get into the hypocrisy of casting stones across the Atlantic by this administration or this chameleon. But the song’s intended to express that the behaviours, ideologies and values that Vance and his ilk embody, particularly in this tragic moment, are anathema to most in the UK, and we suspect most Europeans. They are like a cancerous cell in the tissue of what we understand being ‘civilised’ means, and they are threatening to metastasise.
The Walt Disney Company earned 21 News & Documentary Emmy® Awards across ABC News and National Geographic, with the award-winning content streaming on Disney+ and Hulu. Following another record-breaking year of 51 nominations — the most ever for the brand — National Geographic took home 13 News & Documentary Emmy Awards, breaking its all time record. This included seven awards for "Trafficked with Mariana Van Zeller," which also stood for the third consecutive year as the most-nominated series ever. "Trafficked with Mariana van Zeller" is an original documentary series that explores the complex and dangerous inner-workings of the global underworld, black and informal markets. Each adventure follows Mariana on a mission to follow the chain of custody of trafficked goods, understand how to obtain the contraband, or see the 360-degree view of the trafficking world from the point of view of the smugglers, law enforcement and those caught in the crossfire.
Award-winning journalist Mariana van Zeller explores the inner-workings of the most dangerous black markets on the planet. In each episode, she investigates a different underworld — from fentanyl and illegal street racing to the smuggling of brides and the rise of militias — to meet the players, learn the business, and better understand the world’s multi-trillion dollar shadow economy.
This trailer earned an Emmy nomination of its own for Outstanding Promotional Announcement: News. Also, eight of the ten episodes promoted earned Emmy Award nominations and six won Emmy Awards, including the one that is the reason for featuring the series today, "Shark Hunters."
Outstanding Climate, Environment or Weather Coverage - "Shark Hunters" **WINNER**
Yes, that's an ocean conservation themed episode. It's also one I can recommend to my students. Welcome to blogging as professional development.
Follow over the jump for the other five Emmy-winning episodes.
Ever felt like a place seems real yet oddly unsettling? Welcome to The Backrooms, a digital folklore phenomenon that blurs the lines between reality and fiction, exploring the eerie and uncanny through playful, yet terrifying, community-driven digital storytelling.
I watched this video when it came out almost exactly two years ago, so I had heard that the concept would be made into a movie then. The movie was released two weeks ago, and was a huge hit. Watch as ABC News reports Horror film 'Backrooms' makes box office history.
Independent horror film "Backrooms" is a box-office stunner, taking in $82 million dollars in domestic ticket sales in its opening weekend.
What ABC News didn't mention was that Backrooms and Obsession knocked The Mandalorian and Grogu out of first place. Remember that Disney owns both ABC and Lucasfilm, which makes Star Wars. It's not just news value that drives the story, including what isn't reported. That wasn't CNN's problem, as their video on the subject described How YouTubers are beating Disney at its own game.
Youtubers-turned-directors are beating media giants like Disney at the box office. CNN media correspondent Brian Stelter breaks down how these directors have the edge, as the panel debates.
CNN, owned by Warner Brothers-Discovery — for now — has no such problem pointing out Backrooms and Obsession beat The Mandalorian and Grogu at the box office.
That's a wrap for today. Stay tuned for WorldOceansDay, which I haven't celebrated since 2024. Oops.
Today's evergreen educational entry features Bankrupt - Cicis Pizza by Bright Sun Films, a tale of the Retail Apocalypse.
Starting in the mid 1980's, Cicis Pizza was always the go-to pizza restaurant for cheap bites and great value. With their no-frills locations, cheap prices and innovative buffet concept, the restaurant became a massive success with hundreds of locations across the country. However, things have changed and following a bankruptcy, their once dominating presence has been severely diminished. Join me as we find out why.
As user
tcbgarage2845 wrote in his comment, "Private equity, Leveraged buyouts, Covid 19 and Chapter 11 bankruptcy! The whole gang is here." Indeed.
As I've written several times, no bankrupt company's story is complete without both Bright Sun Films and Company Man making videos about it, so I'm sharing Company Man Mike asking The Decline of CiCi's Pizza...What Happened?
Cici's pizza has been on the decline for more than a decade now. What was once the 5th largest pizza chain in the U.S. has fallen to number 10. This video takes a look at how they grew so large and theorizes where they went wrong.
There is also an AI-generated video summary.
CiCi's Pizza: from a humble beginning to a top-five pizza chain, this video explores the brand's rise and subsequent decline. The documentary analyzes the company's unique buffet model and its impact on CiCi's growth trajectory. It also examines factors that may have contributed to its recent struggles.
Company Man Mike uploaded this video on October 14, 2020, during the height of the pandemic, yet he didn't mention it. I'm surprised. Also, he produced this before CiCi's declared bankruptcy and before he began creating his lists of reasons for failure. Too bad — those lists are right up with his bar charts and line graphs among my favorite parts of Company Man Mike's videos. At least this video has plenty of those, along with enough shots of the menu items to make me hungry.
That's a wrap for today's lesson showing what not to do in business. Stay tuned for the Sunday entertainment feature.
While most of the planet warms, a patch of ocean south of Greenland—often called the “cold blob” or “North Atlantic warming hole”—is not warming. In fact, depending on which years you look at, it has actually cooled since industrialization. In this video we investigate this odd phenomenon which has implications for the future of our climate and the stability of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). The AMOC is a system of currents that transports heat from the tropics to the North Atlantic, regulating weather patterns across Northwestern Europe and beyond. However, recent evidence suggests this vital system may be weakening. Could human-induced climate change, specifically the warming of the ocean and the influx of freshwater from melting ice, be pushing this circulation toward a tipping point? We take a journey through centuries of oceanographic discovery to understand the overturning circulation, the urgency of research on the AMOC, and what the potential collapse of this system could mean for the stable world we built our civilizations on.
Yes, this exercise in explaining how we know what we know is about the AMOC, which I covered most recently in USA Today warns 'The Atlantic current is weakening and possibly headed for collapse'. Howtown's video now makes two entries where an outlet other than PBS Terra covered the AMOC. The potential catastrophe is once again penetrating beyond the outlet that specializes in Climatechange and other naturaldisasters. I suppose that's good news. It also includes Camp Century, the subject of The Memory of Darkness, Light, and Ice. If I had heard of Camp Century before that documentary, it hadn't stuck, at least under that name. Now I've blogged about it twice in a week!
I haven't changed my plan for the second half of today's post, a retrospective of top shares about holidays on Bluesky and Twitter/X during the 15th year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News. Follow over the jump.
John Oliver discusses how an already flawed Twitter got worse under Elon Musk, how it continues to impact us all, and what it has to do with the 30-40 trillion cells humans are composed of. Or, wait, sorry, Twitter doesn’t have anything to do with the cells. It’s about our understanding of the universe. Maybe. You’ll just have to take that last part up with Elon directly.
There's a side effect of Musk turning the blue checks into pay for play instead of an actual verification system. In addition to making it difficult to tell real from imitation/parody accounts, it made a lot of statistics inaccessible without paid verification. I noted that last year: "Twitter/X's analytics are now a service for paid subscribers, and I won't pay to support Elon Musk, so they end up being little better than what I can collect from Bluesky for free."
Since today is Throwback Thursday, follow over the jump for my most read post about Twitter/X and Bluesky during the 15th year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News along with my top shares on each platform that aren't about holidays that I haven't shared yet.
Watching this trailer reminds me that I showed Chasing Ice to my students last week and this is week is Earth Week, making this a good movie to recommend to my students. Welcome to blogging as professional development. It also makes me think that it's the strongest competitor to Sally. Last year, I thought that the "Hunt for the Oldest DNA" episode of NOVA on PBS had the strongest science of all the nominees, but didn't have the best chance of winning. Surprise, it won! That could happen here.
I’m so happy to report that The Memory of Darkness, Light, and Ice was awarded the a National Emmy for Outstanding Science and Technology documentary!! Our science and film team is beyond ecstatic!! It was a tremendous honor to be amongst so many great documentary filmmakers last night. This award elevates not just the film, but also the voices of the scientists and the documentary’s funder, the National Science Foundation.
As a scientist and filmmaker, my work aims to unify scientific research and share it with the public. This is especially important when the science we urgently need to hear is being attacked. So thank you to the @emmysnatas for this timely and beautiful award!!
Trump claims a peace deal with Iran is coming any second, but he's been saying that for months. Jon Stewart takes a look at Trump's unimpressive track record as a negotiator, despite being the self-proclaimed best negotiator in the world, and pulls back the curtain on the president's "Art of the Deal" as merely the art of trolling. Plus, the Freedom 250 concert is falling apart as more and more headliners pull out, and TDS News Team alum Olivia Munn stops by to offer Jon Stewart a heartfelt tribute that was definitely not meant for Stephen Colbert.
The first of Kimmel's video descriptions in said "they’re also lining up entertainment for the “Great American State Fair” and the lineup is shaping up to be a real dud," but it's even more of a dud now that acts are pulling out. I'm surprised by Bret Michaels pulling out, as he was a winner on Celebrity Apprentice. Nope, that wasn't enough. On the other hand, Vanilla Ice staying is on brand. I'm not sure what to make of Freedom Williams other than he just wants to perform and doesn't care who for. Oh, and the agent being Jeff Epstein, but not that Jeffrey Epstein — HA! You can't make this stuff up!
Donald Trump is a self-help apostle. He always has tried to create his own reality by saying what he wants to be true. Where many see failure, Trump sees only success, and expresses it out loud, again and again.
His wish might just come true. This works on the social environment, but not the physical and biological environment; it failed to work on the virus during the pandemic. He couldn't bully a virus.
He's also finding out that he can't bully the Iranians and he doesn't know what to do about it except keep hoping for a good outcome.
Colbert being cancelled is not a good outcome, but at least The Daily Show's audience was treated to the funniest thing I've seen Olivia Munn do in response to it (no, I never watched her when she was a correspondent, and her SAG nominations announcement comes close). I guess her new husband Jon Mulaney is rubbing off on her, pun intended.
Today is the first day of June and our nation's newscasters can’t believe it, almost every artist who was announced for Trump’s Great American State Fair has dropped out or said they never agreed to be part of it, a federal judge ruled that Trump’s name had to be removed from The Kennedy Center, Trump granted his daughter-in-law Lara an interview that included a tour of the construction site/UFC arena he’s living in right now, he is still very proud of the word “Dumocrat” that he made up, he took some time to brag about his “extremely good” health report, the primary elections here in California are tomorrow and while Spencer Pratt is a ridiculous choice for Mayor of LA, you have to admit - he makes some pretty good ads!
I don't recall hearing people saying "June" that much on The Handmaid's Tale and it's the lead character's name!
As for Pervert Hoover bragging about acing a cognitive test, again, it isn't the flex he thinks it is. Both Seth and Jimmy pointed out that it's a sign that his behavior is concerning his doctors. It's also not an IQ test, even if Pervert Hoover thinks it is.
Today's primary election in California looks interesting. If this blog hadn't passed its page view goals for June early this morning, I would have covered them for a topical post tomorrow. Instead, I'll wait until I start writing about the general election, which won't be until August.
On the topic of topical posts, the next time I write one of a summary of monologues should be Tuesday, June 30th, so I can share it in July. I have a couple of social media shares of posts featuring late-night talk show hosts I haven't included in a retrospective, so follow over the jump for those.
Happy June! Today's topical post to begin the month features John Oliver examining Trump’s Pardons on Last Week Tonight.
John Oliver discusses who Donald Trump has pardoned since he’s been in office, and what it would be like to have sex with a cartoon character who has your voice. Not a cartoon character OF YOU! Just a cartoon character with your voice.
Let me add one more quality Donald "Pervert Hoover" Trump likes to celebrity and loyalty, wealth. I shouldn't be surprised. As I first remarked in MSNBC examines Project 2025, part 1, "Jailbirds of a feather flock together," especially jailbirds useful to Pervert Hoover.
Oh, look Roger Stone and Paul Manafort, who Oliver listed among those pardoned. Quelle surprise.
I'm not done with Pervert Hoover's view of "law and order." Follow over the jump for a top share of another entry featuring his view of justice during the 15th year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News.
A federal judge temporarily blocked President Trump from officially renaming the Kennedy Center. U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper found the board did not have the authority to rename the facility on its own.
Rep. Joyce Beatty told WUSA9 that she believes monuments are for the people.
I agree with the first woman interviewed; Pervert Hoover wants to leave his mark on Washington, D.C. like he has on New York City, any way he can. I've never written it here before, but I've been saying for decades that he has an edifice complex. That the term was originally invented to describe Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos makes it even more authoritarian.
A weekly Kennedy Center protest turned into a celebration after a judge ruled the president can’t name the institution after himself and close it for two years. News4’s Jackie Bensen reports.
We investigated one of the world’s largest AI data centers, using thermal drone footage to reveal the hidden pollution powering the AI boom. As companies race to build the future of artificial intelligence, residents and experts warn that fossil fuels, secrecy, and weak regulation may be putting communities at risk.
This award is as much about technology as it is about economics. May it mean that AI be a net benefit for the economy. Right now, it looks like it's doing more destruction than creation.
If the projections are correct, it will be doing both, with 20% of people losing their current jobs while quintupling GDP. Yikes! That's an outcome the residents of Richistan would approve of. As for the rest of us, I'll repeat what I wrote a dozen years ago in Robots are coming for our jobs, "the loss of jobs to robots will be the major effect of the Singularity, not everyone becoming cyborgs or the machines enslaving or killing off humanity." It's not like we weren't warned.
That would be an end result. Joe Hanson is showing that getting there is already a risk in terms of increased consumption of land, water, materials to make the data centers and the power plants to run them, and natural gas, as well as increased production of waste in the form of greenhouse gases and other air pollutants. It reminds me of an equation I teach my environmental science students to describe environmental impact: "I=P*A*T, where I is impact, P is population, A is affluence, and T is technology." A.I., or at least the data centers to support it, are becoming an example of a technology that supports affluence but increases the impact of the population on the environment. I prefer technology that decreases the impact of an affluent population by being more efficient. Data centers aren't that, not until they use sustainable energy.
Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company, xAI, is fueling its data centers with unpermitted gas turbines, according to a Floodlight visual investigation. Thermal drone footage captured in late January 2026 shows xAI running the unpermitted turbines at its custom-built power plant in Southaven, Miss., nearly two weeks after the Environmental Protection Agency reiterated that doing so requires a state permit in advance. The ad hoc gas plant's sole task is to power the data center behind Grok and an example of AI's growing reliance on fossil fuels. Investigative Producer Evan Simon breaks down the investigation and what the findings could mean for the AI buildout occurring across the country.
**UPDATE** Mississippi regulators approved xAI's permit application to run 41 gas powered turbines at its Southaven gas plant on 3/10/26. The decision comes despite heavy pushback from local community members and will result in the creation of one of Mississippi's largest fossil fuel power plants.
This got me to subscribe to the Floodlight News YouTube channel, "The only U.S. newsroom with the specific mission to investigate climate polluters." Expect to see more from them.
Another lesson I teach my students is about the principles for environmental policy. Two of them are human rights, in this case the right to clean air and an environment not permeated by harmful noise, and public participation. The United States is supposed to be a democracy within a republic, where the people decide and the government represents the people. The Floodlight News video shows that the way data centers are being installed and operated respects neither. That's also the point of yesterday's MS NOW video, Erin Brockovich on AI data centers: 'People aren't being heard'.
Americans on both sides of the aisle have found common ground opposing construction of AI data centers in their communities. In Texas, one lifelong conservative voter told MSNOW reporter Josh Einiger that the issue could flip the Senate. And longtime consumer advocate Erin Brockovich joins to lay out what she's learned since she started tracking the issue.
I'm surprised I've never mentioned Erin Brockovich in 15+ years of blogging. It's about time I did.
That's a wrap for today. I'm sure I'll have more to say on the matter. In the meantime, stay tuned for the Sunday entertainment feature.
We are now officially 159 days from the midterm elections, Trump’s approval ratings have sunk to an all-time low even though he has “done more” than any President ever, the DOJ is now going after one of Trump’s victims E. Jean Carroll who accused him of sexually assaulting her, in honor of our country’s 250th anniversary the Treasury Department is looking to print special Trump $250 bills, they’re also lining up entertainment for the “Great American State Fair” and the lineup is shaping up to be a real dud, there will be a mass pardoning ceremony as part of the semi-quincentennial celebration, the US and Iran have reportedly reached another tentative deal to potential[ly] end the war he says we won three months ago, the State Department posted a very upbeat message for Secretary of State Marco Rubio, RFK Jr can’t stop picking up snakes, and another edition of This Week in Florida.
That's a good poll result for participation in this November's midterm elections and a bad one for Donald "Pervert Hoover" Trump, whose approval rating is about what I think he deserved all along. Speaking of approval, I don't think a proposed law to allow his face on a new $250 bill would get past the Senate and given how narrow the Republican margin is in the House, it would be a close call there, especially now that Thomas Massie has lost re-nomination. As for "This Week in Florida," "Florida Man" stories usually involve someone doing something criminal, stupid, and outrageous. Not this week — no criminal activity at all and the Florida Man doing something stupid was the cop. Good thing for the woman he pulled over that his body cam was working!
Trump met with his cabinet amid his war in Iran being a mess and his approval rating being in the toilet, Hegseth got an angry phone call from Trump after he cancelled the deployment of 4,000 troops who were about to leave to be stationed in Poland, Jimmy had a brief back and forth with RFK Jr. online that caught the attention of Fox Business, Senator John Cornyn of Texas lost his primary to a Trump-endorsed Ken Paxton, he will now face off against Democrat James Talarico, and Spencer Pratt is running for the Mayor of LA.
I've only mentioned Pervert Hoover's narcissismtwice, but Jimmy mentioning that one out of every six sentences in his Cabinet meetings is either praise or an attack on his enemies reminds me of one of the criteria for narcissistic personality disorder, need for admiration. He displays that and all the other criteria in abundance!
As for Jillian Michaels and Fox Business calling Kimmel not funny, then why does this video have 2,721,170 views, the one above have 1,936,029 and counting, and the one below 3,086,200? Conservatives hate-watching them? Yeah, right.
The latest UC Berkeley-L.A. Times poll of likely voters has the three candidates at the top almost within the margin of error so anything could happen leading up to Election Day. The top two candidates will move on in the race.
In the poll, Mayor Bass is at 26%. Right behind her is Nithya Raman at 25%. Then Spencer Pratt at 22%.
The margin of error for this poll is 3% so this race is wide open with a clear top three.
After hearing Jimmy describe Pratt's reaction to the fakeMayanApocalypse of 2012, I hope he comes in third so I won't have to mention him again except in defeat.
The Knicks completed a second consecutive sweep to earn a spot in the NBA Finals, Don Jr and his new bride Bettina were married on Saturday on an island in the Bahamas and Trump did not make it, they have begun construction on the arena for the big UFC fight scheduled for Trump’s 80th birthday next month, we are now on week thirteen of Trump’s “little excursion” in Iran, he posted a message to social media for Memorial Day, he gave himself a glowing report about his health after his physical, RFK Jr. decided to pick up snakes at Dr. Oz’s house, and after months of delays the Trump Mobile phone is finally shipping to customers.
Dumentia — hah! I'm keeping it.
Follow over the jump for top shares of posts about Kimmel on social media during the 15th year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News.
