Lately the USA resembles a flaming dumpster rolling swiftly downhill toward a chlorine trifluoride tank farm. It’s hard to keep up! Here are a couple of random items for your consideration this afternoon.
Sounds like Pete Hegseth should update his CV so he can shoot for a stretch assignment, like celebrity bingo caller at the VFW post in Radishbreth, Idaho. NPR:
The White House has begun the process of looking for a new secretary of defense, according to a U.S. official who was not authorized to speak publicly.
This comes as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth continues to find himself mired in controversy. NPR has also confirmed with the same official that Hegseth shared details ahead of last month’s Yemen strikes with his wife and brother in a Signal chat on his personal phone, minutes after being updated by a senior U.S. military official.
We discussed Hegseth’s disastrous tenure this morning, and one of y’all sent chills down my spine by speculating that if Hegseth does go down, Trump might appoint someone even worse, like Q-anon loon Gen. Mike Flynn. That’s entirely plausible, and yikes!
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The DOW is down 1200-ish as I write this, more than 3%, as are S&P 500 and NASDAQ. Trump is pouring fuel on the fire by SCREAMING IN ALL CAPS at Fed Chair Jerome Powell, whom Trump appointed in his first term because Janet Yellen is short (and lacks a penis).
Disappointingly, T$LA’s share price hasn’t dropped below $220. It was hovering around $223 last I looked, having lost more than 7% of value in today’s trading. Burn, baby burn! (The stock price, I mean, in case any of Bondi’s DOJ goons are monitoring this obscure blog.)
Political and financial analysts seem to think Musk will leave the government soon. Here’s a sample of the thinking from a recent WaPo story:
The billionaire is ready to exit because he is tired of fielding what he views as a slew of nasty and unethical attacks from the political left, according to a person familiar with his thinking. He believes his departure will not diminish the power or work of DOGE, his brainchild, the person said, noting that DOGE team members are already established across scores of federal agencies.
Boo-fucking-hoo, but he’s probably right about the “power” and “work” of DOGE since his kinderchuds have exfiltrated our personal data, installed choke-points in the Treasury payment system and Musk has corruptly funneled billions in new government contracts to himself.
Some market commentators seem to believe Musk needs to head back to Tesla to fix what ails the company. In my view, Musk is the problem, not the solution. I don’t know markets, but I do know marketing, and I think the brand joined the choir invisible thanks to its owner’s deeply unpopular antics. They just don’t fully realize that yet.
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A culinary question as a cleanser following the dumpster-fire discussion: After eating loads of traditional Easter fare yesterday, we decided we’ll have homemade pizza for dinner tonight. Specifically, a grandma-style pie.
I’ve made it a time or two but haven’t settled on a particular recipe. My dough is already prepared. Any tips on toppings, specifically, the order?
Last time I made it, I blind-baked the crust a little, paved it with slices of provolone, added sauce, basil and Pecorino-Romano on top of that and drizzled it with minced garlic-infused olive oil. Suggestions welcome!
Aside from that, open thread!
Open thread