There’s a sane reply, and there’s the batshit crazy reply

Let’s begin with the mundane, normal response, because this is how I’d reply. Obama said in an interview that he believed aliens existed.

…former President Obama piqued the interest of many Americans when he said on a separate podcast last month that aliens were “real,” but he had not seen them, and they were not being held at Area 51.

Obama attempted to walk back his comments the next day, saying that he “saw no evidence during my presidency that extraterrestrials have made contact with us.”

“I was trying to stick with the spirit of the speed round, but since it’s gotten attention, let me clarify. Statistically, the universe is so vast that the odds are good there’s life out there,” Obama said in a post on Instagram.

That’s not “walking back,” that’s just clarifying a statement that he had initially assumed no one would be nuts enough to misinterpret. I also believe that there almost certainly alien intelligent organisms somewhere in the immense universe. There’s nothing magical about life, or intelligence. But I agree with Obama that there is no evidence of aliens, and that it is only a hypothetical likelihood.

Every scientist I know would agree with it. Typically, only some religious cranks argue that it’s not possible for aliens to exist. Of course, there are other cranks who argue that aliens have been visiting us already.

President Trump pledged a few days later to direct the Department of Defense and other agencies to release their files about UFOs and “alien and extraterrestrial life” to the public, citing the “tremendous” interest.

He previously told reporters he did not know if aliens were real and that he “may get him out of trouble” by declassifying records, referring to Obama.

The White House registered the domain names “Alien.gov” and “Aliens.gov” earlier this month, drawing speculation that information could be released soon.

I eagerly await the news from aliens.gov. Not holding my breath though.

And then there are the total wackos who believe aliens exist, but that they are supernatural beings.

JD Vance, the vice-president of the United States, said this weekend that he considers aliens to be “demons”.

With the war in Iran continuing, petrol and grocery prices soaring, and chaos continuing at US airports as a partial government shutdown endures, Vance appeared on the conservative Benny Show podcast, released on Saturday, to promise that he would spend time looking into what he called his “obsession” with UFOs and extraterrestrial visitors.

Johnson, who bills his show as the place for “cutting, behind-the-scenes insight into the global conflict for freedom”, wondered if Vance, who has been noticeably quiet about Donald Trump’s war in the Middle East that he is said to oppose, had yet looked at any of the files about unidentified flying objects – known these days as unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs) – which the president has promised to release.

“I actually haven’t,” Vance replied, mustering significantly more enthusiasm than for any previous question about the US-Israel military strikes on Iran.

“I have not been able to spend enough time on this, but I am going to. Trust me, I’m obsessed with this.”

This is inarguable evidence that the intellectual ability of our political leaders declined precipitously between Obama and Vance.

Let’s make sure looney JD never gets to the presidency, OK?

Now I know what they do at faculty meetings on the humanities/social sciences side of campus

They’re planning armageddon.

The floating text for this cartoon reads, “Anyone who thinks the humanities makes people more expansive should spend four minutes in an English department meeting.” It’s too true. I would never go over to the other side of my campus for one of their meetings, but here in the sciences building we have a statistician as chair who bangs through the meeting agenda on a tight schedule and doesn’t permit too much digression. We’re scared of the anarchy in the English department.

I don’t want to try to imagine what’s happening in the Art or Music departments. I’m pretty sure it involves other-worldly horrors and ritualistic chanting.

They never learn

Republicans have received so much bad press about racists and Nazis in their ranks that you’d think they’d learn and try to avoid more controversial members, but they can’t. Look at who was appointed as director of the College Republicans.

The newly appointed College Republicans of America political director Kai Schwemmer has made racist, antisemitic, homophobic and sexist statements while espousing extremist rightwing views on abortion, a Guardian review of livestream recordings can reveal.

Schwemmer said he would accept a world in which slavery was legal if abortion was criminalised, describes himself as “very much an anti universal suffrage guy” and accepts a supporter’s description of him as “our Mormon Nick Fuentes” – referring to the white nationalist influencer whose platform he streamed on for years.

Somehow, I am not surprised — we have a chapter of the College Republicans on our campus, and they occasionally get in the news for being assholes. You’d think, though, that they’d at least try to present themselves as sober, serious conservatives. That’s not what a modern Republican is anymore though. The Republican Party is a hate group. This appointment was not a mistake, it’s who they are.

One thing I wonder, though, is who appointed this jerk? The stories don’t say. All the attention is focussed on this stupid hateful young man, but I imagine there’s some wealthy, cigar-smoking bigwig somewhere in the works that thought appointing a misogynistic racist to run a student organization was a fine idea.

A good protest

Joan Baez! Bruce Springsteen! Jane Fonda! Tom Morello! That was some of the entertainment at the massive St Paul No Kings protest yesterday. I’ve heard estimates as high as 100,000 in attendance. Unfortunately, Ted Nugent couldn’t make it. We couldn’t make it either, that was a 3 hour drive away from us.

I attended the rally in Morris. (Forgive the terrible photo.)

It wasn’t organized in a way that lends itself to grand panoramic photos. We didn’t march — we we were spread out around a couple of major intersections in town. About 150 people showed up, a good number for our small town.

I then drove out to an even smaller town: Cyrus, Minnesota, population 300.

Between 30 and 40 people were waving signs at that one.

Our numbers look tiny compared to the huge crowds in the big cities, but what was most heartening was the response. Cars were driving by, and I did see one guy flip us off, but mostly we got positive affirmations, with drivers waving at us or honking their horns. At times it was just one long continuous ‘beep beep’ as car after car saluted us.

I think maybe most of the country is fed up with Mr Trump and his idiot lackeys.

We did have some conversations about the point of all this, since it wasn’t going to lead to direct change. People had different answers: one was to show other people that they aren’t alone, another was to foster organization, another was to just piss off MAGA. All good answers, I think, so we’ll have to keep it up. I also learned that there is a weekly demonstration in Morris, every Tuesday at 4:30 on 5th and Atlantic…so I’ll have to try to make it to some of those.

My sharpie is ready

In yet another fit of petty vanity, Donald Trump wants to put his name on all of our paper money.

Would someone translate that from the Black Speech of Morgoth for the rest of us?
Don’t speak it aloud, though, I’m pretty sure it would summon calamity.

The U.S. Treasury Department plans to put President Donald Trump’s signature on all new U.S. paper currency, the agency announced on Thursday.

The move would be a first for a sitting president, since traditionally, U.S. paper currency carries the signatures of the Treasury Secretary and the Treasurer, not the president.

It’s the latest instance of Trump putting his name and likeness on American cultural institutions, following his renaming of the U.S. Institute of Peace, the Kennedy Center performing arts venue and a new class of battleships, among other tributes.

I can’t chisel his name off the Kennedy Center or the Institute of Peace, but I have an easy solution when he tries to scribble on the money in my wallet: I’ll scribble back. Every bill I get is going to have his name redacted. I’ve heard where some people are planning to add editorial comment, for instance, writing “PEDO” after his name. I don’t think I’ll be alone.

I don’t think the Treasury Department is prepared for the reality that all their paper money is going to be defaced very quickly.

Our president is openly racist, again

Apparently, I’m “Somalia-oriented,” because I don’t share Trump’s bigoted views about entire nations.


In Minnesota, it’s very Somalia-oriented. These people come from a crooked country, disgusting country, one of the worst countries in the world. They come to our country — low IQs — and they rob us blind. Stupid people, and they rob us blind.

Although I agree that there are cases where deeply stupid people rob American citizens blind, I’d point my finger in a different direction, at the Epstein class of rich exploiters. Trump is unbelievably stupid and bigoted.

He’s regurgitating the claims of another notorious racist, Richard Lynn, who published papers from the safety of his Ulster residence stating utter bollocks about the intelligence of people in far-away lands, entirely on the basis of apocryphal reports, poorly sourced anecdotes, and “data” collected in prisons and mental institutions and refugee camps, when it suited his biases. This is some of the worst data that ever got accepted for publication. Here, for instance, are his estimates of regional IQ, both “estimated” and “actual”.

Lynn loved his imaginary statistics. Note that what this says is that on average, African peoples exhibit a mild intellectual disability of the sort that would require significant educational accommodations, and would need substantial vocational rehabilitation and training for them to be able to live independently. Although, apparently, they’re still smarter than a large fraction of the American citizenry, and are capable of robbing them blind with their cunning schemes. I’d argue that this is a problem exacerbated by the fact that American dupes, marks, and victims have taken to advertising their status by putting bright red caps on top of their gullible brains.

Trump went on to say that we have crooked politicians and dirty cops, and that something should be done about our attorney general, Keith Ellison. Ellison has fired back.

“If Donald Trump thinks Minnesotans will turn on our neighbors, he doesn’t understand this state,” wrote Ellison. “When he surged ICE here and killed two Minnesotans, we stood up for each other, not against each other. Trump’s racist tirades can’t distract from the fact that his reckless and deeply unpopular war is driving up inflation, raising gas prices, and making life unaffordable for Minnesotans.”

It is indisputable that Trump is a goddamn racist bigot, and it is also indisputable that his policies are bankrupting the USA. But he has the support of the stupid people and the rich people, so he gets to stay in office.

I’d like to see a debate on any topic between a Somali-American, Ilhan Omar, and a demented, corrupt old parasite, Donald Trump. Let’s see who actually has a higher IQ.

What a strange thing to brag about

The White House (I think that means Steven Miller) is weirdly proud of the fact that they’ve turned the nation into a chaotic hellhole that no one wants to live in any more.

The White House gloats that net immigration fell in every metro area in 2025

I’m sure that if Republicans use this as a campaign slogan there are American citizens who will see this as a net positive.

I hate it when Republicans do this; I might hate it more when Democrats do it

Governor Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania has decided what kids in his state need to learn. It’s cursive handwriting.

Letting our kids be kids also means getting back to the basics. That’s why, earlier this year, | signed into law a bipartisan bill that requires cursive handwriting to be taught in Pennsylvania schools.
It may seem strange, but cursive handwriting is a fundamental skill that all of our kids should learn. They may not get why now, but that’s how they’ll sign their very first check — or maybe even someday, a bill that gets to the Governor’s desk (trust me, you’ll want good penmanship for that).

Nope. It’s not an essential skill anymore. You can sign a check with a barely legible scrawl…it’s still accepted. The President of the US can sign bills with a peculiar string of pointy squiggles that is completely illegible…it still works, unfortunately. When I have to sign a series of papers, it starts out OK, but I use a kind of sloppy block printing, and by the time I’m done the “yers” in my last name has eroded down into a kind of uneven flood plain. That’s a really stupid reason to force kids to write in cursive.

Also, Shapiro has a law degree, not an education degree. He is not qualified to tell people what educational initiatives are “fundamental”. Leave that to educators.

It reminds me of my early disaffection with Bill Gates. He was doing all this philanthropy, and one of his pet projects was reforming US education…by taking it out of the hands of teachers and promoting charter schools. Like Bill Gates, Shapiro is meddling in subjects in which he has no authority and is going to end up doing more harm to education.