Closing the tabs stupidity ...
This Big 10 expansion plan is getting ridiculous. https://t.co/w5733HAW1c
— John Ekdahl (@JohnEkdahl) July 23, 2025
Ed: And you thought I overuse movie quotes! I'm not sure whether this is from today or earlier this year, but it's too fun to leave out as it makes the rounds today. Before using sports analogies, it helps to understand the *sport*. Or maybe the NFL added a "national championship" game separate from the Super Bowl when we weren't looking.
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The prospect of U.S.-style air conditioning sends shivers through some Europeans. In France, media outlets often warn that cooling a room to more than 15 degrees Fahrenheit below the outside temperature can cause something called “thermal shock,” resulting in nausea, loss of consciousness and even respiratory arrest. That would be news to Americans who expect indoor temperatures to be cooled to around 75 degrees even when it is near 100 outside.
Others fear respiratory infections that might result from spending long periods in air-conditioned rooms. Europeans who are particularly concerned about climate change want to avoid using electricity for air conditioning that would generate additional greenhouse-gas emissions.
Still, the requirement to stay cool is overcoming such skepticism.
Ed: That's because this is so incredibly stupid as to defy explanation. It gets cold in France and Germany, too. If the outside temperature dips below freezing -- 0 degrees Celsius by their measure -- do they lower their indoor temps to 15 degrees Celsius (59 degrees Fahrenheit)? If it's -10C outdoors, do they only heat their indoors to 5C (41F)? Of course not. I've lived in Phoenix and central Texas, and during those periods, I would have suffered "thermal shock" multiple times a day. And I can assure you I am not writing this from the Great Beyond.
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Proof it isn't a conspiracy? Some
— Christopher C. Cuomo (@ChrisCuomo) July 23, 2025
Enjoy maga in-fighting but I think the fake outrage is toxic. Releasing grand jury testimony is highly uncommon and you have to make a case to overcome the prejudice. That's how the law works. https://t.co/ylZEZvEO6Z
Ed: This was so unsurprising and predictable that I didn't even bother to write a post about it. Cuomo's right; judges rarely release grand jury testimony, and for very good reasons. They are one-sided affairs, can contain allegations without corroboration, hearsay, and can damage victims and the innocent -- especially in sex-trafficking cases. This isn't a conspiracy; it's Pam Bondi getting desperate to climb out of the hole she dug in February.
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Netflix will not be renewing their eye-popping $100 million deal with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex signed the lucrative deal in 2020 to earn some cash after quitting royal life and moving to the US.
However, the couple still have other plans for the future.
“There are more TV projects coming soon with both the duke and duchess,” a source told Page Six. They also are set to sign a first-look deal with the streamer when their exclusive deal ends this year.
Ed: Only if Netflix wants to compete against CBS/Paramount/Skydance for the dumbest way to burn money. Here's what this probably means -- they're hoping to sucker some other deep-pocket media company for an eight-figure deal while producing next to nothing for it. Even Netflix has wised up; to benefit from a "first look deal," you have to actually propose a project they'd want to buy. It's become pretty clear that the American public has no real interest in the Harry and Me-Again circus, and even the Hollywood celebs that took a passing interest have moved on.
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(Ed: Sorry, I stepped outside and passed out from the thermal shock. Someone send me a case of ice-cold Sam Adams stat.)
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My favorite thing is when Democrats pretend they’re against dark money and gerrymandering. All you have to do is Google Arabella Advisers and take one look at every blue state’s congressional map. https://t.co/yh4SjELThO
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) July 23, 2025
Ed: Democrats are against Republicans using dark money and gerrymandering. And vice versa, of course. Gee, what would happen if we just lifted all caps on contributions directly to candidates and political parties and ended tax exemptions for all other political orgs? Can we at least TRY that at some point?
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The wife of former Astronomer CEO Andy Byron is reportedly holed up in a $2.4 million Maine mansion since her husband was caught on camera at a Coldplay concert cozying up with his HR chief.
Megan Byron, 50, has fled her and her husband’s multimillion-dollar home in Northborough, Massachusetts, for a ritzy residence in Kennebunk, some 100 miles away in Maine, according to the Daily Mail.
She has been hiding out at the four-bedroom, 4,169-square-foot home, where family members and friends have been spotted visiting all week, the outlet said.
Ed: This makes me angry. Mrs. Byron has no reason to flee at all. She didn't do anything wrong. And who cares if her current residence is "ritzy"? Maybe the media should leave her alone and just focus on Mr. Byron and Mrs. Cabot. Or, even better yet, leave them all alone to sort out their peccadilloes in private.
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I am sooo glad they caught this guy. But honestly, how in the world did they identify him???!!! https://t.co/GblqcSABed
— Kathleen McKinley (@KatMcKinley) July 23, 2025
Ed: First, I'd bet that they had more than just this one camera angle. Second, it wouldn't surprise me if they tracked his movements back to his car, if he drove there. But three, I'd bet he was stupid enough to brag about it and someone dropped a dime on him at some point. These rock-throwers aren't exactly Mensa candidates, after all.
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April Falcon Doss is the current general counsel for the NSA, the powerful cyber-intelligence agency, according to the agency’s website. A longtime veteran of the agency, Doss also worked as an NSA intelligence lawyer from 2003 to April 2016. But in between those two stints, she worked on the highly-partisan congressional investigation into Russian involvement in the 2016 election.
Just months into Trump’s first term as president, she took a high-level job working for Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) on the Senate Intelligence Committee, investigating supposed Russian interference in the 2016 election. Doss was the Democrats’ Senior Counsel for the committee’s Russia investigation, which conducted hundreds of interviews in its failed attempt to find evidence of conspiracy between Trump and Russia.
Ed: Is it too much to ask to ensure that the people behind the attempt to kneecap the first Trump administration don't get employed by the second Trump administration? Seriously, how difficult is it to vet for issues like this?
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WE'RE SEIZING THE MEMES OF PRODUCTION! https://t.co/g1YGGnyLlG
— Casey Mattox (@CaseyMattox_) July 23, 2025
Ed: That's a great line from my friend Casey, but a bad idea by the Trump administration. Most people won't recall this, but the IRS seized the Mustang Ranch brothel from Joe Conforte in 1990 over millions in unpaid taxes. Conforte fled the country, but the IRS decided to keep the brothel operating in receivership so as to get the back taxes from the operation. That didn't work out too well for the IRS when it became widely known that they were operating a brothel -- and that the 'receivers' were actually working for Conforte. I don't think the Trump White House will like the outcomes when they become responsible for everything that takes place on TikTok.
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