Democrat Suffers Insight; Enjoy It While You Can

Sasha Stone explains her disappointment with her party.  Worth reading in full.  A couple powerful quotes:

"There was never anyone to pull us back from the abyss. The legacy media profited from our collective hysteria. The Democrats amplified it to scare voters to the polls. It worked for a while, until it didn’t.

"And most of all, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton seemed to like watching the world burn on their behalf. I never thought that at the time, but looking back on it, I can see how cynical they were, how greedy for power they became. Along with the legacy media, Hollywood, and all institutions and corporations, we were their weapons of war, and they never seemed to care what that would do to us over time."

"So, I guess my question to Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, and all the Democrats, as well as the legacy media, is this: Was it worth it? Was it worth tearing families apart? Was it worth destroying a once-thriving culture? Was it worth losing to Trump a second time? Was it worth the mass delusion that has destroyed the best minds of a generation?

"Was it worth a cold Civil War that has divided this country, divided families, ended friendships, torn us apart in ways we still haven’t yet processed?"

Yes.  Like Obama sitting and chatting with literally Hitler at the Inauguration. 

U S. v. Ayala (11th Cir. 2025)

I worked on this case.  At trial, the judge ruled that the pistol office prohibition on carrying in a post office violated the Second Amendment.   Unsurprisingly, Biden DOJ appealed.  

Trump DOJ just withdrew the sppeal.

Trust the Science

8/9/25 Nature article about effects of COVID vaccines on Healthcare workers:

"Conclusions

Based on our data, we conclude that SARS-CoV-2 booster vaccination does not contribute to the protection of the healthcare workforce in a post-pandemic setting. SARS-CoV-2 vaccination may even temporarily increase the likelihood of symptomatic infection and workday loss."

All those skeptics may have not been so stupid after all.  Blind trust is always bad.

Cleaning Up DC Concealed Carry Licensing

A place that obviously needs good people freedom to be armed is D.C. 8/15/25 Fox News reports on changes Trump pushed through even before his recent federalization of police:

"The concealed carry permitting process and firearm registration process in the deep blue city have been slashed from months down to days via Trump's Making DC Safe and Beautiful Task Force, which was established via an executive order in March to revitalize the nation's capital. The working group's work to clean up the city did not include changing local gun laws, but instead streamlines the city's already established process, so law-abiding residents can more easily navigate the firearms system.  ...

"Under the task force's efforts, locals are able to book next-day appointments to register their firearms with the Metropolitan Police Department, while walk-in appointments are now available and advertised on the police department's website. 

Previously, applicants typically waited four months for a firearms registration appointment, a White House official told Fox Digital.

"The concealed carry permit process also has been streamlined, Fox Digital learned. What used to take "several months" to obtain a concealed carry permit, has been cut down to 4.6 days, according to data compiled during the month of May by the task force, which the White House shared with Fox News Digital."

Physics Question

I have a small telescope mount, on which I have put enough counterweights to balance a small refractor.  I would prefer to reduce the total weight to make it easier to just pick it up and carry it out.  

My vague memories of levers and seesaws from elementary school (when pterodactyls ruled the skies) is that balancing two objects depends on both the weights and relative distance between fulcrum and the two weights.  

I have an intuitive sense that I could reduce the weight required to balance the refractor by moving the counterweights farther down the shaft. In this case, many inches beyond the end of the existing counterweight shaft.   Perhaps replacing a two foot shaft with one four feet long would allow me to replace the 10 pounds of counterweights with five pounds.  

Yes, it will still be clumsy because of the length but lighter as well.  I will need a very stiff shaft so replace the existing chromed steel shaft so probably carbon fiber composite.  I will need epoxy a threaded stainless steel threaded end onto the shaft.   (The existing shaft threads in place.)

Does my vague memory of physics have any connection to the real world?

Why is Louisiana So Corrupt?

8/15/25 WWL-TV:

"New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell was indicted by a federal grand jury, becoming the first mayor to face federal charges while still in office."

Her police oficer bodyguard went with her on many official trips, defrauding taxpayers, then attempting to hide this from investigators.

Louisiana has always had a serious corruption problem.  The Slaughterhouse Cases after the Civil War that did so much damage to 14th Amendment case law for almost a century seemed to have been a consequence of a monopoly granted by the Louisiana Legislature. 

USA Made Solar Panels

8/15/25 Yahoo Finance:

"T1 Energy (NYSE:TE) stock jumped on Friday after the company and Corning (NYSE:GLW) announced a strategic commercial agreement to strengthen the U.S. solar supply chain and scale advanced manufacturing of affordable, fast-to-deploy energy solutions.

"Under the deal, T1 will source hyper-pure polysilicon and solar wafers from Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) supplier Corning's Michigan campus starting in the second half of 2026.

"Corning will deliver these wafers to T1's under-construction G2_Austin solar cell facility, which will be processed into cells for module production at T1's operational G1_Dallas site."

This is important for several reasons.  

1. Break PRC dominance of the photovoltaic panel industry. 

2. Create American jobs.

3. Provide competition.   I doubt they will provide a lower price, or even an equal price, but if Americans can decide whether to spend $2000 for American panels or $1000 for PRC panels, at least some will buy American.   This should pressure the PRC panels down on price and thus reduce profits for PRC companies.   

Less profit means less taxes to fiund the military of nation with whom I fear we will be at war in the next ten years.

This also reduces balance of trade deficit, putting less money in the hands of Chinese investors to buy American businesses and politicians.