https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/2026/09/pete-hegseth-workout-videos-fitness/687955/

«In response to an inquiry about the criticism of Hegseth’s workouts, Joel Valdez, the acting Pentagon press secretary, insisted that Hegseth was being unfairly singled out. “Have you ever seen Lloyd Austin’s form? Did the Atlantic ever ask about it?” he wrote. “The answer to both of those questions is no.” That’s true, but Austin, the previous secretary of defense, was not known for posting self-promotional exercise content on social media. He did, however, complete Ranger School and Airborne School, command the 10th Mountain Division in Afghanistan, lead the fight against the Islamic State, and earn a Silver Star.»

Schmack.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/i-know-the-mens-issue-pete-hegseth-has-really-got/

«Hegseth’s own testosterone levels are not publicly known, and he has not disclosed whether he has undergone testing himself.»

Uh huh. Stand by for some made-up figures.

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2026/07/19/iowa-water-democrats-agriculture-00992753

«In recent years, Iowa’s cancer rate has climbed significantly above the U.S. average. It now stands as the nation’s second highest, and Iowa is one of only three states where the rate is rising.»

😮

Nitrates from fertilizer runoff + glyphosate.

https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/17/politics/trump-maga-base-shrinking

So. I don’t live in Maine. I don’t even know the issues in my own state (North Carolina), because, honestly, the “issues” are horseshit.

But… can we be done with white men? I know I’m a white man, but, seriously, I’ve seen enough white men crash and burn. Can we (“we”: y’all) pick someone with her head screwed on straight?

And not Susan Collins. Yes, she’s a woman, but… c’mon, Brett Kavanaugh?

Just had a thought.

With all our ticketing/workflow systems, it seems like it should be easy to produce a monthly or quarterly report showing the *fraction* of tickets filed by people that ever have the highest priority, sorted by that fraction (descending) and grouped by role (e.g., direct customer support, management, development, architecture, operations, etc.). Maybe with a cutoff for low numbers of tickets filed, so we don’t get bogus data due to small denominators.

The intent being to (gently) highlight those folks whose lack of planning leads them to file last-minute, high-priority tickets. And maybe encourage them to plan a little better. Maybe a little root cause analysis, five why’s -type stuff. (I’m ignoring those folks who simply think their work is more important than everybody else’s, but that might come out, too.)

I don’t know why this never occurred to me before.

https://www.reuters.com/world/trump-says-he-ordered-cutting-off-all-trade-with-spain-2026-07-08/

51% of the US electorate voted for this. Don’t say you didn’t. Don’t say you didn’t know.

A third of the US electorate still supports this. Are you stupid or evil? (Or both?) Pick one, because there is no way this is reasonable, in any light.

https://karenattiah.substack.com/p/when-beautifying-your-grief-does

«To embrace hopelessness is to realize that beauty and discipline can easily tip into the ugliness of avoidance— a way of trying to run from death and the reality of impermanence. Instead of rushing to re-invention, there is true strength in sitting with my multiple deaths, and resisting the urge to put fake flowers and plastic glitter over the very real bones of old dreams.»

Not a sentiment one runs across very often.

This is a really great essay.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/04/us/politics/trump-coin-crypto-investors-loss.html?unlocked_article_code=1.vFA.mu_c.DREuTYhq4VNF&smid=url-share

A million lost $4,000/person while half a million profited $8,000/person. That’s a wealth transfer from the stupid to the clever.

https://www.popehat.com/p/a-bit-of-tedious-drama-at-bluesky

«Elon Musk is autistic trillionaire Radio Rwanda.»