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As soon as I started college, I grew a mustache. Back then, facial hair on college men was common. My mustache was pale and thin back then.   Partway through grad school, I fell ill for about a week, and after recovering, I just let the beard that grew out continue. I never went full lumberjack, but I never shaved it off either. Our pretty boy Sec Def Pete Hegseth abhors facial hair.  “ Hegseth also issued a memo last month directing the U.S. military to only issue temporary issues for medical conditions like pseudofolliculitis barbae, a painful skin condition common among Black men that can cause scarring which is exacerbated by shaving. Prior to Hegseth's order, such waivers were often issued for five-year increments.   “According to  Military.com , soldiers who require the longer waivers may be ordered to get laser treatments or risk getting kicked out of the military altogether. America is going to lose brave, capable troops based solely on arbitrary aesthetic st...

“ In the last couple of weeks, the questions about Jews, Israel and Zohran Mamdani have rushed back into the news. It began with a dramatic speech from the pulpit from the rabbi of a prominent New York City synagogue, Elliot Cosgrove, and it’s been kept in the news by a public letter signed by 600 or so rabbis and cantors. I don’t know how much this has broken through into the mainstream press but it’s been on a loud speaker in Jewish communal publications. Cosgrove began his speech (you can call it a sermon if you want) saying he believes “Zohran Mamdani poses a danger to the security of the New York Jewish community” and a “danger to the Jewish body politic of New York City.” Look, you may disagree with Mamdani about Israel and Zionism, but claiming that his beliefs on those issues are an existential threat to the New York Jewish Community is just bullshit. You know who is a threat to the Jewish body politic of New York City? Donald Trump and his followers. Mamdani is running for may...

The current attack on ultra processed foods by RFK Jr is just a simpleminded binary. He’s treating food as medicine and then vilifying certain ingredients as bad or dangerous. What do you expect from someone with no training in public health? Take food coloring. Ever look at the pills you take: Advil, decongestant, laxative? Those colors are artificial. How are they safer than the same dyes added to breakfast cereals? Did you know that most baked goods contain acrylamide, a neurotoxin? Did you know that most commercial rice in the US has significant levels of arsenic? Did you know that grilled meats contain polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which include known carcinogens?   “ In reference to the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) campaign targeting UPFs, David Ludwig, MD, PhD, a professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, wrote in the  Washington Post , "Ultra-processed food has replaced fat as the new dietary villain...The rush to enact these measures could cause more ...

Quotable fascist gasbag Bannon says that Trump will have a 3 rd   term as president. How is that possible? The Constitution says nobody can be *elected* as POTUS for more than two terms. (1) Trump could declare martial law and suspend elections. His SCOTUS majority would support it.   (2) The Gerry Ford pathway. Recall that Ford wasn't elected president or VP. Ford was *appointed* VP when Agnew resigned, then became president when Nixon resigned. No election. So if the Republicans win the presidential election in 2028, the VP could resign and the president could appoint Trump as VP. Then the president could resign and Trump could succeed him.   The Constitution only says nobody can be "elected" to the presidency more than twice. It doesn't prohibit appointment and succession. Is this what Bannon is thinking? Who knows?

The Republicans control the White House, a majority in both houses of Congress and a majority of votes on the Supreme Court. The notion that the Democrats are responsible for the shutdown is risible. Wait, what about the filibuster, you say? LOL! The Republicans could eliminate the filibuster any time. They won’t because they know they’ll need it if they lose their senate majority. OK, so if they leave the filibuster intact, why should Democrats negotiate when they know that any spending agreement will just be overridden by Trump, who will either withhold the funds or spend them on something else? As long as Trump is free to violate any legally binding agreement—which his SCOTUS says he is—why bother negotiating? Wait, Congress could impeach him for violating any spending agreement. LOL! Trump was impeached twice without effect. Impeachment is merely an indictment. Conviction and removal from office requires a supermajority vote in the Senate. That will happen co-terminus with the firs...

As a PhD student in genetics, my fellow grad students and I didn’t think the human genome would be sequenced in our lifetime. In the event, I got *my* genome sequenced years ago for $200. I’m happy to have been wrong. My point here is that prophecy about future technology is risky. So, what about self-driving cars? “ You can have a modest taxi fleet, but you can't scale that too much. Personal cars definitely won't function like that . . . Drivers are cheap! True self-driving vehicles would be a neat invention, but the case for 96% self-driving is less obvious.” Nobody died from genome sequencing. People die in car accidents. Do you want to be that person? https://www.eschatonblog.com/2025/10/blogger-accountability.html