Quick Hits

Now that Trump has actual allies in the government, he's much more eager to share the spotlight with them.

It's long been conventional wisdom that there is only one star of the Donald Trump Show and the only rule in his freewheeling political world is "don't upstage the boss." Yet the constant complaints that Musk is the shadow president or the unelected power behind the throne have not created a rift with Trump.

In the sequel to his first term, Trump has been perfectly willing to share the spotlight. Musk is a unique case. The richest man in the world and recent convert to conservatism -- Musk is fond of posting videos of Milton Friedman, the Nobel laureate economist who was many a young conservative and libertarian's entry point to the free-market gospel -- was especially helpful to Trump in last year's presidential election. Musk and conservative activist Charlie Kirk were up against an experienced Democratic field operation and, based on the results in all seven battleground states, at least held their own.

But it isn't just Musk. Vice President JD Vance has kept up a brisk pace of interviews since taking office. At one point during the campaign, he made more than seven times as many such appearances as both members of the Democratic ticket combined. On the night they were elected, Trump singled out Vance to praise for his performance on cable networks Republicans generally deem hostile.

Trump's Cabinet is stocked with proven television communicators, from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to Attorney General Pam Bondi to newly confirmed Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. When Gabbard was sworn in, Trump asked the group of reporters if they had any questions. As they shouted them out, Trump said, "You know what, I'd like to have Tulsi say a few words first, and then we could answer a couple of questions."

People have long said that Trump was particularly blessed to have the enemies that he did -- stupid, nasty, incompetent people that discredited themselves.

He's now almost as blessed in his allies. He's attracted/courted a seriously impressive team.

State reps in Ohio and Mississippi aim to make it a crime to ejaculate without intention to create a baby.

No, this isn't the right going crazy. This is the left going crazy.

Is spilling semen outside a woman's vagina a sin?

Legislators in Ohio and Mississippi want to fine men up to around $10,000 if they're caught doing so.

A draft bill was released in Ohio this week, seeking to make ejaculation without the intent of conceiving a baby a felony offense.

Its advocates say the intent is to stir up public debate over reproductive rights and the interpretation -- and application -- of Biblical law.

If United States' governments are willing to use interpretations of theological law to regulate women, why not men?

Ohio State Representatives Anita Somani and Tristan Rader, the authors of the "Conception Begins at Erection Act," say it's a tongue-in-cheek means of highlighting the hypocrisy behind moves to regulate women's bodies.

"You don't get pregnant on your own," observes Representative Somani (Democrat for Dublin).

"If you're going to penalize someone for an unwanted pregnancy, why not penalize the person who is also responsible for the pregnancy?"

Gavin Newsom brought word salads to a historic mandate fight. He will veto a bill which would forbid California prisons and police from cooperating with ICE, while insisting he still supports the state "sanctuary" policies.

Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) said he plans to veto a bill in California that would limit state prison officials' cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.

Newsom said California's "sanctuary" law is the right course of action to balance the state building trust with immigrant communities while giving the federal government the room to deport undocumented criminals in prison, according to a Politico report. His action comes as Attorney General Pam Bondi said the Department of Justice was suing Illinois and New York for their sanctuary laws.

A Newsom spokesperson confirmed that he plans to reject Assembly Bill 15 if it passes. Newsom vetoed a similar bill last year.

Leftwing rag Vulture reports that people working on the new Marvel piece-of-crap knew they were making a piece of crap all along.

According to a technical crew member on Captain America: Brave New World who was present on set and has knowledge of the film's postproduction process, Disney is all too aware of its potential liabilities -- on the heels of disastrous test screenings last year that necessitated a lengthy 22 days of reshoots, the 11th-hour addition of a new supervillain played by Giancarlo Esposito, major sequences being cut, and the film's release date being punted from February last year. In particular, Harrison Ford's Red Hulk/Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross character created uncomfortable political resonances. A demagogic military leader who transforms into a rampaging, orange-skinned superhuman, the character shares certain unmistakable traits with Donald Trump. To be sure, the reshoots took place last summer, long before the 45th president was certain of becoming POTUS 47. But in recognition of what one insider calls an increasingly "politicized" environment, Disney changed the sequel's original title from Captain America: New World Order to the comparatively anodyne Brave New World. (Indeed, in July, the studio pulled a theatrical trailer featuring footage of an assassination attempt on the Ross character out of sensitivity around a deadly attempt on Trump's life earlier the same month.)

Moreover, this source (who has worked on several Marvel television and film projects and spoke on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to comment publicly) described a high degree of difficulty on the reshoots and action set pieces that ran up the budget. Compounding matters, Ford (now 82) lived up to his reputation as a legendary curmudgeon on set, according to the source, making matters more difficult for Onah -- an acclaimed independent filmmaker but one, like so many hired by Marvel, with zero experience directing within the trappings of a nine-figure budget.

To fulfill DEI quotas, Marvel has been hiring "directors" with very little experience. Usually stuff like zero-budget independent movies or documentaries.

Marvel and Onah declined to comment; a representative for Ford did not respond to Vulture's request for comment. A source close to the production said there is "no truth" to allegations that Ford's behavior was unusually challenging.

I worked on the reshoots. I think everyone on the crew knew this is probably not going to be a good film. Some of the action sequences were not believable. We had a lot of frustrations on set. After principal photography was finished, it was like, "Oh, we're going to introduce the leader of the Serpent Society." It was on, then it was off, then it was on again. That's very expensive to do. My co-workers who spent more time on Brave New World than I did said, "Yeah, this has been a really rough production."

When the studio had its test in front of an audience, it didn't respond. Maybe they don't want to see anything political in an election year? Maybe they were divided on who they were voting for? General Ross reads as an allusion to Trump. He's this very powerful general who becomes kind of a fascist and turns into a raging Red Hulk. This is my opinion, but I think Disney was realizing, Hey, we've been bleeding for a while. Let's try not to piss off our core base any more than we have been over the last couple of years. They know you're going to lose a lot of your audience that way.

The article talks more about what a huge entitled elderly baby asshole Harrison Ford is.

Trump: I want to shut down the Department of Education "immediately;" it's a "big con job."

President Donald Trump suggested the Education Department will not exist for much longer, saying he wants to close it "immediately" and calling it a "big con job."

"So they ranked the top 40 countries in the world," Trump told reporters on Wednesday afternoon. "We're ranked number 40th, but we're ranked No. 1 in department costs per pupil, so we spend more per pupil than any other country in the world, but we're ranked No. 40."

This is big: Trump has limited tools and limited time to halt inflation and get Biden's moribund, senile economy back on its feet. The Democrats are lodging 50+ lawsuits to block him from reducing inflation by slowing government spending, and more powerful tools require Congress to actually pass laws.

One big thing Trump has a huge amount of control over is the nation's mood and psychology. A hopeful, optimistic people are more willing to put their money at risk and invest in promising new companies.

So, is Trump impacting the national mood?

Yugely:

Mark Mitchell, Rasmussen Reports @Mark_R_Mitchell

For the first time in over 20 years of polling, Right Direction EXCEEDS Wrong Track today.

posted by Ace at 06:15 PM

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