Val Kilmer, the legendary actor known for his unforgettable performances as Batman, Doc Holiday, and Jim Morrison, has passed away at the age of 65. His career was defined by a mix of intensity, charm, and an ability to completely embody the roles he played.

To me, though, he will always be Tom ‘Ice Man’ Kazansky—the cocky yet cool fighter pilot from Top Gun, a role that cemented his place in cinematic history.

Kilmer’s talent and presence on screen were undeniable, and his contributions to film will never be forgotten. Rest in peace, Ice.

Could this be Apple’s new PC?

The DIY Synths Database is a “curated collection of 68 DIY-friendly hardware synthesizers and related standalone musical equipment”.

My personal favorite - the Real Sid synth. A programmable Arduino shield that uses the MOS Technology 6581/8580 SID chip used in the mighty Commodore 64.

Rights and democracy have become purely a function of how wealthy you are in America. The wealthiest 1% are protected by the law but are not bound by the law and the bottom 99% are bounded by the law and not protected by it.

The Bulwark Podcast with Tim Miller (2025, Mar 18). The White House Is Run By CHEAP HUCKSTERS and FRAUDS (w/ Scott Galloway & Jessica Tarlov)

Donald Trump just spent two hours on the phone with Vladimir Putin—and he got completely outmaneuvered. Putin walked away with exactly what he wanted: a halt to Ukrainian attacks on Russian energy infrastructure and a month-long pause in hostilities. Trump, meanwhile, got nothing but played.

Putin is employing the classic Russian art of the “no” deal—a strategic trap that Trump fell into headfirst. As Nick Paton Walsh puts it in his analysis for CNN:

The vaudeville theater of the past month should provide little comfort that the war is suddenly headed toward peace. Yes, the Trump administration has talked peace in a way that nobody has done so far in this war. But they have also managed to confirm, in short shrift, that Moscow looks for cracks of weakness and mercilessly drives a tank through them.

Trump felt he could either persuade, coax, or outsmart Putin. He has yet to do any of that. He has palpably lost in their first direct diplomatic face-off. For millions of Ukrainians his next choice defines their lives. Does he lose interest, apply pressure, or again provide concessions? It is a dizzying prospect.

His adversary is focused not on improved relations with Russia’s decades-long adversary, the United States, or with its current president, Donald Trump, but instead on victory in its most existential conflict since the Nazis.

These are not two similar perspectives to the deal. The art of one is more applied than the other.

Trump thought he could persuade, charm, or outfox Putin. He’s done none of that. Instead, he’s been humiliated in their first major diplomatic test. And the consequences for Ukraine are dire.

Putin’s strategy is clear: victory at all costs. Trump’s? Floundering weakness and misguided arrogance. These aren’t two sides playing the same game—Putin is playing chess while Trump struggles with checkers. And the world is noticing.

Donald Trump’s cabinet of billionaires reflects a long-standing disconnect between Republican voters and reality. Somehow, a large chunk of the GOP base still believes that the interests of the ultra-wealthy align with their own. But as Bill Maher famously pointed out over a decade ago, that’s nothing more than a dangerous fantasy:

We have this fantasy that our interests and the interests of the super rich are the same; like somehow the rich will eventually get so full that they’ll explode, and that the candy will rain down on the rest of us; like they’re some kind of piñata of benevolence. But here’s the thing about a piñata – it doesn’t open on its own, you have to beat it with a stick.

Bill Maher March 12, 2011

And Maher was spot on. The billionaires in Trump’s orbit aren’t looking out for working Americans—they’re hoarding wealth, rewriting tax laws to benefit themselves, and gutting the social safety net. If I were a billionaire, I’d be worried right about now—because sooner or later, people are going to realize that piñatas don’t break open on their own.

It’s official — AFC Richmond is coming back for a 4th season! Fans of Ted Lasso have reason to celebrate as the entire management team — Coach Lasso, Coach Beard, Roy, Leslie, Keeley, and Rebecca — are set to return in January.

Channing Dungey, Chairman and CEO of Warner Bros. Television Group and WBD US Networks, shared the excitement:

We — along with countless fans around the globe — have been rooting for another season, and it is an incredible feeling to be able to say, ‘Yes, it’s happening!’ We thank our partners at Apple and can’t wait for Jason and the entire Ted Lasso dream team to step back onto the pitch and deliver another season of this phenomenal series.

Here’s hoping the new season recaptures the magic and heart of Season 1 — because that’s when Ted Lasso was at its absolute best. Time to get your biscuits ready!

Representative John Larson didn’t hold back during the recent congressional hearing, calling out Elon Musk’s glaring absence and the broader Republican agenda to undermine Social Security. Larson’s frustration was palpable:

We’re an equal branch of the government. And you start off with a blather? And would you look at the empty seats here? Where is Elon Musk? I am sure he is a genius. And is a very credible person because of the wealth he has accumulated, but that does not put him above the law or the responsibility to come before this committee and Congress. If he is so great, if his plans and all the fraud and abuse that he found are so evident—why isn’t he here explaining it? You know why. ‘Cause he is out to privatize Social Security.

Bingo. Social Security is one of the best-run government programs in history. If Musk and his crew of Silicon Valley “bro coders” have really uncovered evidence of fraud or abuse, they should be standing before Congress, laying it all out. But they aren’t—because they’ve got nothing. Nada. Zero. This is exactly what the Republicans and Wall Street want: control over trillions of dollars in Social Security funds so they can siphon off the hard-earned money of American citizens.

Larson nailed it when he said the American people weren’t born yesterday. But MAGA voters? That’s another story. They voted these fools into office, and now we’re all paying the price. The GOP’s goal isn’t to “fix” Social Security—it’s to dismantle it, privatize it, and hand it over to the same billionaires who already have more wealth than they could spend in a hundred lifetimes.

2016 interview with Marco Rubio — then a candidate for the Republican presidential primary, today Trump’s Secretary of State, by CNN’s Jake Tapper is making the rounds on social media.

Tapper: You compared Donald Trump to a third world dictator yesterday in an interview with The New York Times. How so?

Rubio: Well, I don’t know about a dictator. I said a third world strong man. You know, he’s running for > president. So no matter what, he won’t be a dictator unless our republic completely crumbles, which I don’t anticipate it will. But, yeah, here’s what happens in many countries around the world: You have a leader that emerges and basically says, Don’t put your faith in yourselves. Don’t put your faith in society. Put your faith in me. I’m a strong leader, and I’m going to make things better — all by myself. This is very typical. You see it in the third world. You see it a lot in Latin America for decades. It’s basically the argument he’s making. That he, single-handedly, is going to turn the country around. We’ve never been that kind of country.

We have a president. The president is an American citizen who serves for a period of time, constrained by the constitution and the powers vested in that office. The president works for the people, not the people for the president. And if you listen to the way he describes himself and what he’s going to do, he’s going to single-handedly do this and do that without regard for whether it’s legal or not.

Look, I think people are going to have to make up their mind. I can tell you this. No matter what happens in this election, for years to come, there are many people on the right, in the media, and voters at large that are going to be having to explain and justify how they fell into this trap of supporting Donald Trump, because this is not going to end well one way or the other. He’s going to be the nominee, and he’s going to lose. Or, he’ll have thrown this party into its most chaotic and divisive period ever. And that’s unfortunate because the Republican Party is the home of the limited government free enterprise movement in America. And if it crumbles or divides or it splits apart, it’ll be very difficult to elect candidates that hold those views at any level of government until we can bring the party back together.

That is a lucid, intelligent, well thought out objection. Rubio has a lot of explaining to do.

The international cover for Omar El Akkad’s new book, One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This. It uses the original text of El Akkad’s tweet about the war in Gaza:

One day, when it’s safe, when there’s no personal downside to calling a thing what it is, when it’s too late to hold anyone accountable, everyone will have always been against this.

After Donald Trump’s attack on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in favor of Russia, the United States can no longer claim to be the leader or “defender of the free world.” This shift signals a dangerous drift toward authoritarianism, drawing unsettling parallels to Germany in 1933.

MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell captured the gravity of the situation, stating:

And so the President of the United States is no longer the leader of the free world or even a defender of the free world. The free world has rallied around the leader, who through struggling with the language barrier, tried to cut through Donald Trump’s lies on Friday. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy might never be called the leader of the free world, but he is without a doubt the bravest leader in the free world.

It is a sobering reality that America is now led by a man weakened by his own inadequacies and a wounded ego. What was once a beacon of democracy and strength is now marred by insecurity and self-interest. This is indeed a profoundly sad day for the United States.

She thought a rapist convicted of 30+ felonies would make fertility treatments more affordable but not a woman? You f’d around and now you are finding out. I have no sympathy for these people.

Organizing a 24-hour economic boycott on February 28th to protest the ongoing actions of the Trump administration and to send a message to corporate America. From The People’s Union USA website, here are the details:

Thursday February 27th from Midnight till Friday The 28th Midnight
(A full 24 hours of the 28th)
12:00 AM to 12:00 AM

WHAT NOT TO DO:
Do not make any purchases
Do not shop online, or in-store
No Amazon, No Walmart, No Best Buy
Nowhere!

Do not spend money on:
Fast Food
Gas
Major Retailers

Do not use Credit or Debit Cards for non essential spending

Show corporate America, using the thing they best understand (money), how much power Americans have when collectively organized.

34 count felon Donald Trump’s mug shot is one of the first things visitors will see when approaching the Oval Office. I know I shouldn’t be surprised, but I still am.

Chris Kluwe at a town hall meeting in Hunting Beach, CA:

MAGA stands for trying to erase trans people from existence.

MAGA stands for censorship and book bans

MAGA stands for firing air traffic controllers while planes are crashing

MAGA stands for firing people overseeing our nuclear arsenal MAGA stands for firing military veterans and those serving them at the VA including cancelling research on veteran suicide MAGA stands for cutting funds to education, including for disabled children.

MAGA is profoundly corrupt, unmistakably anti-democracy, and most importantly, MAGA is explicitly a Nazi movement. You may have replaced a swastika with a red hat but that is what it is.

I will now engage in a time honored American tradition of peaceful civil disobedience.

And so it begins. MAGA has rallied the best among us to stir up good trouble. Let the mayhem unfold.

It’s no secret that Project 2025 serves as the ideological roadmap for a second Trump presidency. While Donald Trump himself downplays his direct involvement, the reality is that this comprehensive policy agenda is already in motion, setting the stage for a dramatic reshaping of the federal government.

From executive power expansion to sweeping reforms across key agencies, the vision outlined in Project 2025 is not just theoretical—it’s actively being built. The pace at which its architects are working suggests a level of preparation rarely seen in modern political transitions.

For those keeping a close eye on its implementation, we are at 34% as of this post (February 20, 2024). You can track its progress here.

Kevin Kelly recently shared some of the advice he’s learned over his 50+ years on the road. Here are a few of my favorites:

Don’t balk at the spendy price of admission for a museum or performance. It will be a tiny fraction of your trip’s total cost and you invested too much and have come too far to let those relative minor fees stop you from seeing what you came to see.

[…]

The most significant criteria to use when selecting travel companions is: do they complain or not, even when complaints are justified? No complaining! Complaints are for the debriefing afterwards when travel is over.

[…]

Your enjoyment of a trip will be inversely related to the weight of your luggage. Counterintuitively, the longer your trip, the less stuff you should haul. Travelers still happy on a 6-week trip will only have carry-on luggage. That maximizes your flexibility, enabling you to lug luggage up stairs when there is no elevator, or to share a tuk-tuk, to pack and unpack efficiently, and to not lose stuff. Furthermore, when you go light you intentionally reduce what you take in order to increase your experience of living. And the reality of today is that you can almost certainly buy whatever you are missing on the road.

[…]

The list of most coveted cities to visit have one striking thing in common—they are pedestrian centric. They reward walking. Better online hotel sites like Booking.com have map interfaces which allow you to select hotels by their location. Whenever possible I book my hotel near to where it is best to walk, so I can stroll out the door and begin to wander.

[…]

And finally the my favorite advice:

For the best travel experiences you need either a lot of money, or a lot of time. Of the two modes, it is far better to have more time than money. Although it tries, money cannot buy what time delivers. You have enough time to attend the rare festival, to learn some new words, to understand what the real prices are, to wait out the weather, or to get to that place that takes a week in a jeep. Time is the one resource you can give yourself, so take advantage of this if you are young without money.

Time is the great equalizer - no matter how much money you have, or the luxuries you partake in, we all have 24 hours in a day. When you go, make sure you take the time to be fully present in your new adventure.

The February 13th cartoon from The New Yorker:

Get the Daily Cartoon here.

This cartoon of Steve Bannon explaining MAGA from a prison cell is the perfect mix of comedy and dystopian nightmare fuel. It’s like a satire sketch come to life—except it’s real. The fact that a disgraced, jailed political operative is still somehow influencing a movement built on blind loyalty and delusion is beyond absurd. And yet, here we are, watching Trump corral his MAGA minions like a doomsday cult, completely immune to reason or reality. You couldn’t script a more ridiculous plot if you tried!

Lyndon B. Johnson predicted as such way back in the 60s:

If you can convince the lowest white man he’s better than the best colored man, he won’t notice you’re picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he’ll empty his pockets for you

That right there sums up Donald Trump’s business model.

these these fucking billionairs they they they need to be put down. You know like fucking rabid dogs. They’re like rabid with fucking greed and just going out and just dividing everybody. You know know just the the the fucking epitome of this time right now. Like how divisive we are that like you know the Gulf of Mexico is now called the Gulf of America and people get excited about it. Like how the fuck does that help your wallet? It’s an empty gesture.

– Bill Burr, “Super Bowl, Drones, Valentine’s Day Grift | Monday Morning Podcast 2-10-25”, Feb 10, 2025

Bill Burr is the George Carlin of our time.

While the billionaire class distracts us with debates over the names of bodies of water, DEI, and gender identity, they’re quietly dismantling Social Security, gutting the FBI, and trying to eliminate the Department of Education. Classic misdirection—keep the people arguing over nonsense while they rewrite the rules to serve themselves.