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Excellent — Or Funny?

Budgets, Politics, Trumpism

I see that the U.S. is finally going to get serious about our energy infrastructure:

One announcement Trump is set to make is the allocation of $425 million in Defense Production Act (DPA) funds to aid 13 coal plants in Arizona, Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Wisconsin, per the official. Funding will also support coal mines in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

The official noted that funding will enable coal plants to extend their operational life through investment in upgrades, strengthen grid reliability, and prevent electricity prices from surging with demand.

So because it’s being funded by the DPA (as it should be), there’s no haggling with Congress required.  But the very next little addendum is what got me giggling:

The president is also expected to tell reporters that $75 million in DPA funding will help construct a coal-export terminal in Oakland, California, the official said.

One wonders what the Watermelons in California will think of their beloved Golden Shower State becoming a conduit for the EEEEVIL COLE to be sent out to pollute other nations’ air.  Maybe their feelings will be assuaged by this:

The West Gateway project is anticipated to create 1,400 on-site jobs and support thousands more in the western states.

…not that California ever cared about those icky blue-collar jobs, though.

There’s a lot more good news, but read the rest of the thing to get it all.

I personally think that the coal-mining industry would be far better served by the elimination of most if not all of the tiresome Obama/Biden-era EPA restrictions, but that would involve Congress and we all know what horrors, foot-dragging and tantrums that would cause.

Petty Tyrants

Bureaucracy

We’ve all seen stories about homeowners’ associations (HOAs) setting themselves up as mini-fiefdoms, and holding people accountable for stuff like “maintaining community standards” and “keeping property values healthy”.  The stories are legion, and I can bear witness to some of them myself — the best one being that when we were encouraged by the Plano authorities to start collecting rainwater in large storage barrels (a Good Thing, in semi-desert north Texas), we went off and bought from the city one of said barrels — i.e. the thing was city-approved.

So I installed the blessed thing at the side of the house and attached a drip hose system so that the lawn at the side of the house could get watered.  Two weeks later some dickless wonder knocked on my door and said that the barrel was “unsightly” and we had two days to remove it, or face “consequences”.  When I asked if any of my neighbors had complained (they hadn’t), he said that their “inspection team” had made the determination.

My response should not be repeated in polite company, but it did contain the words “fuck” and “off”, as well as a few choice words of a personal nature and a warning that any attempt to force “consequences” on me would be met with, shall we say, strong opposition.  He left, never to be seen again, and the barrel stayed (it’s still there, some twelve years later).

One could only imagine my response, then, if I lived in Port St. Lucie, Florida, and was faced with an HOA ruling that forbade carrying of guns.

And the local cops feel about the same way as I would:

Breitbart News reported on the HOA’s gun ban May 18, 2026, noting that the St. Lucie Police Department made clear they would not enforce it.

AG Uthmeier contacted the HOA and gave them a deadline to cease enforcement or face legal action.

In a post to X, Uthmeier wrote: “Enforcement of its discriminatory policy against anyone for exercising the constitutional right to keep and bear arms will be met with legal action by my office.”

Needless to say, the HOA has backed down.

And these little gauleiters  thought they could get away with this bullshit… in Florida?

The Story So Far

Housekeeping

# Active accounts (starting):  47,244

# Active accounts (current):  27,290

That’s after twelve solid hours.  Over 8,000 Russian bots, and 7,500 identified spam email addresses.  I did get through all the “A” accounts, so there’s that.

Now to tackle the rest of the alphabet.

One last thing:   Reader 0007 and Reader Paul W. (from our Powdered Wig Department), please email me because I inadvertently deleted your accounts, and I’ll reinstate them ASAP.  Also, anyone whose username begins with A/a, please check in case I did likewise harm to you.

I’ll try to get a little blogging done today, just to escape the tedium of looking at lines and lines of code.  How programmers do this all day every day for years without going postal is a mystery for the ages.

Housecleaning

Housekeeping

No, this is not the housecleaning as Sarah Hoyt indulges in.  This is the attempt to fix the Comments/login nonsense, which first involves clearing the ten thousand-odd spammers and bots, to name but some.

I’ll be busy for a while…