Idiocracy

Musk: Commercial Flights Should Fly In “Straight Lines”

Rolling Stone reports: On Tuesday afternoon, Musk, who did qualify for a private pilot certificate in 2002, seemed baffled by some of the basics of air travel. In a post on X — the misinformation-heavy social media site Musk shaped from the remains of Twitter, after buying the platform for $44 billion in 2022 — supply chain company CEO Ryan …

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Cops: “Content Creator” Sprayed Urine On Food Items

Law & Crime reports: A 23-year-old “online content creator” in New Hampshire is facing a felony charge of criminal mischief for allegedly contaminating food products at a grocery store “with her urine” and filming it for social media. Kelli Tedford, 23, is accused of making “disturbing videos” of her pee antics on Feb. 10 and posting them to an undisclosed …

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USDA “Accidentally Fired” Its Bird Flu Researchers

NBC News reports: The United States Department of Agriculture on Tuesday said that, over the weekend, it accidentally fired agency employees who are working on the federal government’s response to the H5N1 avian flu outbreak. In a statement, the agency said it is trying to quickly reverse the firings. The error is the latest in the Trump administration’s efforts to …

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Man Who Confirmed RFK Laments Measles Outbreak

Sen. Bill Cassidy today links to this Fox News report: An outbreak of measles in the South Plains of Texas is continuing to grow, with the number of cases doubling in less than a week. At least 48 cases were identified with symptom onset within the last three weeks, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services. More than …

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Trump Admin Fires Hundreds Of FAA Employees

CNN reports: The Trump administration has started firing hundreds of Federal Aviation Administration probationary employees who maintain critical air traffic control infrastructure, according to their union. An exact number of firings is not yet known, but the head of the Professional Aviation Safety Specialists, AFL-CIO, said that “several hundred” workers started getting firing notices on Friday — and that they …

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Nuclear Stockpile Oversight Staff “Accidentally” Fired

CNN reports: Trump administration officials fired more than 300 staffers Thursday night at the National Nuclear Security Administration — the agency tasked with managing the nation’s nuclear stockpile — as part of broader Energy Department layoffs. Sources told CNN the officials did not seem to know this agency oversees America’s nuclear weapons. The agency began rescinding the terminations Friday morning. …

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Trolls Deface DOGE’s Unsecured “Government” Site

404 Media reports: The doge.gov website that was spun up to track Elon Musk’s cuts to the federal government is insecure and pulls from a database that can be edited by anyone, according to two separate people who found the vulnerability and shared it with 404 Media. One coder added at least two database entries that are visible on the …

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Measles Outbreak Hits Low-Vaxxed Texas County

Ars Technica reports: As of mid-day February 7, the outbreak total reached nine confirmed measles cases in the South Plains Public Health District (SPPHD) that includes Gaines County, according to Zach Holbrooks, Executive Director for SSPHD. In an interview with Ars, Holbrooks reported that there were three additional probable cases that are linked to the confirmed cases. Gaines County has …

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NOAA Told To Stop Working With “Foreign Nationals”

Wired reports: A number of federal employees at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the US federal agency that monitors and models the oceans and atmosphere for the purpose of predicting changes in climate and weather, have received orders to temporarily cease communicating with foreign nationals, including those working directly with the US government, WIRED has learned. An internal …

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NYC Tesla Driver Going 120MPH Killed In “Fiery Crash”

The New York Daily News reports: A woman was killed when her speeding Tesla crashed, overturned, and caught fire on Manhattan’s FDR Drive early Tuesday, police said. The woman was zipping uptown when she lost control of the Tesla and struck a guardrail near E. 70th St. on the Upper East Side at about 2:45 a.m., cops said. The Tesla …

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Marco Rubio Arrives In Panama To “Retake The Canal”

The Washington Post reports: Secretary of State Marco Rubio is set to arrive in Panama on Saturday with a lofty assignment: Retake the Panama Canal, the U.S.-built waterway that President Donald Trump laments should have never been relinquished to the Central American country 25 years ago. The audacious demand, which Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino called “impossible” and regional leaders …

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USDA Ordered To Scrub Climate Change From Sites

Politico reports: Agriculture Department employees have been ordered to delete landing pages discussing climate change across agency websites and document climate change references for further review, according to an internal email obtained by POLITICO. The directive from USDA’s office of communications, whose authenticity was validated by three people, could affect information across dozens of programs including climate-smart agriculture initiatives, USDA …

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DOT Directive Prioritizes Funding For Projects Located In Communities With Higher Birth And Marriage Rates

The Huffington Post reports: The Department of Transportation has released a memo ordering that programs supported or assisted by the agency prioritize funding projects for communities that have above-average marriage and birth rates. Newly-confirmed Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy buried the oddly specific requirement by describing the Wednesday memo as focused on economic growth, rather than population growth. According to the …

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Google Maps Caves To Trump On “Gulf Of America”

CNBC reports: Google said Monday it will change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to “Gulf of America” in Google Maps after the Trump administration updates its “official government sources.” The company also said it will start using the name “Mount McKinley” for the mountain in Alaska currently called Denali. Last week, President Donald Trump signed executive actions that …

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New Jersey Restaurant Sorry For “Proud Boys Burger”

The New Jersey Advance reports: The phone at Aqua Blu Kitchen & Cocktails has been ringing off the hook for days. Its email inbox has been flooded with hundreds of passionate messages. The restaurant has been a popular fixture of the Toms River scene for the past 13 years. But attention like this? Never. “It’s a nightmare,” owner Cathy Varriale …

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PA Official Resigns After Copying Musk’s Nazi Salute

CBS News reports: A local elected official in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, has resigned after coming under fire for a video shared on social media. Laura Smith resigned from the Towamencin Township Board of Supervisors after a video in which she mimicked a gesture made by Elon Musk. In a statement announcing her resignation, she said the video she posted “has …

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EPA Pick Sued EPA With Claim Asbestos Isn’t Harmful

ProPublica reports: The man tapped by President Donald Trump to be second-in-command of the federal agency that protects the public from environmental dangers is a lawyer who has represented companies accused of harming people and the environment through pollution. David Fotouhi, a partner in the global law firm Gibson Dunn, played a key part in rolling back climate regulations and …

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Trump Names Gibson, Voight, And Stallone As His “Special Ambassadors To Golden Age Of Hollywood”

“It is my honor to announce Jon Voight, Mel Gibson, and Sylvester Stallone, to be Special Ambassadors to a great but very troubled place, Hollywood, California. They will serve as Special Envoys to me for the purpose of bringing Hollywood, which has lost much business over the last four years to Foreign Countries, BACK—BIGGER, BETTER, AND STRONGER THAN EVER BEFORE! …

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UK Court Ends Man’s Search For $765M In Lost Bitcoin

Ars Technica reports: A British judge ruled against a man who wants to excavate a landfill where he says a hard drive with access to thousands of bitcoins was mistakenly dumped over 11 years ago. Since 2013, James Howells has been hoping to recover a laptop hard drive that he says contains the private key for cryptocurrency which he says …

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Tattoo Artist Under Fire For Inking 9-Year-Old Trumper

The New York Post reports: An Arizona tattoo artist is under fire for inking a 9-year-old girl with an American flag — but he insists he actually helped her out and doesn’t support kids getting tats. The co-owner of Black Onyx Empire Tattoo — who goes by Sosa — shared an Instagram post saying the girl rolled into his Yuma …

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