Gotta give the heart and mind a break!
Vids, We Have Vids
These are political. Good Candidates. Take a look/listen!
Some Good Climate News
Nobody Expected The Spanish (Energy) Transition!
The grid in Madrid is where prices have slid.
As we like reminding you, with Donald Trump trying to kill clean energy, Europe has become the source of much of our clean energy Nice Times lately. Here’s one more example: Spain is among the big sleeper hits on Europe’s energy transition pop chart. In just a decade, Spain has ramped up its use of wind and solar power, resulting in some of the lowest wholesale electricity prices on the continent.
Oxford prof and energy policy analyst Jan Rosenow gets into the details at his “Bright Spots” newsletter, which we’ll recommend for folks who need a dose of climate optimism about now:
In the first four months of 2026, the average wholesale electricity price in Spain was €44 per megawatt-hour. In Italy, it was €127. In Germany, €96. In the UK, €103. Spain is now cheaper than France, well below the central-European bloc, and within striking distance of the Nordic hydro-and-nuclear heavyweights that have always topped the cheap-power league.
The basic reason is pretty simple, Rosenow explains, although he also goes into further detail beyond this. “Spain increasingly pushed gas increasingly out of its electricity supply, and the price of electricity followed.”
Over the last 25 years, Spain has gone from getting a third of its electricity from coal to effectively having zero coal power. Spain replaced most of that capacity with cheaper (and relatively cleaner but still climate-unfriendly) fossil gas, and it’s now replacing gas with renewables. Gas peaked at about 30 percent of Spain’s energy mix near the end of the 2000s, and is now down to about 19 percent. Another 19 percent comes from nuclear, which hasn’t changed over the last few decades and 14 percent is from hydro and bioenergy. The rest has been solar and wind, which combined are up to 42 percent of the mix in 2026. Here’s a pretty chart, with cheerful yellow solar energy and cool blue wind energy growing, and icky grey coal rapidly fading into nothing.
Here’s why the replacement of gas with renewables matters so much: Because wholesale electricity prices at any given time are set by the most expensive energy plants needed to meet demand, and gas is usually that most expensive source, getting more solar and wind on the grid during high-demand daylight hours brings down wholesale prices a lot. (snip-MORE)
Go and read, and click the links if you have time. It is heartening, even though it’s not happening here.
Union Activism
My Favorite Sport Has A New Champion
Shrey Parikh wins the Scripps National Spelling Bee, beating Ishaan Gupta in lightning round
WASHINGTON (AP) — Shrey Parikh felt the pressure of arriving at the Scripps National Spelling Bee as a favorite, but his confidence showed every time he got a word he knew. And when it all came down to a lightning-round tiebreaker against Ishaan Gupta, Shrey left no doubt.
Shrey turned a tense, high-quality final into a blowout Thursday night, racing through the 90-second “spell-off” and getting 32 words right to be crowned the best young speller in the English language. Ishaan spelled 25 words correctly in the tiebreaker.
A 14-year-old from Rancho Cucamonga, California, Shrey finished third in 2024 but lost his school bee last year when he was battling a fever. He has dominated the bee circuit since, winning several online competitions against many of the same kids he outlasted this week in the nation’s capital. His winning haul includes a custom trophy and $52,500 in cash.
“Right now I’m probably the happiest I’ve ever been. I’m just so happy and relieved, and just such a flood of emotions,” Shrey said. “At my school bee last year, I was really dejected and just very upset. It didn’t even sink in until the next day. I had a really tough time, but I’m glad I was able to bounce back.”
Yet Another Thing To Keep Track Of:
Majority of Americans Support Ban on Surveillance Pricing and Electronic Shelf Labels
Surprisingly, 3% saying it would make them more likely to shop at a store.
By Matt Novak
A whopping 68% of Americans say they worry about surveillance pricing increasing the cost of goods, while just 5% believe it will lead to lower prices, according to a new survey from GBAO Strategies distributed by the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union. Twenty percent say it will likely just keep prices the same.
The new survey is part of the UFCW’s “Affordable Groceries and Good Jobs Campaign,” an effort to encourage states to pass laws banning surveillance pricing and electronic shelf labels (ESLs), the increasingly common price tags that some activists worry allow companies to rapidly change prices in stores several times per day.
The concern includes obvious dynamic pricing models, like increasing the cost of cold beverages when it gets hot outside, but also involves more sophisticated and as-yet theoretical examples like increasing the cost of food staples when a customer’s data is analyzed in store and it’s determined they’re willing to pay more.
Fifty-eight percent of Americans in the survey say digital price tags would make them less likely to shop in a store, with 35% saying it would make no difference, and 3% saying it would make them more likely to shop there. Sixty-seven percent are in favor of banning ESLs outright, according to the new survey.
Walmart, which has patented AI-powered price changes, has been rolling out electronic shelf labels across its stores, and it aims to feature them in every U.S. location by the end of 2026. But the company has insisted it’s not going to use ESLs for jacking up prices and insists that a human manager must be in the loop when prices change.
Unsurprisingly, 66% of those surveyed say they’re worried about the cost of groceries. And it’s no wonder, given the trajectory of inflation in recent months. The University of Michigan’s May sentiment index hit a record low last month at 44.8, down five points from April, according to Bloomberg.
In April, inflation rose 3.8% on an annualized basis, while wages rose just 3.6%, the first time wages have failed to keep up with inflation since 2023, according to CBS News. And that’s causing major concerns about supermarkets’ plans to squeeze customers for more money with new tech.
The new survey takers at GBAO Strategies noted that some grocery stores are replacing paper price tags with digital price tags and asked Americans whether that technology was likely to increase or decrease prices for consumers. Just 3% thought it would decrease prices, while 65% thought stores would use digital price tags to increase prices. 24 percent of participants believe it will keep prices about the same, with the remainder (8%) saying they don’t know.
UFCW International Vice President Ademola Oyefeso told Gizmodo that he believes electronic shelf labels are a tool for price gouging and that tech companies are marketing them for that purpose.
“The ESL industry sells the prospect of higher prices and job losses as positives,” said Oyefeso. “Across the country, families are having to make tough choices in the grocery aisle every day as a result of sky-high prices, and polling clearly shows that they want these predatory technologies banned.”
Proponents of digital shelf labels take issue with the idea of using the term surveillance pricing at all. They prefer terms like “personalized pricing” and believe that stores have an incentive to make pricing competitive. But unions like UFCW don’t believe that’s true and are urging legislation to be passed around the country to fight it.
“Federal and state lawmakers know these practices are wrong, and the UFCW urges them to get ahead of them before they appear in every store,” Oyefeso told Gizmodo. “Any lawmaker that is serious about cutting costs for hardworking families must support a ban on electronic shelf labels and surveillance pricing in grocery stores.”
At least a dozen states are currently considering legislation that would regulate surveillance pricing, with Maryland recently passing the first law banning the practice at grocery stores. But activists have spoken out about that law and worry that it has way too many loopholes.
Trump’s DHS chief rocked by wild rumor about his WIFE… as furious staff leak scandalous details about his life of luxury | Daily Mail Online
These scammers have no clue how to serve the people, how to represent the needs of the public nor how a government department should function. Hugs
Best Wishes and Hugs,
Scottie
‘Trump Wants Good News’: Pentagon Under Pressure to Sanitize Iran Data
I am sitting in the waiting room of the allergist office after getting my shots. What I want is to go take a nap, but instead I have my walker because Ron wants to go look at flooring for the new office / family room on the east side of the house. It was my office until hurricane Ian tore the roof off and a wall out. So I moved into the spare bedroom. But it is time for me to move back to the bright and sunny room. Only this time I will have it set up with a couch, chairs, and a table or two. Hugs.
https://zeteo.com/p/trump-iran-war-pentagon-good-news
Best Wishes and Hugs,
Scottie
Open Windows,Clay Jones
White House Dementia
Did you hear about the nut job at the White House who believed he was Jesus Christ?
Last Saturday, Nasire Best, a 21-year-old man from Maryland, approached a White House checkpoint near 17th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW shortly after 6 p.m. ET, pulled a gun from a bag, and opened fire on Secret Service officers. Officers returned fire, striking Best, who was taken to a hospital and later died.
According to a July 2025 D.C. Superior Court filing, Best was previously “known to the United States Secret Service” around the White House complex. According to the court filing, Best walked into a restricted area at a White House pedestrian access control post, ignored commands to stop, and “claimed he was Jesus Christ and that he wanted to get arrested.” He was arrested on an unlawful entry charge in that incident.
The filing said Best interacted with the Secret Service, walking around the White House complex and asking how to gain access at various entry posts. It also said he had been involuntarily committed in June 2025 after obstructing vehicle entry to the White House complex. (snip-MORE)
Trump and the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool
Trump brags about all the pools he’s built
During this morning’s Cabinet meeting, Trump drones on and on about how he’s done such a spectacular job fixing the Reflecting Pool.
Data Centers
Doesn’t everyone love a data center?
There are over 5,381 data centers in the United States, which is more than the rest of the planet. And the state with the most data centers is Virginia. Oddly enough, my voice dictation wrote “data sinners” instead of “data centers.” That’s not far off.
Data centers pollute and are bad for the environment. They drain water resources. They raise energy costs for the average consumer. They bring noise pollution. They occupy vast amounts of land. A single hyperscale data center can consume as much electricity as 100,000 homes. And city governments love them because they bring in revenue. What they don’t bring are a large number of jobs.
In Virginia, the General Assembly is threatened with a government shutdown over tax breaks for data centers. The state offers over $2 billion in tax breaks to these technological warehouses, and some senators believe that they don’t need them. They don’t. Even though most positive spin and gaslighting for data centers comes from right-wing think tanks like the Goldwater Institute (which is like arguing why you want a nuclear power plant in your backyard), the argument in the Virginia General Assembly isn’t partisan. Democrats are in control, and they’re arguing about this with themselves. (snip-MORE)
Eat Mor Cornyn
From one indicted, impeached, adultering, corrupt individual to another
I have been drawing cartoons about Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton since at least 2020, as you can see here, when he filed a lawsuit challenging Pennsylvania’s electoral vote for Joe Biden. Did I mention that he’s the Attorney General for Texas, not Pennsylvania?
I did a cartoon about him in 2022 when he hid behind his wife from process servers. The reason he’s being served so much is that he is a criminal. Of course, this was before he was caught cheating on his wife.
One of my favorite cartoons about Paxton was drawn during his impeachment trial in 2023. Yes, he was impeached because of his corruption, but the Texas Senate saved his tiny corrupt balls. The party that impeached him was his own, Republicans. (snip-MORE)
That Public Notice About NDA’s for Government Workers:
We have 29 more days to make our views known in regard to the executive wishing all federal workers to sign a very broad NDA. This will crush transparency and notice of abuse, and there will likely be no more whistleblowing.
Anyway, here it is, along with the link so we can make our comments (of course it is not hyperlinked on the page, we need to copy it and paste it into our browser. WP has made it a live link in this post, but it doesn’t work.) It’s our duty and a right we still have; if we do not use it, we will most certainly use it. I found out about this yesterday on MPS’s post; it just took me a bit to get to this.
You can find this here. (This hyperlink is good; I made it myself and it works.) It is a .pdf. The NDA notice begins in the lower right-hand column.
From within the public notice, here is the info for submitting our comments:
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments
using the Federal eRulemaking Portal at
https://www.regulations.gov. Follow the
instructions for sending comments.
The general policy for comments and
other submissions from members of the
public is to make these submissions
available for public viewing at https://
http://www.regulations.gov without change,
and including any personal identifiers
or contact information. Before finalizing
the NDA, OPM will consider all
comments received on or before the
closing date for comments. OPM may
make changes to the NDA after
considering the comments received.
And a little more:
Request for Comment
OPM welcomes public comments on
all aspects of the draft NDA, including
whether the Privacy Act statement’s
description of the authority, principal
purposes, routine uses, and effects
provide sufficient notice to employees.
The draft NDA is available in the docket
for this notice on regulations.gov. See
https://www.regulations.gov/document/
OPM-2026-0100-0003. OPM specifically
requests comment on the following
issues.
- What scope of information should
be covered by the NDA? Should it cover
only unclassified information? How do
you understand the terms confidential
and confidentiality in the context of this
NDA? What customization of the NDA,
if any, may be necessary for agencies to
ensure it covers the appropriate
information? - Does the NDA clearly communicate
the types of information that would be
subject to non-disclosure requirements?
If not, how could OPM better describe
what information can or cannot be
disclosed to ensure employees have
appropriate notice of their
responsibilities? - Are there other statutes to which
OPM should cite in Appendix A of the
NDA when describing the nondisclosure
requirements applicable to individuals
working for or on behalf of the Federal
government? - Do you have suggestions regarding
the layout or formatting of the NDA? - Does the Privacy Act statement in
the NDA provide sufficient notice to
employees of the authorities, principal purposes, routine uses, and effects of - the form?
- Does the OPM/GOVT–1 system of
records notice provide sufficient notice
that the government-wide system of
records would maintain records related
to the signing of, or failure to sign, the
NDA? - What are the appropriate actions, if
any, for agencies to consider taking if
existing employees choose not to sign
the NDA? - What are the appropriate actions, if
any, for agencies to consider taking if
new employees choose not to sign the
NDA? - Does the NDA clearly communicate
the potential consequences of refusal to
sign the form for both existing and new
employees, along with whether signing
the form is voluntary or mandatory? - What else should OPM consider
with regard to the NDA??
OPM will consider comments
received before finalizing the NDA.
There are several other things there, if you have some time and want to see what the exec is doing besides trying to hide all they do and finally/fully cut off our representation, even as we are taxed for government work. I don’t believe we can let this slide, but maybe that’s only me. Anyway, if you also don’t like this, please go, read the bit, and write what your conscience tells you. I’m certain you will not be alone in doing so. The thing is, our government, for which we all pay, is not a business. The only parts that should not be public are those that actually shield the actual security of the country, things such as when we go after Osama Bin Laden, and locations of items that other countries might like to drone. There should be no covering of regular day-to-day government business-that is our business and we have the right to know.
Scottie's Playtime 