Don't Rely on Political Influencers for Your News, Though I Wish I Didn’t Have To Say It

(Permanent Musical Accompaniment Until the final update of this week from one of the blog's most cherished living Canadian contributors)

I've steered clear of the White House daily briefings ever since Karoline Leavitt took over as spokesperson. Partly this is due to my firm decision not to watch superfluous political content on television. It’s also because, with her at the helm, the press gatherings seem more aligned with entertainment shows than serious journalistic inquiries. from the Gaia channel .

For instance, consider Kambree Nelson, associated with the America First Policy Institute—a conservative organization often seen as providing jobs for individuals such as Larry Kudlow, Lou Holtz, and Bobby Jindaly. Kambree embodies what’s known today as an “influencer,” a term used when people create content across multiple platforms instead of engaging in traditional journalism. These influencers rarely prioritize factual accuracy. Kambree stands out even among them; she hails from Texas and manages her personal video channel where she sometimes shares compelling exposés. As noted by Robyn Pennacchia at Wonkette, Kambree continues this trend. had covered the entire story when the moon disappeared.

A community comment added to her post stated, "[t]he Moon becomes challenging to spot close to a New Moon since just a slim part of its illuminated face points towards us and because it remains visible mainly during daylight hours at this stage. The occurrence of a new moon takes place approximately every 29.5 days, most recently occurring on October 2nd." One supporter echoed her observation, mentioning "I haven’t spotted it either; it seems as though it vanished completely," which prompted Nelson to reply, "Exactly! So why isn't anyone discussing this? People also remain hushed regarding the bright Sun as well."

If you weren’t aware, some people believe that the sun was once yellow or orange but has recently become white. The exact cause for this change remains unclear, as does their motivation behind altering the color of the sun. They distinctly recall it appearing yellow or orange during their childhood years. Perhaps these beliefs stem from theories about a flat Earth where the U.S. is enclosed under a massive glass dome similar to a snow globe; however, such connections aren’t often made explicit. Interestingly, every time someone claimed they saw the moon, Nelson generally dismissed them as lying.

On Monday, Kambree received an invitation to join the briefing, and just like any diligent reporter would, she queried Leavitt about which questions she should pose.

“I’m kind of the nerd when it comes to reporting,” Nelson said. “I’m not the headline news girl. I’m the nuts-and-bolts, I’m the policy-type nerd; so what direction do you advise me to go into? Like the White House files that y’all send out every single day? Because that’s what people are used to. When they wanna ask me questions, they wanna know the nuts and bolts of everything.” “I wish there were people in the legacy media that were like you,” Leavitt responded.

One question. When does "nuts and bolts" Kambree get to the "bolts" part?

Nature offers us a grim forecast about the enduring contamination of the National Science Foundation's granting procedures.

Earlier this week, NSF leadership also introduced a new policy directing staff members to screen grant proposals for “topics or activities that may not be in alignment with agency priorities”. Proposals judged not “in alignment” must be returned to the applicants by NSF employees. The policy has not been made public but was described in documents seen by Nature. An NSF staff member says that although good science can still be funded, the policy has the potential to be “Orwellian overreach”. Another staff member says, “They are butchering the gold standard merit review process that was established at NSF over decades”. One program officer says they are resigning because of the policy. Nature spoke with five NSF staffers for this story, all on the condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the media.

"Being in sync with organizational goals" likely has shifted in meaning now. Perhaps they will award a grant to Kambree for researching the vanishing of the moon.

Weekly WWOZ Choice Track : A Kiss to Construct a Dream Upon (Coolbone Brass Band): Yeah, I pretty much still love New Orleans.

Weekly Visit To The Pathé Archives : Here, from 1924, Black Gold wins the 50th Kentucky Derby , paying $6.50 to win. Rosa Hoots —a great name, incidentally—was the first woman to both own and breed a Kentucky Derby winner. Rosa belonged to the Osage tribe, and Black Gold gained recognition as "the Indian horse." Black Gold is interred in the infield at the Fair Grounds in New Orleans. As recounted by Winston Groom in his narrative, Garden & Gun, the saga of Black Gold and Rosa Hoots are bound up in the Osage oil bonanza that is described in the book and film, Killers of the Flower Moon. Rosa's husband, Al, had latched onto a fine racing mare named Useeit, whom he guarded jealously, including at gunpoint on one occasion. On his deathbed, Al made Rosa promise to breed Useeit to a famous Kentucky stud horse named Black Toney. Two years later, an oil gusher exploded on land that the Hoots had leased. In 1921, Useeit and Black Toney produced Black Gold. In 1924, Rosa brought Black Gold to Churchill Downs. From Groom's story:

When the starting pistol was fired, Black Gold stumbled at the rail and it got worse from there. Hemmed in but still tracking the leaders, he was bumped, fouled, and thrown off, but recovered to shoulder free on the outside and gain on Chilhowee, who seemed to have the race neatly bagged along the rail. In the stretch it was Black Gold and Chilhowee neck and neck, but Black Gold was not to be denied. Jaydee Mooney asked for more and Black Gold gave it all, bursting across the finish wire a half length ahead at 2:05:20. It wasn’t a pretty race, and a lesser horse might have faltered, but as the esteemed racing chronicler John Hervey wrote, Black Gold “won it in race-horse style after a rough race, displaying rare determination.”

Alas, Black Gold's story did not end well. He broke down with foot trouble and when they tried to put him out to stud, he turned out to be sterile. For some reason, Rosa and his trainer put him back into racing as a six-year old despite the fact that he still had the crack in his foot. In 1928, leading in the Salome Stakes at the Fairgrounds, Black Gold broke a leg. He finished the race on three legs and was put down on the track and buried in the infield, where he has now rested through fires and hurricanes. History is so cool.

Discovery Corner : Hey, look what we found . From EuroNews :

Thought to be approximately 500-years-old, the boat's remains were unearthed during the excavation of a former fish market—found more than five meters below sea level. Made up of 30 curved wooden ribs and seven hull planks, it measures 10 meters long and three meters wide. Its skeletal construction of wood and iron nails is traditional of mid-15th-century medieval boats once found in the Mediterranean and across Europe.

“We’d thought some archaeological boat remains might turn up on this site, which is near the port and the artificial stone quay that protected the port, and which was a working zone in the 15th and 16th centuries. Two years later, we’ve been lucky enough to find a boat,” Palacios told The Guardian Other significant discoveries at the location encompass an air-raid shelter constructed in 1938, as well as constructions linked to the 18th-century Bourbon Citadel and the 19th-century Old Fish Market.

It's a collision of four cars' histories! Someone must have lingered too long in the Bourbon Fortress, I reckon.

Hey, SciNews. Is today turning out to be a nice day? for dinosaur news? It's always a good day for dinosaur news!

According to the paleontologists, "The sample includes many bones and bone shards that seem interconnected and positioned on one stratum over roughly 60 cm by 40 cm." This skeletal find came from outcrops of the Kilmaluag Formation located north of Elgol village on the Isle of Skye. It represents the most comprehensive fossil of its type in Scotland, predating even the earliest recorded dinosaur remains discovered on Skye. Researchers noted, "Fossil finds from the Kilmaluag Formation have significantly enriched our understanding of the Middle Jurassic era in Scotland, contributing globally to what we know about tetrapod evolution during this timeframe." They further explained, "Despite being fragmented into several parts—such as a portion of the ilium, some neural arches, bits of rib sections, and other substantial components—it stands as the most intact definitive Scottish dinosaur specimen identified so far."

Hmm, servings of ribs. That brings a smile to my face now.

I’ll be back on Monday for whatever fresh hell awaits. Be well and play nice, ya bastids. Stay above the snake-line and wear the damn masks, and take the damn shots, especially the boosters and the New One. In your spare time, spare a thought for everyone touched by the earthquakes in Myanmar and Thailand, and by the tornadoes throughout the Southeast, and for everyone touched by floods in Kentucky and in West Virginia, and by the crash in Washington, and by the measles outbreak in the Southwest, and in the wildfire zone around Dallas, and in the fire zones in Los Angeles, and for all the folks in Ukraine, who stubbornly fight on, and all the folks in Gaza, and all the people in New Orleans, Las Vegas, Nashville, and Queens, who were visited by the Crazy before the year had hardly begun, and the folks in Dallas and Tallahassee , who were visited by the Crazy this week. And the people in drought-stricken north Alabama. And the folks caught in floods and tornadoes in Nebraska. And the folks caught in "historic floods" in Kentucky. And in Oklahoma. And the folks in L.A., now fighting floods and mudslides exacerbated by the recent wildfires. And the folks in the wildfire zones in Pennsylvania. And the folks in Lahaina, who are still rebuilding. And the victims of the nightclub collapse in the Dominican Republic. (Hang in there, Pedro.) And all the folks we regularly cited here in the year gone by, and especially for our fellow citizens in the LGBTQ+ community, who deserve so much better from their country than they’ve been getting. And for all of us, who will be getting exactly what we deserve.