Pennsylvania's Punxsutawney Phil might be the most known weather-predicting groundhog, but a new study is throwing shade on how much his predictions should be trusted. Phil did so poorly that taxidermied critters are better at forecasting an early spring. https://t.co/ipDZs5ngme

— NBC Bay Area (@nbcbayarea) January 31, 2025

“Studies of rock and dust from asteroid Bennu delivered to Earth by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification and Security–Regolith Explorer) spacecraft have revealed molecules that, on our planet, are key to life, as well as a history of saltwater that could have served as the ‘broth’ for these compounds to interact and combine. The findings do not show evidence for life itself, but they do suggest the conditions necessary for the emergence of life were widespread across the early solar system, increasing the odds life could have formed on other planets and moons,” says a Wednesday NASA update . Happier asteroid news than earlier too.

“In research papers published Wednesday in the journals Nature and Nature Astronomy, scientists from NASA and other institutions shared results of the first in-depth analyses of the minerals and molecules in the Bennu samples, which OSIRIS-REx delivered to Earth in 2023. Detailed in the Nature Astronomy paper, among the most compelling detections were amino acids – 14 of the 20 that life on Earth uses to make proteins – and all five nucleobases that life on Earth uses to store and transmit genetic instructions in more complex terrestrial biomolecules, such as DNA and RNA, including how to arrange amino acids into proteins. Scientists also described exceptionally high abundances of ammonia in the Bennu samples. Ammonia is important to biology because it can react with formaldehyde, which also was detected in the samples, to form complex molecules, such as amino acids – given the right conditions. When amino acids link up into long chains, they make proteins, which go on to power nearly every biological function,” continued the update.

“On January 29, 2025, a commercial aircraft and a military helicopter horrifically collided near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. American families today woke up without their loved ones after what should have been a routine trip, and the entire Nation mourns the loss of the victims. This shocking event follows problematic and likely illegal decisions during the Obama and Biden Administrations that minimized merit and competence in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The Obama Administration implemented a biographical questionnaire at the FAA to shift the hiring focus away from objective aptitude. During my first term, my Administration raised standards to achieve the highest standards of safety and excellence. But the Biden Administration egregiously rejected merit-based hiring, requiring all executive departments and agencies to implement dangerous ‘diversity equity and inclusion’ tactics, and specifically recruiting individuals with ‘severe intellectual’ disabilities in the FAA,” says a new executive memo from convicted felon President Trump commanding the US government to conform to his version of reality. It also points out the continued existence of an Obama policy Trump did not repeal during his first failed term.

“On my second day in office, I ordered an immediate return to merit-based recruitment, hiring, and promotion, elevating safety and ability as the paramount standard. Yesterday’s devastating accident tragically underscores the need to elevate safety and competence as the priority of the FAA.”

There’s a version of the next few days where it turns out that Thursday’s midair collision between a US Army Blackhawk and a commercial flight by an American Airlines subsidiary and taking 67 souls with it was partially or even directly attributable to convicted felon President Trump’s purge of the federal civil service corps, that there would have been more air traffic controllers on duty at Reagan National Airport if Kamala Harris was president. Not terribly likely, but within the realm of possibility.

Then there’s another, that isn’t mutually exclusive, where the air traffic controller(s) on duty had to undergo some diversity training last month and the MAGA propaganda-industrial complex will run with that to portray them as being rusty or distracted. If they find an opening like that or that the controller(s) are Black, female, LGBTQ+, or whatever then be damn sure they’re going to take it.

Convicted felon President Trump on Thursday told reporters in the Oval Office he’ll be proceeding with the 25 percent tariffs on Canada and Mexico, adding that they may or may not apply to oil, which he will decide that maybe Thursday night, lol. Good luck figuring that one out.

The 25 percent tariff on each “may or may not rise with time,” Trump said, adding “Mexico and Canada have never been good to us on trade. They’ve treated us very unfairly on trade and we’ll be able to make that up very quickly because we don’t need the products they have.”

The mommy and daddy of imprisoned crypto scammer Sam Bankman-Fried have been attempting to get an audience with convicted felon President Trump to secure a pardon or a commutation from the 25 year federal sentence for their neuroatypical bundle of joy, Bloomberg reports.

BREAKING: Initial FAA report indicates staffing at air control tower was “not normal.” pic.twitter.com/nq8j38D9SL

— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) January 30, 2025

“I am writing to inform you that I have asked the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau to open an investigation regarding the airing of NPR and PBS programming across your broadcast member stations. As you know, NPR and PBS distribute their programming through a network of approximately 1,500 NPR and PBS member broadcast stations. The relevant broadcast stations, which are licensed to operate by the FCC, are limited by the terms of their federal authorizations to operating as noncommercial educational broadcast stations- or NCES. Federal law prohibits any NCE station from running commercial advertisements. More specifically, Sec 399B of the Communications Act prohibits an NCE station from airing commercials or promotional announcements on behalf of for-profit entities.”

“For-profit entities that contribute funds to NCE stations may receive on-air acknowledgements, but the FCC has long held that underwriting announcements are for identification purposes only. These announcements should not promote the contributor’s products, services, or businesses, and they may not contain comparative or qualitative descriptions, price information, calls to action, or inducements to buy, sell, rent, or lease. I am concerned that NPR and PBS broadcasts could be violating federal law by airing commercials. In particular, it is possible that NPR and PBS member stations are broadcasting underwriting announcements that cross the line into prohibited commercial advertisements. It is important to me, as Chairman of the FCC, that NCE broadcast stations stay true to their important missions and refrain from operating as noncommercial in name only,” writes FCC chief Brendan Carr to NPR CEO Katherine Maher and PBS CEO Paula Kerger.

So this, rather than defunding the tiny fractions of their operating budgets coming from taxpayer budgets, is the new angle of attack on public broadcasting, which for how many fucking decades has aired brief promos identifying their sponsors without anyone complaining. Rich too that a concern over private interests intruding on a public institution coming from the regime whose Commander-in-Chief not three hours ago posted a link to buy a copy of his picture book that costs like $60, among a great deal of other scams large and small that he’s been at the center of.

Panama President Jose Raul Mulino on Thursday told reporters there will be no negotiation with the US over ownership of the Panama Canal, and he hopes Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s Sunday visit will be more about shared interests than relinquishing the waterway, the AP reports.

“It’s impossible, I can’t negotiate,” Mulino said when asked about returning the Canal Zone to the US, adding “That is done. The canal belongs to Panama. “The only thing that I want is to clear all the garbage from the path, clean the table and be able to speak with the US and very frankly” about issues such as immigration, security, and fighting against drug trafficking.

The meeting will be Rubio’s first foreign trip as the United States’s top diplomat. Not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing as far as Mulino and the canal’s status are concerned.

In a Thursday story headlined “Suicide deaths by Kansas sex offenders leaves survivors without trials or justice, advocates say,” the Kansas Reflector writes that “A child sex abuse survivor and advocate thinks it’s ‘more than a coincidence’ that three men accused of child sex crimes died by suicide in December. Survivors of the three men are now left without the possibility of seeing their alleged abusers held accountable for their crimes, said Kim Bergman, a survivor of child sex abuse who has advocated for changes in state policy at the Statehouse in Topeka.”

“Survivors are coming forward sooner. Perpetrators are actually having to deal with the ramifications of what they do,” said Bergman. “Child sex crimes are all about power. When they’ve been arrested, they’ve lost the power, and I think sometimes their way of taking that back is putting their destiny in their own hands,” all of which rings sincere irrespective of the black comedy of it.

Only one of the three scumbags was in a county jail when he committed suicide, the other two self-canceled in their homes while out on bond, so where this might’ve been about a call to legislate stricter procedures for sex offender suspects in custody it’s just Bergman complaining that they avoided the justice by killing themselves before trial. Not sure what anyone was supposed to have done about that for the two who offed themselves at home before they could be tried. Bergman did not go any further than saying law enforcement should “be aware of this trend and be looking for signs” that a sex offender is eyeing that exit. Now, nobody should ever have any reason to question the feelings of victims of sexual abuse, and yet this is just a pretty unique absurdity, like she’s worried that her work advocating for fellow survivors is going too well because these fucking animals were pretty obviously guilty if they self-corrected their vile sicknesses.

“New York Attorney General Letitia James today issued an alert warning businesses against price gouging of eggs and poultry amid a national bird flu outbreak. The bird flu has affected poultry and dairy farms across the country, causing shortages and driving up prices. New York’s price gouging statute prevents businesses from taking advantage of consumers by selling essential goods or services at an excessively higher price during market disruptions resulting from emergencies like the bird flu outbreak. Attorney General James urges New Yorkers who see significantly increased prices on eggs or poultry to report the issue to her office. ‘Eggs are an essential grocery staple in households across the state, and New Yorkers should not pay ludicrous amounts just to feed their families,’ said Attorney General James. ‘The bird flu is affecting poultry farms and causing a national shortage, but this should not be an excuse for businesses to dramatically raise prices. My office is monitoring the situation, and I am urging New Yorkers to report excessive prices to my office,'” said New York State Attorney General Letitia James in an official statement issued Thursday.

“In 2021, Attorney General James secured a settlement with one of the country’s largest producers and wholesalers of eggs, Hillandale Farms Corporation, for illegally price gouging eggs during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result of the settlement, Attorney General James delivered 1.2 million eggs to New Yorkers,” the statement continued, citing an example of James actually doing something.

Weird. We were to understand that blaming Joe Biden or the media was the way to handle the situation. Even weirder is that James is supposed to be a reverse racist psychopath whose only goal in life was to terrorize certain people in the business world, not looking out for consumers.

Aviation safety experts Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth put on a tour de force with their brilliant mastery of staffing issues around our nation’s air traffic control infrastructure on Thursday, handling the tough questions from reporters with such deft ease and holy shit what freaking dumbasses, lol.

Mediocre right wing website PJ Media’s columnist Matt Margolis this week raged over the perfidious mainstream media’s questions about why convicted felon President Trump isn’t doing what he said he would do and lower grocery prices for Americans, rattling off a selection of headlines before getting into the yolk of his rant. “It’s funny, isn’t it? Despite years of rampant inflation under Joe Biden, the mainstream media either insisted that inflation was going down or that prices were going down, or blamed high prices on price gouging, and now we’re being pummeled with stories wondering why Donald Trump hasn’t brought down prices yet,” Margolis whines as if Trump did not literally say “When I win, I will immediately bring prices down” during his comeback campaign.

Also never mind that going all the way back to even before the 2022 midterms we were treated to smoking hot takes like CNN’s “Voters may care more about the cost of French fries than January 6 panel’s compelling evidence,” Margolis is on a roll here about the “shift in the media’s narrative” which is “a glaring example of how partisan bias drives their coverage. Under Biden, the same rising prices that are now pinned on Trump were downplayed. Now that Trump is back in the White House, those same prices are suddenly a damning indictment of Trump, representing a failed campaign promise mere days into his presidency,” framed as if there were no such specific promises made during the campaign that high prices would be resolved mere days into his presidency.

Sheriff’s deputies in Houston County, Texas are baffled at the deaths of at least eight cattle found after they were abducted by parties unknown from a carrier truck, Austin American-Statesman reports on yet another incident after decades of livestock being killed by shadowy malefactors.

Six cattle were found still alive along with the intact corpses in the trailer abandoned on the side of a road on Highway 19 South Wednesday, deviating from the usual modus operandi of the space aliens, black helicopters, Satanic cultists, or other phantom rustlers who typically gruesomely mutilate their bovine victims. In fact this was probably just some depravedly indifferent asshole stealing the semi tractor and leaving the trailer on the side of the road with its living cargo still locked inside for God knows how many days, not even bothering to let them out to wander around and eat some grass.

Starting at 9:30 AM EST it’ll be bingo time for Senate Republicans preemptively tired of Dems asking FBI Director nominee Kash Patel about his shitty childrens’ books and repeated endorsements of QAnon conspiracy nonsense. Should be fun, definitely will be more fun than having this assclown running the top federal law enforcement agency and turning it into Trump’s instrument of revenge.

“I have been fully briefed on the terrible accident which just took place at Reagan National Airport. May God Bless their souls. Thank you for the incredible work being done by our first responders. I am monitoring the situation and will provide more details as they arise,” posted convicted felon President Trump on Thursday morning, a switch from the confusion and bewilderment expressed in an after midnight Truth Social screed where he wrote “The airplane was on a perfect and routine line of approach to the airport. The helicopter was going straight at the airplane for an extended period of time. It is a CLEAR NIGHT, the lights on the plane were blazing, why didn’t the helicopter go up or down, or turn. Why didn’t the control tower tell the helicopter what to do instead of asking if they saw the plane. This is a bad situation that looks like it should have been prevented. NOT GOOD!!!”

Former Congressman-turned-Fox News host-turned-Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy on Thursday simply walked away from a reporter who asked whether there’s an acting director in charge of the Federal Aviation Administration, per a clip of a press conference posted by clip guy Aaron Rupar that’s too short to grab and put on YouTube. The answer to this question is already known as there is no acting FAA director pending the confirmation of a Trump pick. “The FAA director resigned on the day of Trump’s inauguration under pressure from Elon Musk,” Rupar wrote.

With two days to go before they’re supposed to be slapping Mexico, China, and Canada with 25 percent tariffs on all exports to the United States, Convicted felon President Trump’s team don’t actually know what they want to do, as Bloomberg reports they’re “still debating the fundamentals of tariff policy – like whether the taxes should be imposed across the board or targeted at specific countries and industries, and whether they should be reciprocal.”

That last word, “reciprocal,” as in a measure taken in response to another party’s action, kind of gives away the game on how little these assholes know what they’re doing here. How can any imposition of tariffs be “reciprocal” when the whole point is supposed to be for them to fire the first shot at trading partners and force them to respond with geopolitical concessions? Jesus Christ, lol.

“NASA analysis of a near-Earth asteroid designated 2024 YR4 indicates it has a more than 1 percent chance of impacting Earth on Dec 22, 2032 – which also means there is about a 99 percent chance this asteroid will not impact. Such initial analysis will change over time as more observations are gathered. Currently, no other known large asteroids have an impact probability above 1 percent.” 

“Asteroid 2024 YR4 was first reported on Dec 27, 2024, to the Minor Planet Center – the international clearing house for small-body positional measurements – by the NASA-funded Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System station in Chile. The asteroid, which is estimated to be about 130 to 300 feet wide, caught astronomers’ attention when it rose on the NASA automated Sentry risk list on Dec 31, 2024. The Sentry list includes any known near-Earth asteroids that have a non-zero probability of impacting Earth in the future. There have been several objects in the past that have risen on the risk list and eventually dropped off as more data have come in. New observations may result in reassignment of this asteroid to 0 as more data come in,” says a NASA blog post.

Demonstrators in Jakarta on Thursday wasted a precious and expensive luxury item by throwing them at the Malaysian embassy to protest a January 24th incident in which a Malaysian coast guard vessel fired upon a boat carrying Indonesian migrant workers for allegedly trespassing into their territorial waters off a beach just east of Kuala Lumpur, killing one, the Associated Press reports.

“Eggs covered the state symbol of Malaysia at the mission’s gate, and the building itself appeared to have egg stains and cracked shells on it,” the AP wrote from the scene as nearly 100 Indonesians expressed outrage over their neighboring country’s murderous assault that also left another four men wounded in addition to the 50 year-old man that was killed by the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency. The Indonesian Foreign Affairs Ministry last week said that the migrant workers had actually been attempting to leave Malaysia. This is not an isolated incident as advocacy groups say at least 75 Indonesian migrants have been murdered in Malaysia since 2005.