Across The Universe, Cont. -- Glittering Stellar Nursery

 

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From NASA/ ESA, March 8, 2026: A tiny fraction of the stellar nursery known as Sh2-284 is visible in this glittering, star-filled NASA Hubble Space Telescope image. This immense region of gas and dust is the birthing place of stars, which shine among the clouds. Bright clusters of newborn stars glow pink in infrared light, and clouds of gas and dust, resembling puffy cumulus clouds, are dotted with dark knots of denser dust.

This image shows an infrared view from Hubble, giving an excellent view of the stars that might otherwise be obscured by Sh2-284’s clouds. Unlike visible light, infrared wavelengths can travel through clouds of gas and dust, providing a glimpse of the stars forming within the obscuring clouds.

The nebula is shaped by a young central star cluster, Dolidze 25 (not visible in the Hubble image), whose stars range from 1.5 to 13 million years old (our Sun, in contrast, is 4.6 billion years old). The cluster blasts out ionizing winds and radiation, pushing at the gas and dust of the nebula and carving out intricate shapes and pillars, as seen in detail here. This ionizing radiation gives Sh2-284 its classification as an HII region, an emission nebula consisting primarily of ionized hydrogen. An emission nebula like Sh2-284 glows with its own light as stars within or nearby energize its gas with a flood of intense ultraviolet radiation.

Sh2-284 is also a low-metallicity region, which means it is poor in elements heavier than hydrogen and helium. These conditions mimic the early universe, when matter was mostly helium and hydrogen and heavier elements were just beginning to form via nuclear fusion within massive stars. Hubble took these images as part of an effort to examine how low metallicity influences stellar formation and how this would apply to the early universe.

Sh2-284 resides 15,000 light-years away at the end of an outer spiral arm of our Milky Way galaxy, in the constellation Monoceros.

Credit: NASA, ESA, and M. Andersen (European Southern Observatory - Germany); Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America)

Today's Cartoons

 

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(John Darkow, Columbia Missourian)

(Milt Priggee, caglecartoons.com)

(Ella Baron, The Guardian, UK)

(David Rowe, Financial Review, Australia)

(Morten Morland, The Times, UK)

(Scott Stantis, Chicago Tribune)

(Mike Luckovich, Atlants Journal-Constitution)

(Clay Bennett, Chattanooga Times Free Press)

(John Deering, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)

(Clay Jones, claytoonz.substack.com)

(Steve Sack, stevesack.substack.com)

(Paul Duginski, caglecartoons.com)

(Lars Kenseth, @larskenseth)

QOTD -- Peter Thiel's Dark Vision

"... Peter Thiel acts on two simultaneous levels, revealing the depth of his political heresy: on one hand, he finances the centrifugal forces that erode the nation-state; on the other, he arms the state to establish panoptic control.

"When liberal democracies adopt its instruments, they are not just acquiring software: they are importing an ideology that views transparency as an obstacle and public debate as a luxury that has become unsustainable.

"By accepting Thiel's technology through Palantir's writing of reality, institutions implicitly adopt his diagnosis: society is a mimetic mass incapable of self-governance, and the only alternative to the apocalypse is a technocratic order imposed by an elite of sovereigns.

"In this vision, democracy understood as self-government of equal citizens is already dead — and all that remains, in the darkness of a data center, is the clinical management of its corpse." -- Father Paolo Benanti, Pope Leo XIV's advisor on artificial intelligence, concluding an essay on Palantir founder/ PayPal co-founder with Elon Musk / Epstein associate / and Malignant Fascist billionaire extraordinaire Peter Thiel and the very un-Christian vision he espouses.  Thiel is a deranged techbro whose visions of a technocratic elite ruling over the world is struggling to be born under the MF's oligarchic "Epstein class" regime.  This is a stimulating and deep dive into German-American Thiel's dark, inhuman Palantir "theology" and its adherents in the largely unaccountable tech world.  Thiel's currently in Rome to give secret lectures on the Antichrist (oh, the irony).  To think the MF (and Republican Senate) sent this oddball venture capitalist douche to be Ambassador to Germany, then on to a mercifully brief tour as the Kennedy Center "president" ...

Sunday Reflection: The Boob Tube

 

“A word about TV: If a television is on, an infant will stare at it. This is not a sign of advanced development. TV entertains at a cost. Young children easily become dependent on the TV for stimulation and lose some of their natural drive to explore. A child with a plastic cup and spoon, a few wooden blocks, and a board book can think up fifty creative ways to use those objects; a child in front of a TV can only do one thing.” -- pediatrician Dr. Benjamin Spock, (5/2/1903 - 3/15/1998), from his landmark book "Baby and Child Care," which was one of the best selling books of the 20th century (50 million copies).  With generations raised on television as entertainment / diversion, Spock's warning about its ill effects on damaging a child's exploration instincts is still impactful.

The TV-obsessed Malignant Fascist watches TV more than any other President by far, as evidenced his thin-skinned reactions to adverse coverage.  He's also been described as "profoundly ignorant" and "an f-ing moron" by those who have worked with him in the White House, which also confirms Dr. Spock's theory.

(photo illustration: Getty/Jessica Kourkounis/Chip Somodevilla/Mireia Triguero Roura)

 

Trump: World, Help Fix The Mess I Made

 

Now that Iran has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz to shipping, the foolhardy and delusional Malignant Fascist is begging for international help in re-opening the Strait, despite the fact that it was his (and Israel's Bibi "Bomb Bomb" Netanyahu) decision to launch an allegedly preemptive war on Iran.  We can imagine the thoughts of the international community about the MF's plea: you broke it, you fix it.  From the Associated Press:

"The president was spending Saturday morning at his golf club in Florida but posted that, 'Many Countries, especially those who are affected by Iran’s attempted closure of the Hormuz Strait, will be sending War Ships, in conjunction with the United States of America, to keep the Strait open and safe.'

But it was not clear if that effort was set to begin or if Trump only hoped it might because he also wrote, 'Hopefully China, France, Japan, South Korea, the UK, and others, that are affected' will 'send Ships to the area so that the Hormuz Strait will no longer' be threatened by Iran.

It was the first time Trump has publicly suggested the U.S. may not be able to reopen the waterway on its own, and without international support." (our emphasis)

Golfing, of course. Now that the MF and his Israeli counterpart have initiated a war that is having global consequences, having abandoned talks over the subject of the Iranian nuclear program that the Obama Administration had effectively capped and the MF undid, the buffoon is pleading to other nations to risk the lives of their militaries to pull his ass out of the fire.  A few, still wishing to please the unpopular MF, will offer some support. We'll see who takes up the MF's on his pathetic request.

(screen grab: The MF dances to "Y.M.C.A." while war rages. LCI France TV)

 

Wearing Clown Shoes To War

 

Last night's SNL cold open featured a family struggling with high gas prices, the Malignant Fascist's (James Austin Johnson) broken campaign promises, and DUI hire "Whiskey Pete" Hegseth's (Colin Jost) performative alpha male war news (with a dig at the MF's gifting of too- large shoes to Cabinet members -- that fit "like a clown's glove").  

FCC Chair Threatens Media: Cheer Trump's War Or Else!

 

More outrageous extortion from the Malignant Fascist's regime as this uniquely awful and dangerous chode continues to audition for Propaganda Minister:

Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr threatened media stations with losing their broadcast licenses if they don't fall in line producing positive war coverage.

"Broadcasters that are running hoaxes and news distortions - also known as the fake news - have a chance now to correct course before their license renewals come up," Carr posted on X Saturday. "The law is clear. Broadcasters must operate in the public interest, and they will lose their licenses if they do not."

Carr was referring to a Truth Social post by President Donald Trump, who whined over negative media coverage of the ongoing war with Iran started by the U.S. and Israel.

Trump claimed reports about Air Force refueling planes hit by an Iranian missile strike at a Saudi Arabian air base were "intentionally misleading."

“The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal (in particular), and other Lowlife ‘Papers’ and Media actually want us to lose the War,” Trump posted. “Their terrible reporting is the exact opposite of the actual facts!”

Trump claimed the planes were not struck. But it's increasingly difficult to take the president at his word as the war progresses. Trump has refused to give a timeline, saying the war will end "when I feel it in my bones," has bragged about taking out "100%" of Iran's military while begging allied nations for help, and has denied the U.S. struck an elementary school in Iran that killed more than 170 people, despite evidence that points to the U.S. as being responsible.

For all of these life-costing blunders, Trump and Carr blame the press.

"The American people have subsidized broadcasters to the tune of billions of dollars by providing free access to the nation’s airwaves," Carr said in his post. "It is very important to bring trust back into media, which has earned itself the label of fake news." (our emphasis)

So far, very few in the media who've been pressured by the Malignant Fascist and his toadies have stood up.  Freedom of the press is enshrined in the Constitution, something that is of no interest or import to these fascists.  The media needs to stand up -- en masse -- now.   The courts might have something to say about this extortion also.

BONUS:  This is the correct response from Democrats. More here.

(Image: Getty)

Today's Cartoons

 

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(David Horsey, The Seattle Times)

(Bas van der Schot, Die Volkskrant, Netherlands)

(Kevin Kallaugher, The Economist, UK)

(John Deering, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)

(Matt Davies, Newsday)

 (Rick McKee, caglecartoons.com)

(Bill Day, caglecartoons.com)

(Matt Wuerker, Politico)

(Bill Bramhall, New York Daily News)

(Jack Ohman, Tribune Content Agency)

(Bob Englehart, caglecartoons.com)

(Tom Toro, @tbtoro)

Skeets Of The Day

 

Operation Epic Epstein Fury: complacent markets, bad bones, warnings, moral rot, more --

"My biggest fear is the market is still working under the assumption that this will not get out of control.” Are markets being too complacent about the Iran war? Me, 300 free clicks: - as.ft.com/r/0c0e8ae1-b...

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— Katie Martin (@katie0martin.ft.com) March 14, 2026 at 3:25 AM

 

What Americans will read this weekend when they’re in line at the grocery checkout. @people.com people.com/trump-says-i...

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— Carl Quintanilla (@carlquintanilla.bsky.social) March 13, 2026 at 5:04 PM

 

Before US went to war, Gen Dan Caine, chairman of Joint Chiefs, told Trump an American attack could prompt Iran to close Strait of Hormuz. Caine said in several briefings that U.S. officials had long believed Iran would deploy mines, drones and missiles to close the world’s most vital shipping lane

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— Catherine Rampell (@crampell.bsky.social) March 14, 2026 at 9:21 AM

 

Ossoff: "The WH put out a video depicting this war as a video game. When service members are returning in flag-draped coffins, & even more have lost limbs or suffered brain injuries or are fighting for their lives, this WH treats war like a game. It's a disgrace. And it speaks to a moral rot."

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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) March 13, 2026 at 7:41 PM

David Byrne on Trump’s illegal war on Iran and his thoughts on artists speaking out: "I think it’s completely illegal…No one voted for it, the public did not endorse it. It's a small group of maniacs who decided they're going to do that"

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— WuTangIsForTheChildren (@wutangforchildren.bsky.social) March 12, 2026 at 7:34 PM

 

"I, as the 47th President of the United States of America, am killing them. What a great honor it is to do so!”

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— Helen Kennedy (@helenkennedy.com) March 13, 2026 at 6:46 AM

What War?— Trump Announces Palm Beach Getaway Trump will spend the weekend enjoying the amenities of his Mar-a-Lago resort as U.S. troops remain deployed to the Middle East. meidasnews.com/news/what-wa...

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— PatriotTakes 🇺🇸 (@patriottakes.bsky.social) March 14, 2026 at 9:21 AM

 

The real Operation Epic Fury needs to take place in November.

— Patrick Chovanec (@prchovanec.bsky.social) March 13, 2026 at 8:20 AM

 

The Trump Crime Family's corruption: Mr. Ivanka Trump edition -- 

The least insane person in the Trump administration might turn out to be, in sheer dollar terms, the most financially corrupt. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/13/b...

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— Will Saletan (@saletan.bsky.social) March 14, 2026 at 9:15 AM

Did Ukraine get a "thank you" from the Malignant Fascist? You must be kidding -- 

Did Trump and Vance say thank you?

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— Ron Filipkowski (@ronfilipkowski.bsky.social) March 13, 2026 at 7:18 PM

Meanwhile, Putin rains death and destruction in Ukraine -- 

⚡️Russian strikes kill 7, injure 46 across Ukraine as energy grid targeted again. "Ordinary homes, schools, and civilian businesses have also been hit," President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

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— The Kyiv Independent (@kyivindependent.com) March 14, 2026 at 4:24 AM

 

Bezos' money-grubbing, privacy-invading destruction of the Washington Post -- 

Many Washington Post readers have been notified via email that their subscription rates are set to increase. Nestled at the bottom of these emails, you’ll find an asterisk and the following: “This price was set by an algorithm using your personal data.”

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— Washingtonian (@washingtonian.com) March 13, 2026 at 3:18 PM 

 Winning! --

U.S. Suffers Additional Casualties In War It Won Last Week

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— The Onion (@theonion.com) March 13, 2026 at 3:30 PM

 

 

QOTD -- Incompetent And Incoherent

 

"This is the most incompetent, incoherent war America has fought in the last 100 years.  And that's saying a lot.  This administration has no idea what they are doing.  There is no viable war plan.  They change their goals and their aims every single day.

I have great sympathy for our soldiers and our military leaders.  They are being given directions by a senile old man who is losing his mind." -- Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT), on CNN yesterday, stating facts known to all but the willfully-or-naturally ignorant.

And so it's no surprise that this war is going horribly.

Compounding the incompetence, the Malignant Fascist is also surrounded by chickenshit advisors who're afraid to correct even his most ridiculous mistakes, much less something like the Operation Epic Epstein Fury shitshow.

Today's Extortion: $10 Billion To Trump Regime

 

With his allies in the tech world ready to take over TikTok, the corrupt Malignant Fascist's regime is collecting a $10 billion "fee" for brokering the deal with China.  From Newsweek:

"A federal law required TikTok to either shut down in the United States or be sold to domestic owners at the start of President Donald Trump’s second term in 2025.

However, the president issued a series of executive actions extending the deadline, while the White House helped broker a sale to a group led by cloud-computing tech giant Oracle Corp. and private-equity firm Silver Lake Management LLC. [snip]

The new entity, called TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC, will oversee content moderation on the platform and safeguard the data of U.S. users.

The fee is to be paid by investors involved in the TikTok transaction, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. [snip]

The payment is part of a broader agreement that transferred control of TikTok’s U.S. operations from ByteDance to a group of investors seen as friendly with the administration, according to people familiar with the matter. It comes on top of investments used to establish the new company that now operates the app in the U.S.

Those investors include Oracle, Silver Lake and Abu Dhabi–based investor MGX. The group and its backers paid about $2.5 billion to the Treasury Department when the deal closed in January and are expected to make additional payments until the total reaches $10 billion, the Wall Street Journal reports." (our emphasis)

Of course, oligarch billionaire Larry Ellison of Oracle fame is going to benefit from this payoff to the MF, much like the MF's regime rigged his son David's Skydance purchase of Paramount, and subsequently the merger with Warner Bros. Discovery which was facilitated by regulatory favoritism. CBS, CNN, TikTok and other outlets are now under the control of a right-wing Trumper, who has suggested he'll fire those who are critics of the MF.  Let's hope this latest venture goes south on them.

(photo: The MF and his ally Ellison / Andrew Harnik, Getty)

 

Snowy Rural Mountain Areas Of Kyoto

 

Vlogger Mei takes us to beautiful, snow-covered mountain area surrounding Kyoto, Japan, in a video just posted this morning.  Somehow, the late winter heavy snow makes the rural surroundings even more lovely.  Food stops, of course.  Ease into your weekend.

Today's Cartoons

 

(click on images to enlarge)

(Christopher Weyant, Boston Globe)

(Jeff Koterba, caglecartoons.com)

(Michael de Adder, caglecartoons.com, Canada)

(Mike Luckovich, Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

(Joe Heller, hellertoon.com)

(Adam Zyglis, The Buffalo News)

(R.J. Matson, CQ/Roll Call)

(Clay Jones, claytoonz.substack.com)

(Dave Granlund, politicalcartoons.com)

(Drew Sheneman, The Star-Ledger, Newark, NJ)

(Paul Duginski, caglecartoons.com)

(Asher Perlman, @asherperlman)

"War Is Not For Clowns And Fake Tough Guys"

 

Salon.com's wonderful Amanda Marcotte has some thoughts on clownish, butched-up TV pundit turned Secretary of War Defense "Whisky Pete" Hegseth and his transparent persona as a "tough guy," now that we're in a real war with a serious adversary:

"Hegseth’s Saturday morning cartoon idea of manhood, though, has impressed other men of similar persuasions. One is podcaster Joe Rogan, who praised Hegseth last fall, crowing that there was 'no more identity politics' and whining about 'guys in dresses' in the military. In December, the head of Hegseth’s church’s denomination, Doug Wilson, celebrated the secretary as a counterweight to “men with a My-Little-Pony fetish.” Last year the Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh applauded Hegseth for supposedly sticking it to “nagging” women who insist that gender does not disqualify them to serve in the military.

As long as Hegseth keeps his chest-thumping and pull-up contests in the land of make-believe, these men are happy. Like their hero, the only masculine strength they seem interested in is the kind performed for cameras, far away from real-world challenges that might easily defeat their self-image as the mightiest of men. Hegseth, however, had to ruin it all by leading the U.S. into a real war with Iran. Unlike the imaginary wars conducted in right-wing rhetoric, which are won by yelling 'no homo,' real wars are hard. They require planning, foresight and smart people, including women and minorities, to win — and even then, only if you’re quite lucky. War is not for clowns and fake tough guys."  (our emphasis)

Clowns and fake tough guys are what we have now in political positions throughout the Government, epitomized by the draft-dodging, makeup-wearing, senile felon currently staining the White House.  If this were peacetime, it would be merely laughable, but war is serious business best not left to fools like the Malignant Fascist and his loudmouth, chest-thumping Pentagon chief. 

(photos: Cadet Bone Spurs and Whiskey Pete, not so macho)

 

Skeets Of The Day

 

Operation Epic Epstein Fury / costs and benefits -- 

 

My thoughts are with the loved ones of the U.S. service members who were killed or injured during the KC-135 refueling mission in Iraq. Their deaths bring the total number of Americans lost since the war began to eleven. Their sacrifice is a solemn reminder of the true cost of war.

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— Congressman Eugene Vindman (@repvindman.bsky.social) March 13, 2026 at 10:26 AM

 

Trump will depart to Palm Beach for the weekend to spend time at his private club and participate in a fundraiser. This is the second weekend in a row Trump has gone golfing as he risks the lives of American service members.

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— FactPost (@factpostnews.bsky.social) March 13, 2026 at 10:35 AM

 

If it costs 300 million Americans more to go about their daily lives, but 250 thousand already-rich oil executives and investors get to experience another boom—this is good for the economy.

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— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw.bsky.social) March 13, 2026 at 8:48 AM

It’s almost like Putin and Netanyahu control our foreign policy.

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— Ron Filipkowski (@ronfilipkowski.bsky.social) March 13, 2026 at 10:03 AM

 

🧐

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— Veterans Against Trump (@vetsat.bsky.social) March 13, 2026 at 10:12 AM

 

The Trump regime's overwrought propaganda and plans for the media --

 

"President Trump will hit the home run, score the touchdown and win the marathon. He will bring home the bacon AND fry it up in a pan. He will bring in the funk, he will kick out the jams. And I assure you -- he will, he will rock you."

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— Kevin M. Kruse (@kevinmkruse.bsky.social) March 13, 2026 at 9:22 AM

 

Two things here. One, you don't sit there and whine about media coverage and headlines if things are going well. Two, the administration is just outright saying that they fully expect Ellison to use CNN to be a Trumpist propaganda organ.

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— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona.bsky.social) March 13, 2026 at 8:29 AM

 

 Guardians of our nation's top secrets? --

Details… meidasnews.com/news/trump-o...

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— PatriotTakes 🇺🇸 (@patriottakes.bsky.social) March 13, 2026 at 10:25 AM

 

But Russia gets them for free.

— thyroid-2303.bsky.social (@thyroid-2303.bsky.social) March 13, 2026 at 10:28 AM

 

The state of play on DHS funding --

In 24 hours, Republicans have blocked FIVE attempts from Democrats to fund TSA, FEMA, our cyber defenses, & Coast Guard while talks continue to rein in ICE & Border Patrol. Republicans are holding TSA agents' paychecks hostage so they can give more $ to ICE, with no reforms.

— Senator Patty Murray (@murray.senate.gov) March 12, 2026 at 1:57 PM

 

The hell you say!? --

 

You know what we're not griping about enough? That Donald Trump's face is going to be on U.S. currency—on $1 coins—later this year. This will be the first time a living president has appeared solo on a coin, and one of the very few times a living individual has ever been on U.S. coinage.

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— Adam Keiper (@adamkeiper.com) March 13, 2026 at 12:02 AM

 

No deal with the devil needed (Happy Friday the 13th!) --

 

"What was my value proposition here? With Trump slathering everything with gold paint and turning ICE into a super-charged federal employment program for neo-nazi gun nuts, what am I gaining now on paper that I’m not getting regardless when that bile-hearted bastard keels over?"

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— McSweeney's (@mcsweeneys.net) March 10, 2026 at 10:00 PM