Disney to Pay $10 Million to Settle FTC Allegations

This is an unexpected turn of events.  In short, Disney was accused of allowing personal data to be collected from children who viewed kid-directed videos on YouTube without notifying parents or obtaining their consent as required by the Children's Online Privacy Protection Rule. 

The rules don't allow for any collection of data unless the parent opts in, though I have to say the rule is a little confusing in how its implemented.  

But its good that there are at least some sort of general protections for kids. The world is scary enough without soliciting directly to them.

https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2025/09/disney-pay-10-million-settle-ftc-allegations-company-enabled-unlawful-collection-childrens-personal

UFO hearings?

On September 9th, the US Congress convened hearings on UFOs. Because, you know, what could possibly be more impactful to everyday Americans? 

"The American people deserve maximum transparency from the federal government on sightings, acquisitions and examinations of UAPs and whether they pose a potential threat to Americans' safety."

Right. Our safety. Never mind about public health. Guns. The rise of extremism. Or the orange menace himself. No! We gotta worry about things that don't matter. 

They also said:

"It is time to give Americans the answers they deserve, which is why I am honored to lead this bipartisan task force that seeks truth and transparency."

Fooking hilarious.  Transparency in this day and age is part magicians deception (hey look over here, while I do something over there!) and part whatever those in power say something is. 

Oh. But what's this? It's not all about UFOs? There's stuff buried in the agenda that are other conspiracies that they want to manipulate:

"We will also investigate UAPs/USOs, the Epstein client list, COVID-19 origins, and the 9/11 files."

We are all so screwed. 

So fucking stupid

So the idiot in charge posted this to his social media. 

Because nothing screams that I'm a competent leader like posting stupid movie quotes when it comes to real world events AS HE SEES THEM, not as they appear in reality. 

Setting aside the nonsense that is the illegal and unconstitutional invasion of Chicago for no reason, I think there's another point here. 

He has now idea what apocalypse now is about….and I'm sure he doesn't get to the "heart of darkness" story and that this might be a terrible analogy in every respect. 

Is he saying that he is in Martin Sheen's role, the hallucinatory journey? With "drugs" replaced by "dementia"

Or is he in Marlin Brando's role, the man who has gone mad?

In Vietnam in 1970, Captain Willard (Martin Sheen) takes a perilous and increasingly hallucinatory journey upriver to find and terminate Colonel Kurtz (Marlon Brando), a once-promising officer who has reportedly gone completely mad. In the company of a Navy patrol boat filled with street-smart kids, a surfing-obsessed Air Cavalry officer (Robert Duvall), and a crazed freelance photographer (Dennis Hopper), Willard travels further and further into the heart of darkness.

A little context

The notion of getting that sack of skin one trillion dollars as some kind of fair compensation to run Tesla is one of the most laughably absurd things I've ever heard. 

Among other things, they want to "keep him from leaving" to which I say that they should instead have a vote to make him leave. 

He's a tool and manages to ruin so much around him. 

But anyway, a trillion dollars. Thats a 1 with 12 zeros behind it. 

A quick bit of math says that you could randomly pick 50 million people from the phone book (that's roughly 15% of the population by the way) and issue them a check for $20,000. Which would be life changing for most of them. And have spent the same amount. 

Instead of giving it to one jackhole that seems like a better use of the money. 

But what do I know?

An open letter to our senators

Senator,

Over these last few months, we've seen Mr Trump continue his assault on literally everything we hold near and dear as citizens of this great nation. He continues with unchecked executive power to simply try and change things with a stroke of a pen. 

We haven't heard much from you, and yet, we've seen the courts continue to hold him accountable, as most of these actions are unconstitutional!

I also want to call attention to the fact that Mr Trumps physical health has been declining, very publicly, comments from the Whitehouse to the contrary not withstanding. 

And then there is his "brain health."  His speech is slurred. He goes off on wild tangents. More than 5 years ago there were questions about his mental faculties; he has aged, and as we all are well aware, it's not possible to have somehow "gotten better."

It appears to some of the public (and from what I gather some elected officials as well) that he is unfit to serve. Maybe you should take that into consideration as you look at his deeds and actions. 

Don't remain on the sidelines and simply allow him to remain unchecked.  I might remind you that one of your primary jobs is to protect and defend the constitution. 

I ask you to do just that; protect the constitution *from* him. 

Digging into the Epstein case

I'm setting this up by saying that I can't vouch for the truth in all of this. The guy has some details that line up with what we generally know about Epstein. 

But is it factual? I don't know. 

It's a nice story in a way. And probably has some general truth in it. 

So I'm sharing. 

Part 1

https://youtube.com/shorts/9NqFD6_pyiY?si=emmXwewOZRgfVw2g

Part 2

https://youtube.com/shorts/rE90leBYSi4?si=d8oBcolcfncqEq56

And speaking of Karen’s …

A group of teens (including some of my kids) went to the "Hamilton in the movie theater"...

This is the premise - "yes, this is unlikely to be your normal theater-going experience, but that's a good thing…. in that prologue, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Leslie Odom, Jr., and the rest basically encourage you to sing along, applaud, and feel your feelings however you feel them as you watch Hamilton in a whole new way."

The group took it literally and made it a sing-a-long!!

But of course, there was a Karen who told them to be quiet, to shut up, and got nasty. She got the manager at one point, and they held up the film for a couple of minutes while they resolved it.  

It did NOT go as she hoped,  and the film resumed along the the sing along. 

The entitled joyless jackhole, frustrated, got up and left.

It's a fun show. Get over yourself. Why you gotta be that person?!