Policy

Defunding Public Television

A woman was rescued after 11 nights lost alone in the Australian outback, but that's not going to stop Mark Zuckerberg from building a datacenter the size of Manhattan so he can have his AI. Maybe it can better compute how many government services we're just going to drop funding for!

Endeavorance

21 Jul 2025 — 11 min read

The Sole Survivor

Imagine the following: you are stuck for over a week in the middle of one of the most hostile landscapes on Earth. You have no meaningful source of food or water, and no method of communication.

How are you doing? Living? I dunno if I am.

But for Carolina Wilga, that's apparently no biggie.

Wilga is a 26 year old woman from Germany who spent 11 nights lost in the Australian outback after losing control of her vehicle. She trekked 15 miles with whatever food she could ration and any water she could find in puddles.

Ultimately, a driver spotter her and she was airlifted to a hospital where she is now recovering despite an injured foot and apparently an outrageous amount of bug bites.

My general advice: don't get stuck in the Australian outback for 11 days without food or water (unless you have that Wilga inside you).

Stateside

Recession? No, Recission!

Boy HOWDY, the US federal government is not beating the "overtly evil" allegations.

So look, for those who aren't stateside—and perhaps those who are relatively new to the US political landscape—our citizens hate the government. But they don't actually hate the things our government does for us, they hate the concept of the government doing things for us. And… the bombs. We're not fond of the bombs we're paying for. But largely, there is a sepctre of "government bad" as a baseline outlook whenever there is mention of government services of really any kind.

As a very famous example, Obama ran on passing healthcare reform. He did that, but only after letting Republicans tear the legislation to shreds, making it far less efficient than intended—because we gotta make sure the government doesn't work too well for the people, otherwise they might be okay with it! So they very loudly branded it, "Obamacare" in an attempt to make conservatives hate it, only for it to turn out to be successful in expanding healthcare coverage to millions of Americans. It also has continued to increase in popularity as time goes on.

It is not infrequent that you hear of someone saying they hate "Obamacare" but would be left without insurance if the "ACA" (Affordable Care Act) was repealed, only to learn that "Obamacare" is—literally—the ACA.

Why do I say all of this? I say it because it's a huge reason that Republicans can just loudly state that they indent to destroy some government function and then get the votes to do so. The government is inefficient, and they make sure of that so that they can turn around and sell constituents on how inefficient the government is so they can sell off parts of the state to their private donors.

Anyway, keep all that in mind as you read the following, which is a list of funds that Republicans—who control the entirety of the US government—just voted to repeal funding for. These funds total just $9.4 Billion of spending, which amounts to 0.1% of the federal budget.

In their own words:

[this] bill rescinds funds that were provided to the State Department or the President forContributions to International Organizations;Contributions for International Peacekeeping Activities;Global Health Programs;Migration and Refugee Assistance;the Complex Crises Fund;the Democracy Fund;the Economic Support Fund;Contributions to the Clean Technology Fund;International Organization and Programs;Development Assistance;Assistance for Europe, Eurasia, and Central Asia;International Disaster Assistance; andTransition Initiatives.

The bill also rescinds funds that were provided forUSAID Operating Expenses,the Inter-American Foundation,the U.S. African Development Foundation,the U.S. Institute of Peace, andthe Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

This is not the "outsized government spending" that people are upset about. These aren't the "big bad government" programs that Reagan broke an entire generation's brain into thinking are somehow morally unacceptable.

That doesn't stop them from labeling basic supportive services as "woke":

The era of woke and wasteful spending in the people's government is over
~ Jodey Arrington, chair of the House Budget Committee

The US Federal Government is a Bad Guy, yes. But governance as a concept and in action is not the same as the American Empire, and supporting politicians who want to "cut government spending" only ever hurts domestic voters while simultaneously doing nothing to help with foreign policy (bombs).

Scott Mayer on the NLRB Board

Trump has appointed Scott Mayer to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The NLRB is the government entity that is supposed to enforce labor rights laws, ensuring that workers have a right to organize and that employers play remotely fair.

This is an entity that is necessary because capitalism definitionally self-destructs without regulation.

So who is Scott Mayer? Oh, y'know—a former head lawyer at Boeing whose job was to push back against unionization and workers rights efforts.

According to the Economic Policy Institute:

Mayer has a decades long career as a corporate lawyer and has worked at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP, one of the largest management-side law firms that has represented corporations known for violating workers' rights

While some unions endorsed Harris, some chose to abstain, including the Teamsters who decided to not endorse either candidate. Major figures within the Teamsters would go on to lament that to be the wrong call.

Trump has a long, very well documented history of not paying workers and treating people as disposable, so it makes a lot of sense that some unions looked at him and thought, "I bet he'll do right by us!"

Epstein Won't Go Away

He done STEPPED in it tho.

The Epstein Files situation continues, as Trump's base wrestles with his refusal to release the documents as well as his continued heel turn on his own base. After being pestered about the decision to not release anything, he went on to start claiming that the files were a "hoax" made up by the Democrats and that anyone who believed it is a "weakling" and "past supporter".

This has resulted in portions of the MAGA base to be Very Large Mad. Several of the most die-hard MAGA/neo-nazi influencers have turned on Trump from all of this, with Nick Fuentes going as far as to say that the "liberals were right" about MAGA being a scam.

Now don't get it twisted: this is not a mass awakening of people seeing the light. Hopefully some are! If even one person sees this and finally puts 2 and 2 together, that's great. But unfortunately, a lot of MAGA folks are upset that he hasn't done more to establish a white, christian nation, and this latest move regarding the Epstein files makes it clear they can't trust him to carry out their vision.

Anyway, they should release file files. Trump is signaling he may release some minor related stuff, such as grand jury testimonies, but that's not "the list" that people were promised.

This is still ongoing, and will likely continue to be a shitshow for quite some time.

Elsewhere

We're Not Supposed to Be a Template

Germany hosted several European allies in a meeting to coordinate stricter immigration policy and to tighten the grip on the border in the face of migrants in the region. While it has yet to become a formalized legal framework, the meeting resulted in a plan to deport more asylum seekers and establish "return hubs" as a part of an increasing deportation effort.

"Return hubs" referring to a system of deporting people to third country camps in an effort to just get them out of sight as quickly as possible.

As a part of this effort, German officials deported 81 Afghan nationals back to Afghanistan, despite international aid groups citing life-threatening danger in the region. This move was done explicitly as a show of force by the government.

The UN Human Rights commissioner has criticized the deportations and has called to end deportations to Afghanistan for migrants and asylum seekers.

Cambodia's Scam Call Crackdown

Cambodia is out here saving me from having to receive calls from my good friend Scam Likely.

Government authorities in Cambodia have been heavily targeting scam call centers in the region, leading to thousands of arrests in just a few weeks.

Dozens of call centers staffed by hundreds of workers from various nations were disrupted, putting a small dent in the multi-billion-dollar scam call industry.

These scams range from your typical "hey, give us your social security number" type stuff all the way to the newer AI-powered operations which imitate the voice of someone you know in distress.

Sadly, the people working these call centers aren't always doing so for the love of the game. In fact, that's often not the case. Often, they are victims of human trafficking operations. And oh, wouldn't you know it—USAID, the agency which the Trump/Musk coalition set fire to—was working to reduce human trafficking in the region, but that's gone now.

Israel Attacking Syria Now

Israel has begun striking Syria now, citing that they are simply ensuring their own safety from radicals in the region and to protect the Druze people in the region. The Druze people are an ethno-religious minority group spanning several national borders in the region, with a large number living in Israel.

Now, the situation in Syria is not particularly cut-and-dry. After the recent fall of their long-time dictator, the country has seen intense violence as various groups attempt to establish power and governance.

Militias in the region had been fighting a brutal civil war for almost 15 years, and the skirmishes continue, which Israel is using to somehow justify adding Syria to their list of bombing targets, right alongside Gaza, Iran, and Lebanon.

International reactions have been deeply critical and often note that this is an absurd escalation on behalf of Israel.

Science & Tech

Chevron Owns Hess Now

Energy company Chevron has acquired also-energy company Hess for a sum of $55 Billion, marking one of the largest energy acquisitions in decades.

Exxon wasn't happy about this, and along with Chinese energy company CNOOC, they filed arbitration disputes against the merger, arguing that—to use business terms—they had dibs, bro.

Basically they asserted that per existing contracts, they should have had a right to purchase Hess shares before Chevron, but ultimately the argument failed.

This is a massive shift of players in the oil industry and sent shockwaves through competitor stocks in the energy and oil markets.

Scientific Threesomes

Scientists in the UK have successfully performed a 3-person IVF treatment in an effort to help women with mitochondrial diseases have children without risking a potentially debilitating disorder.

While this is not the first time this treatment has been used, it marks a major step forward as all eight babies born from this round of treatment are healthy and show no signs of mitochondrial disease.

Now, any mucking around with "avoiding passing on unwanted traits" of course brushes against the looming threat of eugenics. Though, the procedure targets a tiny fraction of DNA which specifically manages cellular energy production. Other physical and ancestral traits still come from the parents, as opposed to prior treatments, in which a 3rd party donor would be the full biological parent.

Bioethicists have been discussing this outcome for years, with myriad outlooks. Generally, there is support for opening up possibilities for very specific cases with personal consent. Simultaneously, fears of a slippery slope to "designer babies" has caused hesitancy, especially among lawmakers.

This treatment has only happened a handful of times, with the first back in 2016 before regulation around it had passed anywhere.

Panda Stem Cells

Scientists are saving the pandas! Though I also learned that the giant panda is no longer technically endangered, but still: saving pandas is just a thing we do now and then.

How are we saving the absolute goobers? We're taking their skin.

Wait—

I misread. Scientists are using panda skin cells and are doing biochemistry on them for a while until they become stem cells which could then be used to develop treatments and improve conservation efforts at large. While this is specific to pandas, its a step towards reversing the dwindling numbers among endangered species worldwide.

That's a Lotta Computer

Mark Zuckerberg is in the news recently, which is never a good thing. I think we could all use a little less ZUCC in our lives.

This time, it's because he said that Meta (Facebook/Instagram/WhatsApp) plans to build multiple data centers of a size which "covers a significant portion of the footprint of Manhattan."

Major tech companies who have staked claim on being leaders in AI are currently racing to build out as much raw computing power as possible. Since AI is deeply inefficient by nature, it needs an incredible amount of computing power to handle user load, made worse by tech companies pushing AI into everything, scaling up before we have a viable solution for the energy needs.

Between this and stories of Elon Musk's data centers in near Memphis causing untold health issues for local residents, tech oligarchs are drawing increasing ire while trying to justify their right to amass every imaginable resource Because We Must™.

Gaming

Roblox IP Licensing

Roblox is launching a new IP licensing platform for companies to list their intellectual property in a marketplace for use in Roblox games.

Roblox is an online social platform centered around custom experiences of all kinds, from casual hangout spots to full on custom games. The platform is gargantuan, bringing major IPs from across the world to its audience, hosting concerts and whatnot. You know, metaverse shit.

Quoting from the Roblox press release:

With this launch, creators can build experiences with popular intellectual property

What's hilarious to me about this is that Roblox has successfully managed intellectual property issues better than all these AI companies. Ethically-sourced brainrot games.

Virtuos Layoffs

Virtuos—a "co-development" game studio who has worked on titles such as the recently released Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion remaster—is laying off about 7% of its global headcount, or about 270 employees. Most of the are in offices in Europe and Asia, where the company says market conditions have changed, causing their need for an adjustment.

Co-development studios are contractor studios who hop in to help along game development for ambitious titles. As the gaming industry continues to fail to find its own ass with both hands, studios like Virtuos are taking a hit.

The industry was on bender of approving massive AAA titles, many of which (such as the Perfect Dark remake!) are being cancelled or wound down, leaving co-developers with less of a place in the market while studios adjust to smaller, safer projects.

The Legend of Zelda: Screens of Silver

There's not a LOT to say here, but this is still pretty neato: Nintendo has announced their casting for Link and Zelda in the upcoming live action Legend of Zelda movie. As someone who credits the Zelda franchise for teaching me a lot about problem solving and critical thinking, I'm fairly giddy about the potential for this movie to hopefully not be bad. We shall see, but for now, here's the folks: