New Pentagon UFO Program

There’s a new UFO program at the Pentagon. The Navy’s Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force is out, and the Airborne Object Identification and Management Synchronization Group (AOIMSG) is in. The new program will lead all federal Ufology efforts and “assess and mitigate any associated threats to safety of flight and national security.” This will all be led by an Airborne Object Identification and Management Executive Council (AOIMEXEC).

“AOIMEXEC” sounds like an archeological site in Yucatan. And “AOIMSG” is obviously named after a food additive.

More:

“Pentagon creates new group to monitor and ‘mitigate’ threat from UFOs,” Mike Snider, USA Today

“Pentagon silent on whether UFO tracking officials will wear black suits, sunglasses,” Jeff Schogol, Task & Purpose

“The Pentagon gave its new UFO task force the least sexy name possible,” Andrew Paul, Input

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9-11 Urban Legacy: Cities of Bollards

“It used to be that D.C. architecture consisted of graceful Georgetown mansions, neoclassical federal buildings — and, of course, the monuments. When the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts was founded in 1910 to guide Washington’s architectural development, it reviewed designs such as those of the Lincoln Memorial and the Federal Triangle. Over the seven years I’ve served on the commission, however, an increasing amount of time is spent discussing security-improvement projects: screening facilities, hardened gatehouses, Delta barriers, perimeter fences, and seemingly endless rows of bollards. We used to mock an earlier generation that peppered the U.S. capital with Civil War generals on horseback; now I wonder what future generations will make of our architectural legacy of crash-resistant walls and blast-proof glass.”

— Wittold Rybczynski, Meyerson professor of urbanism at the University of Pennsylvania.

Read more:

“The Blast-Proof City,” Wittold Rybczynski, Foreign Policy

“We Built DC Into an Urban Fortress After 9/11. And January 6 Proved It Was Penetrable.” Jane Recker, Washingtonian

“I Came, Eyesore, I Conquered,” Witold Rybczynski, Slate

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Doc Retweeted By Trump Says Government is Run by Reptilians

Government Lizard People: seeing is believing.

President Donald Trump retweeted Houston physician Stella Immanuel last week, a fellow fancier of debunked “miracle coronavirus cure” hydroxychloroquine. The good doctor also believes there are Lizard People among us:

“In a 2015 video, Immanuel, who leads a religious group called Fire Power Ministries, said: ‘There are people ruling this nation that are not even human,’ describing them as ‘reptilian spirits’ who are ‘half human, half ET.'”

— “Aliens and ‘reptilians’: US viral video doctor’s odd beliefs,” France 24

That explains why Trump spokes-creatures like Stephen Miller focus our fears on ethnic minorities to distract us from their own space alien invasion.

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If the Government Shuts Down

What happens if the federal government shuts down due to lack of an appropriation? The Associated Press explains.

Related:

“Looming shutdown raises fundamental question: Can GOP govern?” Damian Paletta and Erica Werner, Washington Post

“Report: Shutdown could cost U.S. economy $6.5 billion a week,” Christopher Matthews, Axios

“More Americans blame Republicans than Democrats for potential government shutdown, Post-ABC poll finds,” Scott Clement, Washington Post

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CDC Preps America for Nuclear Holocaust

Now that our really smart President boasts of playing with his big button, U.S. Centers for Disease Control has scheduled a January 16th briefing on “Public Health Response to a Nuclear Detonation.” Inspires confidence, no?

More:

“CDC briefing to focus on preparing for nuclear war,” Brianna Ehley, Politico

Update:

“CDC postpones session on ‘preparing for the unthinkable’: a nuclear blast,” Lena H. Sun, Washington Post

Related:

“False Missile Warning in Hawaii Adds to Scrutiny of Emergency Alert System,” Cecilia Kang, New York Times

“Trump tweet boosts sales of anti-radiation pills,” Sam Baker, Axios

Video: “Duck and Cover,” a 1951 Civil Defense Administration TV spot for kids by Archer Films (the 9-minute classroom version is here). Directed by Anthony Rizzo, written by Ray Mauer. Narrator: Robert Middleton. The kids are from NYC public schools (read more here).

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The Art of the Threat

Borrowing a stratagem from every petty thug with a protection racket, President Donald Trump has threatened to shut down the federal government in October if he doesn’t get his way:

“President Trump on Tuesday called for a government shutdown later this year and suggested the Senate might need to prohibit future filibusters, dramatic declarations from a new commander in chief whose frustration is snowballing as Congress continues to block key parts of his agenda.

‘Our country needs a good ‘shutdown’ in September to fix mess!’ Trump wrote in a series of tweets Tuesday morning. He likely meant a shutdown in October, as the current spending bill lawmakers have agreed to would fund government operations through Sept. 30.

Trump’s call for a shutdown, which appears to be unprecedented from a sitting president, come as his problems are mounting within the House and Senate, chambers that are both controlled by his party.”

— “Trump raises prospect of government shutdown to leverage better budget for GOP in fall,”  Damian Paletta and John Wagner, Washington Post

More:

“Trump Says U.S. Needs Government ‘Shutdown,'”Julie Hirschfeld Davis, New York Times

“President Trump Wants a Government Shutdown,” David A. Graham, The Atlantic

“Trump May Be Spoiling For A Shutdown Fight, But It Could Spell Disaster In 2018,” Jessica Taylor, NPR

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Happy Fiscal New Year

May old encumbrance be forgot, and never brought to mind . . ”
– Singer and retired Federal employee Joe Hickerson.

WASHINGTON, DC, October 1 — Today Federal employees throughout the Washington region and across the country observe their traditional holiday, the Fiscal New Year. Fiscal 2015 ended at midnight last night; today is the start of Fiscal Year 2016 (FY 2016 for short).

The weeks leading up to Fiscal New Year’s Eve were hectic with preparation of the Continuing Resolution. The “CR” is last-minute stopgap legislation allowing the federal government to function despite the resolute obstructionism of our Tea-Party-Republicans in Congress. It provides a few months of funding for the activities of the civil servants who do the work citizens actually need while politicians bloviate about petty, symbolic issues to distract the media and voters.

From Capitol Hill, a Safe & Happy FY 2016 to you and yours.

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Pistol Packin’ Pork Lobbyist

Ronald Prestage, President-elect of the National Pork Producers Council, went to the Cannon House Office Building on Capitol Hill Wednesday morning because, you know, pork barrel politics. Mr. Prestage, a veterinarian who runs a 170,000-sow swine operation, was carrying a Ruger 9mm pistol. You never know when you’ll run across a fierce feral hog on The Hill, or a raging, veggie-wearin’ PETA protester. Unsympathetic Capitol Hill Police arrested him. House Republicans want everyone in DC to pack heat, just not around them.

When Dr. Prestage realized he had his gun in his bag, you can imagine how he felt. He’s a former Chairman of the National Turkey Federation.

Federal Government Recognizes Utah Marriages

The U.S. Government recognizes 1,300 Utah same-sex marriages, even though the state government refuses to. Couples rushed to the altar in December after a Federal judge ruled that Utah’s ban on same-sex marriage violated the U.S. Constitution. A Federal appeals court refused to halt the weddings until it hears the case, but the U.S. Supreme Court issued a temporary stay, putting the status of the earlier marriages in question.

Today Attorney General Eric Holder announced that, as far as Federal benefits, taxes, and laws are concerned the 1,300 gay couples are married:

Happy Fiscal New Year

May old encumbrance be forgot, and never brought to mind . . . .”
– Singer and retired Federal employee Joe Hickerson.

WASHINGTON, DC, October 1 — Today Federal employees throughout the Washington region and across the country observe their traditional holiday, the Fiscal New Year. Fiscal 2012 ended at midnight last night; today is the start of Fiscal Year 2013 (FY 2013 for short).