I DON’T BLAME THEM: Abandonment Hertz: Customers Met By Empty Rental Desk Simply Abscond With Cars. Hertz employees left their posts hours early, which led to customers grabbing whatever keys were available.

NEWS YOU CAN USE: Low Round Count Pistol Drills: Sharpen your skills without emptying your wallet.

OPPORTUNITY: Research finds no negative impact of repealing law allowing companies to pay disabled workers below minimum wage.

“CLEAN” ENERGY: Clean energy could create millions of tons of waste in India. Some are working to avoid that.

WELL, RUSSIANS ARE ALL ABOUT SAFETY: U.S., Russian officials disagree over International Space Station leak severity.

SHOT: Experts advise to stop worrying about holiday weight gain.

CHASER: Study projects nearly 260 million Americans will be overweight or obese by 2050.

AT LEAST WE GOT RID OF MONKEYPOX, YOU NEVER HEAR ABOUT THAT ANYMORE: First known U.S. case of mpox clade I found in Calif.; risk to public ‘low.’

CHANGE: Austria says Russia to cut off gas from Saturday.

Russia’s oldest gas-export route to Europe, a pipeline dating back to Soviet days via Ukraine, is set to shut at the end of this year.

Ukraine has said it will not extend the transit agreement with Russian state-owned Gazprom in order to deprive Russia of profits that Kyiv says help to finance the war against it.

Moscow’s suspension of gas for Austria, the main receiver of gas via Ukraine, means Russia will now only supply significant gas volumes to Hungary and Slovakia, in Hungary’s case via a pipeline running mostly through Turkey. In contrast, Russia met 40% of the European Union’s gas needs before Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer said Gazprom’s notice of ending supplies was long expected and Austria has made preparations.

Good. Plenty of American and, increasingly, Israeli gas available.

CHIVALRY IS NOT DEAD:

Conservative Husbands Sacrificially Volunteer To Have Twice The Sex To Make Up For Lib Sex Strike https://t.co/DjhueN8qAt pic.twitter.com/XKcU1ymBF0

— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) November 15, 2024

MASS FORMATION PSYCHOSIS: Half of Gen Z suffers from ‘eco-anxiety,’ new poll finds.

WELL: Education Cmte. will work with Dept. of Government Efficiency to ‘cut back waste’ in higher ed: Rep. Burgess Owens.

GET WOKE, GO BROKE: Postal chief brags of 100% union ‘comrades’ as bankruptcy nears.

CHANGE: LA Times Owner: ‘We Want Voices From All Sides.’

GOOD: Trump Taps Fracking Executive and “TV-ready Evangelist for Fossil Fuels” for Energy Secretary. “Chris Wright is the Chief Executive of Liberty Energy, a fracking company based in Denver. Wright’s appointment is on-brand for Trump’s new template for candidates: Wright is innovative, embraces new approaches to energy development, and is not connected to the Deep State.”

Plus:

This is the way:

Stanford’s Jay Bhattacharya emerges as a top candidate to lead NIH – The Washington Post https://t.co/4p21H2syuJ

— Walter Kirn (@walterkirn) November 16, 2024

DON’T LET THE DOOR HIT YOU WHERE THE GOOD LORD SPLIT YOU: Still Fuming from Harris Endorsement Drama, Washington Post Gives Readers Advice on How to Flee the Country: Deranged liberals have been threatening to leave the United States since 2004.

DAVID STROM: The Genius of Trump’s Top Advisers Picks.

DEI employees threatening to quit over Sec Def Hegseth appointment

FDA employees threatening to quit over RFK Jr HHS appointment

DOJ employees threatening to quit over AG Gaetz appointment

At this rate Elon & Vivek won't have to fire hardly anybody. Fkn tremendous.

— Clint Russell (@LibertyLockPod) November 15, 2024

Unfortunately, like celebrities threatening to leave the country, they won’t.

WHOM THE GODS WOULD DESTROY, THEY FIRST MAKE INSANE: They must really hate lefties.

Just a reminder that the people calling MAGA a cult are currently shaving their heads, donning blue bracelets, leaving their husbands, abandoning their homes, and taking vows of celibacy. pic.twitter.com/Y8dWpZNLWH

— Frank McCormick (@CBHeresy) November 15, 2024

INDEED: Turkey must earn Trump’s reconciliation.

OPEN THREAD: Happy Saturday!

CHANGE: FAA moves forward with committee to review launch licensing regulations.

We have a much more dynamic industry now, not one based on launching 50-year-old rocket designs over and over.

SOON, BEING SKINNY WON’T HAVE SNOB APPEAL: Weight Loss Breakthrough: Scientists Discover Natural Compound That Suppresses Appetite.

STANDING UP TO BIGOTRY:

They're attacking Pete Hegseth for having a Christian motto tattooed on his arm. This is disgusting anti-Christian bigotry from the AP, and the entire organization should be ashamed of itself. https://t.co/tQxuD3RPlx

— JD Vance (@JDVance) November 15, 2024

HMM: Interesting: MA Gov Turns Down Chance to Join Anti-Trump Governors’ Group.

WOMEN WITH AI BOYFRIENDS, SEX TOYS, ETC.: Stunning and brave and a sign men need to raise their game. Men with AI girlfriends, sex toys, etc.: Losers! Can’t get a real woman, you stupid incel? Honestly, this article isn’t as bad as most.

AND THEY DESERVE IT: Salena Zito: Cultural Curators Face Reckoning for Mocking Middle America.

Walking out of the Allegheny County Republican election night event at a local luxury hotel, the young men waiting to valet my car got into a discussion with me about the just-announced election results.

All four men were in their 30s. Two were white, one was Black and the other Hispanic. As I traditionally do, I asked them how they voted, and they all answered with President-elect Donald Trump.

The conservative populist coalition was always right in front of reporters and experts in working-class neighborhoods, suburbs and cities. If only they had not treated those voters as either racists, fascists, misogynists, garbage, stupid or outliers to their narrative of what Americans should look like.

These voters were directly observable. I saw them, heard them and reported that welders, cosmetologists, barbers and mechanics, as well as doctors, lawyers, engineers and architects of all shapes, sizes and colors, would be voting for their communities to thrive and for prosperity, safety and more money in their pocketbooks.

These voters were much more concerned that they would be able not to go into debt if their “check engine” lights went on in their cars than if there was access to abortion. They were more concerned that the school districts in their communities had enough funding, weren’t overcrowded and were serving the future’s potential than if fossil fuels were causing the climate to burn. They were more concerned about the cost of butter than the insane notion that Trump is a fascist.

They grew weary of the national news’ doomsaying or inaccurate reporting. Their pro-Trump votes should provide a reckoning to the industry that lost the trust of a large majority of voters.

Not enough of one yet.