Mike Kalar

RFK Jr: "A Democratic senator claimed it's mathematically impossible to have a drug drop by 600%. I said, 'Well, if the drug was $100 and it raises to $600, that would be a 600% rise. If it drops from $600 to $100, that's a 600% savings.'" Trump: "Right"

This is an ongoing pattern in how some on the right deal with Donald Trump. Rather than acknowledge that he is a person with responsibility and agency, and rather than acknowledge that he has threatened Canada, started the trade conflict (Canada already had the ‘tariff-free deal’ the Conservatives claim is ‘their plan’ until Trump unilaterally blew it up), rather than acknowledge that Trump is hostile to the concept of free trade itself, and rather than acknowledge that reducing our dependence on trade with the U.S. is the only way reduce our susceptibility to economic coercion, some on the pro-MAGA Canadian right prefer instead to blame it all on Canada. This is psychological weakness, weakness borne out of a desire to submit to Trump within an authoritarian dominance hierarchy, and anger towards those – like the non-MAGA majority in Canada – who see Trump for what he is and who refuse to submit to his irrational demands.

What a truly evil way to treat people who risked their lives for the United States

An energy exec says Canada's carbon tax makes offshore development less competitive than in countries without it, while Norway offsets carbon costs through its tax system. "Norway had 50 exploration wells last year; Canada [had] zero. This is not by accident; it is by design."

Energy Secretary Chris Wright: "I'm pretty confident coal will lead the world in global electricity production when I die"

You don't need advice from editors on rejected manuscripts.  My short story “Ender's Game” was rejected by Ben Bova at Analog back when that was the top market for a sci-fi story. Ben gave me feedback. He thought the title should be “Professional Soldier” and he said to “cut it in half.” But I knew he was wrong on both points and submitted it to Jim Baen at Galaxy. He sat on it for a year, and responded to my query with a rejection. There was some kind of explanation, but I don't remember what it was. I concluded at the time that Baen's comments showed that he had barely glanced at the story. So … I got feedback both times, but it was not helpful. I looked at Ben's rejection again. What was it about the story that made him think it should, let alone COULD, be cut in half? Apparently it FELT long. What made it feel long? Now, post-Harry Potter, I would call it the quidditch problem. I had too many battles in which the details became tedious. So I cut two battles entirely, merely reporting the outcomes, and shortened another. In retyping the whole manuscript (pre-word-processor, that was the only way to get a clean manuscript), I added new point-of-view material to the point that I had cut only one page in length. So much for “in half.” But I already knew that my manuscripts did not need cutting — if it wasn't needed, it wouldn't be there in the first place. Even the battles were still there, but instead of showing them, I merely told what happened (so much for the usually asinine advice “show don't tell”), which kept the pace going. Those changes made, I sent it to Ben again. I did not remind him of what he had advised me to do. I merely told him I liked my title, and said, “I have addressed your other concerns,” which was true. I figured he wouldn't remember what his exact words had been. My answer was a check. That revised story was the basis for my winning the Campbell Award for best new writer. Did Ben's feedback help? Yes — but his specific advice was not right, and I knew it. On my next two submissions, Ben hated my endings, and I revised as suggested. The fourth submission he rejected outright, and the fifth, and I thought, Am I a one-story writer? I went back to Ender's Game and tried to analyze why it worked. Then, deliberately imitating myself, I wrote “Mikal's Songbird.” Ben bought it, and it received favorable mentions. I was afraid then that I had consigned myself to writing stories about children in jeopardy. But in fact I was writing character stories rather than idea stories. And THAT was how I built a career, not by self-imitation, and not by following editorial suggestions. I did get wise counsel from David Hartwell on my novel Wyrms, but that was on a book that was already under contract, and it was story feedback, not style. I got wise counsel from Beth Meacham, too, on various books over the years — but again, only on books that were under contract. I also received appallingly stupid advice from the editor of my novel Saints, which temporarily destroyed the book's marketability; after that, I was allowed to go back to my original structure and save the book — now it's one of my best. Editors don't know more than you about your story. They especially don't know why they decide to accept or reject stories. YOU have to know what your story needs to be, and take only advice that you believe in. Your best counselor on a story nobody bought is TIME. Let some time pass and then reread the story. Don't even think about why it Didn't Work. Instead, think about what DOES work, and then write it again, a complete rewrite, keeping nothing from the previous draft. Find the right protagonist and begin at the beginning — the point where the protagonist first gets involved with the events of the story. Be inventive — the failed first draft no longer exists, so you're not bound by any of your earlier decisions. THAT is how you resurrect a good idea you did not succeed with on your first try.

Pasta sauce company Prego is launching a device that listens to and records conversations at the dinner table The device is designed to capture laughter, stories, and everyday moments that can be revisited

New IEA data: EV sales in emerging markets surge 80% in 2025 >India: EVs up 75% to record 2.3m EV units sold >Indonesia: 125% increase >Viet Nam: EVs hit staggering 40% share of new car sales >Thailand: EV share of new sales hit 21% >Latin America: Region saw 70% annual growth >Mexico: Sales tripled >Brazil: Sales up 40% >Ecuador and Uruguay: Experienced massive jumps of 240% and 140% The "EVs are only for rich countries and China" bullshit is officially over

BREAKING: Trump extends ceasefire indefinitely

It's still just completely insane that Democrats were allowed to write a ballot question that says "restore fairness" and have the result create this lobster-like monstrosity of a congressional district.

If you want to be a S&P 500 CEO, the best college to go to is "no college"