President Donald Trump visited Baltimore County on Tuesday to discuss a multibillion-dollar project that promises thousands of jobs.
Anduril Industries plans to invest $3.7 billion in a submarine manufacturing shipyard at Sparrows Point. It promises more than 3,100 permanent jobs at full operation, and Maryland and Baltimore County have pledged public support of roughly $481 million.
Trump spoke at 1660 Shipyard Road, according to White House guidance.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth also spoke. Anduril CEO Brian Schimpf, along with Navy leaders Robert Gaucher and Hung Cao, stepped up to talk about the submarine shipyard.
This month at California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt features the 28th “Annual Campus & Community Dialogue on Race,” the theme for which is “We Are Here! Fighting Fascism & Erasure.” The event website notes Professor Jason Stanley’s “ten pillars of fascism that serve an ‘us and them’ framework to seize power and dismantle democracy.” These include “mythic past, propaganda, anti-intellectualism, unreality, hierarchy, victimhood, ‘law and order,’ sexual anxiety, favoring ‘the heartland,’ and the dismantling of public goods.”
According to Humboldt Now, the event’s programs will “bring students, faculty, staff, and community members together to examine racial injustice, authoritarianism, and the possibilities of collective resistance” Through workshops, presentations, performances, and facilitated conversations, the weeklong event creates opportunities to consider how racism intersects with other forms of oppression. CDOR welcomes people of all backgrounds into a shared process of reflection, learning, and action.
The 2026 theme focuses on the relationship between fascism, racism, and ultranationalism. It asks participants to examine how political narratives can be used to enforce social hierarchies, designate groups as outsiders, and weaken democratic institutions.
The organizing committee, made up of students, faculty, and staff, aims to explore what it means to fight fascism from a “poly-TEK” vantage point, one that names and engages with Indigenous perspectives like Traditional Ecological Knowledge in a “polytechnic” university. Speakers will talk about the relationships between AI, colonialism, and eugenics.
The October 19 “keynote event” discussion will be led by “feminist and decolonial scholar of science and technology studies” Anita Say Chan (pictured) of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Chan’s book “Predatory Data” purports to “show how technological systems can reproduce inequalities affecting immigrants and other marginalized communities.”
The 21st and 22nd respectively feature Roberto González, whose research “focuses on technofascism and the effects of algorithmic policing and surveillance on communities of color,” and Abby Abinanti, California’s first Native American to pass the state bar exam and serve as state judge. Abinanti “incorporates traditional cultural values and rehabilitative practices into judicial proceedings, offering alternatives to conventional criminal justice models,” the press release notes.
According to Cal Poly Humboldt Critical Race, Gender & Sexuality Studies Professor Mike Atienza, “we don’t talk about race in our everyday lives,” and thus these conversations can be held in a “really supportive and principled space.” Atienza’s faculty page notes he collaborates with “performance artist” Maria Arte Susya Purisima Tolentino to “use the form of drag to analyze transnational media representations and discourse about the lives of Filipina/o/x people.”
Georgia and I are both alumni of Humboldt, first as Humboldt State College,which became Humboldt State University while we attended, and then Cal Poly Humboldt after we graduated. Of course, both of us majored in sciences (she chemistry, me oceanography and biology), so other than the mandatory social studies and art requirements, we were not subjected to anything like this.
I think we can safely rule out donating to the school now, not that we ever did before.
PJM's Bob Spencer thinks
Now THIS Would Be Fun: Kennedy Is Considering a Run for President!
"No, not the MAHA guy, and not, thank God, one of the gaggle of off-putting
leftists that the Secretary of Health and Human Services is unfortunate enough
to have as his relatives. No, the
Kennedy who may be running
for president this time is none other than the most riotously funny man in the
Senate, Sen. John Neely Kennedy (R-La.), who is no relation to the famous
Massachusetts family, either in bloodline or political outlook." He's kind of
old, but he seems sharp, and the quote he would generate would be amazing.
Not unexpectedly, Lauren Conlin@conlin_lauren, "BREAKING:
Judge William Sullivan has DENIED Lindsay Clancy’s motion for a finding of
not guilty on all three murder indictments. Kevin Reddington argued the evidence was insufficient on two issues:
whether prosecutors proved Clancy was the person who killed her three children
and whether she was criminally responsible at the time. Sullivan rejected both
arguments, finding there was enough evidence for a rational fact finder to
conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that Clancy committed the killings and was
criminally responsible. The motion is 5 pages, 5th page in the comments."
Nini, a distinguished musician hailing from Taiwan, has dedicated over two
decades to mastering and performing traditional Chinese folk instruments. Her
extensive experience has taken her on tours across Europe, the USA, Canada,
China, Japan, and throughout her homeland. Nini's innovative approach to music
involves playing genres such as heavy metal, rock, and EDM on traditional
instruments like the Ruan, Liuqin, and San Xian. She also performs on a unique
electric lute known as the DaoYu, which she uses to create a distinctive and
modern sound that bridges cultural and musical boundaries.
During the 19th season of America's Got Talent, Nini delivered a jaw-dropping
performance that left the judges and audience in awe. Her electrifying
performance brought the entire crowd and judges to their feet, resulting in a
standing ovation. Howie Mandel dubbed her "NiNi Van Halen" and "NiNi Hendrix",
highlighting her extraordinary talent and flair. Simon Cowell was equally
impressed, declaring, "Anyone would be mad not to immediately put you on tour
with them. You are so charismatic, brilliant. It's one of my favorite
auditions that I have seen for a long, long, long time."
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Deputy Administrator David Fotouhi announced Friday in Smithfield that the agency will disburse $37 million to localities to aid Chesapeake Bay pollution reduction and clean up efforts. An additional $53 million in matching grant funds will be awarded to 83 projects across the watershed, 28 of them Virginia-based.
“These awards will empower local towns to implement community level, clean water projects, and they will help fund regional partnerships to keep our soil healthier, restore habitats, and secure our thriving regional economy,” said Fotouhi, who was joined by U.S. Rep. Jennifer Kiggans, R-Virginia Beach.
The former fuels projects that directly support clean water, habitat restoration and species protection. The latter consists of projects that help implement agricultural strategies, stormwater best practices, and other methods that prevent sediment, phosphorus, and nitrogen from ending up in the Bay.
Virginia’s chief Chesapeake Bay organization welcomed the collaborative funding opportunity. “Restoring this vital resource takes collaboration across political boundaries, between federal, state, and local governments. And it takes everyone. Industries, universities, nonprofits, small businesses, and individuals,” Chesapeake Bay Commission Executive Director Anna Killius said. “All of us are empowered with the knowledge and the resources to conserve our waters, our lands, and our living resources that we so care about.”
The grants are awarded once a year through the EPA and are coordinated by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, a nonprofit chartered by Congress. They are a key to achieving goals identified by federal, state, and local partnerships through the Chesapeake Bay Program.
In comparison to past years, before matching grants the agency awarded $44 million earlier this year and $22 million in 2024.
Small watershed projects that received grants include nature-based stormwater infrastructure across Richmond Public Schools, a process to enhance grazing management practices, living shoreline assessment and design for Leesylvania State Park. A total of 68 projects across the watershed have received awards.
Funding for the nutrient and sediment reduction grants will go towards projects like regional watershed roundtables, and riparian forest buffers and forest cover expansion on private lands and others totaling 16 projects.
The Chesapeake Bay Foundation was one of the organizations to receive a grant from this round of funding. Of their award, $737,000 will help create roughly 5.5 acres of sanctuary oyster reef in the Hampton River. The aim is to produce three million oysters to be planted in other reefs. “This grant will go a long way toward restoring and preserving oyster habitat in the Hampton River and surrounding areas,” Chesapeake Bay Foundation Virginia Oyster Restoration Manager Jackie Shannon said in a release.
This annual grant comes on the heels of President Donald Trump’s move to repeal Executive Order 13508, signed in 2009 under former President Barack Obama, which directed the EPA to bring state and local agencies together to identify sources of pollutants and ways to reduce sediment and nutrient loads running off into the Bay.
Trump said the significant progress made by states that are part of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement to reduce Bay pollutants deemed the old order unnecessary.
So, overall, funding was slightly less than 2025, but still considerably more than in 2024. I hope the money will be well spent, but I reserve judgement.
