Hang on, I’ve got a lot this week.

First, from The Reload comes an article that the CDC removed information about defensive gun uses at the behest of gun control advocates. Um, yeah. This is the kind of stuff that undermines an agency’s credibility. And you wonder why no one trusts it on COVID stuff anymore.

An article from the Volokh Conspiracy describes how recent court rulings should make it hard to ban AR-15’s and other EBRs. The book sounds interesting, and I’ll have to add it on to my reading list. Maybe if it comes out on Audible…

This article from The Hill describes the administration handing over $36 billion to the Teamsters to save their pension fund from benefit cuts. I’m kinda surprised at how this seems to be flying below the radar on my normal feeds. Particularly considering how many pension funds are looking at billions – if not trillions – in unfunded liabilities.

From Reuters comes an article about the House passing a bill to allow for Puerto Rican independence. My personal opinion is that Puerto Rico either needs to become a state or it needs to be independent. We’re not doing anything great for its folks with the current regime.

Perhaps one of the big stories was the announcement that researchers managed to get more energy out of a fusion reaction that was put in. This was a critical hurdle to overcome. I’m still not sure I’ll see mass use of fusion power in my lifetime, but I’m more optimistic to that my nieces and nephews will see it in theirs.

Via Freethink, Pandora has stated that it will begin using only lab-grown diamonds for its jewelry. I understand why they want to do that because the diamond industry is rife with abuse, but the economist in me is worried about the lowest rung on that ladder. What happens to the miners when their jobs go away? It’s not like Africa is known for handling instability well.

From War Is Boring, the Navy announced it’s naming one of its new America-class baby carriers the USS Fallujah. The name will honor both the First and Second Battles of Fallujah. Which when you consider that by the time the ship launches, those battles will be twenty years old…

Finally, from StudioJake Media comes his listicle on his top 10 favorite mecha in Robotech. It’s not how I expected him to list his mecha – less by type and more the individual mecha – but it’s not bad. And while I like the VF-1 series – and I admit it’s icon status to the franchise – I’m still much more on the Shadow Alpha side.