Benjamin Wolf 🇺🇦

OLM Plans to Offer Commercial Launch Services from Sardinia - European Spaceflight OLM has secured approval to begin propulsion tests at a military site in Sardinia, aiming to launch the student-built Starlight rocket in 2026.

OLM has secured approval to begin propulsion tests at a military site in Sardinia, aiming to launch the student-built Starlight rocket in 2026.
europeanspaceflight.com/olm-plans-to...

Tesla’s shares dropped 14% on Thursday in New York, the stock’s biggest decline since March 10, as Elon Musk and Donald Trump feud devolved into a public war. The rout erased about $150 billion from the electric-vehicle maker’s market value

He was a terrible, terrible president in so many ways. Yet this one move on Africa that almost seems like footnote - PEPFAR - is thought to have saved up to 25 million lives, a truly incredible number.

Bush has one of the most complex legacies out there. He started the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, which was horrible on a humanitarian level. He blew out the deficit. He mishandled Katrina. And institutional deterioration continued. Yet he also started a massive anti-aids program in Africa.

Interesting results from latest Eurobarometer survey.

52% of 🇪🇺citizens trust the EU, compared to 37% who trust their national government.

62% say they're optimistic about the EU's future, compared to 38% of Americans optimistic for 🇺🇸future (in 2023).
europa.eu/eurobaromete...

Merz announced all range restrictions on military aid to Ukraine are lifted. 🇺🇦 can hit any military target in Russia with 🇺🇸🇬🇧🇫🇷🇩🇪 long-range missiles.
While not a Taurus confirmation, this announcement would be quite pointless coming from a 🇩🇪 chancellor if 🇩🇪 wasn’t going to send long-range missiles 👀

APOLLO: “It’s been nearly two weeks since the China/US trade deal, but container traffic from China to the US hasn’t shown a strong rebound. .. Are 30% tariffs on China still too high? Or are US companies simply waiting to see if tariffs will drop further before ramping up shipments?”

Then.... now.

The EU needs to step up its challenge to the dollar | Opinion The euro should be developed more as a haven asset for times of market stress

The EU needs to step up its challenge to the dollar | Opinion

https://www.ft.com/content/16e7e257-e0c4-4916-a2fb-4362f069f257

Neue Akkus von CATL für bis zu 1.500 km Reichweite | Energyload CATL revolutioniert E-Mobilität: 1.500km-Akku, 5 Min. Laden für 500+ km & robuste Natrium-Batterie. Produktion in Deutschland.

Neue Batterien von CATL. Insbesondere die Salzbatterie (Natrium) finde ich besonders interessant.

500 km (chinesische) Reichweite und 12 Minuten Laden bei einem sehr wettbewerbsfaehigem Preis.

Alle Achtung!

energyload.eu/stromspeiche...

Wings like whispers, eyes like fire.
Gliding through a pastel sky—silent, sharp, sacred. Photo by: jennilsphotography

That's like the EU’s core creed.

Cover of new REPEAT Project report, "A Fork In The Road: Impacts of Federal Policy Repeal On The U.S. Energy Transition."

Summary Full repeal of current federal energy and climate policies would: • Increase U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by roughly 0.5 billion metric tons per year in 2030 and more than 1 billion metric tons per year in 2035. • Raise U.S. household and business energy expenditures by $25 billion annually in 2030 and over $50 billion in 2035. • Increase average U.S. household energy costs by roughly $100 to $160 per household per year in 2030 and roughly $270 to $415 per household per year in 2035. • Reduces cumulative capital investment in U.S. electricity and clean fuels production by $1 trillion from 2025-2035. • Imperil a total of $522 billion in announced but pending investments in U.S. clean energy supply and manufacturing. • Reduce annual sales of electric vehicles by roughly 40% in 2030 and end America’s battery manufacturing boom. • Substantially slow electricity capacity additions, raising national average retail electricity rates and monthly household electricity bills by about 9% in 2030 — and as much as 17% in some states (including TX, OK and PA). • Kill off the nascent clean hydrogen, CO2 management, and nuclear power sectors.

Graphic showing historical and modeled US greenhouse gas emissions, with substantial increase if current federal policies are repealed.

Graphic showing modeled average household US energy costs, with substantial increase if current federal policies are repealed.

What does the GOP Megabill passed by the House this morning mean for the US energy transition, energy prices, emissions and the economy? REPEAT Project's new analysis has you covered. Read the new report or listen to our recent SHIFT KEY episode diving into the details. 🔗 ⤵️
🔌💡

a woman wearing glasses and a suit and tie is smiling and saying law school . ALT: a woman wearing glasses and a suit and tie is smiling and saying law school .

***LEGALLY BLONDE LIVE-TWEET: THE RULES***

This lecture explores the cinematic classic 'Legally Blonde' through the lens of English and Welsh law.

Contributions and observations are welcome, but I'm perfectly prepared to tweet the entire film to a wall of embarrassed silence.

Infographic titled “Judges reject Trump at an accelerating pace” with subtitle “Federal district court rulings against the administration.” The first bar chart, labeled “By month, %”, shows the percentage of federal district court rulings against the Trump administration: • February: 53.8% (7 out of 13) • March: 74.3% (26 out of 35) • April: 76.1% (51 out of 67) • May: 96.3% (26 out of 27) The second bar chart, labeled “By appointing party, %”, shows rulings against the Trump administration by the party of the judge’s appointing president: • Republican-appointed judges: 72.2% (26 out of 36) • Democratic-appointed judges: 80.4% (74 out of 92) Source: Bonica, Adam; Sen, Maya, 2025, “Common-space Measures of Judicial Ideology for Federal Judges (2024 update),” https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/CK3EEL Note: Coding scheme details available at data4democracy.substack.com/p/when-judges-become-targets-judicial

Stunning. May was brutal for Trump in federal court: 96% loss rate ⚖️. Even GOP-appointed judges have ruled against the admin 72% of the time. District courts are doing their job defending the Constitution. Soon the Supreme Court may be the only court unwilling to defend the rule of law.

Sturm Graz 💪

- EU-US trade balance is much more... balanced when including services trade
- US records trade deficit with the EU for goods, but it posts a huge surplus for services
- Data highlight EU leverage in services trade through steps targeting access of US tech platforms to EU market [9/10]

So much love for JJ 😍

#Eurovision #ESC2025

How Europe should respond to the erosion of the dollar’s status Greater internationalisation of the euro requires a more resilient financial system for the region

How Europe should respond to the erosion of the dollar’s status - FT column by London Business School professor of economics @helene-rey.bsky.social www.ft.com/content/5bc0...

My work here is done.

Peace be with you.

a man in a car with the words this is where the fun begins above him ALT: a man in a car with the words this is where the fun begins above him

The cool #MayTheFourth thread 😎

Nice, interesting or fun Star Wars stuff posted by probably nice people.

Order 1/66

Andor the spy in 3 BBY

Sphyrna-class Hammerhead corvettes in Rebels

Maul is still alive in 3 BBY.

Anakin and Ahsoka in 3 BBY

The galaxy far, far away is huge.

In 3 BBY (3 years before the Battle of Yavin), the same year as this week's Andor story arc, Leia became Princess of Alderaan, before delivering Sphyrna-class Hammerhead corvettes to a Rebel faction. Maul is alive. Ahsoka meets Vader. The TIE Interceptor appears.

Have you sailed "all the seven seas"? Well, what are the seven seas?

Absolutely. The corruption is what fundamentally explains why state police and local police is just so much less *professional* - and that's the core thing. It also shows up in all sorts of statistics on how much training they get, how recruitment works etc.

When comparing it to Europe, it's actually easier to think of it as if the EU had a sort of federal police force for high-profile cases (FBI), plus some guys for intelligence (CIA) but all the actual policing would still happen within states, by their national police.

That's also behind lots of Federal vs states historical conflicts and fights, because often state law enforcement (be it police or national guard or what have you) would not enact stuff that was decided on the federal level - so the “feds” had to be sent in.

Europe uses to have thousands of different types of regional and local law enforcement. But they were all reformed away over centuries, as states and nations consolidated their monopoly of violence. Not so in the US.

In Europe, the police formed in a totally different way. It's usually mit the latest installment of local law enforcement or militias but on the contrary, a force that was established by states from above and become more professional and powerful over time.

This may seem flippant, but it's really not. There's a reason the FBI and the CIA are so different - and indeed (usually) very professional. Because they were founded as professional national institutions. Local and state police in the US usually wasn't in the same way.

There's a historical reason for that. US police force grew out of local law enforcement, which of course always has had deep and abiding ties to all sorts of local political parties, strongmen, companies and not least, in the south, slave holders and local militias.