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Yeah, I've been seeing these headlines scroll by.

But not being a football (in the non-US sense of the word) fan, I didn't know what was happening.

From the original AP article that CNN is citing ...
apnews.com

... FIFA said in a statement FFE would raise up to $4.2 billion later this year to help fund development programs "based on an initial equity valuation of $20 billion by carefully selecting long-term investors who will purchase minority, non-controlling interests."

FIFA is working with J.P. Morgan while intended investors include Thrive Eternal launched by Joshua Kushner, whose brother Jared Kushner is a son-in-law of U.S. President Donald Trump.

The men's World Cup that finished this month only deepened the political and personal ties between Trump and Infantino, and fueled concerns about those ties including from UEFA.

"The soul and governance of football are not assets to trade -- especially with zero transparency as to who gains financially," UEFA said Tuesday, responding to the reports of selling stakes in FIFA competitions. ...


@#22

Another song from the Purple Rain soundtrack ...

Prince and the Revolution - When Doves Cry (1984)
www.youtube.com

Purple Rain (film)
en.wikipedia.org(film)#Music

... The film is tied into the album of the same name, which spawned two chart-topping singles, "When Doves Cry" and the opening number "Let's Go Crazy", as well as "Purple Rain", which reached number two. The film won an Academy Award for Best Original Song Score.

The soundtrack sold over 15 million copies in the United States alone, and 25 million worldwide.[22] ...


@#6 ... Ask our farmers. ...

Good point.

But then there's this ...

Trump's $12 billion farmer bailout is a Band-Aid on a bigger wound' the American agriculture industry is still reeling from (December 2025)
fortune.com
... President Donald Trump has delivered on his promise to provide aid to U.S. farmers hit by his sweeping tariff policy, but that hasn't freed the agriculture industry from worries of tight margins and volatile markets.

On Monday, Trump, alongside Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, and National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett, announced a $12 billion farm aid program, which outlined much-needed relief for farmers who sounded the alarms about increasing input costs and fewer export opportunities amid ongoing trade tensions. Farmers will begin receiving funds by the end of February, Rollins said.

"Now we're once again in a position where a president is able to put farmers first," Trump said at a Monday roundtable of farmers and lawmakers. "But unfortunately, I'm the only president that does that."

While farmers and agricultural economists see the package as a way to move forward after a disappointing harvest season, they fear the precedent of cash bailouts does not provide systemic solutions to a beleaguered industry, and they don't believe the $12 billion gesture is enough to solve agriculture's deeper challenges.

"We're talking $12 billion, and while it is a lot of money, in the grand scheme of things, it's still going to be a Band-Aid on a bigger wound," Ryan Loy, assistant professor and extension economist for the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture, told Fortune. "How can we triage this situation right now, work on that longer-term solution? That's really, I think, the overall attitude toward it." ...


Oh no!

After backlash, Upstate NY school district pauses plan to add humanoid robot to classroom
www.syracuse.com

... A Western New York school district has halted its plans to place a humanoid robot in a classroom after a New York Focus report on the plan sparked fierce debate over the use of artificial intelligence in schools and backlash from local parents.

Salamanca City Central School District announced in a Facebook post Friday afternoon that its pilot project with tech company Realbotix has been put on hold as school officials "work through enhanced student data privacy agreements" with the state education agency and engage with community members.

The news comes hours after state Education Commissioner Betty Rosa sent a letter informing Salamanca Superintendent Mark Beehler that "the Department remains concerned about the effect that a humanoid robot may have within a high school classroom." According to the letter, the department met with the district to discuss the robot plan earlier this week.

"Many parents, teachers, and stakeholders are understandably concerned about the presence of artificial intelligence technology in classrooms, particularly when it involves robots that resemble humans," Rosa wrote.

The district had planned to introduce the robot to high school students this fall, along with an artificial intelligence teacher's assistant program that allowed students to interact with an avatar of the robot on laptops. The $57,590 investment was approved at a local school board meeting last month. ...



@#20 ... It is from a weird film called "The Body" and is called Give Birth To A Smile. Quite a departure ...

I have that soundtrack album. Likely because I was accumulating Pink Floyd soundtrack songs back in the day.

Music from The Body
en.wikipedia.org

... Music from The Body is the soundtrack album to Roy Battersby's 1970 documentary film The Body,[3] about human biology, narrated by Vanessa Redgrave and Frank Finlay. ...

But, yeah. Weird.



Prince & The Revolution - Purple Rain (1984)
www.youtube.com



Purple Rain (film)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purple_Rain_(film)

... Purple Rain is a 1984 American romantic rock musical drama film directed by Albert Magnoli from a screenplay co-written by Magnoli and William Blinn. It stars Prince (in his feature film debut), Apollonia Kotero, Morris Day, Olga Karlatos, and Clarence Williams III. In the film, the Kid (Prince), a rising musician, grapples with his turbulent personal life as he competes with rival local musician Morris (Day). ...

There's no evidence at all that Mail In Voting is a problem in America:

www.brookings.edu

Trump tried to overturn the results of his loss to Biden, according to his own DOJ; this time he's trying to Rig the Mid-Term Elections before they happen.

Or another from the Vietnam era ...

Manfred Mann's Earth Band - Be Not Too Hard (1974)
www.youtube.com

Lyrics excerpt ...

genius.com

...
Be not too hard for life is short
And nothing is given to man
Be not too hard if he's sold or bought
For he must do the best he can

Be not too hard when he blindly dies
Fighting for things he does not own
Be not too hard when he tells lies
Or if his heart is sometimes stone

Be not too hard for soon he'll die
Often no wiser than he began
Be not too hard for life is short
And nothing is given to man
...


@#7 ... America could, in effect, pull a "Vietnam"

Speaking of then Vietnam War and our military forces in the MidEast ...

Barclay James Harvest - Child Of The Universe (1982)
www.youtube.com

Lyrics excerpt ...

genius.com

...
[Verse]
I'm a child of South Africa
I'm a child of Vietnam
I'm a child of Northern Ireland
I'm a small boy with blood on his hands

[Chorus]
Yes, I'm a child of the universe
Yes, I'm a child of the universe
You can see me on the TV every night
Always there to join in someone else's fight

[Bridge]
I didn't ask to be born, and I don't ask to die
I'm an endless scream, a gene machine
That cannot reason why
...


Dyson spheres are an amazing concept.

Dyson sphere
en.wikipedia.org

... A Dyson sphere is a hypothetical megastructure that encompasses a star and captures a large percentage of its power output.[1][2][3] The concept is a thought experiment that attempts to imagine how a spacefaring civilization would meet its energy requirements once those requirements exceed what can be generated from the home planet's resources alone.

Because only a tiny fraction of a star's energy emissions reaches the surface of any orbiting planet, building structures encircling a star would enable a civilization to harvest far more energy. ...



So, as a side benefit, an advanced civilization effectively says to others trying to observe them ... look elsewhere?


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