Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is sparking controversy -- inside and outside the military -- with public comments on the war with Iran that are heavy on taunts and talk of retribution, a stark departure from the way his predecessors have communicated during wartime. read more
With three weeks until Donald Trump meets Xi Jinping, Beijing is frustrated by what it sees as insufficient U.S. preparation ... read more
A United Nations panel issued a Wednesday decision condemning hate speech from President Trump and raising concerns with his administration's immigration policies. The U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination warned that hate speech from political leaders, including Trump, combined with intensified immigration crackdowns near schools, hospitals and faith-based institutions, has sparked "grave human rights violations."
In 2022, the team at Cortical Labs taught 800,000 brain cells in a petri dish connected to a computer how to play the 1970s game Pong. Now, years later, the same team is leveling up as they claim their CL1 system is the "world's first code deployable biological computer," and is able to play Doom. read more
The discovery that bumblebee queens could shake it off and emerge unscathed after more than a week submerged in water stunned scientists back in 2024.
Seems she created a bit of a stir ...
Erika Kirk Under Fire After Controversial Remarks About "Young White Male Man" at Arkansas Event
www.yahoo.com
... Erika Kirk, the CEO of Turning Point USA, stepped into a storm of controversy this week. She joined Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders at the Governor's Mansion for an announcement about expanding conservative student groups in schools.
What started as a routine event quickly blew up online thanks to Kirk's choice of words. ...
The Quote That Went Viral
Kirk's exact words during her speech have been replayed countless times online. She said, "Don't let anyone disenfranchise you because you're a young man, especially a young white male man. Don't ever let anyone talk down to you. We need strong men out there, strong men who are convicted that will be good leaders, good husbands, good fathers." ...
The phrasing "young white male man" caught everyone's attention for its awkward redundancy. Clips spread fast on platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and X. Critics zeroed in on the racial specificity, arguing it promoted white grievance narratives.
One Instagram user commented, "What message is this for young black male men? Or young Asian female women?"
Another called it "white supremacy" in plain sight. The event's timing added fuel. It came shortly after Sanders signed laws aimed at curbing what Republicans call left-wing indoctrination in education. ...
From the subsummary...
... Hegseth should spend a little less time worrying about how he looks in photos ...
Hegseth orders makeup studio installed at Pentagon (April 2025)
www.cbsnews.com
... Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth recently ordered modifications to a room next to the Pentagon press briefing room to retrofit it with a makeup studio that can be used to prepare for television appearances, multiple sources told CBS News.
The price tag for the project was several thousand dollars, according to two of the sources, at a time when the administration is searching for cost-cutting measures. ...
Related ...
With Iran war exit elusive, Trump aides vie to affect outcome
www.reuters.com
... A complex tug-of-war inside the White House is driving U.S. President Donald Trump's shifting public statements on the course of the Iran war, as aides debate when and how to declare victory even as the conflict spreads across the Middle East.
Some officials and advisers are warning Trump that surging gasoline prices could exact a political cost from the U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran, while some others are pressing him to maintain the offensive against the Islamic Republic, according to interviews with a Trump adviser and others close to the deliberations.
Their observations offer a previously unreported glimpse inside White House decision-making as it adjusts its approach to the biggest U.S. military operation since the 2003 Iraq war.
The behind-the-scenes maneuvering underscores the high stakes Trump, who returned to office last year promising to avoid "stupid" military interventions, faces nearly two weeks after plunging the nation into a war that has rattled global financial markets and disrupted the international oil trade.
The jockeying for Trump's ear is a feature of his presidency, but this time the consequences are a matter of war and peace.
Shifting from the sweeping goals he framed in launching the war on February 28, Trump in recent days has emphasized that he views the conflict as a limited campaign whose military objectives have mostly been met.
But the message remains unclear to many, including the energy markets, which have lurched in both directions in response to Trump's statements.
He told a campaign-style rally in Kentucky on Wednesday that "we won" the war, then abruptly pivoted: "We don't want to leave early, do we? We've got to finish the job." ...
Another view ...
US Allies Near China on Edge as Weapons Shift From Asia to Iran
www.bloomberg.com
... When the US pulled its only aircraft carrier based in Asia to support the military surge in Afghanistan back in 2010, allies in the region had little concern that China or North Korea might look to take advantage.
Today things are different.
As the US continues to pour weapons into the Middle East for military operations against Iran, current and former defense officials in Asia are growing concerned that more American firepower will be shifted over time if the war drags on.
And even if fighting wraps up soon, they warned that depleted stockpiles of munitions could also take years to replace, leaving Taiwan and other places vulnerable. ...
Not about El Nino, but related to weather ...
US To Get Blizzard, Polar Vortex, Heat Dome, Atmospheric River All at Once
www.newsweek.com
... Nearly every part of the United States is getting walloped by wild weather, or is just about to be.
Days of downpours have begun in Hawaii. The Southwest will soon bake with day after day of record 100-degree-plus (38 Celsius-plus) heat. Two storms will dump snow by the foot over northern Great Lakes states. And the dreaded polar vortex will again invade the Midwest and East with soul-crushing Arctic chill.
This forecast of extremes comes as weather whiplash already hit much of the East. On Wednesday, Washington, D.C. residents walked around in shorts in record-breaking 86 degrees Fahrenheit (about 30 Celsius). On Thursday, it snowed. ...
Dire Straits - Brothers In Arms (1985)
www.youtube.com
Lyrics excerpt ...
...
The song is about the brotherly bonds forged by the destructive fire and pains of war. A bond between soldiers on both sides of the trenches. It focuses on the Falklands War, which was going on when Dire Straits lead singer Mark Knopfler wrote the song in 1982. The Falklands War was a conflict between Argentina and the United Kingdom over islands off the coast of Argentina that each country claims rights to. A new version of the song was released in 2007 by Knopfler in order to raise money to bring veterans of the war back to the Falklands as a way to treat their PTSD
[Verse 1]
These mist covered mountains
Are a home now for me
But my home is the lowlands
And always will be
Some day you'll return to
Your valleys and your farms
And you'll no longer burn
To be brothers in arms
[Verse 2]
Through these fields of destruction
Baptisms of fire
I've witnessed your suffering
As the battle raged higher
And though they did hurt me so bad
In the fear and alarm
You did not desert me
My brothers in arms
[Bridge]
There's so many different worlds
So many different suns
And we have just one world
But we live in different ones
[Guitar Solo]
[Verse 3]
Now the sun's gone to hell
And the moon riding high
Let me bid you farewell
Every man has to die
But it's written in the starlight
And every line in your palm
We're fools to make war
On our brothers in arms
...
@#3 ... The end of the war is no longer under our control ...
Once a war is started, it tends to have a certain momentum to it.
Pres Trump started the fire in his war with Iran, but now Iran seems to be throwing gas upon the flames.
The war's momentum seems to be getting stronger, not weaker.