@#7 ... Yeah, okay. But superstitious people tend to see superstitious things. ...

Possibly.

But I am not a superstitious person.

Another example of what I have experienced ...

I was visiting a college friend in NJ for the weekend.

In the house he was renting, he put a mattress on the floor of the semi-finished attic for me to sleep on.

In the middle of my first night there, I was awakened. I opened my eyes and I saw a lady standing there in the attic next to the mattress I was sleeping on.

The next morning, over breakfast, I described my experience to my friend. I was quite specific about what I saw, the dress worn by the lady (from the early 20th century), the wire-frame glasses she wore, how she arranged her hair (back in a bun), the color of her hair (streaks of gray), etc.

My friend just shrugged.

Then, after I had returned home, a couple days later I got a phone call from my friend.

He was talking to his landlord who lived next-door.

The landlord told my friend that I had described the lady he bought the house from quite accurately, right down to the type of dresses she wore. The landlord told my friend that she had died in the house.

My friend told me that after that conversation with his landlord he walked through the house, looking for any pictures that might be on the walls of the prior owner. There were none.

The next time I visited, he had cleared out a spare bedroom, and that is where my matress resided. No longer in the attic.

@#67-70

My question becomes ...

Why bring up fmr Rep Barney Frank's opinion now?

Both the Country and the Democratic Party have moved on past the time he served the people of Massachusetts in Congress.

imo, I think that it is A Good Thing that the Democratic Party seems to be evolving to continue to properly represent the voters they serve.

imo, that Congress was able to pass this funding bill says a lot about what Congress thinks of what ICE is, and has been, doing.

@#65

Still grinding away?

Why?

@#5 ... Government? Since the majorette of companies building AIs are run by liberal dems, more likely they are the ones that will be spying against us conservatives. ...

That's an interesting implicit admission that "liberal dems" drive the technology advances.

Speaking of the political aspect ...

@#5 ... Can we cut out the infinite fighting? ...

And then what?

Let the military-enabled autocrats take over the world?

What is your alias' end goal if the fighting is stopped?

... scrambled to figure out if the president was serious about following through on his threats this time. ...

When those in the Pentagon apparently have to scramble to figure out if the President of the United States, their Commander in Chief, is "serious this time."

Wow.

...

@#50 ... Casting aside the political reality that that which is "beyond what's politically acceptable" = that which is political poison ...

Deciding the difference between "political reality" and "political poison" depends upon the voters the Democrats are addressing.

For example. look at TX Rep Talarico. The positions and strategies he is espousing in his race for the Senate slot would have been political poison for the progressive Democrats in the past.

But those positions and strategies seem to be working for him.

@#3

... as Pres Trump moves significant military resources from the Far East to the Persian Gulf, possibly creating a weakness of the US military in the Far East. ...

More from the article ...

... Many Indians believe the diamond still belongs to India and that the British stole it.

The jewel came up when Mamdani was asked Wednesday about King Charles' visit.

"I would probably encourage him to return the Koh-i-Noor diamond," he said.
What's the significance of the Koh-i-Noor?

The 105.6-carat jewel is inside a crown given to Queen Elizabeth II's mother in 1937. It's on display at the Tower of London.

It has had many previous royal owners, including heads of the Mughal Empire, shahs of Iran, emirs of Afghanistan, and Sikh Maharajas, according to the Historic Royal Palaces.

In 2016, India's Culture Ministry said the government would make every possible effort to get the diamond back.

For many Indians, the loss of the Koh-i-Noor is symbolic of the country's subjugation under colonial rule.

Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan have also squabbled over who should have the jewel. ...

More from the article ...

... Only 40 percent of Republicans said they would select the passport with Trump's image, compared to 37 percent who said they would pick the passport without his portrait and 23 percent who were unsure which passport they'd select, the poll found. ...

@1 ... Former Attorney General Pam Bondi will appear May 29 for a transcribed interview before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, ...

So, now, instead of a deposition before Congress, fmr AG Bondi will only be subject to an "interview?"

... The former Massachusetts lawmaker says progressives in his party have "embraced an agenda that goes beyond what's politically acceptable." ...

Yeah. And?

The progressives of the Democratic party are not the Democratic Party.

What else he got?

From the reporting I saw, Mr Musk at no time received a documented commitment from OpenAI that they would never go into a for-profit business model.

So, in my view, this trial seems to be focusing upon whether Mr Musk entered into a business deal, one for which he did not know the terms?

... to present a sanitized version of history. ...

Isn't ~presenting a sanitized version of history~ a goal of Republicans?

... In a significant political retreat, House Speaker Mike Johnson allowed the measure to pass via a voice vote without including any funding for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) ... [emphasis mine]

Oh, Pres Trump is not gonna be happy about, what I opine is, his private militia not receiving funding.

One of the goals that Pres Trump said going into his unprovoked war with Iran was "regime change."

At the time, he noted that the people of Iran would rise up and overthrow the current Iranian regime.

Unfortunately, that uprising did not happen, but what did happen is that the same regime seems to still be in place, with some changes that may result in a far more hardline regime.

More from the article ...

... While Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei assumed the highest office of supreme leader after the killing of his father and Parliament Speaker Mohammed Bagher Ghalibaf has taken the spotlight in negotiations, the rise of Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi may prove most consequential of all the many shifts taking place within Iran's complex internal power dynamics.

Vahidi was named head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) upon the killing of his predecessor, Mohammad Pakpour, in the opening stages of the U.S.-Israeli war launched against Iran two months ago. It's a position that poises him as a top target, with Pakpour having only taken the role after the slaying of former IRGC chief Hossein Salami by Israel during the 12-Day War in June of last year.

But Vahidi's credentials are unique. In addition to having previously served as deputy IRGC commander, interior minister under former President Ebrahim Raisi and defense minister under former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Vahidi served as a founding chief of the elite Quds Force, later led by Major General Soleimani until his death in a 2020 U.S. strike ordered by Trump.

Today, with the Islamic Republic facing its most serious test since the 1980s Iran-Iraq War during which the IRGC and its Quds Force were forged, "Ahmad Vahidi is the one calling the shots," Kamran Bokhari, a strategic forecaster and senior resident fellow at the Middle East Policy Council who has written extensively on the internal evolution of Iran's leadership, told Newsweek. ...

Related ...

Is DHS trying to convince Americans that what they saw with their own eyes is not correct?

More from the article ...

... "He is targeting a lot of people, and the Justice Department is targeting a lot of the members of the club, like judges, nonprofit organizations and universities," said one member, who like others for this article was granted anonymity because the Met Club prohibits its associates from speaking to the media about internal business.

Outgoing Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell for example " whom the DOJ was investigating as part of a probe into renovations at the central bank -- is a member of the club. The Justice Department dropped its criminal investigation into Powell and the Federal Reserve on Friday.

A second Met Club member, who told POLITICO they've penned a letter to the Met's leadership urging them to reject Blanche, called the acting DOJ leader's comments essentially supporting President Donald Trump's use of the DOJ to go after his perceived enemies "pretty startling" and noted that the Met Club has current and former judges among its ranks who could take offense.

"I am disappointed that the club's standards are slipping on so many levels and can only hope that the club leadership will recover, grab the rudder and set us on a smooth sail once again," said a third Met Club member opposed to Blanche's membership. Five members of the club have confirmed that Blanche is seeking entry into the club. ...

This is an unexpected result of Pres Trump's war on Iran.

How might this new development alter the landscape of oil prices in the future?

@#12 ... what a bunch of whiners. ...

The farmers of the Country are whiners?