It's been three years since an FBI director admitted to purchasing the location data of Americans, potentially in violation of the Constitution. Here we go again. FBI Director Kash Patel told the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Wednesday that the FBI uses all the tools at its disposal to accomplish its mission -- and that includes commercially available information from data brokers.
Massive Western heat wave, potential El Nio raise concerns about unpredictable, extreme weather.
Southern American English or Southern U.S. English is a regional dialect[1][2] or collection of dialects of American English spoken throughout the Southern United States, primarily by White Southerners and increasingly concentrated in more rural areas.[3]
When Joe Kent resigned as the U.S.'s top counterterrorism official over dissatisfaction with the Iran war, President Donald Trump and much of the establishment GOP shrugged him off as a nobody who was probably better off gone.
Fan Xinquan, a retired electronics worker in Beijing, has recently started raising a "lobster," hoping that the AI agent he has been training can help organise his specialised industry knowledge better than chatbots like DeepSeek.
@#6 ... Senator Mullin also showed that he doesn't have the experience or the temperament to lead this critical department," ...
Temperament.
www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com
...
a person's or animal's nature, especially as it permanently affects their behavior.
...
Yeah, that nature was shown quite vividly during a recent Congressional hearing when Sen Mullin stood up and apparently wanted to engage a questioner in a physical fight.
If he is that easily, let's say, excited... how might he act as he follows Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller's orders regarding people of color?
Will a Sec Mullin continue ICE's prior policy of targeting people based upon their skin color or language spoken?
Another view ...
US: Trump image approved for commemorative gold coin
www.dw.com
... What's gold, round and bears US President Donald Trump's image? A commemorative coin marking the United States' 250th anniversary, of course.
A Trump-appointed federal arts commission has approved the design of a 24-carat gold commemorative coin bearing his image, officials said on Thursday.
More coins in Trump's likeness planned
The US Commission of Fine Arts, whose all six members were fired last October and replaced with hand-picked people by Trump, approved the design unanimously.
Trump's Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is now expected to order the coin to be minted.
The coin will not circulate as currency, and likely be part of a limited collector series.
Two other coins bearing the US president's image are planned, including a $1 piece that would be in circulation and a one-ounce gold one. ...
#@1
Of course, those in the Southern US may ponder Northern American English.
OK, since you asked so nicely ... :)
Northern American English
en.wikipedia.org
... Northern American English or Northern U.S. English (also, Northern AmE) is a class of historically related American English dialects, spoken by predominantly white Americans,[1] in much of the Great Lakes region and some of the Northeast region within the United States.
The North as a superdialect region is best documented by the 2006 Atlas of North American English (ANAE) in the greater metropolitan areas of Connecticut, Western Massachusetts, Western and Central New York, Northwestern New Jersey, Northeastern Pennsylvania, Northern Ohio, Northern Indiana, Northern Illinois, Northeastern Nebraska, and Eastern South Dakota, plus among certain demographics or areas within Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Vermont, and New York's Hudson Valley.[2]
The ANAE describes that the North, at its core, consists of the Inland Northern dialect (in the eastern Great Lakes region) and Southwestern New England dialect.[3]
The ANAE argues that, though geographically located in the Northern United States, current-day New York City, Eastern New England, Northwestern U.S., and some Upper Midwestern accents do not fit under the Northern U.S. accent spectrum, or only marginally. Each has one or more phonological characteristics that disqualifies them or, for the latter two, exhibit too much internal variation to classify definitively.
Meanwhile, Central and Western Canadian English is presumed to have originated, but branched off, from Northern U.S. English within the past two or three centuries.[4][5] ...
Jon T. Howard - Words Unsaid (1997)
www.youtube.com
Lyrics excerpt ...
Wow, search engines here do not turn up any lyrics sites for this song.
Oh well.
Enjoy the (obscure?) song.
@#118 ... Isn't storing posts against the rules?
I recall when I had my scraping software, the owner complained about saving posts. ...
What rules was your trolling current alias cited for?
Maybe being a participant in a troll farm? ;)
Troll farm
en.wikipedia.org
... A troll farm or troll factory is an institutionalised group of internet trolls that seeks to interfere in political opinions and decision-making.[1]
A 2017 report from Freedom House showed that 30 governments worldwide (out of 65 covered by the study) paid keyboard armies to spread propaganda and attack critics.[2]
According to the report, these governments use paid writers and bots to harass journalists and erode trust in the media.
Attempts were made to influence elections in 18 of the countries covered by the study.[2] ...
Mullin Plumbing (1 minute)
www.youtube.com
...Mullin Plumbing's motto: If it has gas, water or sewage in it, they repair or replace it! Serving commercial and residential customers throughout Oklahoma, they specialize in repairs and replacements of sewer, water and gas lines, water heaters and boilers, faucets, sinks, bathtubs, toilets and bidets.
They are also adept with irrigation systems, French drains, septic systems and drain cleanings, ice makers and dishwashers. 24-hour emergency service is available. ...
@#6 ... The administration did tell us this would take 5-6 weeks. 2 weeks in and it already looks horrible for Iran. Can they really withstand 4 more weeks of this? ...
Trump says Iran war to last four to five weeks but could go far longer' (March 2, 2026)
www.theguardian.com
... Donald Trump has laid out four goals in Iran and said the US campaign had been projected to last four to five weeks but could "go far longer than that".
On Monday, the US president offered his most extensive comments yet about the war, going beyond two video messages and a series of brief phone interviews with reporters that offered sometimes conflicting objectives.
But Trump undercut the gravity of his remarks by abruptly pivoting to tout his plans for a new White House ballroom, boasting that it would be the "most beautiful ballroom in the world", coming in "under budget" and "ahead of schedule" for "$400m or less". ...
Another view ...
New School Lunches Ahead?
publichealth.jhu.edu
... More than 30 million children depend on the National School Lunch Program for a free or low-cost nutritious meal. These lunches are designed to meet U.S. Department of Agriculture nutrition standards and align with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGAs).
But new guidelines, Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2025"2030, released last month by the Department of Health and Human Services and USDA, may pose challenges to the precise work of school meal planning. Experts say that they lack clarity and make recommendations that many school cafeterias will find difficult to deliver on.
...
New Guidelines' Lack of Clarity
Julia Wolfson, PhD '16, MPP, an associate professor in International Health, notes that the new DGAs could present challenges for large-scale federal food programs like the National School Lunch Program and other food programs for children, adults, and seniors. They are "much shorter and less detailed than prior versions, and they are also contradictory and inconsistent," Wolfson says.
The new dietary guidelines comprise 10 pages and make recommendations in broad terms with few details. For example, a recommendation to replace highly processed foods with "nutrient-dense food and home-prepared meals," includes no specifics on food types or meals.
There's a suggestion to "eat a variety of colorful, nutrient-dense vegetables and fruits," yet no examples.
The 2020"2025 guidelines, on the other hand, number 142 pages and break down calorie needs across the lifespan, set out measured food portions, and give examples of nutrient-dense and non-nutrient dense foods. USDA school meal "patterns," aligned with the DGAs, are grouped in categories like dark green vegetables; red and orange vegetables; and beans, peas, and lentils; and include minimum and maximum calories by grade level.
"The lack of specificity could be confusing and have implications for various [federal] programs that are supposed to comply with the dietary guidelines," says Wolfson. ...
(as an aside, jhu.edu is Johns Hopkins University)
More from the article ...
... Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) cited a statement from previous FBI director Christopher Wray under President Joe Biden, in which Wray promised, "To my knowledge, we do not currently purchase commercial database information that includes location data dervied from internet advertising."
Wyden then asked Patel, "Is that the case still, and if so, can you commit this morning to not buying Americans' location data?"
Patel dodged the specific question about location data, but admitted, "We do purchase commercially available information that's consistent with the Constitution and the laws under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, and it has led to some valuable intelligence for us to be utilized with our private partner sector."
"So you're saying that the agency will buy Americans' location data? I believe that's what you said in kind of 'intelligence lingo,'" Wyden charged in response. He added, "doing that without a warrant is an end run around the Fourth Amendment, it's particularly dangerous given the use of artificial intelligence to comb through massive amounts of private information." ...