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... "Reserving all rights and waiving nothing, Defendants appear solely for the purpose of noticing their appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit from this Court's July 13, 2026," the DOJ wrote in its brief filing in Miami Federal Court, which was first reported by Politico's Josh Gerstein.

The massive fund sparked intense bipartisan backlash and nearly derailed Blanches' confirmation after Sens. John Cornyn (R-TX) and Thom Tillis (R-NC), said they would refuse to vote for Blanche unless the proposal for the fund was scrapped.

Blanche claimed on Aug. 2 that he had formally rescinded the fund.

"My team and I have met with committee members and Senators over the past several weeks and addressed any concerns or outstanding questions," he wrote on X at the time.

"We have enjoyed good faith discussions, and as a result issue the following order and update with regard to the May IRS settlement. The Department always welcomes and appreciates productive engagement with all members of Congress."

The move prompted Cornyn and Tillis to vote for the confirmation of Trump's former personal attorney as US Attorney General. ...

More from the article ...

... Newly obtained documents revealed that the ongoing issues at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool stem from contractor mistakes rather than vandalism. The information contradicts previous claims by the Trump administration.

What we know:

Records reviewed by The New York Times indicate that the pool's blue liner peeled and tore due to human oversight during the installation process.

Specific errors cited in the documents include failing to apply sufficient primer in certain areas and using incompatible chemicals.

While the records noted that vandals caused minor cuts in the caulking along the pool's edges, they explicitly did not link those cuts to the peeling liner or pool floor damage. ...

@#20 ... Meanwhile, the imbecile who got this ball rolling is golfing in Ireland. ...

... and has golfed most weekends since he started his war.

More from the article ...

... The use of coal to generate electricity on the US grid has been plunging for nearly two decades, and the first Trump administration was unable to affect the trend. So his second administration has attempted more aggressive interventions to prop up coal use. One of its most direct means of doing so is to order coal plants that were scheduled to close to remain open, even if there is no need for them.

The administration's justification for these orders is a statute that allows the Department of Energy (DOE) to declare an emergency in the case of wartime or a sudden shortfall in generation. ...

The decision was issued by a unanimous three-judge panel from the DC Circuit's Court of Appeals. ...

The court interprets this as an indication that Congress had intended for federal intervention at the level of generation facilities to be rare and only in cases where there was an immediate shortfall that could only be addressed through federal action. And it notes that this is exactly how the authority had been used throughout its history. "Indeterminate assertions of summer electricity shortfalls are not what Congress meant by 'emergency,'" the judges conclude. ...

@#16 ... ... wut? ...

My guess is that Pres Trump is desperately looking for an exit ramp for his war of choice and, as such, he does not want to get deeper into the war.

More from the article ...

... U.S. consumer prices accelerated in August, while a key measure of underlying inflation posted its largest increase in four months, reinforcing expectations that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates next week. ...

"Energy inflation does not stay at the gas station. It travels by truck, airplane and cargo ship into nearly every store in America," said Sung Won Sohn, a finance and economics professor at Loyola Marymount University. "The Fed is now more likely than not to raise its policy rate ... it cannot afford to let an energy shock become an everything shock."

The CPI increased 0.4% last month after edging up 0.1% in July, the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics said.

In the 12 months through August, consumer inflation advanced 3.4% after rising by the same margin in July. The rise in the CPI was in line with economists' expectations.

A 3.9% jump in gasoline prices after two straight monthly declines accounted for more than a third of the increase in the CPI over the month. Other motor fuels, which include diesel, surged 9.6%. They surged 44% year-on-year in August.

There was, however, some respite for consumers at the supermarket. Food prices edged up 0.1% for a second straight month. Grocery prices were unchanged amid muted increases in the costs of meat and fish. Fruit and vegetable prices fell 0.4% over the month, weighed down by a 6.2% drop in the cost of lettuce because of a Cyclospora outbreak.

But egg prices increased 2.9%, while nonalcoholic beverages cost more, as did dairy and related products. Food prices advanced 2.7% year-on-year in August and the annual increase in consumer inflation is outpacing wage growth. Inflation-adjusted average hourly earnings fell 0.3% over the year in August.

"Inflation-adjusted wage growth contracted for a fifth consecutive month in August," said Gregory Daco, chief economist at EY-Parthenon. "This is the longest income squeeze since 2012 -- excluding the post-pandemic period when public assistance kept income growing despite historical job losses." ...

More from the article ...

... The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing to drastically weaken requirements for leak inspections and equipment upgrades at more than 700,000 low-producing "stripper wells," according to a draft rule being reviewed by the White House and seen by ProPublica.

These wells -- which tend to be old, poorly maintained and thus prone to leaking -- produce just 6% of the country's oil and natural gas but are responsible for roughly half the sector's methane pollution, studies show.

The EPA acknowledged similar figures in the draft. But it said that the cost of complying with existing regulations would force the lowest-producing wells to shut down and that this was "unreasonable" -- even though it would eliminate just 0.4% of U.S. oil and gas production, according to an industry estimate cited in the proposed rule. ...

More from the article ...

... A new study linking the likelihood of autism and ADHD symptoms in early life to in-utero exposure to a common plasticizer is no doubt going to cause a stir.

It's another chapter in the ongoing search for answers to some pretty complex questions, like why autism and ADHD diagnoses are on the rise, and why so many children around the world seem to be afflicted with behavior problems, and what the chemicals in plastics could be doing to our brains.

And while it's an interesting addition to the research, there are very specific things this new study can (and can't) tell us about all these hot topics in science, and what patterns are emerging between them.

Let's get into it.

The study, published in Med (a peer-reviewed journal owned by Cell Press), looked at children's behavioral traits at ages two and four, and how they correlate with the child's potential prenatal exposure to the common plastic additive DEHP.

DEHP (di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate) is a synthetic chemical that helps make plastics more flexible. It's often used in vinyl furniture upholstery, garden hoses, shower curtains, medical tubing, and vegan leathers.

It's also known to easily leach out of the material it was added to, which is how it can end up in our food, water, and ultimately, our bodies. ...

... Saudi Arabia has increasingly relied on the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab to export its crude since Iran has been targeting vessels in the strait of HormUz. ...

The Saudi east-west oil pipeline and its facilities, used to transport oil to the Red Sea, may have been hit by the Houthis.

Did Pres Trump ever pay out the "DOGE dividend?" Wasn't that around $5,000?

Or the Tariff dividend, around $2,000?

More from the article ...

... KFF Health News first reported that the Consumer Product Safety Commission -- a federal agency tasked with monitoring injuries from household items -- was pressuring hospitals to provide a private company with personally identifiable health information for analysis. The rollout of the program has inspired broad pushback from hospitals and privacy advocates.

The CPSC's goal is to obtain millions of Americans' medical records from emergency rooms for most injuries, even when a consumer product is not involved, internal emails and documents reviewed by KFF Health News revealed. The agency instructed hospitals to share detailed patient information for more than 10,000 types of injuries or conditions, such as vaccine reactions, suicide attempts or stingray stabs.

The scope of data CPSC is collecting far exceeds the agency's mission and should be immediately suspended, Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey, who sits on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, and other House and Senate Democrats wrote in a letter to CPSC acting Chairman Peter Feldman.

"This unprecedented and sweeping effort to collect identifiable patient data is untethered from the Commission's statutory mission and authority, and is ripe for misuse by an administration that has repeatedly sought access to Americans' most personal information," the letter stated. "Americans should be able to seek medical care without fear that their personal health information will be swept into a federal database and repurposed for political ends." ...

@#4

Or are you in the Elvis realm that seems to prefer peanut butter with bananas?

@#4 ... Jelly is for ----. ...

Why?

@#2

Though, I have to say ... tomorrow, I may also have a PB&J for lunch.

Though, I may get radical, and toast the bread before I make the sandwich.

That adds issues to the making of the sandwich. The warm bread seems to make the PB aspect rather, I'll say, gooey.

But I'll deal with it.

:)

@#40 ... In my 40 years running a tax business, I had the best way ever to keep employees: ...

I had a similar experience.

I worked for a private company.

The company was extremely profitable.

To the point that the owners shared those profits with the employees.

So, 30% year-end bonus.

For all employees.

And not just that, but also, a couple three times, a 10% increase in salary for all employees because the company was so profitable. In addition to the routine yearly raise based upon performance.

At one point in time, a union tried to come into the company.

The employees laughed at that union, and showed it the door.

Why? Because the owners of the company shared the wealth that the employees worked to create.

Stated differently, and more succinctly, unions do not gain a foothold in a company because that company treats its employees well.

@#66 ... Trump told this one last night ...

Yeah.

Pres Trump seems to relate many stories that seem to originate only in his apparent degrading imagination.

Which may lead one to wonder, just how coherent is the President of the United States?

He prolly regrets that the charges are state-level, so Pres Trump cannot pardon him.

@#28 ... But I also know ...

How does your current trolling alias know that which it asserts it knows?

And, what evidence does it have of that?

Yer up.

@#19 ... Has Big Tech diminished the ability of our children to learn? ...

Wow, the topic of this thread seems to have changed.

Why might that be?

... Some U.S. Postal Service facilities failed to properly handle ballots during this year's primary elections, according to a new audit from the agency's Office of Inspector General. ...

imo, by the intent of the current occupant of the Oval Office.

More from the article ...

... The AI appeared to be trying to pinpoint her location, Robins said, and asked about her kids' favorite books, where they go camping and their favorite trails.

It was able to pull newborn photos from her parents' Facebook pages from years ago, her kids' names, birth information and photos and videos of them.

It also pulled up a photo of her family that Robins says she deleted from social media years ago.

Then Meta AI suggested the question "where does Kalie Robins live?" and when she clicked that, it pulled up older and newer posts, and places where she used to live.

Robins, who lives in central Utah, said the AI was even able to supply information about her kids that could lead someone to their school (note: we've agreed not to identify where Robins lives or further details about her children). ...