"I don't think [US President] Donald Trump is really motivated by US national security interests, or NATO, or Ukrainian interests. I think he wants the Nobel Peace Prize -- I think it's been on his mind since the first term," argues former US national security adviser John Bolton in an interview with FRANCE 24's Gavin Lee. "Putin thinks time is on his side. This is not the time for the US or Europe to give up and say 'let's get the best deal we can'," he adds.
FDA plans possible black box warning for COVID-19 shots amid rare heart risk reports; studies say the virus carries a higher threat.
American strategic bombers trained alongside Japanese aircraft in what Washington and Tokyo described as a demonstration of their resolve following recent military tensions between Japan and China this week.
US Senator Sheldon Whitehouse on Friday said that he was moving to file a bipartisan bill to repeal of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.
Earth's orbit is starting to look like an LA freeway ... read more
@#4 ... okay... and then what? ...
That's an excellent question.
What happens when satellite debris starts crashing on to houses?
NASA says it expected space station garbage to burn up. The debris smashed into a Florida home instead (2024)
www.cnn.com
That's a part of the "then what."
A likely occurrence?
I hope not.
But, then, Hurricane Katrina was also not a likely occurrence.
So, at this point I have to ask, are you a betting person?
If so, what odds are you comfortable with?
:)
Yeah, the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025 seems to continue to affect the ability of the Government to govern.
Speaking of Project 2025, and it's success ...
Musk calls Doge only somewhat successful' and says he would not do it again
www.theguardian.com
... Elon Musk has said the aggressive federal job-cutting program he headed early in Donald Trump's second term, known as the "department of government efficiency" (Doge), was only "a little bit successful" and he would not lead the project again.
Musk said he wouldn't want to repeat the exercise, talking on the podcast hosted by Katie Miller, a rightwing personality with a rising profile who was a Doge adviser and who is married to Stephen Miller, Donald Trump's hardline anti-immigration deputy chief of staff.
Asked whether Doge had achieved what he'd hoped, Musk said: "We were a little bit successful. We were somewhat successful." ...
@#17 ... 100 years old and still sings and dances ...
Comedy icon Dick van Dyke celebrates turning 100: "I still try to dance"
www.cbsnews.com
OK, Dick Van Dγke is a fav actor of mine. Since the days of the Dick Van Dγke show, back in the day.
I applaud him for that.
But this recent stuff that pops up on the search engines seems to be just Hollywood phlegm.
So sad for such a great person.
@#10 ... One thing I've learned over the decades is that Repubicans can always sink lower ... there is really no bottom. ...
Yup.
Some people are so poor all they have is money (2021)
www.lifeafterthedailygrind.com
... Some people are so poor all they have is money is a quote attributed to Patrick Meagher as well as Bob Marley.
It's always difficult to know who the original author of a quote was, and probably doesn't matter.
It's certainly the kind of thing Marley would have said. The below transcript is from an interview where his views on money are made clear.
Interviewer: are you a rich man?
Marley: what do you mean, rich?
Interviewer: you have a lot of possessions?
Marley: a lot of money in the bank? - possessions make you rich?
Marley: I don't know that type of richness, my richness is life
Coco Chanel made a similar remark when she said "There are people who have money and there are people who are rich".
I see Marley's (assuming it was him) quote of "Some people are so poor all they have is money" as an inverted, more concise version of Chanel's.
It probably doesn't need explaining, however, this quote relies on poor being viewed holistically and not simply in the context of money. It's an observation of people who have nothing but money, those that only care and think about their bank balance.
Marilyn Monroe
"I'm generally miserable"
Marilyn Monroe
Going from Marley to Monroe: despite her wealth and fame, Marilyn Monroe let it be known in a rare interview that on the whole, she felt miserable. ...
@#94 ... Except Trump is crashing our economy and gutting our once great country for his own profit. ...
Taking a step back before I proffer an opinion of your comment ...
The Trump Cabinet is mostly billionaires who know little about the day-to-day struggle that workers have to deal with very day, every hour.
Then there is the "K-shaped economy."
Here's why everyone's talking about a K-shaped' economy (December 1, 2025)
apnews.com
... From corporate executives to Wall Street analysts to Federal Reserve officials, references to the "K-shaped economy" are rapidly proliferating.
So what does it mean? Simply put, the upper part of the K refers to higher-income Americans seeing their incomes and wealth rise while the bottom part points to lower-income households struggling with weaker income gains and steep prices.
A big reason the term is popping up so often is that it helps explain an unusually muddy and convoluted period for the U.S. economy. Growth appears solid, yet hiring is sluggish and the unemployment rate has ticked up. Overall consumer spending is still rising, but Americans are less confident. AI-related data center construction is soaring while factories are laying off workers and home sales are weak. And the stock market still hovers near record highs even as wage growth is slowing. ...
Stated more bluntly, the billionaires are getting even richer, while the workers are struggling.
That's the "K."
There's also this ...
Rich Russians flock to Florida to deliver American babies (2019)
www.france24.com
... In southern Florida's Sunny Isles Beach, Russian tourists Anna and Helen sip coffee with their husbands and newborn babies: a common scene in what has become a prized destination for well-off foreigners looking to secure US citizenship for their children.
Under the shadow of luxury skyscrapers -- among them Trump Towers -- exists an army of well-dressed women, either pregnant or pushing top-of-the-line strollers. Most are Russian or from former Soviet Union countries.
The weather, white-sand beaches and dazzling turquoise waters are common reasons given for traveling to give birth in this city of 20,000 people, north of Miami.
But one 34-year-old, who gave her name only as Anna, was more direct.
"For the American passport!" she told AFP, smiling. She arrived in the US while expecting now two-month-old Melania.
Both she and compatriot Helen, mother to a three-month-old, said tens of thousands of dollars and months of planning went into their trips. ...
OK, that political blah, blah, blah aside...
Here's what I see (and, I admit, YMMV)...
For starters, let's go here ...
What you should know about Section 230, the rule that shaped today's internet (2023)
www.pbs.org
... wenty-six words tucked into a 1996 law overhauling telecommunications have allowed companies like Facebook, Twitter and Google to grow into the giants they are today.
A case coming before the U.S. Supreme Court this week, Gonzalez v. Google, challenges this law " namely whether tech companies are liable for the material posted on their platforms.
Justices will decide whether the family of an American college student killed in a terror attack in Paris can sue Google, which owns YouTube, over claims that the video platform's recommendation algorithm helped extremists spread their message. ...
That's a good background.
But more from the article ...
... WHAT IS SECTION 230?
If a news site falsely calls you a swindler, you can sue the publisher for libel. But if someone posts that on Facebook, you can't sue the company " just the person who posted it.
That's thanks to Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act, which states that "no provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider."
That legal phrase shields companies that can host trillions of messages from being sued into oblivion by anyone who feels wronged by something someone else has posted " whether their complaint is legitimate or not. ...
@#7 ... And did he actually drink them all? ...
Yeah, that may also be significant.