American workers' share of the economic pie has fallen to its lowest level since at least 1947, when the federal government began tracking the data, according to an analysis by Federal Reserve economists.
The RNA technology used widely during the pandemic is already being adapted to fight the flu, RSV -- and even for personalized cancer vaccines.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson canceled votes on major bills and sent lawmakers home early Tuesday for a long recess after a group of Republicans refused to move forward on business over the SAVE America Act and other matters. read more
Two people wearing black climbed to the top of the Empire State Building's transmitter, and by the time they climbed back down, they were seemingly engaged. The couple held a pro-peace banner at the very top of the spire and shared some kisses just after noon on Wednesday.
US envoys Kushner and Witkoff arrive in Doha. Qatari official says no high-level US-Iran meetings scheduled. Iran has tried to exert control over Strait of Hormuz. Strikes and counter-strikes in recent days by Iran and US. read more
Meanwhile, I do remember the 1976 celebrations of our Country's 200th brthday.
For example, Bicentennial 1976, tall ships and celebration in front of the World Trade Center.
1976 OpSail Event
opsail.org
... Operation Sail 1976 provided a centerpiece for the U.S. Bicentennial celebration. The event, which took five years to plan, featured even more tall ships than the 1964 gathering, including the Soviet Union's czarina of the sea, the Kruzenshtern, which Frank Braynard had won over against all political odds on a trip to Moscow.
Kruzenshtern (Soviet Union)
The ships raced from the Canary Islands to Bermuda, then proceeded "in company" to New York, where they were met by a vast spectator fleet. In partnership with the Navy, Operation Sail 1976 also resurrected the tradition of holding an International Naval Review, which brought together a peacetime armada of 50 warships under as many flags. From the deck of the USS Forrestal, President Gerald Ford reviewed the parade of sail, complete with a 21-gun salute.
In Frank Braynard's estimation, it was "the biggest assemblage of ships since the Battle of Navarino in 1827," and as one skipper recalled, "The hospitality of New Yorkers in 1976 has never been matched." ...
It was an event.
I was on an overlook on the banks of the Hudson River watching the procession of those amazing Tall Ships.
The celebration back in 1976 was about our Country. Not the current president.
Coincidentally, PBS's Frontline has this episode running this week and next (looks like the full video is available at the link below...) ...
The Crown Prince & the President
www.pbs.org
... FRONTLINE examines the alliance between Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and President Donald Trump. Based on more than 100 interviews done by correspondent Martin Smith, the documentary examines the forces binding the two men and their countries together, and what each stands to gain -- from ambitions for a new Middle East, to arms deals, investments and personal profit. ...
Meanwhile ...
Wall St set for strongest quarter in years as risk appetite holds despite US-Iran war
www.reuters.com
Another view ...
Supreme Court Mail-In Election Ballot Decision Impact on 1.3M Active Military, Veterans
www.military.com
... The Supreme Court's 5-4 ruling on Monday to uphold a grace period for mail-in election ballots has drawn strong rebukes from conservatives, while military organizations and other groups praised the ideologically lopsided judicial body for preserving voting options -- notably for displaced active-duty military personnel. ...
Impact on Active-Duty Military, Veterans
The ruling brought a mixed bag of positive and negative responses based on ideological grounds.
Vet Voice Foundation is one of those groups in favor of the decision. The nonpartisan, national organization intervened in the case to, as it described, defend the rights of military families, veterans and overseas voters whose ballots are often delayed through no fault of their own.
"Today's decision is a victory for every American who follows the rules, mails their ballot on time, and deserves to have their vote counted," Janessa Goldbeck, U.S. Marine Corps veteran and CEO of Vet Voice Foundation, said in a statement. "For service members stationed around the world, military spouses, veterans and other Americans who rely on voting by mail, this ruling recognizes a simple principle: voters should not lose their voice because of circumstances beyond their control. Our democracy is strongest when every eligible voter has a fair opportunity to participate."
They pointed to the statistics, notably how in the 2024 general election almost one-third of U.S. voters cast ballots by mail in the 2024 general election, including millions of military families, veterans, seniors and rural voters. The previously existing grace period still led to more than 100,000 ballots being rejected nationwide for arriving after state deadlines. ...
Another view ...
3-year-old shot dead in Gaza as U.N. report accuses Israel of targeting children
www.nbcnews.com
... The report alleged Israel has a "deliberate strategy" of targeting children in the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip, resulting in genocide, which Israel rejects....
Another view ...
Supreme Court ruling guts government's use of geofence warrants
arstechnica.com
... SCOTUS falls short of deeming geofence warrants unconstitutional, though.
The Fourth Amendment protects a user's "location history," the Supreme Court ruled Monday.
The same logic already applied to a cellphone's tracking, and the high court found "no good reason exists to reach a different result for Location History" collected by third parties like Google.
Split 6-3, the majority agreed that the government needs a warrant and must show reasonable cause to turn a phone's location-tracking services into a government surveillance tool.
The decision came in a case where cops used so-called geofence warrants to track down an armed bank robber from a list of all phones logged in the area. Applying a three-part process, cops worked with Google to narrow down the list of suspects and eventually arrested Okello Chatrie, who had opted in to share his location with Google every few minutes. Chatrie was sentenced to 12 years in prison but challenged the geofence warrant as an unconstitutional search.
The US tried and failed to argue that no search was conducted under the Fourth Amendment, partly because they only searched a little bit of Chatrie's location data, which the government considered too small to warrant privacy protections. ...
Tangentially related ...
New evidence casts doubt on RFK Jr testimony before Senate
www.theguardian.com
... Kennedy repeatedly said 2019 Samoa trip had nothing to do with vaccines'. An email from his then colleague says they were on a vaccine-related mission'
New evidence has emerged that Robert F Kennedy Jr was on a vaccine-related "mission" when he visited Samoa ahead of a deadly measles outbreak in 2019, raising further questions about whether the US health secretary lied to the US Senate when he said the trip had "nothing to do with vaccines".
Records obtained by the Guardian show Kennedy's colleague told Samoan officials in an email that he and Kennedy were coming as part of a mission to study the island nation's medical records in the aftermath of a "discontinuity in vaccinations".
"We all look forward to the opportunity to be of service to the people of Samoa with our mission," Dr Michael Graven wrote.
Kennedy was at the time serving as chair and chief legal counsel of Children's Health Defense, a non-profit group known for its anti-vaccine activism. Graven was the group's chief information officer. Spokespeople for Kennedy at the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) did not respond to messages seeking comment. ...
At his Senate confirmation hearing last year, he said: "You cannot find a single Samoan who will say I didn't get a vaccine because of Bobby Kennedy." Instead, he said he went to attend a Samoan independence celebration and to introduce a "state-of-the art" medical informatics system.
Samoan officials later said Kennedy's visit bolstered the credibility of anti-vaccine activists. A measles outbreak, which tore through the Pacific island nation a few months after Kennedy's visit, sickened thousands and killed 83 people, mostly children under age five. ...
Related ...
Voters of both parties want tighter AI regulation, poll finds
www.nbcnews.com
... An overwhelming majority of likely voters want powerful AI systems to undergo mandatory formal safety reviews before they are released to the public, according to a new survey about Americans' views on AI, going further than the existing Trump administration policy of opt-in reviews for new advanced models.
The poll, conducted by Washington, D.C.-based AI Policy Institute (AIPI), a non-partisan research organization, found that Republicans were more enthusiastic about government-led safety testing for AI models than Democrats, though more than half of voters supported such a measure regardless of their political affiliation.
The survey results are the latest sign of Americans' bipartisan desire for stronger AI regulations in the face of advancing AI capabilities, representing a shift from earlier findings that Republicans were more skeptical than Democrats of government intervention on AI issues. ...
More from the article ...