Iran has announced that Iraqi ships are free to pass the Strait of Hormuz, the latest sign of Tehran easing its stranglehold on the critical conduit for global energy supplies. Iraq will be exempt from all restrictions in the strait, with controls only applying to "enemy countries", Iran's Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters said in a statement on Saturday.
Donald Trump is facing significant hurdles after declaring, in a series of executive orders last year, that rapid construction of AI data centers was among his top priorities to ensure the US wins the AI race against China. Perhaps most likely to frustrate the president, his aggressive tariffs on Chinese imports are reportedly hindering most data center projects.
Just a few months after opening, the controversial Trump Truth Store in Crystal Lake, Illinois, has temporarily shut down, citing a drop in sales amid the ongoing Iran war. read more
Amazon will add a 3.5% fuel and logistics-related surcharge to fulfillment fees it charges third-party merchants, as the war in the Middle East, which began with US and Israeli strikes against Iran at the end of February, continues to drive up fuel costs. read more
President Donald Trump's new acting attorney general insists that the Department of Justice has to move on from the Epstein files -- while denying that the issue cost his former boss her job. read more
Related ...
Data center boom poses early challenge for New Jersey's affordability agenda
www.politico.com
.... New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill came into office promising to lower energy costs " even pledging to freeze utility rates.
Instead, they could soon be on the rise.
Electricity bills for New Jersey residents jumped about 20 percent last year, leading to record-high costs this winter " a spike regulators and consumer advocates say is being driven by the explosive growth of energy-hungry data centers powering the AI boom.
The surge is creating an early political test for Sherrill, a newly elected Democrat who made affordability the centerpiece of her campaign. She now faces rising costs driven by forces largely outside her control.
Much of that demand is coming from outside New Jersey. Northern Virginia -- home to the country's largest concentration of data centers " is causing a surge in electricity use across the regional grid that includes New Jersey.
Since New Jersey is part of a 13-state power market run by PJM Interconnection, Sherrill has few tools to stop the increases. ...
@#3 ... "It is the true believer's ability to 'shut his eyes and stop his ears' to facts that do not deserve to be either seen or heard which is the source of his unequaled fortitude and consistency."
Eric Hoffer, The True Believer ...
Susie Wiles secretly alarmed Trump has been shielded from disastrous Iran fallout: report
www.rawstory.com
... White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles is so worried that Donald Trump is being fed a rosy picture of his Iran war that she has privately urged his inner circle to stop telling the president what he wants to hear, and start telling him what he needs to hear, Time magazine reported Thursday. ...
Caravan - Where But For Caravan Would I? (1969)
www.youtube.com
Caravan is considered to be one of the first prog rock bands, if not among the instigators of the prog rock sea-change in music.
@#15 ... If there's one thing in my life that's missing
It's the time that I spend alone
Sailing on the cool and bright clear water
It's kind of a special feeling
Out on the sea alone ...
Along those lines is this song...
Matt Simons - Catch & Release (2017)
www.youtube.com
Lyrics excerpt...
...
This anthem about unplugging from the pressures of life celebrates the ways we connect with deeper truths and find inner peace.
[Verse 1]
There's a place I go to
Where no one knows me
It's not lonely
It's a necessary thing
It's a place I made up
Find out what I'm made of
The nights are stayed up
Counting stars and fighting sleep
[Pre-Chorus]
Let it wash over me
Ready to lose my feet
Take me off to the place where one reviews life's mystery
Steady on down the line
Lose every sense of time
Take it all in and wake up that small part of me
Day to day I'm blind to see
And find how far
To go
[Chorus]
Everybody got their reason
Everybody got their way
We're just catching and releasing
What builds up throughout the day
It gets into your body
And it flows right through your blood
We can tell each other secrets
And remember how to love
...
Little River Band - Cool Change (1979)
www.youtube.com
Lyrics excerpt...
...
[Verse 1: Glenn Shorrock]
If there's one thing in my life that's missing
It's the time that I spend alone
Sailing on the cool and bright clear water
There's lots of those friendly people
They're showing me ways to go
But I never want to lose their inspiration
[Chorus: Glenn Shorrock]
Time for a cool change
I know that it's time for a cool change
And now that my life is so prearranged
I know that it's time for a cool change
[Verse 2: Glenn Shorrock]
Well, I was born in the sign of water
And it's there that I feel my best
The albatross and the whales, they are my brothers
It's kind of a special feeling
When you're out on the sea alone
Staring at the full moon like a lover
[Chorus: Glenn Shorrock, Graeham Goble & Beeb Birtles, All]
(Time) Time for (a cool change) cool change
(Time for) I know that it's time for (A cool change)
(Time for) Now that my life (A cool change) is so prearranged
(Time for) I know that it's time for (A cool change)
[Bridge: Glenn Shorrock]
I've never been romantic
And sometimes I don't care
I know it may sound selfish
But let me breathe the air
Yeah, yeah
Let me breathe the air
[Verse 3: Glenn Shorrock]
If there's one thing in my life that's missing
It's the time that I spend alone
Sailing on the cool and bright clear water
It's kind of a special feeling
Out on the sea alone
Staring at the full moon like a lover
[Chorus: Glenn Shorrock, Graeham Goble & Beeb Birtles, All]
(Time) Time for (a cool change) cool change
(Time for) I know that it's time for (A cool change)
(Time for) Now that my life (A cool change) is so prearranged
(Time for) I know that it's time for (A cool change) cool, cool change
...
Mental As Anything - Live It Up (1986)
www.youtube.com
Lyrics excerpt...
...
[Verse 1]
How can you see looking through those tears?
Don't you know you're worth your weight in gold?
I can't believe that you're alone in here
Let me warm your hands against the cold
[Verse 2]
A close encounter with a hard-hearted man
Who never gave half of what he got
Has made you wish that you'd never been born
That's a shame 'cause you got the lot
[Chorus]
Hey there, you, with the sad face
Come up to my place and live it up
You, beside the dance floor
What do you cry for? Let's live it up
[Verse 3]
If you smiled the walls would fall down
On all the people in this pickup joint
But if you laughed you'd level this town
Hey lonely girl, that's just the point
[Chorus]
Hey there, you, with the sad face
Come up to my place and live it up
You beside the dance floor
What do you cry for? Let's live it up
[Bridge]
Just answer me, the question, "Why
You stand alone by the phone in the corner and cry?"
[Guitar Solo]
...
@#1
Julie Brown - I Like 'Em Big and Stupid (1983)
www.youtube.com
Lyrics excerpt...
...
[Verse 1]
When I need something to help me unwind
I find a six-foot baby with a one-track mind
Smart guys are nowhere, they make demands
Give me a moron with talented hands
I go bar-hopping and they say "Last call"
I start shopping for a Neanderthal
[Pre-Chorus]
The bigger they come, the harder I fall
In love 'till we're done, then they're out in the hall
[Chorus]
I like 'em big and stupid
I like 'em big and real dumb
I like 'em big and stupid
[Verse 2]
What kind of guy does a lot for me?
Superman with a lobotomy
My father's outta Harvard, my brother's outta Yale
Well, the guy I took home last night just got outta jail
The way he grabbed and threw me
Ooh, it really got me hot
But the way he growled and bit me
I hope he'd had his shots
[Pre-Chorus]
The bigger they are, the harder they'll work
I got a soft spot for a good-looking jerk
[Chorus]
I like 'em big and stupid
I like 'em big and real dumb
I like 'em big and stupid
...
@#1 ... Any REAL Fraud Czar would arrest Trump first. ...
Well, Pres Trump was convicted of 34 counts of fraud by a jury.
So, there may be some gravitas to your comment.
Criminal trial of Donald Trump in New York
en.wikipedia.org
... The criminal trial in The People of the State of New York v. Donald J. Trump was held from April 15 to May 30, 2024.
Donald Trump, the 45th, and later 47th president of the United States was charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to conceal payments made to the pornographic film actress Stormy Daniels as hush money to buy her silence over a sexual encounter between them; with costs related to the transaction included, the payments totaled $420,000. ...
Ghislaine Maxwell gets 'concierge-style' treatment at prison camp (2025)
www.foxnews.com
... A whistleblower has claimed that Jeffrey Epstein's accomplice receives "concierge-style" treatment at the minimum-security prison camp she was recently transferred to.
Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee revealed that a whistleblower came forward to them who claimed that Ghislaine Maxwell was receiving favorable treatment at the prison camp she was transferred to in August, according to NBC News.
The whistleblower claimed Maxwell received "concierge-style" treatment at Federal Prison Camp Bryan in Texas, which includes after-hours permission to use the exercise area, customized meals, time to spend with puppies being trained to become service dogs and more.
The whistleblower claimed one of the top prison camp officials complained he's "sick of having to be Maxwell's b----." ...
Looks like Pres Trump will be holding a press conference Monday at 1PM ET about this rescue.