President Donald Trump early Tuesday threatened to impose a 200% tariff on French wine and champagne in an effort to pressure France to join his intergovernmental Board of Peace organization.
The U.S. Geological Survey, the federal government's earth sciences arm, discovered new oil and gas reserves in the Permian Basin -- enough to supply the United States for 10 months. read more
Britain's so-called Brexit wars dominated parliament for years. Now the Labour government is bracing for new battles as it eyes legislation to move closer to the European Union. read more
The president has intensified his criticism of Canada in private conversations with aides in recent weeks over what he sees as the country's vulnerability to U.S. adversaries in the Arctic. read more
U.S. District Judge William Young said he'd force the Trump administration to "jump through hoops" if it wants to deport more pro-Palestine protesters. read more
Related ...
Hiring at India's Big Four outsourcers stalls, as AI seemingly makes an impact
www.theregister.com
... India's big four outsourcers " HCL, Infosys, TCS and Wipro " have essentially stopped hiring, perhaps coinciding with their increased use of AI to power their practices.
The four companies have all announced quarterly results in the last ten days and appear to be in decent health. HCL reported $3.8 billion revenue, up 7.4 percent year over year. Infosys pulled in $5.1 billion, up 1.7 percent year over year. TCS revenue of $7.5 billion represented a three percent increase. Wipro's $2.6 billion revenue represented a 5.5 percent year over year improvement.
India's top tech companies often hire more than 10,000 people a quarter, a rate of recruitment that more-than offsets attrition and sees their headcounts rise substantially. Wipro increased its payroll by 6,500 people last quarter and Infosys hired 5,000 more -- muted growth by their standards -- while TCS and HCL went backward by 11,000 and 261 people respectively.
Over the last year, the four companies added just 3,910 staff, an unusually slow rate of hiring.
Perhaps coincidentally, all four companies told investors they're using more AI to deliver services for clients, either by adopting the technology to streamline their own work or by adding it to the tools they deliver to customers. I ...
@#22 ... except for Bubba Clinton ...
Fmr Pres Clinton's spokesperson has asked the DoJ to release all mentions of his name in the Epstein files.
Will Pres Trump make a similar request?
Bill Clinton spox calls on DOJ to release Epstein files referencing the former president (December 22, 2025)
www.politico.com
... A spokesperson for Bill Clinton on Monday called on the Department of Justice to release any documents related to the former president in its ongoing release of files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The rare statement from Clinton spokesperson Angel Ureña comes as the Trump administration has attempted to make him the GOP's new boogeyman in a monthslong saga related to the files that has plagued the White House, sparking sharp rebukes from allies and MAGA firebrands.
"What the Department of Justice has released so far, and the manner in which it did so, makes one thing clear: someone or something is being protected," Ureña said in the statement. "We do not know whom, what or why. But we do know this: We need no such protection." ...
How Hill Republicans stopped caring about DOJ releasing the Epstein files
www.politico.com
... One month after the congressionally mandated deadline to release all its files on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, the Justice Department has made only a fraction of the files public -- and it remains silent on its plans to fully comply with the law.
Also keeping quiet about the DOJ delays are congressional Republicans, almost all of whom voted in November to release the records after spending months heeding President Donald Trump's opposition to the move.
Some of them are openly admitting it's no longer a priority.
"I don't give a rip about Epstein," Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) said last week when she was asked to take stock of the month since the Dec. 19 deadline. ...
@#13
For example ...
Ray Dalio warns that 'capital wars' could follow Trump's actions, with countries dumping US assets
www.msn.com
... Billionaire investor Ray Dalio warned Tuesday that President Donald Trump's aggressive political direction could spark a new phase of global financial conflict, as foreign governments and investors reconsider their appetite for U.S. assets amid rising unease and economic tensions. ...
'Too stupid even for him': Trump's niece reacts after US letter links Greenland demand to Nobel snub
timesofindia.indiatimes.com
... Mary L Trump, the niece of Donald Trump, weighed in on a letter sent by the US president to Norway's prime minister, in which the GOP leader linked America's bid to annex Greenland to his failure to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
Posting on X[1], Mary Trump said: "When I saw this letter, I literally thought, This is too stupid even for him.' I should have known better." ...
=====
1 - x.com
... and ready to move where he leads. It's a choice to face the unknown and to trust that God will equip you along the way." ...
Trump the savior-king
www.christiancentury.org
... Pete Hegseth may be the first Secretary of Defense whose tattoos have made headlines. In May 2020, he posted a photo on Instagram featuring the Latin phrase inked onto his right bicep: Deus Vult, meaning, "God wills it."
"Deus Vult" was the medieval Christian crusaders' battle cry. During the Crusades, Christians killed those who refused to convert, especially their Muslim Ottoman enemies, as they fought to conquer Jerusalem. White supremacists shouted the phrase as they marched on Charlottesville in 2017, and one January 6th rioter waved a white flag emblazoned with a red Jerusalem cross and the words "Deus Vult" as he approached the Capitol building.
Seeing the phrase on the arm of the Secretary of Defense disturbed medieval scholars, who understood it as "a call to religious violence." They saw it as clear evidence that Hegseth is "a Crusader fanboy."
Of course, Hegseth denies the link to any negative connotations his political rivals can dream up. But in his 2020 MAGA tome, American Crusade, he frequently references the medieval Crusades, and he urges the religious right to engage in a new "holy war."
He even nicknames Donald Trump "our Crusader in chief" and hints at his willingness to engage in future violence: "Our American Crusade is not about literal swords, and our fight is not with guns. Yet." Hegseth claims that these statements are metaphors. ...
@#1 ... Sinclair Lewis: "When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross." ...
Excellent quote. I think I may have also posted it. at one point.
Since then I have looked around ...
The Sinclair Lewis Society
about.illinoisstate.edu
... Frequently Asked Questions ...
Did Sinclair Lewis say, "When Fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross"?
This quote sounds like something Sinclair Lewis might have said or written, but we've never been able to find this exact quote. Here are passages from two novels Lewis wrote that are similar to the quote attributed to him.
From It Can't Happen Here: "But he saw too that in America the struggle was befogged by the fact that the worst Fascists were they who disowned the word Fascism' and preached enslavement to Capitalism under the style of Constitutional and Traditional Native American Liberty."
From Gideon Planish: "I just wish people wouldn't quote Lincoln or the Bible, or hang out the flag or the cross, to cover up something that belongs more to the bank-book and the three golden balls."
There was also a play by Sherman Yellen called Strangers in the late 1970s which had a similar quote, but no one, including one of Lewis's biographers, Richard Lingeman, has ever been able to locate the original citation.
Other variants include one from James Waterman Wise, Jr. in the Christian Century (Feb.5, 1936) who noted that Hearst and Coughlin were the two chief exponents of fascism in America. If fascism comes, he added, it will not be identified with any "shirt" movement, nor with an "insignia," but it will probably be "wrapped up in the American flag and heralded as a plea for liberty and preservation of the constitution" (245). Another version is from Halford E. Luccock, in Keeping Life Out of Confusion (1938): "When and if fascism comes to America it will not be labeled made in Germany'; it will not be marked with a swastika; it will not even be called fascism; it will be called, of course, Americanism.'" Harrison Evans Salisbury in The Many Americas Shall Be One (1971) remarked "Sinclair Lewis aptly predicted in It Can't Happen Here that if fascism came to America it would come wrapped in the flag and whistling The Star Spangled Banner'" (29).
...
Frank Sinatra Jr - The Gumby Heart Song (1989)
www.youtube.com
Lyrics excerpt ...
... lyrics seem to be unavailable ...
@#3 ... Storming a church service is just despicable. ...
Church Leaders Shaken After a Man Was Detained in Their Parking Lot (June 2025)
www.nytimes.com
... A group of armed men in face coverings detained a Latino man outside a church in the Los Angeles suburb of Downey and took him away on Wednesday, in what pastors believed was a federal immigration raid.
The Rev. Tanya Lopez, senior pastor of Downey Memorial Christian Church, said she was in her office on Wednesday when three SUVs with tinted windows pulled up to her church. Then, Ms. Lopez said, five men, some wearing badges and tan bulletproof vests that said "POLICE," rushed out of the vehicles and detained a man in the parking lot.
The men, Ms. Lopez said, refused to identify which agency they worked for, and they did not share their names or badge numbers when asked. Their vehicles had out-of-state license plates. They also did not provide a warrant, she said.
They took the man into a black SUV. And, Ms. Lopez said that as she shouted instructions in Spanish to the man inside the vehicle, an agent drew a rifle at her. ...
@#37 ... But as value begins to fall, others will sell and it will gain steam until we're in a spiral. ...
Unless Pres Trump TACO's, as he did shortly after "Liberation Day."