President-elect Donald Trump and his former co-defendants in the Florida classified documents case launched an effort Monday to block the release of a final report by special counsel Jack Smith that also addresses the election interference case.
The average American spent $42.38 per month on streaming-based subscriptions in 2024. That works out to just over $500 per year - or around $30,000 over a lifetime - but is actually less than the previous year by a significant margin. read more
The Washington Post's crossword puzzle was recently deemed too offensive for advertisers. So was an article about thunderstorms. read more
Two years ago, the first legal recreational cannabis was sold in Connecticut. There were, on Jan. 10, 2023, nine stores selling cannabis to anyone over age 18. There are now 31 recreational cannabis shops in Connecticut ... read more
Dear Laura Loomer: You weren't in on the con. You were one of the marks. read more
... The pontiff has appointed a sharp critic of Donald Trump to be the next archbishop of the nation's capital -- just in time for the president-elect's return to office. ...
Mass Deportations 'Incompatible With Catholic Doctrine,' Cardinal McElroy Says at His DC Debut
www.ncregister.com
... The Vatican announced Monday that Pope Francis appointed Cardinal McElroy, 70, as archbishop of Washington, a high-profile see that includes about 667,000 Catholics in the District of Columbia and five counties in southern Maryland. ...
The original BBC link...
www.bbc.com
The BBC has no pay-wall type restrictions, so I wonder why it was not cited?
OK, that aside ...
More from the BBC article above ...
... Efforts to resettle the group in Oman began years ago, but the US has said that Yemen, which is locked in a civil war, was too unstable for repatriation.
Those transferred from Guantanamo include Moath al-Alwi, who was cleared for release in 2022 and had become known for building model boats with objects found at the prison, and Shaqawi al Hajj, who went on repeated hunger strikes to protest his detention.
The men were cleared for transfer by federal national security review panels, which determined that doing so was "consistent with the national security interests of the United States", the Defense Department said.
The transfer came less than a week after Ridah Bin Saleh al-Yazidi, one of the prison's original detainees in January 2002, was repatriated to Tunisia.
The Defense Department said three of the 15 remaining detainees also are eligible for transfer.
The military prison is part of a US naval base complex in southeastern Cuba. It was established by the Bush administration in 2002, following the 9/11 attacks, to hold suspects captured in counter-terrorism operations. At its peak, it held about 800 detainees. ...
So, good.
I have never had a liking for holding people in prison with no apparent legal objection. So I tend to disagree with fmr Pres GW Bush on this aspect.
@#9 ... Of course Musk loves tariffs. ...
Does he?
That aside, I would look more towards Mr Musk's substanstial investments in China as a basis for trying to purchase the Trump presidency.
OpEd: How Musk Outmaneuvered Trump (December 21, 2024)
prospect.org
... Musk got the only thing that he wanted. Does Trump realize it?
Elon Musk blew up a near-complete bipartisan budget deal with an avalanche of tweets contending that it was too costly, luring Donald Trump into demanding that Republicans kill it.
But Musk's real reason -- a story that David Dayen broke in the Prospect -- was that the agreement included painstakingly negotiated limits on American tech investment in China.
Had that provision passed, it would have been costly to Musk's extensive Chinese Tesla operations and future AI plans. ...
So the question that lingers out there like an unclaimed air biscuit ...
Did Mr Musk play Pres-elect Trump for his financial benefit, or was Pres-elect Trump actually aware of what Mr Musk was doing and OK'd it?
@#1 ... Garbage car sold by a garbage person. ...
I do not think the Tesla is a garbage car.
It is a trailblazing concept.
The problem I have with it, though, is that Tesla seems to use the public roads for its beta-testing of new concepts, and that the maintenance costs of Tesla cars seem to be quite higher than other cars (one reason Hertz seemed to dump Tesla rentals).
Hertz is selling 20,000 used EVs due to high repair costs (January 2024)
arstechnica.com
... Additionally, its rental EVs were damaged or crashed more often, and the much higher cost of repairs for Tesla vehicles -- on average about 20 percent higher than other EVs -- has meant that Hertz's Teslas earn it less money per vehicle than its other rentals. ...
@#35 ... You can't lose what you don't have in the first place. ...
Me and Bobby McGee, written by Kris Kristofferson, made famous by Janis Joplin posthumously in 1971.
Janis Joplin - Me and Bobby McGee (1971)
www.youtube.com
Lyrics excerpt ...
genius.com
...
Freedom's just another word for nothin' left to lose
...
@#2
... or ...?
Trump sure Kim 'does not want to disappoint his friend, President Trump!' (2019)
www.reuters.com
... U.S. President Donald Trump sought again on Friday to play down North Korea's three short-range missiles tests in eight days, saying they did not break any agreement he had with Kim Jong Un and he was sure the North Korean leader did not want to disappoint him.
In an apparent reference to Kim's pledge not to resume testing of intercontinental ballistic missiles and nuclear bombs frozen since 2017, Trump said on Twitter: "Chairman Kim does not want to disappoint me with a violation of trust."
"There is far too much for North Korea to gain - the potential as a Country, under Kim Jong Un's leadership, is unlimited. Also, there is far too much to lose," said Trump, who has taken to flattering Kim while also maintaining tough sanctions on his totalitarian country.
Stressing the personal rapport he says he has built with Kim in three meetings since June last year, Trump said: "He will do the right thing because he is far too smart not to, and he does not want to disappoint his friend, President Trump!" ...
... They're refusing to sign paperwork accepting his clemency action. ...
The men believe that having their sentences commuted would put them at a legal disadvantage as they seek to appeal their cases based on claims of innocence. ...
Yup.
If you accept clemency (pardon) you are effectively admitting your guilt.
So, these two inmates still want their legal options open because they believe they are innocent.
An Oklahoma judge ruled a man who spent 48 years in prison for murder is innocent (2023)
www.npr.org
Finally vindicated
www.hoganlovells.com
... DNA evidence exonerated the half-brothers in 2014. ...
City in Oklahoma Agrees to Pay $7.15 Million to Glynn Simmons, Exonerated After 48 Years in Prison (August 2024)
deathpenaltyinfo.org
I could go on ...
Len - Steal My Sunshine (1999)
www.youtube.com
Lyrics excerpt ...
...
[Intro: Tim & Matt]
Hey, Matt
Yeah, Tim?
Hey, you talked to Marc lately?
Uh, haven't really talked to him but he looks pretty, uh, down
"He looks pretty, uh, down?"
Yeah, well, maybe we should cheer him up then
What do you, uh, suppose we should do?
Well, does he like butter tarts?
[Verse 1: Marc]
I was lying on the grass of Sunday morning of last week
Indulging in my self-defeat
My mind was thugged, all laced and bugged, all twisted, wrong and beat
A comfortable three feet deep
Now the fuzzy stare from not being there on a confusing morning week
Impaired my tribal lunar speak
And of course you can't become if you only say what you would have done
So I missed a million miles of fun
[Chorus: Marc & Sharon]
I know it's up for me
(If you steal my sunshine)
Making sure I'm not in too deep
(If you steal my sunshine)
Keeping versed and on my feet
(If you steal my sunshine)
...
[note that some parts of the lyrics on the song are not included in the video of the song, specifically, the Intro]
@#8 ... Hey, Mike! How about this banger from TJ:
Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of liberty. ...
Letter from Thomas Jefferson to Phillip Mazzei (April 1796)
teachingamericanhistory.org
... The aspect of our politics has wonderfully changed since you left us. In place of that noble love of liberty, & republican government which carried us triumphantly thro' the war, an Anglican monarchical, & aristocratical party has sprung up, whose avowed object is to draw over us the substance, as they have already done the forms, of the British government. The main body of our citizens, however, remain true to their republican principles; the whole landed interest is republican, and so is a great mass of talents. Against us are the Executive, the Judiciary, two out of three branches of the legislature, all the officers of the government, all who want to be officers, all timid men who prefer the calm of despotism to the boisterous sea of liberty, British merchants & Americans trading on British capitals, speculators & holders in the banks & public funds, a contrivance invented for the purposes of corruption, & for assimilating us in all things to the rotten as well as the sound parts of the British model. It would give you a fever were I to name to you the apostates who have gone over to these heresies, men who were Samsons in the field & Solomons in the council, but who have had their heads shorn by the harlot England. In short, we are likely to preserve the liberty we have obtained only by unremitting labors & perils. ...
An interesting read (the whole letter, not just the excerpt above ...)
@#2 ... But for now, seems like they should be paying customers for being their guinea pigs. ...
More frightening to me is that they seem to be conducting beta-tests of unproven software on public roads.
Do Tesla FSD Beta Releases Violate Public Road Testing Regulations? (2021)
www.jurist.org
... Jennifer Homendy, head of the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), recently expressed safety concerns about Tesla's "Full Self-Driving" (FSD) feature. This comes at a time in which the NTSB has announced an investigation into another Tesla crash and the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is investigating Tesla collisions with emergency vehicles that have resulted in 17 injuries and one death.
Tesla's FSD so-called "beta test" program raises significant safety concerns due to the use of untrained Tesla customers as test drivers and the wide distribution of videos showing dangerous vehicle behavior during those testing operations. ...
@#32 ... LGH is the epitome of emasculation. Perpetual on-line troll and attack dog who gets away with it only because he plays for the correct team. ...
"the correct team" or ~posts facts?~
Your current alias' post indicates a, I'll proffer, certain inclination towards (I'm being kind) the alternative reality of MAGA.
So it seems to describe "the correct team" as those who may disagree with that alternative reality.
Am I wrong?