President Donald Trump's top trade negotiator is attempting to inject order into sweeping new tariffs expected next month, after previous announcements roiled markets and fueled business uncertainty. read more
Judge orders hearing on whether deportations violated order. Flights trigger potential constitutional clash between Trump and judiciary. Judge blocked deportation under Alien Enemies Act. Trump administration defends deportations, citing international airspace.
The mood at Houston's big annual oil and gas get-together has been upbeat on the prospects for the industry under a fossil fuel-friendly Trump administration. But there's a significant catch: some of the biggest oil traders are getting more bearish on the outlook for crude prices. read more
Scientists led by a team from the University of Copenhagen in Denmark have found a "strong link" between Western-style diets and neurodevelopmental conditions, including autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
The administration is in the awkward position of explaining why Trump's election didn't lead to the promised economic boost. read more
@#4 ... Hunter may want to consider leaving S. Africa now, before a "civil rape occurs". ...
Huh?
And, if I may ask...
Why all this attention attempts to Mr Hunter Biden by MAGA, of late? What might the MAGA cheerleaders seem to know is upcoming?
What is MAGA trying to deflection attention away from?
Donald Trump Jr. Speaks Out About Cocaine at the White House (Jul 2023)
www.newsweek.com
... Donald Trump Jr. has hit out at the apparent lack of media interest in the appearance of cocaine at the White House while suggesting it proves a bias against his father.
In a tweet, the eldest son of former President Donald Trump claimed that the media "made a much bigger deal" in detailing how much Diet Coke his father drank while in office than the appearance of the drug in the White House on Sunday, which led to a brief evacuation.
The Secret Service has confirmed that the white power found during a routine inspection on Sunday night was cocaine. The substance was discovered in the West Wing of the White House in a cubby hole where visitors place their cell phones and other belongings before going on a tour, an unnamed source told Reuters. ...
Another view ...
'Oopsie, too late' - US courts tested by Trump's latest deportations
www.bbc.com
... On Saturday, the US government put hundreds of Venezuelans on planes which swiftly took off for the accused gang members' ultimate destination: an El Salvadorean mega-prison.
A judge then ordered the planes back, telling the government's lawyers verbally that they should do so "however that's accomplished " whether turning around the plane or not."
But the court order was never heeded, the planes stayed the course.
"Oopsie ... too late," El Salvador's president, Nayib Bukele, posted on X after the deportees landed in his country. He included an emoji crying with laughter. The post was reshared by the White House's director of communications, Steven Cheung.
Little information has been provided about the identities of those detained, but a large number were Venezuelan and the Trump administration alleges the deportees -- apparently rounded up at the weekend -- are all members of Tren de Aragua, a notorious transnational criminal gang.
Attorneys for some of the deportees refute that claim and human rights groups have raised concerns about the lack of due process.
This incident has ignited fears that the White House is willing to openly defy a federal court order, setting it on a potential collision course with America's judicial branch.
In America's system of government checks and balances, federal courts in the judicial branch have the responsibility of reviewing actions by the president and the government agencies in the executive branch tasked with enacting laws passed by Congress. An order issued by a judge is binding - and noncompliance can result in civil and criminal sanctions.
It very rarely gets that far, however, as involved parties traditionally defer to a judge's ruling. ...
Found this ...
Hamas warns that Israel's new airstrikes breach their ceasefire
apnews.com
OK, so it seems that we are now, once again, regressing to the hundreds of years of war/disagreement in the Middle East.
The belligerent activities in the Middle East remind me of something that I experienced back in the 80's.
I was visiting a Fraternity Brother for a weekend, enjoying his local environment (Birmingham, AL).
During that visit, his two cats got into a fight.
To my eyes, that fight seemed to be destructive between those two cats. Claws and hissing were abundant.
I asked my Brother, aren't you going to do anything to stop that fight?
His comment to me was most discerning, and one that has stayed with me over the decades ...
"... do you really want to stick your hands into that? ..."
After a while the two cats were quite friendly towards each other.
With that in mind, will the Middle East problems resolve themselves, after hundreds of years of problems?
I wish I knew.
But, there is no transactional solution to that problem.
Manic Street Preachers - If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next (1998)
www.youtube.com
Lyrics excerpt ...
genius.com
...
The future teaches you to be alone
The present to be afraid and cold
So if I can shoot rabbits
Then I can shoot fascists
Bullets for your brain today
But we'll forget it all again
Monuments put from pen to paper
Turns me into a gutless wonder
[Chorus]
And if you tolerate this, then your children will be next
And if you tolerate this, then your children will be next
Will be next, will be next, will be next
...
@#34 ... That probably explains the 'snatch vans' grabbing guys off the street to send them to the front lines. ...
It seems to have taken a while for your current alias to post that reply. Waiting for talking points from the mothership? :)
What we know about video of man walking his dog being forced into van to serve in Ukraine military (March 4, 2025)
www.yahoo.com
... A video circulating online in early March 2025 allegedly showed Ukrainian military officials forcing a man walking his dog into a van to serve in the Russia-Ukraine conflict and abandoning his pet in the street. The clip, possibly obtained from home security footage, displayed a date of Feb. 28 and a time of just before 8 a.m.
For example, one X user whose March 1 post (archived) received around 15 million views asserted of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the video, "Yesterday, Zelensky's military recruiters snatched another young man off the street, threw him into a black van as he screamed, and left behind his dog. Thousands of videos online show Ukraine forcibly drafting young men to fight in an unwinnable war." Other users made similar claims of the clip on X. ...
While translation services' interpretations varied when converting the Ukrainian-language Facebook post to English, a consensus reflected that the post's author alleged the man walking the dog had repeatedly attempted to avoid military service. If he was of eligible age, such avoidance would violate a 2024 Ukrainian law requiring men between 18 and 60 to register for service and always carry registration documents on their person. The law stated only men aged 25 to 60 remain eligible for mobilization, though Ukrainian officials also explored reforms for younger men.
The post also said one of the officials visible in the video accompanied the man's dog back to its owner's home, and that, due to the man's love of his pet, they assigned him to one of the military's canine units. The post provided no further information or evidence to support its claims, and the center had not yet respond to an emailed request for comment sent in the evening hours of March 4. ...
Yes, tiny Ukraine is fighting for its freedom against the huge Russia.
And, yes, manpower is an issue in that fight.
So, is that a reason why Pres Trump should just surrender Ukraine to Pres Putin?
What else yer current alias got?
Meanwhile ...
Robert F. Kennedy Jr Downplays Measles Vaccine as Cases Surge (March 17, 2025)
www.infectiousdiseaseadvisor.com
... A growing measles outbreak has led to 222 reported cases across Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma in 2025, with health officials urging more people to get vaccinated.
During an interview with Fox News, U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. encouraged vaccination but also made misleading statements about vaccine-induced immunity, CNN reported.
"When you and I were kids, everybody got measles, and measles gave you ... lifetime protection against measles infection. The vaccine doesn't do that. The vaccine is effective for some people for life, but for many people, it wanes," Kennedy said in the interview.
Dr. Paul Offit -- director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia who recently spoke with HealthDay about COVID -- said that if vaccine-induced immunity waned significantly, measles would not have been declared eliminated in the U.S. in 2000. ...
@#27 ... With a blank check from the US, Ukraine would never offer peace. So, it had to be done. ...
What Pres Trump is offering is surrender to Pres Putin. Nothing more, nothing less.
Ukraine has shown its willingness to fight for its freedom, with the help of weaponry made here in the US by American workers.
Why should Ukraine be forced to surrender by the Pres Putin-enabled Pres Trump?
Fun tune just popped up on a playlist here ...
August Campbell - The I-95 ------- Song (1983)
www.youtube.com
Lyrics excerpt ...
genius.com
...
Well I was driving down I-95 the other night
When somebody nearly cut me right off the road
I decided it wasn't going to do any good to get mad
So I wrote a song about him instead. It goes like this...
Were you bo-rn an -------, or did you work at it your whole life?
Either way it worked out fine, 'cause you're an ------- tonight
Yes you're an -------, and don't you try to blame it on me
You deserve all the credit, you're an ------- tonight
You were an ------- yesterday, you're an ------- tonight
And I've got a feeling, you'll be an ------- the rest of your life
And I was talking to your mother, just the other night
I told her I thought you were an -------, she said "yes, I think you're right"
...
@#6 ... becquerels ...
Had to look that one up ...
Becquerel
en.wikipedia.org
... The becquerel (/bk'rl/; symbol: Bq) is the unit of radioactivity in the International System of Units (SI). One becquerel is defined as an activity of one per second, on average, for aperiodic activity events referred to a radionuclide. For applications relating to human health this is a small quantity,[1] and SI multiples of the unit are commonly used.[2]
The becquerel is named after Henri Becquerel, who shared a Nobel Prize in Physics with Pierre and Marie Curie in 1903 for their work in discovering radioactivity.[3] ...
Thank-you. Your comment taught me something this evening.
thx.
@#24 ... After the Republicans succeed in getting the government down to the size of a baby they could drown in the bathtub, I wonder what their plans are for the baby.
Anyone know? ...
[waving arms] pick me, pick me ....
King Trump rules?
Gold Everywhere: See How Donald Trump Has Blinged Out the Oval Office
www.newsweek.com
... President Donald Trump has transformed the traditionally minimalist Oval Office into a setting that reflects his personal brand -- ornate, lavish and filled with gold flourishes. From the fireplace mantle to the side tables, the iconic space has taken on a distinctly Trumpian look, echoing the interiors of his signature Trump Tower in New York and his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
Whereas former President Joe Biden opted to spread his fewer public events around the White House grounds " from the East Room to the Rose Garden to the traditional Oval Office setting -- President Trump has been using the "Oval" as the backdrop for media availabilities and working meetings at least several times a week and sometimes hosting multiple events there a day.
And while it is not uncommon for a new president to redecorate the Oval, photos taken by the press during those events -- and compared to images from prior administrations -- suggest Trump has made some of the most extensive changes to the room's appearance in modern presidential history, adding gold vermeil figurines to the mantle, gold medallions affixed to the fireplace, gilded Rococo mirrors over the doors and gold eagles perched on side tables. ...
@#24 ... In this case the flight reversal directive occurred when the planes were over international waters. ...
That's what Pres Trump's Press Secretary said.
But Pres Trump's Press Secretary has also said that his crowd was the largest ever.
So, what to believe?
The legal issue at hand, as I understand it, and I am not a lawyer ...
The Judge issued a verbal order saying the deportation flights should return to the US.
But then, later, the Judge issues a written order, basically saying the same thing.
But, again, from what I understand, and I am not a lawyer ...
A written order from a Judge negates the verbal order from that Judge.
So, if a plane to deport people to Venezuela departs between the issuance of those two orders, the written order takes effect.
But that written order may not be effectual because the plane is already out of US airspace.
Again, I am not a lawyer.
All I try to do is make sense of all of this ....