Six young children at a Lubbock, Texas, day care center have tested positive for measles -- a dreaded scenario with the potential to accelerate an already out-of-control outbreak that has spread to at least two other states. On Friday, the Texas Department of State Health Services said the toll rose to 481 confirmed cases, a 14% jump over last week.
President Trump's tariff revolution is rooted in a simple thesis: America has been humiliated and exploited by foreign nations for decades, and only he has the guts to make them pay. Why it matters: Trump's personal victim complex has powered much of its political career. Now it's going global -- with the entire world, not just Trump's domestic enemies, feeling the weight of retribution.
The National Weather Service is sounding the alarm over "potentially historic" rainfall hitting the South and Midwest this weekend, posing a threat to millions. The relentless storms have claimed several lives and threaten "baseball-sized hail" and high-speed tornaedoes. The NWS warned: "This flooding event will be a marathon -- not a sprint."
R.E.M. is turning 45 years old this Saturday, which is a perfect time to take a trip to its hometown.
The Department of Health and Human Services cut $2 billion from a program that supports vaccines for vulnerable children, forcing public health departments to lay off staff and cancel clinics. read more
@#16 ... NOAA is predicting another above average hurricane season ...
NOAA doesn't usually come out with their hurricane forecasts until May of the year.
To wit....
NOAA forecasts extraordinarily busy Atlantic hurricane season
www.axios.com
These preliminary forecasts seem to be non-NOAA.
First Major 2025 Hurricane Season Outlook Released: Slightly Above Average Activity Expected
weather.com
... The team at Colorado State University said the season will be somewhat more busy than average due to the lack of El Nio. ...
OK, if I may continue ...
What to Know About Trump's Tariff Authority, Its Cost, and What Comes Next
www.cfr.org
... On April 2, U.S. President Donald Trump announced the most sweeping new tariffs on all imports to the United States in decades. He ordered a baseline 10 percent tariff on all countries and even higher rates on dozens of trading partners, including China and Vietnam, and the European Union. The president also declared a national emergency, granting him special powers to enact the tariffs to "strengthen the international economic position of the United States and protect American workers."
The move spurred reactions from both markets and U.S. trading partners. This resource guide from CFR experts assesses the major issues under debate.
Can Trump Do This? Presidential Authority and the Role of Congress
"The Constitution could not be clearer that regulating foreign commerce rests in the hands of Congress; Trump's use of emergency authorities to set punishing tariffs is an egregious violation of the constitutional separation of powers," CFR expert Edward Alden wrote for Foreign Policy.
"If the United States remains a functioning democracy -- an increasingly big if -- then Trump's actions will not stand. The courts may strike some or all of it down, although the weeks and months these court cases could take would wreak economic havoc in much of the world." ...
@#13 ... Hyping up weather events to get ratings is nothing new, but it really seems to be over the top now ...
Maybe the reason it seems to be over the top now is because it is over the top now?
2024: An active year of U.S. billion-dollar weather and climate disasters (January 2025)
www.climate.gov
... NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) has updated its 2024 Billion-dollar disaster analysis. In 2024, there were 27 individual weather and climate disasters with at least $1 billion in damages, trailing only the record-setting 28 events analyzed in 2023. These disasters caused at least 568 direct or indirect fatalities, which is the eighth-highest for these billion-dollar disasters over the last 45 years (1980-2024). The cost was approximately $182.7 billion.
This total places 2024 as the fourth-costliest on record, trailing 2017 ($395.9 billion), 2005 ($268.5 billion) and 2022 ($183.6 billion). Adding the 27 events of 2024 to the record that begins in 1980, the U.S. has sustained 403 weather and climate disasters for which the individual damage costs reached or exceeded $1 billion. The cumulative cost for these 403 events exceeds $2.915 trillion.
Before presenting the analysis of 2024, here are a few notes for additional context. This research is a quantification of the weather and climate disasters that in 2024 led to more than $1 billion in collective damages for each event, and all prior-year cost estimates are adjusted for inflation to 2024 dollars using the Consumer Price Index. Additionally, these cost totals for 2024 are based on analysis through January 10th, 2025, and may rise an additional several billion dollars, as new data become available.
This analysis is conservative, as it excludes events with less than $1 billion in damages in 2024 dollars.
However, it does include 57 events since 1980 that were originally below the billion-dollar threshold but are now above $1 billion in 2024 dollars. ...
Of couse, I suspect you may congradulate the Trump admin for suppressing (via layoffs) that sort of data in the fute?
Interesting local article ...
Why Chuck Schumer Should Fear the Election of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
www.gothamgazette.com
... Pay heed Chuck Schumer. The base is coming for you.
And for good reason. The Democratic establishment is historically unpopular. And there is no exception even in deep blue New York.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's resounding defeat of Rep. Joe Crowley, the so-called King of the Queens machine, makes clear that establishment Democrats need to wake up. The election of an overnight socialist sensation was a clear demonstration that the groundswell of grassroots progressive activism in New York has moved from street protests to the voting booth.
Ever since Democrats lost to the least qualified presidential candidate in the history of the republic in 2016, there has been a growing repulsion with the status quo on the left across the country generally and in New York City specifically. ...
@#12 ... archive.is ...
Your current seems to enjoy posting links to that website.
But, when I click on those links, I see ...
... Unable to connect ...
So then my next question might be, why the multiple postings of site links that seem to have secutiry issuesz?
I found this ...
archive.today
en.wikipedia.org
... archive.today (formerly archive.is) is a web archiving website founded in 2012 that saves snapshots on demand, and has support for JavaScript-heavy sites such as Google Maps and X.[3] archive.today records two snapshots: one replicates the original webpage including any functional live links; the other is a screenshot of the page.[4] ...
OK, I have to ask, why does archive.is seem to raise security concerns here?
Especially since an apparent trolling alias seems to proffer that URL so much?
Am I the only one who sees red flare security flags being raised here?
@#1 ... The BRIC program was yet another example of a wasteful and ineffective FEMA program ...
Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities
www.fema.gov
... The Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program supports states, local and territorial governments and Tribal Nations as they work to reduce their hazard risk. ...
So ... helping Floridians to protects themselves against hurricanes is now A Bad Thing?
And, fwiw, as I live here in Connecticut, I have zero, ZERO, issues with the federal government helping Floridians protect themselves against hurricanes.
Here's what to know about Saturday's Hands Off!' anti-Trump protests
thehill.com
... The protesters have three main demands:
an end to the "billionaire takeover and rampant corruption" of the Trump administration;
an end to cuts in federal funding for Social Security, Medicare and other programs that working people rely on;
and an end to attacks on immigrants, trans people and other communities. ...
@#5 ... He's too busy this weekend stuffing Saudi cash into his bank account anyway.
Yup.
Instead of caring about working families who see their IRA's tumble, and not saying a word of encouragement to those folk, Pres Trump seems to be enjoying golf.
Why doesn't Pres Trump seem to care about the suffering that his administration is fostering upon Americans?