www.aol.com - Who are the trainers for Kentucky Derby 2026? Bob Baffert to Brad Cox

** FD: I am not a gambler, and have never bet on horses or sporting events.
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www.propel.app - A complete list of restaurants that accept EBT - Updated February 4th, 2026

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You know what would happen if hot food qualified?
People would eat a lot more fast food out of convenience.
Ten dollars of food from a grocery store goes a lot further than from a fast food restaurant.

You want government regulating "convenience"? How about prohibiting or taxing sugary drinks? You sound like good ol' "woke" Democrats!

Do you want FDA making budgets for people because they, being poor enough to need food stamps, don't understand concepts of "cheaper" and "more expensive," like our illustrious Builder-in-Chief who overpaid for everything he bought and bankrupted at least 20 of his own businesses, not to mention those who financed or contracted with him because he failed to pay them?

SOME people will always find ways to abuse the system. You either trust that people will be responsible with their budget, if money comes from taxpayers or not, or you don't. If you don't then the program is not worth doing to begin with.

If the program is worthwhile, MOST people who will benefit from it will not abuse it, out of "convenience."

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This hot/cold debate sounds inconsistent on the surface but it really isn't if you look at the big picture.

It is very inconsistent. Hot (aka "prepared") "fast food" is not that much different from cold "prepared" "fast food" such as sandwiches at Subway, Jersey Mike's, 7-Eleven or in prepared / packaged food sections in most chains of grocery stores, like Kroger, Albertson, Walmart, Costco etc.

Fast food is not necessarily "junk" food, and some would endlessly argue about what "healthy" food is.

Unless you want to go back to "government cheese" time of government doling out and distributing food (through third-party contracts with farmers and processed shelf-stable food companies) you are not going to control what people are buying with their EBT / food stamps.

Nor, as a likely proponent of limited, less controlling and intrusive in people's lives, government, you should be a supporter of the government that regulates minutia of temperature of food that poor people eat.
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2paragraphs.com - Ex-GOP Congressman Says "Something Sinister" Is Going On Between Trump and Putin

|------- Adam Kinzinger said: "Trump, after having a 90 min phone call with Putin, puts out a truth social that he is considering withdrawing all troops from Germany. Something sinister is going on between them. It's time for 'concerned' Republicans to speak out."
-------|

According to AP: "... U.S. defense official... said the branches of the U.S. military didn't have prior knowledge of the decision [announced on Truth Social] to draw down the 5,000 troops and learned about it 'in real time.' " ...

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More of recent Trum/Putin and their attempts to rehab Putin with the US and/or the West (Reverse Kissinger):

1. Trump's State Dept is preparing to officially invite Putin to G20 summit in Miami (though Trump coyly said he wants "to invite Putin but doubts he will come" while Putin's FM coyly said "G20 is very important").

2. There were plans for Putin's proposal inviting Trump to Russia's WWII Victory Day parade on May 9 as a sign and possible announcement of thawing relations between US and Russia, as well as a one-day unilateral "ceasefire" with Ukraine, but due to military shortages and fears of UA drone attacks, both Moscow's annual military parade and the guest list (that had 29 heads of state last year including China's Xi and Brazil's Lula, but conspicuously absent India's Modi), were "downsized" and it became obvious that inviting Trump would not a good look at this time, so it was scrapped during their 90-minute conversation.

Victory Day is on of the most important holidays in Russia, and Putin tied the war in Ukraine to the Soviet Union's (not Allies) victory over Nazi Germany, as part of a broader historical struggle against "Nazism."

As Europe and Asia (Japan, Korea etc.) are taking more active financial and military role in Ukraine's defense, along with advanced homegrown industry (UA's Sting interceptor drones took down over 32,000 Russian drones in March alone), they look visibly less and less to the US (Trump) for solutions... and that's not good long term for the US:
kyivindependent.com - How Zelensky ran out of patience with Trump " and what it means for US-Ukraine relations - 2026-04-30

|------- In just two months, President Volodymyr Zelensky shifted from being the first world leader to back a U.S. military operation in the Middle East to openly criticizing Washington's foreign policy. ...

... In Ukrainian, there is a phrase often translated as "nerves of steel," and many in Kyiv use it when describing Zelensky's approach to dealing with U.S. President Donald Trump.

For months, that approach meant restraint. ... But recent months have shown a noticeable shift. ...

"It's disrespectful to come to Moscow and not Kyiv, it's just disrespectful," he said on April 20.

Zelensky also criticized U.S. Vice President JD Vance for praising the halt of American military aid to Ukraine, saying the stance benefits Russia and weakens the United States. ...
-------|

TrumPutin is actively pursuing "Russia First" and "America Alone" policies. No one cares [to guess] what he thinks anymore, because he himself doesn't know and just keyfabes it day-to-day, so as much as possible they cut him (and the US) out of the loop on foreign and trade relationships.

He doesn't have "all the cards" but he has quite enough of them to seriously damage the US for a long time.
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spectrumnews1.com - A record 67 Black lawmakers serving in 119th Congress - 2025-01-09

|------- The 119th Congress includes the most Black lawmakers in American history.
The 67 total Black members of Congress in 2025 include 62 Democrats and five Republicans.
The five Republicans serving on Capitol Hill ... represent the most since Reconstruction. ...
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So 12.5% of Congress, 15.2% of the House - quite representative, a record, the most in history...

But...

www.nytimes.com - Every Black Republican Is Leaving the House, Erasing Diversity Gains - NYT, 2026-04-27
All four Black House Republicans are retiring after this year...

But then...

www.aol.com - GOP Chipping Away As The Tide Shifts On Black Voter Loyalty - 2026-05-01

|------- During this same point in his first term, Trump held a 12% approval rating among African Americans.
That figure has now risen to 16%. While Enten noted that the President has lost ground with several other demographics, Black voters represent a specific area of growth for the GOP. ... The data becomes even more stark when looking at party identification margins. In the early stages of Trump's first term, Democrats enjoyed a massive 63-point advantage in party ID among Black voters. That lead has since seen a double-digit shift of 12 points toward the Republican Party...
-------|

This shift is not about Trump - it's Dem "progressives elites" and DEI policies choosing winners pushing "normies" out.

So be careful what you wish for, and adapt to the times, don't live in the past.
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www.sgdsn.gouv.fr - Matryoshka Network (PDF, 16 pg)

It's been very much in Russia's interest to separate Israel and Ukraine from the US and the West.

In other, real UA and IL news:

* At the request of Mohammed bin Zayed Israel provided Iron Dome and 48 specialists to operate it to UAE in early days of Iran op "Roaring Lion," and IAF took out Iran's southern installations and launchers of short-range missiles that would threaten UAE.


* India is now considering Israel a strategic partner, not just as-needed supplier of radars and other military equipment. Modi reaffirmed continuing cooperation with IMEC and I2U2 on his 2-day visit to Israel and ME, he was the first Indian PM to address the Knesset, as Israel stood by and provided support to India during 2025 operation Sindoor:
rohanvenkat.substack.com - Interview: Why Modi went to Israel, India's coordination with UAE and more - 2026-03-16

indiawrites.org - Modi's Israel journey - 2026-02-24


* Japanese drone maker, in cooperation with Ukrainian partner, has developed a cheaper, lighter interceptor drone, which has already been deployed in active combat.
www.japantimes.co.jp - Japan's Terra Drone expands investment in Ukraine drone sector - 2026-04-29
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www.npr.org - Chinese crypto businessman eats his controversial $6.2 million banana art piece - November 29, 2024

By market cap, $TRON is now 8th largest token project worth $30B, USD1 stablecoin is 22nd at $4.4B, $WLFI token ($0.073) is 37th at $2.3B.

Sun is now suing WLFI in California federal court for secret shenanigans that effectively had frozen his token holdings making them impossible to trade, and earlier this month he alleged that World Liberty had secretly embedded what he described as a "backdoor blacklisting function" in the blockchain-based contracts used for the tokens. That gave World Liberty "unilateral power" to "freeze, restrict, and effectively confiscate the property rights" of token holders without cause or recourse. He also complained that WLFI threatened to "burn" his tokens if he didn't go along with new bylaws.

According to lawsuit, Sun claims that WLFI "refused my requests to unfreeze my tokens and restore my rights as a token holder" and also that in early 2025 WLFI "repeatedly pressured" him to invest additional capital in the venture between April and July 2025, including requests to commit another $200m to acquire their stablecoin and an equity stake in the company.

"Lie down with dogs, get up with flees" - that's the Trumpy way.
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s.yimg.com - Trump Media Loses Meme-Like Luster at 90% drop
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Trying to conflate a few of the countries that are at or near the top of dubious "World Happiness Index" (based on unweighted, unadjusted and problematic, to put it mildly, criteria and methodology) with "socialism" because some of them have government with a majority party calling themselves "social democrats" is just a poor excuse for bad propaganda against 'MuriKKKa':
en.wikipedia.org - Agitprop

Not that the US doesn't have problems - especially with corrupt "like we've never seen before" Trump attempting idiotic Putin-influenced "Reverse Perestroika" ( media.rabobank.com - Trump's-Reverse-Perestroika ) simultaneously with idiotic Putin-influenced "Reverse Kissinger" - but more "socialism" is the opposite of the cure for what ails it.
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Trying to conflate a few of the countries that are at or near the top of "World Happiness Index" (based on unweighted, unadjusted and problematic, to put it mildly, criteria and methodology) with "socialism" because some of them have government with a majority party calling themselves "democratic socialists" is just a poor excuse for bad propaganda against 'MuriKKKa':
en.wikipedia.org - Agitprop

Not that the US doesn't have problems - especially with corrupt "like we've never seen before" Trump attempting idiotic Putin-influenced "Reverse Perestroika" ( media.rabobank.com - Trump's-Reverse-Perestroika ) simultaneously with idiotic Putin-influenced "Reverse Kissinger" - but more "socialism" is the opposite of the cure for what ails it.
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** Not going to rehash the usual "counter-arguments" on this board - has been done to no avail. But if you view the issues of either Israel or Ukraine same as Putin's troll Effeteposer, you suffer from bizarre cognitive dissonance and should know where and how these propaganda memes have started and continued ever since:
en.wikipedia.org - Agitprop

For example, ridiculous 'apartheid' meme started by KGB after Soviet Union lost 4 major proxy wars against Israel since Day 1 of its existence, and was picked up by the left, including some in Israel.

www.researchgate.net - THE KGB AND ANTI-ISRAEL PROPAGANDA OPERATIONS - 2019

www.meforum.org - Israel and the Great Powers: The Unsung Cold War Role - 2020

Not surprisingly, anti-Israel contingent on this site is about the same as those enamored by "socialism" and, in the light of fall of Soviet Union and failed socialist states worldwide, they are trying to redefine and rebrand "socialism" as prosperous ("free and universal" healthcare and other goodies which in reality are neither "free" nor "universal" in access, as not an "all you can eat" system, as CHS in Canada, NHS in UK and several other European countries has shown) and "happy" - based on clearly faulty, inconsistent or made up criteria, like "Cantrill ladder"-based lists of "World Happiness Index" - just so some countries at the top of such surveys could be branded "socialist" and that few selected policies necessary for nations to be 'happy.'



There is no cure for docta ignorantia ("learned ignorance"), when facts are ignored, dismissed, and drowned out by constant [social media] reinforcement of confirmation bias and ressentiment.
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Abridge is just one of many vertical healthcare software companies known as "ambient AI" - they integrate various client-facing "AI" processes with the usual back office software functions, like automated scheduling, billing, organizing data and analytics : www.heidihealth.com - What is Ambient AI? Ultimate Guide for Clinicians

|------- ... 5 of the Best Ambient AI Tools for Doctors
Healthcare professionals prioritize patient care quality above anything else. To foster relationships with patients, ambient AI tools lessen their workload by listening in the background and taking in clinical information. Thinking broadly, the "always on" concept of ambient AI provides a wide range of use cases in healthcare, including:

1. Ambient AI Transcription and Dictation
Medical transcription is the first and major feature common among ambient AI providers. Hospitals and clinics can now easily reduce human error in documentation by using ambient AI scribes.

An ambient AI scribe, such as Heidi, offers live transcription of patient conversations, capturing speech word-by-word. This transcript is visible in a panel, and Heidi's AI-enabled note generation streamlines your workflow even further. ...

4. Automated AI Billing & Insurance ...

5. Ambient AI Practice Management
The future of ambient AI in clinics will handle everything from appointment scheduling to staff coordination and logistics. It will take care of smart staff shifting and recommend available slots with data from clinicians' AI-assisted notes.

Heidi Comms automates routine phone calls like follow-ups and appointment confirmations so physicians can focus on patients. ...
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Part 1 covers what you described in your #1 post:
~will you allow AI to record your conversations with the PCP so that the PCP does not have to spend time typing in your responses?~

My response was:
It's a basic speech-to-text, which is now on almost every phone or most devices with microphone. It's been available for quite a while and used to produce transcripts in medical and other industries to save time and/or labor, and has nothing to do with AI.

Some of your records will be processed by computer software, with or without the help of "AI", for billing, insurance and, if needed, provide assistance in diagnosis, course of action, etc.

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Not everything that glitters is gold; not everything that today's marketing people call "AI" is actually AI.

Some articles that could be interesting for you to help understand the marketing hype vs reality:

www.forbes.com - What 'The Pitt' Gets Right And Wrong About Generative AI In Medicine - Forbes, 2026-02-03

www.wired.com - The Pitt Finally Offers a Stark Warning on AI in Medicine - Wired, 2026-02-19
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www.latimes.com - Trump never actually had a plan - Jonah Goldberg, LAT / Dispatch, 2026-03-31

|------- ... How could the man they've defended as a genius for so long make what is in their eyes such a monumental blunder? ...

For some ... blame lands on the Jews, or Israel... This is how Joe Kent explained it. It's Tucker Carlson's explanation too: We're in this war because Israel's prime minister "demanded it." ...

Now, I think some of these arguments are ahistorical, antisemitic, deranged nonsense (i.e. Joe Kent's fevered anti-Israel paranoia). Trump has said "no" to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu more than once, including during this war. But some claims have a patina of merit. If you buy the claim the war is a disaster, then the people around Trump have some culpability.
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Reality is quite different. Netanyahu was reluctant to involve Trump again - MBS of Saudi Arabia, seeing Iran weakened, wanted to "crush" Iran and end the longest war in human history - 14 centuries of war between Sunni and Shi'a:

www.nytimes.com - Crown Prince sees a "historic opportunity" to remake the region, according to people briefed by U.S. officials on the conversations. - 2026-03-24

|------- Prince Mohammed, the people familiar with the discussions said, has argued that Iran poses a long-term threat to the Gulf that can only be eliminated by getting rid of the government. ... -------|

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www.joemygod.com - Lindsey Graham "Giddy" About Having Coached Netanyahu On Convincing Trump To Start Bombing Iran - 2026-03-07

|------- To help make the case on Iran, Graham traveled several times to Israel in recent weeks... He spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, coaching him on how to lobby the president for action. -------|

Here's one conservative nailing what Trump is:

thedispatch.com - Trump Is Anything but Unpredictable - 2026-04-10, The Dispatch

|------- I have been advising observers not to make the mistake of overcomplicating Donald Trump...

He's a simple man whose actions are most directly and accurately described as the ordinary daily application of his vices: laziness, vindictiveness, greed, vanity, arrogance, cowardice, and, above all, stupidity. He is a rage-addled dimwit with a savantic gift for manipulating lesser fools and a vulnerability to manipulation by men who are similarly vicious but more capable: Vladimir Putin, J.D. Vance, Stephen Miller, even one or two of his idiot children. Stronger men can push him around, and weaker men succeed by flattering him. His enemies can manipulate him at least as easily as his allies.
-------|
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From www.bbc.co.uk :

|------- 30 March 2026: Israel's prime minister has said the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem will now have "full and immediate access" to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, after police earlier prevented him from celebrating Palm Sunday Mass there.

Benjamin Netanyahu said Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the head of the Catholic Church in the Holy Land, had been asked not to enter out of concern for his safety as Iran had repeatedly targeted Jerusalem's holy sites with missiles. ...

Israel's police later said it had agreed a "mutual framework" with the Latin Patriarch for Easter celebrations. ... in a later statement, released on Monday, Cardinal Pizzaballa's office said the matter had been "addressed and resolved" and expressed "sincere gratitude" to Israel's President Isaac Herzog ...
-------|

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**** Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu Rejects the Gospel of Christ for the Doctrine of Genghis Khan ****

Better take on the story : revdocgeek.com - Reflection for North Balwyn Uniting Church:

|------- April 1, 2026 by Avril Hannah-Jones

... I am grateful to the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu. I do not know if you caught it, but Mr Netanyahu recently caused quite a stir by talking about Jesus. He was paraphrasing a secular historian, William Durant, and he said, 'History proves that, unfortunately and unhappily, Jesus Christ has no advantage over Genghis Khan. Because if you are strong enough, ruthless enough, powerful enough, evil will overcome good. Aggression will overcome moderation.' ...

He was making a political point, not a theological one. ... On the other hand, maybe as he understands the world, Mr Netanyahu is right. Genghis Khan lived for some sixty-five years; Jesus for about half that. Genghis Khan died the ruler of large parts of China and Central Asia; Jesus was executed as a common criminal, put to death in a way so shameful that Cicero considered it bad taste to mention it in polite company. Genghis Khan killed millions; the Roman forces of law and order, the religious leaders of Temple Judaism, and a howling mob, all combined to kill Jesus. ...
-------|

Meanwhile, Christians celebrate in Jerusalem, Gaza and Tehran - apnews.com - April 5, 2026

And Ukraine (85% of population are Christian, more than 68% in Russia) is cooperating technologically with Israel (which donated 3 Patriots to UA in 2024) and signing agreements to provide tech and training assistance to Arab states in the Middle East to defend against Iranian / Russian drones.

www.fdd.org - Ukraine Agrees to Mutually Beneficial Defense Deals With Gulf Arab States
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According to Rossing Center en.wikipedia.org - Violence against Christians in Israel, violence (including spitting, verbal abuse and property vandalism, but no fatalities) has been increasing since October 7, 2023 and in 2025 consisted of 111 incidents, i.e., a rate of ~0.06 per 100 of Christian population, about the same rate as a year before and two years before. No hard data provided by the report on increase in violence against Jews and Muslims in the area, except noted increase in rate of violence (including fatal) against both groups in the same period from the same event.

So, another sensationalist headline based on univariable, unilateral, unremarkable report.

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#12 | Posted by Corky at 2026-04-03 08:22 PM
... the fasted growing Christian Churches in the world are... Iran.

And not far behind Iran is, unsurprisingly... another Islamic country, Afghanistan - both with less than 1% of population.

"Fastest growing" is one of the most overrated and abused univariable metrics, as it is subject to quirks of The Law of Accumulation and "The Law of Small Numbers (Kahneman, "Thinking Fast and Slow") - it's obvious that any minority religion in a country could be "growing faster" from a very small number "over decades," even despite repression.

In Sudan, however, the number of Christians is dwindling fast due to genuine genocide based on religious faith, which even UN, otherwise busy with near-daily Israel-bashing and 3 retracted false accusations of "starvation policy in Gaza," couldn't ignore:

persecution.org- Genocidal Militia Continues to Persecute Christians Across Sudan - 2025-02-11

What wasn't much in the Western media :

Massacres of Allawites (former ruler Bashar al-Assad's sect) in Syria, when new Syrian government forces and Turkish-backed militia of other tribes exacted retribution and at least 1700 were killed in just a few days.
"www.uscirf.gov AAUS Report on Violence in Syria By Community.pdf" - Report on Sectarian Violence in Syria

IDF protecting Syrian Druze population when they were targeted by Sunnis of Syrian government - www.fdd.org - "Israel is committed to preventing harm being inflicted on the Druze in Syria..." - July 2025

That's one of the reasons why Israel refused to establish diplomatic relations with new Syria government.

Lebanon was largely peaceful and "Westernized" and still has largest Christian population of any country in the ME (37%), even after a large number of Christians left the country after the PLO in Lebanon was attacking Christians and instigated Civil War (1975-1990)... and then Iran-backed Hezbollah took over and still runs the show because Lebanese army is reluctant / not capable to disarm them.
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