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Thursday, August 06, 2026

A top supervision examiner at the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau warned staff they would face "most unpleasant" consequences if they were too aggressive in their oversight of financial firms, according to an internal email reviewed by Reuters.


Wednesday, August 05, 2026

A federal judge on Tuesday "reluctantly" granted the Justice Department's move to dismiss the final remaining prosecution stemming from the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, formally vacating cases against eight members of the Oath Keepers militia group who were charged with engaging in seditious conspiracy.


Just over a hundred years ago, the Binet IQ test was developed in France and soon after, brought to the United States, where it was given to public school kids, physicians, and immigrants at Ellis Island. From the 1930s, IQ scores seemed to be inching up -- with each new generation scoring a little higher than the last. Throughout the 20th century, average intelligence scores rose by about 3 points a decade, even when researchers used different tests and metrics.


Iran said an agreement with Oman has been reached on a proposed route for shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a potential step toward a reopening of the critical waterway for energy supplies. read more


Tom DeLay, the Texas Republican who was House majority leader from 2003 to 2005, said the Federal Communications Commission has no legal authority to repeal the National Television Ownership Rule. Despite DeLay's warning, the Trump FCC appears ready to eliminate the rule at its meeting this week.


Comments

@#19 ... That's my take on it. ...

Yeah, and the MAGA trolls seem to be reveling in denigrating his win.

Pres Trump has even called into question election results.

Trump Reacts to El-Sayed Win, Calls Detroit Third World'
meidasnews.com

... President Donald Trump, reacting to the primary win of Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, attacked Michigan's Wayne County, home to Detroit, in a Truth Social post Wednesday, calling the area "one of the most corrupt voting areas in the United States" and describing it as "strictly Third World."

Trump repeated long-standing claims that the county's elections are fraudulent, alleging without evidence that more votes being cast than there are actual voters and warning of "fake mail-in ballots" ahead of November's election. ...


What might they be afraid of?

Some background ...

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
en.wikipedia.org

... The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is an independent agency of the United States government responsible for consumer protection in the financial sector. CFPB's jurisdiction includes banks, credit unions, securities firms, payday lenders, mortgage-servicing operations, foreclosure relief services, debt collectors, for-profit colleges, and other financial companies operating in the United States. ...


A data center opened next door. Then came the high-pitched whine.
www.politico.com

... Lindsay Shaw was happy when she found out a data center was going up 100 meters from her front door.

Unlike most of her neighbors, she preferred a supercomputing hub to a shopping mall, which might bring a crush of car traffic. She was even more pleased when she learned the data center would generate its own power -- rather than connecting to the grid and driving up her electric bills.

But then the data center turned on, along with the eight natural gas turbines powering it. Now her home is barraged by a high-pitch whine that she says has made her newly screened-in porch unusable.

"We don't want to be outside anymore," said Shaw, a cybersecurity professional living in Loudoun County, one of the densest data center hotbeds on Earth.

"A lot of people might see this as progress, like I did. But if it's impacting you then you see, Oh, that's what it means for a data center to be in your community.'" ...

[emphasis mine]

More from the article ...

... In a searing opinion in which he repeatedly cast doubt on the government's stated reasons for moving for the case's dismissal, U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta conceded he had essentially no power to deny the DOJ's motion while reaffirming his belief that their prosecutions were justified.

"This is the last of the prosecutions seeking to hold accountable those responsible for the events of January 6. That book is now closed," Mehta said. "Today's epilogue diminishes the gravity of that day, denigrates the work of the prosecutors and law enforcement officers who secured these convictions, and excuses criminal acts that caused a centuries-long pillar of our democracy -- the peaceful transfer of presidential power -- to buckle."

"The court cannot write a different ending," Mehta wrote, saying, "Reluctantly, the court grants the motion."

Mehta also noted that -- contrary to President Donald Trump's assertions that the DOJ's prosecutions of Jan. 6 defendants were an unlawful weaponization of government power -- the Justice Department made no such argument in seeking the dismissal of the Oath Keepers case.

"The government does not say that the charges were legally deficient or that the evidence presented is insufficient to sustain Defendants' convictions," Mehta said. "It confesses to no prosecutorial misconduct, nor does it assert any denial or compromise of a defendant's rights. And it does not identify any legal error that resulted in an unfair trial or a wrongful conviction (except perhaps as to the obstruction of an official proceeding counts)."

"Remarkably, then, the government does not maintain that dismissal is in the public interest to rectify a fundamental error or a grave injustice," the judge said. ...



Then there are OpEds like this ...

Is the Era of US Military Bases in the Middle East Over?
www.thenation.com

... Since the illegal war's first days, US bases have suffered extensive damage from Iranian retaliation. The losses include 18 US military deaths, dozens killed in host nations, and billions in infrastructure costs.

This damage and the limited military utility of US installations are forcing a much-needed reconsideration of the US military presence in the Middle East. A growing consensus finds that dramatic changes are needed.

The result will almost certainly be the end of the nearly half-century-long era when scores of US bases have occupied the Middle East. The sooner US leaders accept this reality and start moving the military out of the region, the safer our nation, our troops, and our world will be. ...


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