Amazon's Ring partners with company whose tech has reportedly been used by ICE. read more
When Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers stormed through Santa Ana, California, in June, panicked calls flooded into the city's emergency response system. Recordings of those calls, obtained by ProPublica, captured some of the terror residents felt as they watched masked men ambush people and force them into unmarked cars. In some cases, the men wore plain clothes and refused to identify themselves. There was no way to confirm whether they were immigration agents or imposters. In six of the calls to Santa Ana police, residents described what they were seeing as kidnappings. "He's bleeding," one caller said about a person he saw yanked from a car wash lot and beaten. "They dumped him into a white van. It doesn't say ICE." read more
I tried posting a new thread, but the posting seems to have been denied. First time for me. What's going on?
Kiki Dee Band - I've Got The Music In Me
What music to you have inb you?
Former President Joe Biden issued a statement on Monday in reaction to freed Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, offering President Donald Trump and his administration praise for their "work to get a renewed ceasefire deal over the finish line."
Another, non-pay-wall, view ...
Advice to feed babies peanuts early and often helped 60,000 kids avoid allergies, study finds
apnews.com
... A decade after a landmark study proved that feeding peanut products to young babies could prevent development of life-threatening allergies, new research finds the change has made a big difference in the real world.
About 60,000 children have avoided developing peanut allergies after guidance first issued in 2015 upended medical practice by recommending introducing the allergen to infants starting as early as 4 months.
"That's a remarkable thing, right?" said Dr. David Hill, an allergist and researcher at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, and author of a study published Monday in the medical journal Pediatrics. Hill and colleagues analyzed electronic health records from dozens of pediatric practices to track diagnoses of food allergies in young children before, during and after the guidelines were issued.
"I can actually come to you today and say there are less kids with food allergy today than there would have been if we hadn't implemented this public health effort," he added.
The researchers found that peanut allergies in children ages 0 to 3 declined by more than 27% after guidance for high-risk kids was first issued in 2015 and by more than 40% after the recommendations were expanded in 2017. ...
... the Miami Herald ...
Yeah, the Miami Herald journalists have published some great reporting on this issue ...
For example ...
How a future Trump Cabinet member gave a serial sex abuser the deal of a lifetime (2018)
www.miamiherald.com
... On a muggy October morning in 2007, Miami's top federal prosecutor, Alexander Acosta, had a breakfast appointment with a former colleague, Washington, D.C., attorney Jay Lefkowitz. It was an unusual meeting for the then-38-year-old prosecutor, a rising Republican star who had served in several White House posts before being named U.S. attorney in Miami by President George W. Bush. Instead of meeting at the prosecutor's Miami headquarters, the two men -- both with professional roots in the prestigious Washington law firm of Kirkland & Ellis -- convened at the Marriott in West Palm Beach, about 70 miles away.
For Lefkowitz, 44, a U.S. special envoy to North Korea and corporate lawyer, the meeting was critical.
His client, Palm Beach multimillionaire Jeffrey Epstein, 54, was accused of assembling a large, cult-like network of underage girls -- with the help of young female recruiters -- to coerce into having sex acts behind the walls of his opulent waterfront mansion as often as three times a day, the Town of Palm Beach police found.
The eccentric hedge fund manager, whose friends included former President Bill Clinton, Donald Trump and Prince Andrew, was also suspected of trafficking minor girls, often from overseas, for sex parties at his other homes in Manhattan, New Mexico and the Caribbean, FBI and court records show. ...
@#17 ... Her husband is over twice her age ...
I'm not sure of that yet ...
Karoline Leavitt
en.wikipedia.org
... She later described herself as the "token conservative" on campus, and her writings reflected a conservative viewpoint.[6] Following the first inauguration of Donald Trump, Leavitt praised the "peaceful transfer of power" in the United States. In an opinion piece for the Crier in 2016, she stated that the media was "frankly crooked" and "unjust, unfair, and sometimes just plain old false".[10] Leavitt graduated in 2019, becoming the first person in her immediate family to graduate from college.[11] ...
OK, so she seems to hate the media.
That aside, let's move on ...
More from Wikipedia ...
... In July 2021, Leavitt announced her campaign for the United States House of Representatives election for New Hampshire's first congressional district. She established herself as a pro-Trump candidate. Leavitt won the Republican primary, though she lost to Democratic incumbent Chris Pappas. She served as a spokeswoman for MAGA Inc., Trump's super PAC, and became the press secretary for his 2024 presidential campaign. ...
OK, so voters did not seem to want her to represent them.
More from Wikipedia ...
... Leavitt has stated that she believed Trump was the legitimate winner of the 2020 presidential election and that "irregularities and chaos" occurred as a result of precautions against the COVID-19 pandemic, but that Joe Biden was certified in the Electoral College vote count. She denounced the January 6 Capitol attack, though she does not believe that Trump incited the attack.[45] According to The Washington Post in March 2025, Leavitt privately believed that Trump lost the election.[10] Tweets posted by Leavitt after the attack praised Vice President Mike Pence, who refused to certify the fake electors provided by Trump, and Eugene Goodman, a Capitol Police officer who led rioters away from the Senate chamber.[46] ...
Oh dear, my guess is that those comments may have raised some concerns during her interview for her current position.
@#10 ... It is. I think Sorkin only wrote the first 4 seasons?...
That is my understanding as well.
But the characters were so well developed that the subsequent writers could carry them forward.
An interesting tidbit ...
Lawrence O'Donnell
en.wikipedia.org
... Lawrence Francis O'Donnell Jr. (born November 7, 1951)[1] is an American television anchor, actor, author, screenwriter, liberal political commentator, and host of The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell, an MSNBC opinion and news program that airs on weeknights.[2]
He was a writer and producer for the NBC series The West Wing (playing the role of President Bartlet's father in flashbacks) ...
... and, fwiw ...
Gaza war hostage crisis
en.wikipedia.org
...As part of the October 7 attacks which initiated the Gaza war, Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups abducted 251 people from Israel to the Gaza Strip,[2][3][4] including children,[5] women, and elderly people.[6][7]
Almost half of the hostages were foreign nationals or had multiple citizenships,[8] and some hostages were Negev Bedouins.[9] The captives were likely held in different locations in the Gaza Strip.[10]
168 hostages were returned alive to Israel, with 105 released in the 2023 Gaza war ceasefire, five released by Hamas outside the framework of any ceasefire agreement, eight rescued by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), 30 released during the January 2025 Gaza war ceasefire[11][12][13] and 20 released under the Gaza peace plan.
The bodies of 70 hostages were repatriated to Israel, with three of the hostages killed by friendly fire after escaping captivity and being mistaken for enemy fighters by IDF troops,[14][15] the bodies of 47 other hostages repatriated through military operations,[a][16][17] eight returned in the January 2025 prisoner exchange deal and 12 returned under the Gaza peace plan.[18]
According to Israel, 75 hostages were killed on 7 October 2023 or in Hamas captivity.[a][19][20][21] As of 18 October 2025, the bodies of 16 hostages are still being held in the Gaza Strip.[22] ...
Sometimes I have to wonder if Pres Trump's MAGA supporters even realize what Pres Trump's policies are doing to them.
They seem to me to be so swept up in the adulation of Pres Trump that they don't even understand how Pres Trump may be undermining them for the benefit of the uber-wealthy.
Silverchair - Abuse Me (1997)
www.youtube.com
Lyrics excerpt ...
...
[Verse 1]
Need to ask a question
Calling out my name
Nothing seems to bother
Wish I had a clue
[Pre-Chorus]
C'mon - abuse me more, I like it
[Verse 2]
Well, I don't think you like me
Well, I hate you as well
No one seems to like you
Wish I couldn't tell
[Chorus]
C'mon - abuse me more, I like it
C'mon - keep talking, 'cause it's true
C'mon - abuse me more, I like it
C'mon - keep talking, 'cause it's true
...
@#34
Paula Cole - Where Have All The Cowboys Gone (1996)
www.youtube.com
Lyrics excerpt...
...[Verse 1]
Oh, you get me ready
In your '56 Chevy
Why don't we go sit down in the shade?
Take shelter on my front porch
The dandelion sun scorched
Would you like a glass of cold lemonade?
[Pre-Chorus]
I will do the laundry
If you pay all the bills
[Chorus]
Where is my John Wayne?
Where is my prairie song?
Where is my happy ending?
Where have all the cowboys gone?
[Verse 2]
Why don't you stay the evening?
Kick back and watch the TV
And I'll fix a little something to eat
Oh, I know your back hurts
From working on the tractor
How do you take your coffee, my sweet?
[Pre-Chorus]
I will raise the children
If you pay all the bills
[Chorus]
Where is my John Wayne?
Where is my prairie song?
Where is my happy ending?
Where have all the cowboys gone?
...
@#6 ... As usual, the problem is between the chair and the keyboard. ...
Yup.
:)
(thx to RCade for the explanation in #5)