Afghans who fled the Taliban, including some who helped the U.S. military during America's 20-year war there, are facing the risk of deportation as the Trump administration moves to end legal protections for them.
'Tight correlation' between premium rises and counties deemed most at risk from climate crisis, experts say read more
Researchers in the United States are seeking career opportunities abroad as President Donald Trump's administration slashes science funding and workforce numbers, finds an analysis of Nature's jobs-board data. read more
Typhoid fever might be rare in developed countries, but this ancient threat, thought to have been around for millennia, is still very much a danger in our modern world. read more
Trump receives his best marks on border security, as a 55% majority approves. That's the only issue where his ratings are in positive territory. On immigration, a record high of 47% approve of Trump (48% disapprove), while a new low of 38% approve on the economy (56% disapprove). His worst ratings are on inflation (33% approve, 59% disapprove), followed by tariffs (33%-58%), foreign policy (40%-54%), taxes (38%-53%), and guns (41%-44%).
... What appeared at first glance to Barnard College employees to be a fake text scheme inquiring whether they were Jewish was confirmed Wednesday by school administrators as a legitimate government text message. ...
September 26, 2016 - Issue: Vol. 162, No. 145 -- Daily Edition (2016)
www.congress.gov
... Mr. REID. Madam President, virtually every time Donald Trump says or does something discriminatory -- and that is often -- the media relies upon a catalog of buzzwords to describe his actions. The press uses words like hateful, intolerant, bigot, extremist, prejudice, to name but a few. Yet there is always one word that many of the press conspicuously avoid: Racist. They never label Trump as a racist, but he is a racist.
Donald Trump is a racist.
``Racist'' is a term I don't really like.
We have all, with rare exception -- I don't know who it would be -- said things that are not politically correct, but I don't know of anyone, when that happens, who doesn't acknowledge it and, if necessary, apologizes quickly, but Donald Trump doesn't believe the racist things he does and says are wrong. He says them with the full intent to demean and to denigrate.
That is who he is.
Each time Trump is given a chance to apologize and make amends, he refuses, and then he doubles down on what he said before.
The media is not holding Donald Trump accountable at all. He is not being held accountable. ...
Trump has even had a secret system for discriminatory practices. As the Washington Post reported:
Trump employees have secretly marked the applications of minorities with codes, such as `No. 9' and `C' for colored. .
. . The employees allegedly directed blacks and Puerto Ricans away from buildings with mostly white tenants and steered them toward properties that had many minorities.
In the 1980s, Trump took his racism to Atlantic City. This is Donald Trump at his best. He cheated, coerced, filed bankruptcy, did anything he could to cheat people out of money.
In the process, his racism came to the forefront in Atlantic City. Trump was accused of making his African-American employees move off the casino floor when he didn't want to see them, which was any time he came to the casino. One employee, Kip Brown, said:
When Donald and Ivana came to the casino, the bosses would order all the black people off the floor. It was the eighties, I was a teenager, but I remember it: they put us all in the back.
Trump was later fined $200,000 by the New Jersey Casino Control Commission for that act of disgusting racism. ...
Article by Vladimir Putin "On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians" (2021)
web.archive.org
... During the recent Direct Line, when I was asked about Russian-Ukrainian relations, I said that Russians and Ukrainians were one people -- a single whole. ...
@#31 ... Russia should not have been provoked into invading. ...
Pres Putin had a choice.
He chose to do an unprovoked invasion of a sovereign country.
"There is no Ukraine": Fact-Checking the Kremlin's Version of Ukrainian History (2020)
blogs.lse.ac.uk
... The notion that Ukraine is not a country, but a historical part of Russia, appears to be deeply ingrained in the minds of Russian leadership. ...
@#15 ... It's like someone thinking the inheritance tax needs to have a lower cap... but Grantor Remainder Annuity Trusts are okay. ...
There you go again ... inserting facts into a thread. :)
Using a GRAT for tax-efficient wealth transfer
www.fidelity.com
...
Key takeaways
- - - For families or individuals who own assets that they expect to appreciate significantly in value, a grantor retained annuity trust (GRAT) might be an appropriate option to consider as part of a comprehensive estate plan.
- - - With a GRAT, the grantor gives up control of the assets for the term of the trust while receiving a regular annuity payment, and the appreciation on the trust assets may pass to heirs free of gift or estate taxes.
- - - The trust can be structured so that the grantor does not use any of their lifetime gift and estate-tax exclusion....
@#14 ... EV's are a niche vehicle. In the right set of circumstances they work fine for the consumer. ...
I agree.
But Tesla seems to have created a company based upon those niche vehicles.
And, EVs are getting better.
CATL is introducing a new fast charging technology.
A 5-minute charge to go 320 miles. Chinese EV battery giant CATL says its tech is even better than Tesla-killer BYD's
finance.yahoo.com
... China's Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL), the world's largest producer of electric vehicle batteries, has unveiled an upgraded battery it says promises an even longer range than rival BYD's cutting-edge technology.
Both tech giants now boast they have batteries that can charge EVs in as little as five minutes. But on Monday, CATL upped the ante by announcing that its new Shenxing battery has a range of 320 miles, about 70 miles longer than BYD's stated range of 250 miles. By comparison, Tesla's Superchargers lag way behind by delivering 200 miles of range in a 15-minute charge. ...
Like the early autos that replaced horse buggies back in the day, EVs are improving.
One aspect I wonder about ...
With the scientific brain drain in the US that Pres Trump's policies seem to be encouraging, will the US EV manufacturers be able to keep up?
And, as an aside, may the DoJ should investigate a President blatantly profiting off his occupancy of the Oval Office?
For starters, there was that chimerical, shot on White House grounds, for Tesla vehicles a few weeks ago.
And now ...
Trump store is selling Trump 2028' hats
thehill.com
... The Trump Organization rolled out "Trump 2028" hats on its website in support of President Trump's suggestion that he could seek a third term in office.
Eric Trump, one of the president's sons, was spotted wearing the new piece of merchandise being sold for $50 online. The store is also selling t-shirts with the same phrase and a slogan in parenthesis that says "Rewrite the Rules." ...
@#20 ... They don't even have self-driving software ready to go. ...
And Mr Musk's approach seem to be to reduce the specifications for self-driving software to make it easier to get lower-performing self-driving software approved.
US agency eases some self-driving safety rules, sending Tesla stock soaring
finance.yahoo.com
@#16 ... It's not a tech company. ...
Bingo!
Tesla is an automobile manufacturer.
And the sales plunged worldwide beside the CEO of Tesla has been on a different mission than assuring Tesla sales and profits for the past few months.
I am tempted to say, "secondarily" here, but I won't....
And Tesla now seems to have another problem ...
The CEO of Tesla is now associated with the far-right political parties in Europe and the United States.
That association may affect Tesla's prior core customer base, left-leaning people.
To the point that a few left-leaning individuals express their viewpoint in illegal ways, e.g. defacing Teslas.
Then I see articles like these ...
BYD's quarterly profit surges at fastest pace in nearly two years
www.reuters.com
... BYD's first-quarter profit leapt 100.4% from a year earlier, the fastest pace in nearly two years, as the Chinese electric vehicle giant extends its lead in its competitive home market after launching a smart EV price war. ...
--- and ---
BYD Earnings: Net Income Doubles, Racing Past Tesla In Latest Milestone
www.investors.com
... The actual net income easily topped Tesla's adjusted net income of $934 million. Tesla had long held a huge profitability edge over BYD, but that gap narrowed considerably in recent years. Tesla's net income was 388% larger than BYD's in 2022, 161% in 2023 and 53% last year.
It's notable that BYD passed Tesla on this key metric in the seasonally weak first quarter for Chinese EV sales. ...
BYD passed Tesla in revenue in Q3 and fully battery electric vehicles (BEVs) in Q4. It's been the overall EV leader, including plug-in hybrids, for more than two years.
Late Tuesday, Tesla reported Q1 EPS dived 40% vs. a year earlier, far below lowered views. Revenue declined 9% to $19.3 billion. Core automotive margins excluding regulatory credits hit their lowest level since 2012. Excluding regulatory credits, Tesla had an operating loss. ...
@#84 ... if nothing else, you do put in the hours trying to spin ...
OK, the first reply (and only 11 minutes later... hover much? That raises other questions, but for now I'll pass)
That first reply looks like little more than an ad hominem attack and a deflection attempt.