Month: April 2024

Cash In–Crap Out

It is 2024 and election looms so by crap I mean idle promises, trash talk, insulting garbage and hate speak….now to the meat of this post….

Over the weekend Biden had a good run with donations to his campaign….

President Biden’s campaign reported Saturday that it raised $90 million in March, widening his financial lead over Donald Trump. For the quarter, that lifted Biden to a total of $187 million, per the Hill. His campaign now has $192 million in cash on hand, which it said is a record high for a Democratic candidate at this point of the presidential race. Two days last month stood out: a New York City appearance with former Presidents Obama and Clinton brought in $26 million, and $10 million poured in during the 24 hours after Biden delivered his State of the Union address.

The cash gap between the Biden and Trump campaigns widened. Trump’s collected about $66 million in March and reported now having $93.1 million in cash. Biden campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez described the fundraising as historic, Politico reports, calling it “a stark contrast to Trump’s cash-strapped operation that is funneling the limited and billionaire-reliant funds it has to pay off his various legal fees.” For the quarter, the Democratic campaign said, 96% of the donations made were less than $200.

Then there was the fundraiser that Trump held overt the weekend….

ormer President Trump’s campaign said it raised $50.5 million on Saturday, reports the AP, a staggering reported haul as his campaign works to catch up to the fundraising juggernaut of President Biden and the Democratic Party. The reported haul from the event with major donors at the home in Palm Beach, Florida, of billionaire investor John Paulson sets a new single-event fundraising record and is almost double the $26 million that Biden’s campaign raised recently at a gathering with former Presidents Clinton and Obama at Radio City Music Hall. “This has been some incredible evening before it even starts because people—they wanted to contribute to a cause of making America great again, and that’s what’s happened,” Trump said to reporters as he arrived with wife Melania.

The event, billed as the “Inaugural Leadership Dinner,” sends a signal of a resurgence of Trump and the Republican Party’s fundraising, which has lagged behind Biden. Trump and the GOP announced earlier in the week that they raised more than $65.6 million in March and closed out the month with $93.1 million. Biden and the Democrats announced Saturday that they took in more than $90 million last month and had $192 million-plus on hand. Trump initially struggled to attract big donors in particular when he launched his campaign and some lined up to support the other Republicans in the primary. But as Trump racked up easy wins and became the party’s presumptive nominee, the GOP has solidified behind him.

Saturday’s high-dollar event hosted about 100 guests, including more than a few billionaires. Contributions to the event will go toward the Trump 47 Committee, a joint fundraising agreement with the Republican National Committee, state Republican parties, and Save America, a PAC that pays the bulk of Trump’s legal bills. In an unusual arrangement, the fundraising agreement directs donations to first pay the maximum allowed under law to his campaign and Save America before the RNC or state parties get a cut.

It is a shame that these high dollar slugs will not use their extra cash to help the nation’s struggling population.

So after these begging session for money nothing will change and we will get the same crap that we have been plagued with of decades.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

A ‘Push-Up Bra’ For Men

Sunday once again and trying to find something entertaining or informative or both was proving difficult….so I sat back and thought about days gone past….

You guys know that I would find something that is there but seldom thought about for any length of time.

I can remember when I got my first jock strap…..it was when I was in middle school and PE was a mandatory class.

With that memory I also started thinking about the item itself….where and when did this piece of clothing come into being?

Happy 150th birthday, dear jockstrap. How far you’ve come from your modest but mighty days of protecting the precious parts of bicycle messengers as they navigated the bumpy cobblestones of Boston. Invented for that purpose in 1874 by CF Bennett, who worked for a company now known as Bike Athletic, the strappy staple of yore has become a sex symbol of sorts with a reach well beyond athletics, per the AP. Fashion designers have fancied them up for catwalks. Kristen Stewart recently pulled on a Bike jockstrap for the cover of Rolling Stone, earning barbs from conservatives. Some athletes, both recreational and pro, still reach for one. And the jockstrap owes a debt to the gay men who’ve embraced it since the 1950s, when a hypermasculine aesthetic in gay fashion was in vogue.

Working out of Chicago, inventor Bennett set out to solve a problem in Boston for its so-called “bicycle jockeys.” In that day, “loose britches” were the norm, offering little in the way of support. From there, the jockstrap found big success as the men’s underwear industry grew. The slip-in cup came later, as the piece of fabric and elastic moved into the sports world, around the 1920s. “They’re very coquettish. They reveal, they conceal. It’s like a push-up bra,” says 53-year-old Andrew Joseph. Sean McDougle, 55, a queer nudist-naturist in upstate New York, owns about 40 jockstraps. “There’s a certain feeling of freedom,” he says. “But the look and feel is [also] just somehow really alluring.” To date, Bike Athletic has sold more than 350 million jockstraps worldwide. Tom Ford, Versace, Calvin Klein, Thom Browne, Emporio Armani, Tommy Hilfiger, and Savage X Fenty have also put out jockstraps.

“It’s evolved almost into kind of male lingerie at this point,” says Alex Angelchik, who bought Bike Athletic with other investors in 2019. “From the ’70s through today, it became kind of a cult favorite within the gay community, and expanded to the metrosexual urban community.” Today, about 70% of Bike’s customers are gay men, he says. The variations of jockstraps today are endless, says Timoteo Ocampo, a Los Angeles-based designer who sells them online and in boutiques around the globe. His company, Timoteo, puts out men’s underwear, swimwear, and other clothing. “There’s detachable fronts, zipper fronts, colors,” he says. “Some companies are doing diamond chains on their jockstraps. … People get very creative. It’s more personal and showing who they are and being proud of that.”

Read the AP’s full story here.

Come on admit it! That was damn entertaining and made you think.

Have a great Sunday….and as always….Be Well and Be Safe….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

IST Saturday News Dump–06Apr24

Another Saturday….another news dump…..there is very little of interest in the news this past week…..Swift is a billionaire….Truth Social took a hit….Musk is an asshole.

Local news….the cities along the Coast are trying very hard to keep Spring Breakers from having any fun by denying permit requests.

I will start with the best news….those rich people that must climb Everest now have a new problem…..

Back in the good old days of summiting Mount Everest, you could just shimmy down your pants, drop a deuce, and leave it right there on the snowy ground.

The problem with just leaving poop on the highest peak in the world is that the environ’s extremely cold temperatures are not at all conducive to degrading biological matter. In addition, poop runoff is a problem at lower elevations — to the degree that they’ve contaminated the local watershed.

Basically, Mount Everest is covered in human feces. It’s a problem that hikers, sherpas and local officials have been complaining about for years.

But now, according to CNN, new poop rules are in place. If you want to climb Mount Everest from Nepal, the most common entryway, you gotta take your crap back with you instead of leaving it on the mountain.

https://futurism.com/the-byte/mount-everest-poop

As long as we are on health problems…..

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued an alert Thursday urging doctors to look out for a bacterial infection that is rare, but on the rise. The CDC said infections are being caused by a strain of Neisseria meningitidis bacteria, CNN reports. Sickness caused by the bacteria is known as meningococcal disease—but unlike typical infections, most patients aren’t showing symptoms of meningitis, which include headaches, a stiff neck, and aversion to light. Instead, 64% of those infected with ST-1466 had bloodstream infections, with symptoms including cold hands and feet, rapid breathing, and, in later stages, a dark purple rash, per the CDC. Another 4% had infected joints, known as septic arthritis.

Symptoms that both bloodstream infections and meningitis have in common include fever and vomiting. “While initial symptoms of meningococcal disease can at first be non-specific, they worsen rapidly, and the disease can become life-threatening within hours,” the CDC said. The agency warned that immediate antibiotic treatment is critical for people with meningococcal disease and “survivors may experience long-term effects such as deafness or amputations of the extremities,” Live Science reports. Around 10% to 15% of infected people die. The CDC said 422 cases of invasive meningococcal disease were reported in the US last year, the most since 2014, and this year’s total is likely to be higher.

The CDC said the ST-1466 strain, unusually, is hitting people 30 to 60 years old the hardest. That group accounted for 65% of cases. It is also disproportionately affecting Black people, who accounted for 63% of cases. Some 15% of the infections were in people with HIV. The CDC said all 11- to 12 year-olds should be vaccinated for meningococcal disease, with a booster at 16. People at increased risk, including those with HIV, should have “booster doses every 3–5 years, depending on age,” the CDC said.

Shows you just how stupid the South can be….do you remember a couple of years ago and the chemtrail conspiracy?

It was totally debunked and yet Tennessee has passed a law banning ‘chemtrail’….they banned something that does NOT exist….how moronic is that?

The bill, which passed Monday, seeks to prohibit “the intentional injection, release, or dispersion, by any means, of chemicals, chemical compounds, substances, or apparatus within the borders of this state into the atmosphere with the express purpose of affecting temperature, weather, or the intensity of the sunlight”.

While the Republican bill refers to attempts to geoengineer the planet’s climate, witnesses at the debate around the bill cited conspiracy theories and spoke of secret government programs, according to the conservation director of the Tennessee branch of environmental organization the Sierra Club.

“As a serious environmental organization, if what was in the bill was actually going on we would be calling for a stop to it,” Scott Banbury told the BBC. “It’s not happening.”

The thoroughly debunked “chemtrail” conspiracy theory suggests that the trails left by airplanes are chemicals deliberately sprayed into the atmosphere by a government agency of your choosing. Proponents claim they are part of military tests, dispense chemicals that make you sick in order to bump the profits for drug companies, or are used for mind control purposes. Some even go so far as to suggest chemtrails could wipe out humanity by causing “biblical flooding”. Advocates include Alex Jones and Chuck Norris, who, let’s say, are not considered to be among the world’s top scientists. 

https://www.iflscience.com/tennessee-chemtrail-bill-prohibits-a-phenomenon-which-doesnt-exist-73654

These people are idiots and have idiots doing their bidding.

Speaking of conspiracy theories….this Christian conspiracy takes the cake…..as most people know Monday 08 April there will be a solar eclipse and the christian goofballs have a warning for us…..

An upcoming total solar eclipse scheduled for next week has stirred panic among conspiracy theorists, with many speculating that the celestial event might be a harbinger of the apocalypse.

Set to happen on April 8, the eclipse will involve the moon blocking out the sun’s light for just over four minutes across a limited area of North America.

While several city and state authorities have advised the public to exercise caution due to potential spikes in emergency calls and rushes on essential supplies, conspiracy theorists have amplified these warnings, interpreting them as signs of something more ominous.

In fact, they’re claiming the path of the eclipse will pass over seven towns in North America named “Nineveh,” a city in the Bible that was described as “evil.” They also insist the event will plunge the world into darkness for seven days.

https://www.comicsands.com/christian-conspiracy-theorists-solar-eclipse-2667661540.html

Keeping with the eclipse meme….I went the other day to pick-up MoMo from her grooming session and heard a person ask a vet if they should keep their pet in during the eclipse….and I got to thinking about it as well…..so naturally I had to do some research….

By now, you probably know what you’ll be doing on April 8, 2024, when the Great North American total solar eclipse makes its way across the continental United States. You’ve had your safety glasses ready since January (and have confirmed that they’ll actually protect your retinas), you’ve picked out the perfect vantage point in your area for the best view, and you’ve memorized Nikon’s tips for taking pictures of this rare celestial phenomenon. Still, it feels like you’re forgetting something … and it’s probably the thing that’s been right under your nose, and sitting on your lap, the whole time: your pets.

Even if you’ve never witnessed a solar eclipse, you undoubtedly know that you’re never supposed to look directly at the sun during one. But what about your four-legged family members? Shouldn’t Fido be fitted with a pair of eclipse glasses before he heads out for his daily walk? Could Princess Kitty be in danger of having her peepers singed if she’s lounging on her favorite windowsill? While, like humans, looking directly at the sun during a solar eclipse does pose the potential of doing harm to a pet’s eyes, it’s unlikely that the thought would even occur to the little balls of fluff.

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/503776/should-you-keep-your-pets-indoors-during-solar-eclipse

Finally a horror story!

I have written about people that get bitten while on the toilet by a snake….but this is a new twist…..a toilet rat.

In a study that’s not for the squeamish, doctors have determined that a man who became very ill after being bitten by a rat in his toilet was infected by bacteria in rat urine that was in the rat’s mouth. According to the study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, the 76-year-old Montreal resident arrived at a hospital’s emergency department with symptoms including fever, headache, and abdominal pain 18 days after the rat bite. The man, who had been suffering the symptoms for three days, was admitted to the ICU with “multiorgan dysfunction secondary to sepsis of unclear origin.”

The man said he had been bitten on two fingers as he tried to remove the rat from the toilet bowl. He said he went to an emergency department after the bite, “where he received basic wound care and a booster dose of tetanus vaccination before being discharged,” the study says. After he was admitted to the ICU, doctors determined that he was infected with leptospirosis, also known as Weil’s disease, Live Science reports. The disease kills close to 60,000 people worldwide every year, though only 100 to 150 cases are reported in the US annually.

The disease is found in the urine of rats and other infected animals but not in their saliva. “Temporary contamination of their oral cavity with urine has been suggested as an explanation for transmission through bites,” doctors wrote. The Canadian man was treated with antibiotics and steroids and was released from the ICU after three days, the New York Post reports. In the study, doctors wrote that “rat bites represent 1% of the estimated 2 million animal bites annually, and children are often the victims.”

Thew moral of this story is check the toilet out before you sit and put out rat traps.

That is it for me on this Saturday….I hope all have a good first weekend of April and as always…..Be Well and Be Safe….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Closing Thought–05Apr24

This post is a question for my English friends and readers…..

I read an article that has given me a new perspective on the concept of the 1%…..

Well now, here’s a fun fact about Britain: according to investigative journalist Kevin Cahill, in the UK and Ireland, 70% of land is still owned by less than 1% of the population. In his book Who Owns Britain, Cahill argues that 0.3% of the British population owns 66% of the country, and these 160,000 families who own two-thirds of Great Britain largely descend from the army of William the Conqueror — the first Norman King of England who first conquered the country in 1066.

Cahill’s research traces the roots of current land ownership patterns back to the Norman Conquest of 1066. In the book, he explains that the introduction of the feudal system by William the Conqueror saw the Crown claiming ownership of all land, which was then parcelled out to loyal nobles. This moment basically set the stage for a legacy of concentrated land ownership. Strikingly, this one decision by a king in the 11th century still greatly affects the UK now.

This accumulation of wealth in the hands of the few continued. Despite subsequent changes in society and governance, the foundational structures of landholding established in this era have shown remarkable endurance. Cahill illustrates how, over the centuries, laws and practices have evolved to protect and perpetuate the land holdings of the aristocracy and elite, often at the expense of broader public ownership and access. It’s classic inequality applied over a millennium.

https://www.zmescience.com/other/shorties/70-percent-britain-land-owned-by-the-rich/

Now the question is….the accusation of land ownership….is this accurate?

And there is one other thing I would like to know about the UK…..

The chance to peer inside the place where Queen Elizabeth II died proved too much a temptation this week as the first public tours inside Balmoral Castle sold out within 24 hours. On Wednesday, King Charles III announced members of the public would for the first time be able to tour the interior of Balmoral, the British royal family’s private Scottish estate, as well as Buckingham Palace’s east wing, during daily tours in July and August. Forty tickets to get inside Balmoral were available each day from July 1 to August 4, before Charles and Queen Camilla arrive for their summer break, at the hefty price of $120 per person, or $190 with the added option of afternoon tea, ABC News reports. All sold out within 24 hours, per the Ardrossan Herald.

The tours are being offered as part of a trial to test whether the building completed in 1855 can handle increased foot traffic, per the Guardian. Those who managed to snag tickets will get a glimpse of the ballroom—a regular stop on the usual tour of the grounds—as well as two dining rooms, the drawing room, the page’s lobby, and the red corridor. Visitors “can see how rooms within the Castle are used today by their Majesties The King and Queen and other members of the Royal Family,” according to a tour description. They can also view Charles’ watercolor paintings and a selection of outfits worn by royals including the late queen.

Photography is not permitted on the interior tour. Tickets to tour the castle grounds, open to the public from May 4 to August 11, remain available at a cost of $22 per adult. Tours of Buckingham Palace’s east wing, including a visit to the central balcony where the royal family gathers for public appearances, run daily from July 15 to August 31 at a cost of $95 per adult, reports the BBC.

Are people really willing to fork over that kind of cash to visit some moth ball castle?

Sorry but unlike most Americans I could give a fig about the royals or their mansions.

Is all this true?

Thanx for stopping by and I hope everyone has a terrific weekend.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Is It Fact Or Fiction?

That is the question that should be asked when news hits your mind…..sadly nowadays it seldom is asked.

People have become so complacent that they accept anything as long as they do not have to think about it or it does not contradict their small minded ways.

This situation has been going on for a very long time and it has done its job well for few question the validity of the the news anymore.

A report has been issued that looked at this problem….

US citizens are worryingly poor at differentiating between fact and political opinion. This may not be the news you wanted to hear in an election year, but is the finding of new research led by scholars from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s Department of Political Science.

“The capacity to differentiate between a statement of opinion and a statement of fact is vital for citizens to manage the flood of political information they receive on any given day,” said co-author Professor Jeffery J. Mondak in a statement. 

In the age of polarizing discourse on social media, viral mis- and disinformation, and AI-generated fakery, sifting through to the facts of a political story is a challenging business. But Mondak and co-author Matthew Mettler believe the problems discerning truth from fiction start even further up the chain.

“There’s a huge amount of research on misinformation. But what we found is that, even before we get to the stage of labeling something misinformation, people often have trouble discerning the difference between statements of fact and opinion,” Mondak said.

https://www.iflscience.com/us-citizens-are-strikingly-bad-at-sorting-facts-from-opinions-73394

If you would like a more ‘political’ analysis then this report would help out….

https://thehill.com/changing-america/enrichment/arts-culture/4550432-americans-struggle-tell-difference-fact-opinion-study/

This report comes out just before the presidential campaigns kick-off in earnest…but people like me have been pointing this out for a very long time and it got much worse in 2010 and has been gaining strength ever since.

People make bold and inaccurate statements and a multitude of small minded bigots latch on to them and pass them off as fact when basically it is pure fiction.

Some of us try to stimulate people’s curiosity to make them look below and beyond the rantings and ravings of bigots and liars….

Our efforts go unrewarded because people are too slow to grasp anything that their tiny minds cannot comprehend.

Please look at all angles of a story to determine if what you see and hear is accurate.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Will I Be Deported?

That is probably the main question on immigrants minds these days.

But should it be on the minds of citizens?

It appears that Trump made a comment about deporting American citizens during one of his recent campaign stops…..

Donald Trump hosted back-to-back rallies in two states on Tuesday, using his time to attack President Joe Biden’s immigration policies and make some extreme promises in regard to his own agenda for the U.S.-Mexico border. That included claiming he’d deport U.S. citizens if undocumented migrants were found “invading” their homes.

“If your constitutional rights have been violated, we will defend you. If you have illegal aliens invading your home, we will deport you,” Trump said during an event in Wisconsin, his second stop of the night.

The claim, which is alarmingly similar to the policies of another far-right leader who punished civilians for hiding Jews in their homes, could be a direct attack on a controversial program announced last month by Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s administration. Whitmer’s new policy offers $500 subsidies for households that volunteered to shelter refugees.

Or, if the phrasing was just another verbal gaffe, it would add to a mountain of evidence that Trump is losing his grip. Over the last several months, Trump has claimed that there were “millions of people” arriving from “places unknown” speaking no language and that he would stop banks from “debanking” Americans; he has mixed up former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley and described his plan for America’s missile defense system by going, “Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding.… Boom. OK. Missile launch. Woosh. Boom.”

https://newrepublic.com/post/180380/trump-immigration-threat-wonder-all-there

I think Trump had a brain fart but knowing his attitude and hard core BS I would put nothing past this ‘person’ if he were to be elected president.

Would you?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Which Economy Is Better?

It is election time and most voters will most likely vote with the wallets or what they perceive is a better economy.

Will it be the Biden economy? Or will Trump take the prize?

The facts are clear: Biden has overseen a stronger economy than Trump did. That reality should dominate his reelection campaign.

I’m going to tell you something that I’m pretty sure you don’t know—and that you probably won’t even believe. Ready? Real wages are now growing in the United States at a pace faster than the spike in the cost of living since the pandemic. More than that: For the first time in decades, wage growth is consistently stronger in the middle and at the bottom than at the top.

See, I told you that you wouldn’t believe it. But it’s right there in a recent study by David Autor, Arindrajit Dube, and Annie McGrew, three well-known economists. Dube just wrote up the results at Project Syndicate, emphasizing: “Importantly, the real wages of the middle quintile are not only higher today than they were before the pandemic, but slightly higher than we would expect based on 2015-19 trends. In other words, the typical American worker’s purchasing power has grown at least as much as it likely would have in the absence of the global challenges posed by the pandemic and geopolitical conflicts.”

https://newrepublic.com/article/180093/biden-trump-economy-election-not-even-close

So if you are voting with your wallet then the Biden economy should be your choice….

The real truth is the economy does much better under a Dem president…..

A study published by the Economic Policy Institute on Tuesday finds that the U.S. economy does better when a Democrat is in the White House than when a Republican is in charge.

The study looked at GDP growth, job growth, inflation-adjusted wage growth, the unemployment rate, and more. It found that Democrats have had an economic advantage since at least 1949.

“This Democratic advantage is across the board in all variables we measure but strongest in private-sector outcomes—notably, business investment, job growth, and the growth of market-based incomes,” it says.

The study shows there is a “pronounced Democratic advantage in nearly every measure of macroeconomic performance.” Despite this, the study notes that Republicans are typically seen as better at managing the economy in opinion polls.

“It is difficult to tell what respondents to opinion polls have in mind when they are asked about ‘the economy.’ For example, respondents often rate the Republican party higher as economic managers yet rate the Democratic party more highly on issues related to healthcare,” the study says. “But healthcare is, by far, the single largest sector of the U.S. economy, affecting economic outcomes of households, businesses, and governments in significant ways.”

https://www.commondreams.org/news/us-economy-better-democrats

If your criteria for voting is your wallet then the obvious choice is the Democrats….but we know how successful misinformation is at getting voters to cast their vote against their best interests….so this post will probably mean nothing to the unwashed stupid.

The best thing to do is “pay attention”!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Someone Explain Higher Food Prices

Anyone that keeps an eye on the economy has written something about the cost of food these days….I know I have….

There are many explanations from the absurd to the sublime…..from it is all Biden’s fault to the price gouging of some (most all) food distributors…..all the words written have done little to curb the upper trajectory of prices…..some groups will give lip service to make us all feel better but little action comes.

I read another article that tries to explain this thorn in the consumers ass….

This piece is in Food & Wine…..

Back in 1993, political activist Jimmy McMillan coined the phrase, “The Rent is Too Damn High” while running for mayor of New York, and later, governor of the Empire State. Three decades later, consumers across the country are saying the same thing about rising grocery prices.

Federal statistics bear that out. Since the pandemic began, the Federal Reserve says grocery prices have risen 25%, leaving consumers — and even President Biden — fuming over food costs. And supermarkets and big box stores are scrambling to reverse that perception. 

In February, Walmart implied that consumers should expect to see lower prices. Doug McMillon, its president and chief executive, contended that certain items were lower than in 2023 — including eggs, apples, and deli snacks, although he acknowledged they remained higher for some products such as asparagus and blackberries. 

Meanwhile, global home furnishings and food giant Ikea says it is cutting prices on hundreds of items. In a December email, it told consumers to look for signs reading “New Lower Price,” which have begun appearing in stores. It’s also offering weekday dining specials to members of the Ikea Family program, with meatball dinners for $3 on Mondays, and 50% off entrées on Fridays. But, effective Feb. 1, Ikea eliminated the program’s 5% across-the-board discount, meaning members were paying more for some items.

https://www.foodandwine.com/usa-inflation-food-costs-8622334

Did this piece explain it for you?

Not so much for me….I still believe that instead of lip service from Biden and the Dems the president could do something besides talk….after all he is the president but that means little these days….he is president that owes lots of favors to special interests and agribusiness is one of this entities.

Prices will remain high and continue to go up as long as there is no backbone to change this thing in DC.

Sorry guys but I cannot eat politician’s words….I wish we could literal get them to eat their words.

Side Note:  A couple of days ago I wrote about the egg shortage in Europe and I asked how long will it take before we are told the same thing….apparently not long at all for this is the report I read today….

The largest producer of fresh eggs in the US said Tuesday it had temporarily halted production at a Texas plant after bird flu was found in chickens, and officials said the virus had also been detected at a poultry facility in Michigan, the AP reports. Cal-Maine Foods, based in Ridgeland, Mississippi, said in a statement that approximately 1.6 million laying hens and 337,000 pullets, about 3.6% of its total flock, were destroyed after the infection, avian influenza, was found at a facility in Parmer County, Texas.

“The Company continues to work closely with federal, state and local government officials and focused industry groups to mitigate the risk of future outbreaks and effectively manage the response,” the statement said. “Cal-Maine Foods is working to secure production from other facilities to minimize disruption to its customers.” Cal-Maine said it sells most of its eggs in the Southwestern, Southeastern, Midwestern, and mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The company said there is no known bird flu risk associated with eggs that are currently in the market and no eggs have been recalled.

Here we go once again!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

A Billionaire To The Rescue

The big story for a few weeks now has been Trump (of course) and the judgment against him…..will he be able to come up with the bond money….many people thought he could squirm out of this predicament one way or the other.

And as accurate as always Trump managed to find a benefactor to put up the cash and save his assets from being grabbed.

So who was the knight in shining armor for Trump?

Don Hankey, the chairman and majority shareholder of Knight Specialty Insurance, told CNN on Tuesday that the deal to underwrite former President Donald Trump’s $175 million bond in New York came together quickly and that Trump posted all cash as collateral.

“It’s what we do. I’m happy to do it. We would have done it for anybody else,” Hankey said in a phone interview. “It was an easy transaction. It was put together very quickly.”

Based in California, Knight Specialty Insurance is known for providing subprime auto loans to car buyers with weaker credit scores.

Hankey, who has supported Trump’s presidential campaigns, said initially he reached out to the Trump Organization last month when the former president was having trouble putting together a bond of $464 million. Hankey has amassed a fortune that Forbes values at $7.4 billion.

(cnn.com)

Now ask what did he have to promise this obscenely wealthy leech to get his money?

But one billionaire is not the problem for this country….it is a mass of billionaires that are bankrolling the shyster Trump.

Donald Trump’s allies have put together a sprawling political operation that continually collects money from major donors, many of whom have interests before the Trump administration.

Six groups funded by dozens of ultra-wealthy donors have raised more than $50 million to support President Donald Trump and his agenda since his inauguration, a sharp reversal from his three-year-old pledge to be independent from moneyed interests, a Public Citizen analysis (PDF) has found.

It’s a sharp contrast with Trump’s first run for office, which was famously dysfunctional. Our analysis of Federal Election Commission data found that since the start of 2017, the six pro-Trump groups had raised $54.4 million from 136 megacontributors who donated at least $100,000 each, with an average contribution of nearly $400,000.

The money has been used to promote Trump’s agenda through ads and support Republican candidates.

These six groups, including America First Action and Trump Victory, are fueled with contributions from corporate CEOs, largely from the gambling, finance, real estate and energy sectors, as well as from dark money groups that do not disclose their donors.

The Super-Rich People Backing the Trump Agenda

All this mundane stuff just to get to the meat of this post….sorry about that….

Did you know that behind every authoritarian person stands at least one billionaire?

The problem is not just the far right, but the fact that there is an alliance between the super-rich and the far right… It’s true. Behind every fascist movement, there is a billionaire who discreetly supports it. The far-right scapegoats minorities: public anger is not directed where it should be, at the very rich who are destroying our means of survival.

George Monbiot: “Behind Every Fascist Movement There Is a Billionaire”

While article is mostly commenting on the environment his words could be translated into stopping the billionaires and Trump.

We can beat this marriage of far right and billionaires but that would mean that the people need to take voting seriously or lose everything in the aftermath.

Be Smart!

Learn Stuff!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

All That Cancer Research

Once again we have arrived at a Sunday and the day that I try to help my readers with subjects that may not be readily available for them.

Since my better half, Sue, has been battling cancer I try to keep up with all the research that is available….and then I read something like this and it just sends me into a spiral….

Cancer research is big business, sorry to pout it that way, and there have been some fraud going on….

Dana-Farber was rocked this January by a blog post by Sholto David, a molecular biologist and internet data sleuth, in which he presented evidence of widespread data manipulation in cancer research published by leading researchers including the institute’s CEO and COO. David reportedly contacted the institute with concerns about 57 papers, 38 of which were ones for which the institute had “primary responsibility for the potential data errors.” The institute has requested retractions for 6 of them and initiated corrections for 31.

These data manipulations, to be clear, were not subtle. (David’s fairly bombastic blog post announcing the evidence calls it “pathetically amateurish and excessive.”) Many of the cases he identifies involved reusing the same images over and over in different figures, with different labels, and with the figures having been clumsily rotated or stretched in Photoshop or a similar image editor. Plots of data collection on different days are mysteriously perfectly identical. Test results are visibly copied and pasted.

It raises the question: Assuming that there was some misconduct behind the copied-and-pasted images, how were people so emboldened to commit such blatant fraud, so publicly, for such a long time? How much grant money was secured on the basis of fabricated data, and how much was the crucial fight against cancer set back by inaccuracies promulgated in these papers?

And perhaps most importantly, is this only the tip of the iceberg?

https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/24086809/fake-cancer-research-data-scientific-fraud

This story raises questions for me….if the research is faked then are the treatments really doing any good?

What happens to those faking the test results?

Cancer research is a multi-billion dollar cash cow for some….what is the government doing to stop this sort of fraud?

All good question but with few answers.

Sorry to be a bummer on this Sunday.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”