Month: May 2025

IST Saturday News Dump–31May25

The month is ending and the short downhill slide into Summer is on its way….just some news that you may find entertaining and/or informative….enjoy.

Locally–Tomorrow is the day that most people down here dread….opening day of hurricane season….otherwise the temps at night have been cooler and a few days of rain the problem is even with cooler temps the humidity is still around 90%…welcome to Summer.

Personal–The first ripe plums are coming in finally….the blueberries are starting to ripen and now I can enjoy fresh blueberries with walnuts and honey…..and my figs should be ready in a couple of weeks.

Had a CT scan last week and I am waiting for the doctor to call and let me know the news of the finding….(fingers crossed)….

Time to get to the grits and gravy….

Were you conned into sending your DNA to 23andme?  If so then your data is in the hands of a company that is in biotech research field which means it could be used against you later….

Biotech company Regeneron Pharmaceuticals is buying 23andMe for $256 million, reports the AP, two months after the genetic testing company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The Wall Street Journal foresees instant “privacy concerns,” given that Regeneron would acquire the genetic data of millions of people under the deal. The sale includes all of 23andMe’s personal genome services, which would continue uninterrupted. The deal does not include the Lemonaid Health subsidiary, a telehealth services provider that 23andMe plans to wind down.

Regeneron said Monday it would comply with 23andMe’s existing privacy policies, protections, and existing laws, which had been a requirement of the sale. “We are pleased to have reached a transaction that … enables the mission of 23andMe to live on, while maintaining critical protections around customer privacy, choice and consent with respect to their genetic data,” said Mark Jensen, chair and member of the special committee of 23andMe’s board.

A court hearing to consider approval of the transaction is currently scheduled for June 17. The deal, which still needs approval from the US Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, is expected to close in the third quarter. Regeneron will be keeping all of 23andMe’s employees.

I would not trust this company to keep your data private.

Have you ever wondered about penguin poop?   Me neither.

Cow burps may contribute to climate change—but it turns out penguin droppings may do the reverse. New research shows that ammonia released from penguin colonies via their guano could actually help cool Antarctica by boosting cloud formation. For their analysis published in Communications Earth & Environment, researchers measured air near Marambio Base between January and March 2023. When winds came from the direction of a colony of 60,000 Adelie penguins 5 miles away, the air’s ammonia concentration skyrocketed: generally 10.5 parts per trillion, it surged 1,000 times to 13.5 parts per billion.

The uptick remained significant even after the birds migrated for the season; guano at the colony continuing to give off ammonia, pushing levels 100 times greater than the baseline. A press release explains the science: Ammonia interacts with sulfur-containing gases to generate aerosol particles that “give water vapor a surface to condense upon,” ultimately forming clouds. These clouds can act as an insulating layer that helps lower surface temperatures and maintain sea ice cover. As part of the study, the researchers confirmed that when the wind blew from the colony, the aerosol particle count did increase, and that fog set in.

As for why there is so much ammonia in their guano, the Washington Post explains the birds’ diet of fish and krill result in large amounts of nitrogen in their waste that breaks down into ammonia. “There are connections between things that happen on our natural planet that we just don’t necessarily expect,” lead author Matthew Boyer tells the Post. “And this is one of them.”

As long as we are in the butt region….ever heard of ‘fart walking’?

I’ll give you three guesses to work out what “fart walking” entails.

The latest TikTok trend recommends you go for a walk after eating to help boost digestion and relieve gas and bloating. A bit like silent walking, it’s hardly revolutionary, but I guess a catchy name doesn’t hurt marketing.

If you tend to save your post-meal walks for overindulgent holiday seasons (I personally love nothing more than a walk after Christmas dinner), there might be a benefit from doing it more often.

Those in favor say it’s good for your digestive health and balancing blood sugar, with research — like this study published in Sports Medicine — showing light and gentle movement can be beneficial for managing sugar levels after a meal.

Though specifically on “fart walking?” There’s not a huge amount of scientific evidence on that topic, funnily enough. But it is free and pretty safe and accessible. Here’s everything you need to know.

https://www.tomsguide.com/wellness/fitness/fart-walking-is-trending-heres-everything-you-need-to-know

Anything to add?

Do you drink Red Bull or any other energy drink….then there is something you need to know…..

A common energy drink ingredient has been linked to the progression of the blood cancer leukemia, prompting researchers to voice concerns about the consumption of those beverages.

Taurine — an amino acid that occurs naturally in proteins like meat and fish — is a common ingredient in energy drinks like Red Bull. As the Mayo Clinic explains it can help balance fluids, salts and minerals.

PEOPLE has reached out to Red Bull for comment.

But according to research published inNature, taurine may promote leukaemogenesis — the development of leukemia cells — and “identifies taurine as a key regulator of myeloid malignancies,” which, like leukemia, are cancers that begin in the blood.

The study says cancer cells in mice are fueled by taurine: “Taurine supplements could significantly accelerate disease progression in immunocompetent mice (around threefold higher likelihood of death… indicating that taurine can promote leukaemic progression.”

https://people.com/common-energy-drink-ingredient-linked-to-blood-cancer-11735858

I have no worries for I drink lots of water and coffee….you?

This part is FYI….keeping with those idiot GOPers….this is a list of the books they do not want read….

Book bans aren’t just a thing of the past—they’re happening right now, and they’re targeting stories that matter.

Data from the American Library Association (ALA) shows a massive spike in book challenges, with 2023 marking the highest number of banned titles ever recorded. Over 4,200 unique books were challenged in 2023 alone, which is a 65% jump from 2022.

And here’s the kicker: nearly half (47%) of the books targeted focus on the experiences of LGBTQ+ and BIPOC individuals. It’s clear that this wave of censorship is hitting marginalized voices the hardest.

https://www.intomore.com/entertainment/books/20-banned-books-they-dont-want-you-to-read/

Notice that the Handmaiden’s Tale is on that list…..will the GOP go after the series?

Finally something for my ‘alien’ files…..In South America an orb was found….

Scientists in Mexico are reportedly studying a metal orb that they think could have extraterrestrial origins after it was recovered in Colombia earlier this year, piquing online interest of a potential unidentified flying object (UFO).

The sphere marked with decorative etchings was filmed floating erratically through the sky before it crashed near Buga, Colombia, in March and captured the attention of UFO enthusiasts.

A video posted online that has racked up more than half a million views shows researcher Jose Luis Velazquez discussing the multilayered sphere with “no welds or joints” that would be expected of a man-made object of its kind.

Velazquez said in the video that an X-ray found the three layers of the sphere to be of different densities.

Julia Mossbridge, founder of the Mossbridge Institute and an affiliate professor in the physics department at the University of San Diego, told Fox News that she doubts the “Buga sphere” has alien origins, though.

https://thehill.com/policy/technology/5318230-colombia-ufo-orb-metal-mystery/

Where did it originate?

That does it for me for today….I hope you found something of interest and/or informative….I do the best I can.

Go out and enjoy your Saturday and as always….Be Well and Be Safe….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

 

Your PSA Is Essential

It is the end of the month and a good time for some FYI….I try to keep an eye on health news so I may pass it on to my readers….

Since I suffer from prostrate cancer I am always looking for info on the disease and write about it with the hope that more men will take it seriously and have their PSA tested….and this is an IST FYI post….I hope it helps.

PSA is from a blood sample and is an indication on how healthy your prostrate is at the time of the sample.

But the PSA test is not conclusive…..

News that former President Joseph Biden has advanced prostate cancer has revived long-standing questions about the benefits versus the harms of a blood test that screens for the most commonly diagnosed cancer among men in the U.S.

Prostate-specific antigen, or PSA, screening tests are an imperfect tool for detecting prostate cancer, doctors and public health experts say.

Part of the problem is identifying and treating aggressive cancers like Biden’s while not unnecessarily treating men with slow-growing cancers unlikely to sicken them. Autopsies found the disease to be so widespread that more than one-third of white men and half of Black men in their 70s had prostate cancers that would never do any harm.

“PSA testing alone leaves a lot to be desired as a cancer screening test,” said radiation oncologist Dr. Brent Rose, an associate professor at the University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine.

The test measures the level of PSA, a protein produced by normal as well as malignant prostate gland cells, in the blood. Elevated PSA can be a marker for cancer. It also can signal a false positive or an inactive cancer, triggering a painful biopsy, and leading to overtreatment with punishing side effects, including impotence, incontinence and bowel dysfunction.

“PSA screening is beneficial,” Rose said. “There are risks, though, and so it is a personal decision whether or not to do PSA screening.”

The key is to target and treat aggressive cancers while waiting and watching cancers that might never become troublesome, Rose and other oncologists told NPR. Physicians have been walking this tightrope since they began regularly using PSA tests to screen for prostate cancer in healthy men in the 1990s. There is no other test that effectively screens for prostate cancer — the second deadliest cancer for American men, oncologists said.

https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2025/05/21/nx-s1-5405613/prostate-cancer-psa-test-age

AS we men get older it is a good chance that something will go wrong in your prostrate…..please talk with your doctor about this test and ask as many questions as you can think of at the time.

As long as this is an FYI and about cancer…..let us look at another problem….colon cancer and what we eat…..

It’s often recommended as part of a balanced diet, but Italian researchers suggest too much of this meat could raise certain health risks.

It may be well known that vices such as smoking and drinking alcohol can up your risk for cancer, but so can your diet. What you eat or drink could potentially affect your health more than you’d think, as past studies have confirmed how sugar-sweetened beverages or processed meats could also increase cancer chances…and now another type of meat is getting a closer look.

The peer-reviewed journal Nutrients in April published the results of a study conducted by researchers from the National Institute of Gastroenterology in Bari, Italy. Reviewing data from 4,869 participants residing in southern Italy, researchers set out to see “for the first time” if there was a link between white meat consumption, gastrointestinal cancers, and all other causes of death, “focusing on the effects of poultry consumption.”

More than a quarter of all new cancer cases around the world are gastrointestinal, says a 2023 JAMA Network Open article. These include cancer of the esophagus, stomach, pancreas, small bowel, colon, rectum, and anus. Notably, colorectal cancer is the second deadliest cancer in the U.S., according to the National Cancer Institute.

A Surprising Meat Has Been Linked With Colon Cancer in a New Study

These two cancers can be very common so please as you grow older consult your doctor about ways to help you detect these killers early.

Please try to have a lovely weekend and as always….Be Well and Be Safe….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Butt Licker To The Rescue

Just days ago the US Court of International Trade put a whammy on Donny’s dreams of harsh tariffs on the world…..and yesterday a Trumpite came to the rescue.

President Trump’s tariffs were reinstated by a federal appeals court ruling on Thursday. The court’s ruling came after a second federal court found that an emergency powers law does not give Trump authority to enact tariffs, and that most of the ones he’s already ordered after invoking the International Emergency Economic Powers Act are unlawful.

  • US District Judge Rudolph Contreras ruled that the law does not permit the president to “unilaterally impose, revoke, pause, reinstate, and adjust tariffs to reorder the global economy,” the Hill reports. The US Court of International Trade reached the same conclusion on Wednesday.
  • The appeals court didn’t rule on the merits of the tariffs or the trade court’s ruling, but granted an emergency request to hold up the ruling, allowing Trump to keep collecting the tariffs while the issue is being decided in the courts, per the AP.
  • The Justice Department asked two sets of judges to let the Trump administration proceed with its tariffs, per the New York Times. If need be, administration officials had said they’d ask the Supreme Court on Friday for emergency relief, per the Washington Post.
  • After the 33-page ruling by Contreras, who was appointed by Barack Obama, for the DC District Court, the government filed another appeal. His ruling gave the government 14 days to appeal before it took effect, meaning the tariffs are still in place for now.
  • White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday that there are “other legal authorities” Trump could use to impose tariffs, per the Guardian, and that he “is willing to use those.” She criticized what she called “a troubling and dangerous trend of unelected judges inserting themselves into the presidential decision-making process.”
  • The Guardian notes that only three of the 11 judges who granted the stay were appointed by Republican presidents. After the ruling, Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro blasted the 12 states that sued as elitist Democratic coastal states, though Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, Illinois, and Minnesota aren’t on either coast and the first two voted for Trump last year.

A loyal visitor to IST asked if this could be settled by the Supreme Court…..and I answered that I did not know for sure….and now the answer is yes if could be settled by SCOTUS.

SCOTUS has been in Trump’s corner for many of its rulings….so the pathetic tariff question will be answered by a pack of political hacks.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Those Yo-Yo Trade Policies

One day there are up the next they are down…..is it to give his, being Trump, Fat Cat buddies a chance to make more money?

It appears so to me.

Donny’s newest threat was against Apple…..

President Trump’s latest tariff threat is directed at Apple—he is threatening a 25% penalty unless the company starts making iPhones in the US, reports NBC News. Most are currently made in China, though CNBC notes that the company has been recently moving some production to India.

  • “I have long ago informed Tim Cook of Apple that I expect their iPhone’s that will be sold in the United States of America will be manufactured and built in the United States, not India, or anyplace else,” Trump wrote Friday on Truth Social. “If that is not the case, a Tariff of at least 25% must be paid by Apple to the U.S. Thank your for your attention to this matter!”
  • EU, too: Trump also threatened to impose a 50% tariff on the European Union, one of the nation’s largest trading partners, per the Wall Street Journal. He faulted their “powerful Trade Barriers, Vat Taxes, ridiculous Corporate Penalties, Non-Monetary Trade Barriers, Monetary Manipulations, unfair and unjustified lawsuits” against US companies.
  • Markets: Dow futures were down more than 600 points on the combined threats. Apple shares fell about 3%.

Apple’s drop effected the entire market….

US stocks fell Friday after President Trump threatened 50% tariffs on the European Union that could begin in a little more than a week.

  • The Dow dropped 256.02 points, or 0.6%, to 41,603.07, off 2.5% for the week.
  • The S&P 500 declined 39.19 points, or 0.7%, to 5,802.82, finishing the week down 2.6%.
  • The Nasdaq fell 188.53 points, or 1%, to 18,737.21, down 2.5% for the week.

Trump threatened the tariffs before the US stock market opened, saying on his Truth Social platform that trade talks with the EU “were going nowhere” and that “straight 50%” tariffs could go into effect on June 1.

Stocks fell immediately in Europe, the AP reports. The US market also took a quick turn lower, and futures for US stock indexes tumbled after earlier suggesting only modest moves at the open of trading. The S&P 500 lost as much as 1.3% shortly after trading began, but it pared its loss as traders weighed whether Trump’s latest threats were just negotiating tactics aimed in hopes of getting a deal or something more. Apple dropped 3% and was the heaviest weight on the S&P 500 after Trump went after the company specifically. He said he’s been pushing Apple to move production of iPhones to the US, and he warned a tariff “of at least 25% must be paid by Apple to the US” if it doesn’t.

I have thought from the beginning that these tariffs were a game that Donny is playing and the more he employs these yo-yo economic policies the more I am convinced that these tariffs are put in place to benefit him sand his Fat Cat thugs…..those people that care NOTHING for this nation and its people as long as they can continue to play the system for their benefit.

Does anyone see this as ‘making America great again’?

If so please define why.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Where’s Elmo?

There has been an eerie absence from the spotlight by Donny’s favorite smug a/hole, Musk, the guru of DOGE.

So the question is….where’s Elmo?

Elon Musk’s time as a special government employee has officially come to an end, a White House official tells NBC News. The billionaire, who had recently pledged to pay more attention to the actual companies he runs, started offboarding from his role in the Trump administration Wednesday—the day after he publicly split with President Trump over the president’s so-called “big, beautiful bill.” Special government employees are typically allowed to work up to 130 days in a calendar year, and Musk had been in his role with the Department of Government Efficiency for more than 114. The White House has not yet publicly commented on his departure.

Musk did address his exit on X, thanking Trump “for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending” and saying the “DOGE mission” would “only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government,” but the New York Times reports that Musk had gone from calling himself Trump’s “first buddy” to seeming “disillusioned” and “distanced” from the president. In addition to his complaint about the spending bill, which he claimed would make the national deficit worse, he’s also recently complained about a deal for an AI data center in the Middle East that went to a rival company. White House officials, however, insist Musk and Trump remain on good terms.

In an interview with the Washington Post on Tuesday, Musk complained about how hard he found it to get things done in Washington, DC, (DOGE famously has not saved the federal government anywhere near the promised trillions) and claimed the department became a “whipping boy,” getting blamed for anything that went wrong in the federal government.

Unfortunately he did not, as I had hoped, fall off the face of the world but instead I would imagine that he will retire to his city in Texas and count the billions because of his tenure with Donny has made him…..and probably sit and jerk-off over the contracts his firms will now be given and the even more billions he will get.

All in all his tenure in the Donny sphere has been very profitable and after all that is the main reason he pretended to serve this country.

One smug bastard down and about 500 more to go….let the work begin!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Bad News For Donny’s Tariffs

The news broke that a US court has peed all over Donny’s pet policy…..tariffs.

President Trump does not have the authority to impose broad tariffs on imports, a federal court ruled Wednesday, rejecting the argument that the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act gives him that power. The US Court of International Trade had been asked to issue an injunction in the case involving lawsuits trying to block the tariffs. Instead, the three-judge panel skipped directly to issuing a judgment, Axios reports. The emergency legislation, the judges ruled, does not authorize any of the “Worldwide, Retaliatory or Trafficking” orders, adding, “the challenged Tariff Orders will be vacated and their operation permanently enjoined.”

The unanimous decision applies to the 10% “Liberation Day” tariffs Trump slapped on all foreign products on April 2, as well as the higher levies on goods coming from several dozen nations. Ruling on two cases at once, the court ordered that the tariffs already collected also be vacated, per Politico. At least seven lawsuits challenging the tariffs have been filed. White House aides had said before the ruling that the decision would be appealed if it went against the administration, per the Washington Post. The case could well go to the Supreme Court, per the New York Times, but if the ruling stands, it could be the end of Trump’s trade war.

Tariffs usually need congressional approval, but Trump maintains he has the authority now because the US trade deficits are so high they constitute a national emergency, per the AP. The law does not say the president can use tariffs to protect the nation from economic threats, per the Times, but Trump invoked it anyway. One of the panel’s judges was appointed by Ronald Reagan, one by Barack Obama, and one by Trump.

But how will this ruling effect things?

  • Ruling: The Court of International Trade—a federal body made up of Reagan, Obama, and Trump appointees—decreed that Trump doesn’t have the legal authority to impose most of the sweeping tariffs he has enacted. Trump did so under his interpretation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977, notes the Wall Street Journal, but the court found that he overreached and invalidated them.
  • Affected: This means most of the tariffs Trump imposed, or imposed and then lifted pending negotiations, are gone, though Axios notes some exceptions: those on autos, steel, and aluminum were not enacted under the 1970s law and stand.
  • Fallout: The ruling “blows a hole in global trade talks, already under way with more than a dozen nations,” per the Journal, and it “throws into question recent agreements with the UK and China.” The New York Times finds that the court essentially wiped out Trump’s leverage with US trading partners.
  • What now: The court gave the Trump administration 10 days to formally unwind the tariffs, but the White House plans to appeal. “The judicial coup is out of control,” tweeted Trump adviser Stephen Miller.
  • Markets: Dow futures were up 300 points Thursday morning, reports CNBC, and world stocks also rallied.

Good to see that there are still some judges that Donald the Orange does not own….and there is still a small amount of commonsense.

But like in the past he will probably disregard and judgments against him as he has done so many times in the past.

Is it possible that Congress will now jump to Donny’s aid on this issue?

Will the bully now go after this court in revenge?

Any thoughts?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Canada May Join The US

Before idiots take a victory lap I am speaking of Donny’s new obsession, the Golden Dome defense system….Canada is considering coming in on the deal that Donny is pushing.

Donny has done almost everything to convince Canada to join the union…..and now he has used the rotten apple “Golden Dome” as an incentive hoping fearmongering will do the trick.

Canada’s participation in President Trump’s $175 billion Golden Dome missile defense project will cost the country $61 billion—or nothing, Trump announced Tuesday. As King Charles III told Canada’s Parliament that a “confident Canada” can “give themselves far more than any foreign power can ever take away,” Trump took to Truth Social to note Canada’s role in the project “will cost $61 Billion Dollars if they remain a separate, but unequal, Nation, but will cost ZERO DOLLARS if they become our cherished 51st State.” “They are considering the offer!” he added. In response, the office of Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said he’d been clear that Canada will remain “an independent, sovereign nation,” per CTV News.

This concept is nothing new…..Reagan was pushing for this but did not have the support he wanted…..

The program has grown from a relatively modest $3 billion a year, back when Ronald Reagan first started talking it up during the 1980s, to over $30 billion a year for “missile defense and defeat programs” today. Since the development of the first interceptors in 1962, the government has spent more than $531 billion on “multiple ineffective missile defense schemes,” according to Stephen Schwartz, a nuclear budget analyst. Over $453 billion of that was spent in failed efforts launched by Reagan in 1983 to fulfill his fantasy of a shield that could “protect us from ballistic missiles just as a roof protects a family from rain.”

All we have to show for the effort is 44 ground-based interceptors in Alaska and California that are so flawed that the Pentagon last year awarded Lockheed Martin an $18 billion contract to build a brand-new replacement system. While missile defenses against short-range rockets, like those Hamas fired into Israel, can be effective, no country has built a system that can reliably shoot down nuclear missiles that travel thousands of miles at many times the speed of sound.

…

Whether the systems works or not doesn’t matter for the contractors who get rich on contracts to design, develop, and deploy these weapons. That may be why Musk has partnered with two other companies owned by Trump supporters, software maker Palantir and drone builder Anduril, to help design and build the system. Musk’s company estimates that the initial design contracts alone could be worth between $6 billion and 10 billion, according to Reuters.

https://newrepublic.com/article/195608/trump-golden-dome-elon-musk-richer

All this ‘system’ will do for certain is make Musk richer as well as the defense contractors….. “raises concerns about whether defense contracts to build a Golden Dome are an effective way to protect Americans or are meant to enrich Mr. Musk and other elites.”

Another funnel for the defense industry to siphon cash out of this country and into the pockets of the Fat Cat CEOs and possibly Musk and Donny as well.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Triumvirate Of Incompetency

Before I start I will be heading to the hospital today for more tests and consultations it all starts at 0800 and I have no idea when it will finish….so this may be all you get from me today…..sorry.

Triumvirate?

If you remember from your history class(which I doubt) you will recall that the late Roman republic was lead by three members…..Caesar, Pompey and Crassus….an alliance among three prominent politicians ….if I recall it did not end well.

But to help out a bit more in the definition…. a political institution ruled or dominated by three individuals.

Just as Rome had there three the foreign policy machine of today has its three….Trump, Hegseth and Rubio….nothing about these three ooze competency.

Incompetency?

Definitely.

Trump concerns are golf and his business deals, Hegseth is concerned with unsecured phones and prayer sessions and Rubio….well he is like a small child lost in a big box store…..walking around scratching his head looking for clueless leader to show him the way.

In almost 6 months this ‘team’ has accomplished very little…..Donny got a new plane, Hegseth has babbled but nothing coherent and Rubio has……(I will need to find something he has actually done besides get rid of qualified analyst)…..(thinking)…..

…

We now have two incompetent individuals in charge of the national security community. The first is Marco Rubio, who is secretary of state, acting national security adviser, acting administrator of the Agency for International Development, which now only exists on paper, and acting National Archivist. The Archivist should never be held by a non-professional, particularly a bureaucrat such as Rubio, who will certainly politicize the essential records of the United States regarding diplomacy and international relations.

…

Little needs to be said about the other key member of the national security team—Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth—because it is universally accepted that Hegseth never should have been appointed, let alone confirmed, as secretary. It’s ironic that it was national security adviser Mike Waltz who was fired from his important post and downgraded to UN Ambassador, because it was Hegseth who compromised the security and safety of our fighting forces with his persistent use of insecure lines of communication to discuss sensitive military plans. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D/CT) correctly noted that Waltz became the “fall guy” for the administration’s mistakes on national security, and it was Hegseth who irresponsibly discussed sensitive military plans with communications technology that was easily intercepted.

https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/05/05/danger-global-security-is-now-in-the-hands-of-trump-rubio-and-hegseth/

The US has quickly gone from global dominance to global irrelevancy….

The last few weeks have convinced much of the world that the United States has abandoned its role as world leader, no longer cares about education, science, or modern medicine, and would just as soon let the global poor drown in their own desperation.

After witnessing all the manic executive decrees issued by Donald Trump over the last 100 days, it’s easy to see why the rest of the world might have come to the conclusion that the United States has gone off the rails, but the fact is that the increasingly traumatic changes in American policy are a function of the whims of one man, Donald Trump. They do not necessarily reflect the thinking of the American public, a growing majority of which now disapproves of just about everything that Trump is doing.

Just as the term “Biden moment” refers to former President Joe Biden’s loss of focus during a critical debate, we are now experiencing a rush of “Trump moments” — manic savagings of just about every aspect of the American tradition, often followed by urgent backtracking to avoid immediate disaster. All of this is taking place with no coherent policy objectives in view.

…

Instead of a reasoned approach, Donald Trump has moved America mindlessly toward isolation, while offering no understandable explanation of where he hopes to end up (the absence of which has helped fuel speculation on the part of some that Trump is actively serving a foreign master). His attitude is that if the world doesn’t want to play ball his way, he’ll take his ball and go home.

What Trump doesn’t realize is that the world doesn’t need or want his ball. For the majority of Americans who no longer support Trump, the existential question is what can be done over the next three-and-a-half years with an increasingly unhinged 78-year-old man who refuses to listen.

Trump’s Chaos Moving America From Global Dominance Toward Global Irrelevance

I guess I was ahead of the curve for once when Donny announced Rubio and Hegseth I did not see any way forward with these yahoos…..the bottom was all we can look forward to becoming.

Side note:  The US has delivered a substantial amount of weapons to keep Israel’s genocide going….

The US has delivered 90,000 tons of bombs, guns, and other military equipment to Israel since October 7, 2023, to support the genocidal war against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, according to numbers from the Israeli Defense Ministry.

A recent report by The Associated Press that exposed the Israeli military’s “systematic” use of Palestinians as human shields has shone a light on an illegal practice that has become commonplace over the 19-month war in Gaza and parallel offensives in the West Bank.

Why do you people support his shit?

Nothing about any of these choices are in the best interests of this nation and its standing on the world stage.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

All That Social Security Fraud

Just recently DOGE and Donny have been pushing the idea to his idiot supporters about all the fraud within the Social Security system…..at one point I believe someone said there could be millions of fraudsters out there.

Damn!  That is a bunch!

But unfortunately it is just another Donny tactic….make shit up.

The rest of the story…..

It’s long been clear that Social Security fraud is minuscule, with an inspector general report published last year estimating that just 0.84% of Social Security benefits paid out between 2015 and 2022 were dispensed improperly—and even those improper payments were not necessarily fraudulent.

The new reporting out Thursday bolstered warnings that the Trump administration’s hunt for fraud is a mere pretext for slashing Social Security benefits and weakening the program.

“Turns out there ISN’T rampant Social Security fraud, but Elon’s witch hunt, driven by his insane conspiracy theories, IS keeping seniors from getting their benefits as quickly as they should be,” Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) wrote on social media. “THIS is Republican governing: hunting for nonexistent fraud while breaking Social Security.

Frank Bisignano, the newly confirmed SSA administrator, has close ties to Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency and has defended the president’s false claim that tens of millions of “dead” people are receiving Social Security benefits.

…

An internal Trump administration document reportedly shows that anti-fraud checks recently installed at the Social Security agency have found just two cases of potentially improper benefit claims out of more than 110,000—a rate of 0.0018%.

The documents, first reported Thursday by Nextgov/FCW, further undercut President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk’s narrative that Social Security is brimming with fraud. Musk falsely claimed in March that “40% of the calls into Social Security were fraudulent.”

The anti-fraud checks for Social Security have been applied only to benefit claims made over the phone. According to the internal document, “No significant fraud has been detected from the flagged cases.” Earlier this year, amid widespread outrage, the Social Security Administration (SSA) walked back a proposal to scrap many of its phone-based benefit claim services.

(commondreams.org)

Please stop listening to the lies and bullshit coming from the mouths of the idiots in power….all this crap is so they can find an excuse to cut SS benefits to you….and you eat the manure up….can’t fix stupid!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

 

These Tax Cuts Will Pay For Themselves

That is the common lie told whenever someone wants to cut taxes….they never pay for themnselves and in most cases have contributed to the rise in our deficit.

And now Donny and his ‘One Big Beautiful Bill is spreading the same manure always spread when taxes are considered….but is it manure?   Will they truly pay for themselves?

The answer is a resounding ….NO!

An analysis released Thursday by the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation found that the tax cuts at the center of Republicans’ massive reconciliation package would do little to boost economic growth—and would not come anywhere close to paying for themselves.

The JCT report, published hours after Republicans pushed the bill through the House, estimates that the tax cuts would boost the nation’s average annual economic growth by 0.03 percentage points over the next decade—hardly the explosion of growth that GOP lawmakers and President Donald Trump have promised.

Economic activity spurred by the tax breaks—which are largely an extension of soon-to-expire provisions of the 2017 Trump-GOP tax cuts—would increase federal revenues by roughly $103 billion between 2025 and 2034, according to JCT.

That would barely put a dent in the overall projected cost of the tax cuts, bringing it down to $3.7 trillion from $3.8 trillion.

…

A separate analysis published Thursday by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) shows that the benefits of the Republican bill’s tax provisions would flow disproportionately to the wealthiest Americans.

“The $121 billion in net tax cuts going to the richest 1% next year would exceed the amount going to the entire bottom 60% of taxpayers (about $90 billion),” said ITEP, whose analysis did not factor in the impact of the legislation’s unparalleled cuts to Medicaid and federal nutrition assistance, which would deliver a major blow to the household resources of lower-income Americans.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/jct-republican-tax-cuts

But not to worry…..the GOP has found a way to make this problem more palatable to the more ignorant out there…..the bill that would make tips tax free….what little help that would bring will not offset the bigger deal of massive tax cuts for the wealthy.

Tax cuts does little to help the deficit so they must attack the programs that assist people in trouble….just so people like Bezos gets a free hand.

Stop believing the BS and start looking at the larger picture these tax cuts will do you no good.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”