From the suck-ups at Real Clear Politics this morning:
Sewer has two meanings dontchaknow, seamstress only one.
From the conclusion:
... And lucky Chicago suburbanites have small businesses such as LindaZ’s Sewing Center in Arlington Heights, where knowledgeable staff connect savvy sewers, knitters and quilters with fabric and machinery, and Thimbles in Lockport, which still serves a loyal community of sewers and quilters too. ...
Trump urged US House Speaker Johnson to raise top tax rate, sources say
U.S. President Donald Trump privately urged House Speaker Mike Johnson during a phone call on Wednesday to raise the tax rate on the wealthiest Americans and close the carried interest loophole for Wall Street investors, two people familiar with the conversation said on Thursday. ... Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters last week that Trump had ruled out the idea. ...
Boeing hopes to find new buyers for up to 50 planes returned by China
... Two Boeing jets have returned to the US from China,
with another on the way, after the imposition of steep 125% tariffs on
American imports. China imposed the levies in retaliation to the White
House’s 145% rate that threatens to significantly slow down the world
economy. ...
Blank Sailings Rattle Trans-Pacific Trade as China Imports Nosedive
... Container shipping companies have blanked at least 80 sailings this month, compared to 51 in March 2020, when volumes crashed amid early Covid-19 lockdowns, Sea-Intelligence said. ...
Donald Trump’s transition team is said to be “upset” with Pete Hegseth because he “hasn’t been honest” about the sexual misconduct allegation from his past – prompting insiders to consider other options to lead the Pentagon.
Hegseth was tapped last week to become Trump’s defense secretary but now those in the president-elect’s inner circle are “quietly preparing a list of alternative” candidates, Vanity Fair reported.
“It’s becoming a real possibility,” a source told the outlet’s special correspondent Gabriel Sherman.
The source said that the Trump team was taken by surprise after a serious sexual assault allegation against Hegseth came to light, which led Trump’s incoming chief of staff Susie Wiles to question the former Fox News host on a call last week. Hegseth was never charged with a crime and denies the allegations.
“People are upset about the distraction. The general feeling is Pete hasn’t been honest,” a second source told Vanity Fair.
A “prominent Republican” close to the Trump transition team told the outlet that some are also unhappy with the president-elect’s choice due to Hegseth’s lack of qualifications to lead the nation’s defense. . . ..
What else would he fail to be honest about?
Supreme Court rules ex-presidents have broad immunity, dimming chance of a pre-election Trump trial
US Supreme Court rules Trump has immunity for official, not private acts
Gee that's . . . not a happy thought.
The asteroid, named 2024 MK, is estimated to measure about 480 feet (146 meters) across, which is greater than the height of a 40-story building or the Great Pyramid of Giza.
More.
A sucker that size could destroy London, England:
"If [an asteroid as big as Dimorphos] were to fall on the city of
London, windows would break over the whole south east of England and the
damage in [the Greater London] area would be very extreme," Collins
said. "There would be no survivors in the center of London because of
the impact itself and also because of the severity of the air blast." ...
While asteroids of this size crossing the path of our planet are rare, astronomers estimate that 60% of near Earth asteroids larger than 140 meters are still unknown.
NASA said it came in at 152.4 meters.
European Space Agency said it came as close as 180k miles.
Talk about giving two weeks notice.
Here:
Multiple committee members on the call, most granted anonymity to talk about the private discussion, described feeling like they were being gaslighted — that they were being asked to ignore the dire nature of the party’s predicament. The call, they said, may have worsened a widespread sense of panic among elected officials, donors and other stakeholders.
Instead, the people said, Harrison offered what they described as a
rosy assessment of Biden's path forward. The chat function was disabled
and there were no questions allowed.
“I was hoping for more of a substantive conversation instead of, ‘Hey, let’s go out there and just be cheerleaders,’ without actually addressing a very serious issue that unfolded on American television for millions of people to see," said Joe Salazar, an elected DNC member from Colorado, who was on the call. “There were a number of things that could have been said in addressing the situation. But we didn’t get that. We were being gaslit.” ... “This should not be a close race,” Salazar said, pointing to Trump's criminal record and long history of falsehoods. “They’re the ones who should be looking for a new nominee, not us. And unfortunately for us, because of our president’s performance on Thursday night, that is now an open discussion.”
No human biologist now argues that violence is in our genes.
More.
Undeterred, Trump poked fun at the crowd, saying if they did not back him, they would continue to garner just a tiny portion of voter support in national elections.
Traumatized tourist stabbed in Times Square will never return to city...
When I first visited New York City many years ago, we parked the car and as we got out a cab pulled up along side but behind us a little on an angle.
A man jumped out of the back seat, pulled out his pecker, and peed like a race horse on the street right in front of us like it was nothing. Then he jumped back in the cab and it took off again.
Never even got wet.
Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina are the hardest hit, with more than 3.5 million cases, 83% of which are concentrated in Brazil, according to the Pan American Health Organization.
More.
California just got too big for its carrying capacity — at least in the sprawling, ranch-house lifestyle that so many people covet and symbolizes the state’s easy-living persona. “Grow and grow and grow and eventually there’s not enough room,” says Hans Johnson, a demographer at the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California. “The easy places for growth have been used up. Growth today means infill development [in cities]. That’s expensive and controversial. Or you live further away from your job.”
Women Scotland, a campaign group, told The Telegraph: “It’s pure harassment and intimidation. They are deliberately going out to cause upset. Women are trying to talk about their lives and are being subject to torrents of sexist and homophobic abuse.”
More.
From the story:
[The 2022 Supreme Court decision] led to a growing reliance on a two-pill regimen to terminate pregnancies, with U.S. abortions administered by pill increasing 10% since 2020, according to the Guttmacher Institute, an abortion rights advocacy group.
The Institute's report is published every three years and based on data collected from U.S. abortion providers.
The survey found over 1 million total abortions were provided through the U.S. healthcare system in 2023, the first time that number exceeded a million since 2012. ...
The survey likely undercounted the number of abortions in the U.S. since it did not account for terminations obtained outside the formal U.S. healthcare system, such as those done with pills mailed from abroad.
