HEADLINES: 2024
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Well Jeffrey?
Being a $Billionaire isn't enough for you?
team·ster
(tēmstər)n.One who drives a team.
The American Heritage® Dictionary
Last edited:
US Congress scrambles to try to avert looming shutdown after Trump demand rejected
By Reuters / December 20, 20249:47 AM GMT-5WASHINGTON, Dec 20 (Reuters) - The U.S. Congress was scrambling to avert a partial government shutdown on Friday, hours after more than three dozen Republicans rejected a demand by President-elect Donald Trump to use the measure to lift the nation's debt ceiling.
Republican House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson was trying to plot a course that could pass both his chamber, with narrow Republican control, and the Democratic-majority Senate, as a midnight Friday (0500 GMT Saturday) funding deadline loomed.
Done. - and -
Natural gas demand from US LNG export plants heads for first decline in 8 years
Scott DiSavino and Curtis Williams / Fri, December 20, 2024 at 6:13 AM ESTNEW YORK/HOUSTON (Reuters) - Demand for U.S. natural gas to produce liquefied natural gas (LNG) for export this year is headed for its first decline since the country started exporting the super-chilled fuel from the lower 48 states eight years ago.
The U.S. is the world's largest exporter of the superchilled gas and a key provider of gas to Europe in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Natural gas prices have remained relatively high in Europe as the expected U.S. growth in output in 2024 has not materialized and the continent is bracing for a new gas price shock as colder winter weather depletes stocks.
Natural gas drillers have profited from robust demand from LNG export plants especially since sanctions on Russian gas boosted European demand for U.S. LNG. Producers have indexed some output to global LNG prices, so slowing flows of gas to LNG export plants means they have less incentive to grow output.
Natural gas demand from US LNG export plants heads for first decline in 8 years
Demand for U.S. natural gas to produce liquefied natural gas (LNG) for export this year is headed for its first decline since the country started exporting the super-chilled fuel from the lower 48 states eight years ago. Natural gas prices have remained relatively high in Europe as the expected...
news.yahoo.com
Demonstrating their political agility President Elect Trump and efficiency expert & $Billionaire genius general secretary Musk have postponed the government shutdown crisis.
Now we're careening toward the Trump administration's first government shut-up! crisis of Trump's 2nd term.
Trump's day one priority, after he's ended Russia's War in Ukraine (which Trump has committed to completing before his 2nd inauguration) is: "I want to close the border, and I want to drill, drill, drill." Davenport, Iowa December 2023
Mr. Trump:
"drill, drill, drill" is a long-term approach to increase production.
Please inform us sir, what is your plan to increase demand, anthropogenic global warming be damned ?
Are you aware Mr. President Elect that due to the dynamic of supply and demand, if supply is increased during decrease in demand, it may indeed mean increased production, BUT !!
at decreased per unit $profit?
Really?
Shiftless2
Well-known member
As if you needed proof that the MAGA crowd was insane
www.qasimrashid.com
S. Carolina Intros Bill to Execute Women Who Seek An Abortion
Here's what's in the bill, why it is so dangerous, and the meaningful steps you can take to fight back, support women's health, and help block this bill from becoming law
S. Carolina Intros Bill to Execute Women Who Seek An Abortion
Here's what's in the bill, why it is so dangerous, and the meaningful steps you can take to fight back, support women's health, and help block this bill from becoming law
www.qasimrashid.com
Ordinarily I'd barge to the parapet with my broken bergen bottle in resolute defiance of this lunacy.
But the outcome of the 2024 election has not merely left me disillusioned, mystified. I remain shocked, stunned that a nation of over 300 million ostensibly sentient individuals have enabled this.
My understanding of the electoral demographic is, women could have slapped the GOP down hard, appropriate punishment for atrocities such as this.
Could have. Right?
Didn't.
Well?
If it's so low a priority to them they can't be bothered, why should I? They got themselves into this mess. They can get themselves out
or not.
Shiftless2
Well-known member
Didn't want to start a new thread
Keegan Kelly
Matt Gaetz is the main character of news media right now. How could Martin Short do this?
Earlier today, the House Committee on Ethics released its report on controversial former Florida Representative Matt Gaetz, with the congressional conduct group coming to the conclusion that “there is substantial evidence that Representative Gaetz violated House Rules and other standards of conduct prohibiting prostitution, statutory rape, illicit drug use, impermissible gifts, special favors or privileges, and obstruction of Congress.”
Gaetz has long battled allegations and investigations over instances when he supposedly sex trafficked underaged women and abused illicit drugs like cocaine and ecstasy, and, in the scathing 37-page report from a bipartisan but Republican-led panel, the House Committee on Ethics confirmed the veracity of these accusations and condemned Gaetz for a litany of other .....
CONTINUED
Matt Gaetz Rails Against ‘SNL’ While Everyone Reads His Insane Ethics Report
Underaged prostitution, illegal drugs and offensive punchlines punctuated Matt Gaetz’ Monday morningKeegan Kelly
Matt Gaetz is the main character of news media right now. How could Martin Short do this?
Earlier today, the House Committee on Ethics released its report on controversial former Florida Representative Matt Gaetz, with the congressional conduct group coming to the conclusion that “there is substantial evidence that Representative Gaetz violated House Rules and other standards of conduct prohibiting prostitution, statutory rape, illicit drug use, impermissible gifts, special favors or privileges, and obstruction of Congress.”
Gaetz has long battled allegations and investigations over instances when he supposedly sex trafficked underaged women and abused illicit drugs like cocaine and ecstasy, and, in the scathing 37-page report from a bipartisan but Republican-led panel, the House Committee on Ethics confirmed the veracity of these accusations and condemned Gaetz for a litany of other .....
CONTINUED
The White House announced on Christmas Eve President Joe Biden signed a bill officially designating the bald eagle as the national bird.
www.foxnews.com
Thanks Joe. 'Bout time?
Some have claimed Founder Benjamin Franklin wanted the U.S. national bird to be the turkey, a myth according to fi.edu
More recently:
The bald eagle is an Endangered Species Act success story. In the mid-1900s, our national symbol was in danger of extinction throughout most of its range. Bald eagles were decimated by habitat destruction and degradation, as well as illegal shooting and the contamination of their food source by the insecticide dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, known as DDT.
Habitat protection afforded by the Endangered Species Act, the federal government’s banning of DDT, and conservation actions taken by the American public have helped bald eagles make a remarkable recovery.
When America adopted the bald eagle as the national symbol in 1782, anecdotal accounts stated that the country may have had as many as 100,000 nesting eagles. The first major decline of the species probably began in the mid to late 1800s, coinciding with the decline of waterfowl, shorebirds and other prey.
Although they primarily eat fish and carrion, bald eagles used to be considered marauders that preyed on chickens, lambs and domestic livestock. Consequently, the large raptors were shot in an effort to eliminate a perceived threat. Coupled with the loss of nesting habitat, bald eagle populations declined.
Shortly after World War II, DDT was hailed as a new pesticide to control mosquitoes and other insects. However, DDT and its residues, washed into nearby waterways, where aquatic plants and fish absorbed it. Bald eagles, in turn, were poisoned with DDT when they ate the contaminated fish. The chemical interfered with the ability of the birds to produce strong eggshells. As a result, their eggs had shells so thin that they often broke during incubation or otherwise failed to hatch. Other pesticides related to DDT are suspected to have caused increased mortality, in addition to DDT’s harmful effects on reproduction. By 1963, with only 417 nesting pairs of bald eagles known to exist, the species was in danger of extinction.
In 1967, the Secretary of Interior listed bald eagles south of the 40th parallel under the Endangered Species Preservation Act. In 1972, as the dangers of DDT became known - in large part due to Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring - the Environmental Protection Agency took the historic and, at the time, controversial step of banning the use of DDT and some related pesticides in the United States.
In July 1995, we announced that bald eagles in the lower 48 states had recovered to the point where those populations previously considered endangered could be reclassified to the less critical category of threatened.
Merry Christmas
It's official: Biden signs new law, designates bald eagle as 'national bird'
President Joe Biden signed a law Monday naming the bald eagle as the country's national bird.
www.foxnews.com
Thanks Joe. 'Bout time?
Some have claimed Founder Benjamin Franklin wanted the U.S. national bird to be the turkey, a myth according to fi.edu
More recently:
The bald eagle is an Endangered Species Act success story. In the mid-1900s, our national symbol was in danger of extinction throughout most of its range. Bald eagles were decimated by habitat destruction and degradation, as well as illegal shooting and the contamination of their food source by the insecticide dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, known as DDT.
Habitat protection afforded by the Endangered Species Act, the federal government’s banning of DDT, and conservation actions taken by the American public have helped bald eagles make a remarkable recovery.
When America adopted the bald eagle as the national symbol in 1782, anecdotal accounts stated that the country may have had as many as 100,000 nesting eagles. The first major decline of the species probably began in the mid to late 1800s, coinciding with the decline of waterfowl, shorebirds and other prey.
Although they primarily eat fish and carrion, bald eagles used to be considered marauders that preyed on chickens, lambs and domestic livestock. Consequently, the large raptors were shot in an effort to eliminate a perceived threat. Coupled with the loss of nesting habitat, bald eagle populations declined.
Shortly after World War II, DDT was hailed as a new pesticide to control mosquitoes and other insects. However, DDT and its residues, washed into nearby waterways, where aquatic plants and fish absorbed it. Bald eagles, in turn, were poisoned with DDT when they ate the contaminated fish. The chemical interfered with the ability of the birds to produce strong eggshells. As a result, their eggs had shells so thin that they often broke during incubation or otherwise failed to hatch. Other pesticides related to DDT are suspected to have caused increased mortality, in addition to DDT’s harmful effects on reproduction. By 1963, with only 417 nesting pairs of bald eagles known to exist, the species was in danger of extinction.
In 1967, the Secretary of Interior listed bald eagles south of the 40th parallel under the Endangered Species Preservation Act. In 1972, as the dangers of DDT became known - in large part due to Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring - the Environmental Protection Agency took the historic and, at the time, controversial step of banning the use of DDT and some related pesticides in the United States.
In July 1995, we announced that bald eagles in the lower 48 states had recovered to the point where those populations previously considered endangered could be reclassified to the less critical category of threatened.
Merry Christmas
Shiftless2
Well-known member
He actually signed 50 bills into law including making the Eagle the official bird of the US
Oh.
I did not know that.
Thanks S2.
Good that Joe signed it.
ASTOUNDING !! that it ended up on the president's desk to be signed in the first place. Congress put it there? This congress put it there ?! Johnson / McConnell [RR] ? Unimaginable !
Even if true, can't imagine it remaining the law for long.
Not plausible.
I'll try to find corroboration / clarification.
Kansas once required voters to prove citizenship. That didn't work out so well
JOHN HANNA / Updated Sun, December 29, 2024 at 11:44 AM EST·TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Republicans made claims about illegal voting by noncitizens a centerpiece of their 2024 campaign messaging and plan to push legislation in the new Congress requiring voters to provide proof of U.S. citizenship. Yet there's one place with a GOP supermajority where linking voting to citizenship appears to be a nonstarter: Kansas.
That's because the state has been there, done that, and all but a few Republicans would prefer not to go there again. Kansas imposed a proof-of-citizenship requirement over a decade ago that grew into one of the biggest political fiascos in the state in recent memory.
The law, passed by the state Legislature in 2011 and implemented two years later, ended up blocking the voter registrations of more than 31,000 U.S. citizens who were otherwise eligible to vote. That was 12% of everyone seeking to register in Kansas for the first time. Federal courts ultimately declared the law an unconstitutional burden on voting rights, and it hasn't been enforced since 2018.
Kansas once required voters to prove citizenship. That didn't work out so well
Republicans made claims about illegal voting by noncitizens a centerpiece of their 2024 campaign messaging and plan to push legislation in the new Congress requiring voters to provide proof of U.S. citizenship. Kansas imposed a proof-of-citizenship requirement over a decade ago that grew into...
Which is their greater priority? Prosperity through non-partisan governance? Or anything goes?
Meaning, you faltered, but are still fit enough for another four years? Really?
Are you aware Abraham Lincoln is regarded as one of the best U.S. presidents in history?
And President Lincoln's signature achievement? Preserving the union.
There's only one crime defined within the Constitution.
- Not rape.
- Not kidnap.
- Not murder.
The one crime defined in the Constitution is treason, Art3 Sect3.
For treason is a crime against the Constitution itself.
Treason is a big deal President Biden.
And your answer to that is to accord the heroes that placed their own personal fortunes in jeopardy for sake of the union, the United States Constitution
is to accord them "the 2nd highest civilian award."
Biden is giving the 2nd highest civilian award to the leaders of the Jan. 6 congressional committee
COLLEEN LONG / Updated Thu, January 2, 2025 at 7:25 AM ESTPresident Joe Biden is bestowing the second highest civilian medal on Liz Cheney and Bennie Thompson, leaders of the congressional investigation into the Capitol riot who Donald Trump has said should be jailed for their roles in the inquiry.
Biden will award the Presidential Citizens Medal to 20 people in a ceremony Thursday at the White House, including Americans who fought for marriage equality, a pioneer in treating wounded soldiers, and two of the president's longtime friends, former Sens. Ted Kaufman, D-Del., and Chris Dodd, D-Conn.
“President Biden believes these Americans are bonded by their common decency and commitment to serving others,” the White House said in a statement. “The country is better because of their dedication and sacrifice.”
Biden last year honored people who were involved in defending the Capitol from a mob of angry Trump supporters on Jan. 6, 2021, or who helped safeguard the will of American voters during the 2020 presidential election, when Trump tried and failed to overturn the results.
Biden is giving the 2nd highest civilian award to the leaders of the Jan. 6 congressional committee
President Joe Biden is bestowing the second highest civilian medal on Liz Cheney and Bennie Thompson, leaders of the congressional investigation into the Capitol riot who Donald Trump has said should be jailed for their roles in the inquiry. Biden will award the Presidential Citizens Medal to...
Somehow Joe, you've managed to turn presidential parsimony into an instrument of insult.
If you're not willing to do right by them on principle,
has it occurred to you the office you now hold is yours in whole or part due to the faithful Constitutional commitments of these public servants?
"2nd highest civilian award"
Joe ...Shiftless2
Well-known member
Trump and GOP allies falsely blame New Orleans attack on immigration failures
Story by Rebecca ShabadPresident-elect Donald Trump and his allies in Congress have blamed the deadly New Orleans truck attack on President Joe Biden's border policies even though the attacker was a U.S. citizen.
“When I said that the criminals coming in are far worse than the criminals we have in our country, that statement was constantly refuted by Democrats and the Fake News Media, but it turned out to be true,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social as information was still trickling out about the ramming attack on Wednesday morning.
“The crime rate in our country is at a level that nobody has ever seen before,” he wrote. “Our hearts are with all of the innocent victims and their loved ones, including the brave officers of the New Orleans Police Department.”
Officials later identified the attacker as Shamsud-Din Jabbar, of Texas, a U.S. citizen and an Army veteran.
Fox News had reported Wednesday morning that the driver, who was shot and killed by police after he ran over a crowd of people on New Orleans’s famous Bourbon Street, had crossed over the border from Mexico earlier this week. The network walked back its reporting later Wednesday, but not before ....
CONTINUED including video
Shiftless2
Well-known member
It's a done deal.
What else should we expect? This is standard demonization. Trump uses xenophobia as a political tool.
Shiftless2
Well-known member
Re #334
The driver who killed 14 people in an ISIS-inspired attack by plowing into a crowded New Orleans street on New Year’s Day had planned to use a transmitter to detonate two explosive devices he had placed nearby, authorities have said.
The FBI and ATF said in a joint statement Friday that the explosives were placed on Bourbon Street, which Shamsud-Din Jabbar later turned into a scene of devastation.
Neither of the explosive devices were detonated, and it remains unclear whether ....
Continued with video and pics as well
New Orleans attacker had a transmitter to set off explosive devices, F.B.I. says
Story by Freddie ClaytonThe driver who killed 14 people in an ISIS-inspired attack by plowing into a crowded New Orleans street on New Year’s Day had planned to use a transmitter to detonate two explosive devices he had placed nearby, authorities have said.
The FBI and ATF said in a joint statement Friday that the explosives were placed on Bourbon Street, which Shamsud-Din Jabbar later turned into a scene of devastation.
Neither of the explosive devices were detonated, and it remains unclear whether ....
Continued with video and pics as well
Shiftless2
Well-known member
Both these criminals had U.S. military experience.
Each (apparently independently) chose New Year's Day.
What is it that society can harmlessly provide that will substitute for what these criminals seek with these crimes?
To answer that it would help to know what their intended message is.
A letter to the editor, or a post in this forum would have been preferable. But it's not a binary. Consider Ted Kaczynski, aka "the unibomber".
He used explosives. But he also wrote a manifesto:
Alright.
We're awake Livelsberger. What's on your mind? Global warming? U.S. military global hegemony? $Inflation?
Marjorie Taylor Greene snatched Trump’s Social Security pledge and threw it on the floor — here’s why she’s so mad
Christy Bieber / Sat, January 4, 2025 at 6:55 AM ESTRepublican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who chairs the House subcommittee created to support the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), was recently confronted over President-elect Donald Trump’s campaign pledge not to cut Social Security.
Her response was to throw a printed copy of the pledge on the ground and say, “You guys suck,” referring, presumably, to the Democratic Party and its supporters.
While her words imply that the Republicans have not proposed cuts and may not plan to, Newsweek reported that another House Republican, Greg Lopez of Colorado, responded to a question about Social Security and Medicare by stating that "there will be some cuts."
Marjorie Taylor Greene snatched Trump’s Social Security pledge and threw it on the floor — here’s why she’s so mad
Will the GOP Congress honor Trump's campaign promises?
Marj,
Are you going to be temperamental? Or are you going to balance the budget?