In The NEWS

Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> Los Angeles district attorney recommends resentencing for Erik and Lyle Menendez due to new evidence related to their conviction for the 1989 murder of their parents (More)

> Ron Ely, actor best known for starring in titular 1960s TV role on "Tarzan," dies at age 86 (More) | Jack Jones, two-time Grammy-winning singer and actor, dies at age 86 (More)

> TKO, parent company of the WWE and UFC, purchases Professional Bull Riders, On Location, and IMG for $3.25B (More)


Science & Technology
> Group of cable companies, advertisers, and news outlets sue the Federal Trade Commission over "click-to-cancel" rules, which would simplify canceling contracts from a variety of businesses (More)

> Study finds the human brain can parse and process single sentences as quickly as 125 milliseconds, roughly equal to the blink of an eye (More)

> Astronomers discover first black hole in a triple star system; findings raise questions about how black holes form and their resulting gravitational pull on nearby objects (More) | Explaining black holes, one of the universe's biggest mysteries (More, w/video)


Business & Markets
> US stock markets close mixed (S&P 500 +0.2%, Dow -0.3%, Nasdaq +0.8%); Tesla stock lifts Nasdaq, closing up 22% in best day since May 2013 (More) | Lilium shares close down 61% after air taxi startup says main subsidiaries will file for insolvency (More) | Insolvency 101 (More)

> Keurig Dr Pepper to buy energy-drink maker Ghost for over $1B, with initial cash investment of $990M in exchange for 60% ownership stake; Keurig Dr Pepper will acquire remaining 40% stake in 2028 (More) | Judge blocks Coach owner Tapestry's $8.5B acquisition of Michael Kors owner Capri (More)

> Southwest Airlines and activist investor Elliott Investment Management strike deal on Southwest's leadership, including keeping CEO Bob Jordan; deal averts proxy fight (More) | Proxy fight 101 (More)


Politics & World Affairs
> Owner of Dali container ship that crashed into Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge earlier this year and killed six people agrees to pay $102M in settlement with Justice Department (More)

> Three Georgia men convicted in 2022 for federal hate crime in the killing of 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery seek new trial; the three men had confronted and shot Arbery, who was out on a run (More)

> India's east coast braces for Cyclone Dana as more than 1 million people are evacuated (More) | Hurricane Kristy strengthens into Category 5 storm in Pacific Ocean southwest of the southern tip of Baja, California; Kristy is expected to remain away from land (More, w/tracker)

SOURCE:  1440 NEWS

Gasoline & EVs

 

My last gasoline fill-up of 13 gallons was $2.50/gallon which is obviously down from $3.66/gallon I was paying several weeks ago...  however, it is still up from the $1.60 I was paying four years ago.

I also know that the USA has enough petroleum crude oil under the ground to last us for over 50 years which includes selling our over production for foreign countries.

Right now, we are buying petroleum crude oil from other countries because we do not have enough domestic crude oil to fill our needs.

WHOSE FAULT IS THAT???

I also understand that the current administration wants to go GREEN and have electric vehicles but there are some fundamental problems with that INITIATIVE:

First - we do not have to power grid to accommodate our electric vehicles, since we are currently experiencing brown-outs in certain areas of the country.

And what happens when the power is out due to hurricanes or other bad weather?

What then?

Do people just park their EVs and not go to work?

Second - Electric Vehicles are expensive and the Middle Class and Poor Class simply cannot afford EVs.  

Are you going to force Americans to buy EVs with what little money they have?

Are you going to tell the car companies to hire ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS to make our cars because they represent cheap labor?

Third - currently, it takes a long time to charge an EV and in addition to the time, there are not enough charging stations to accommodate a higher level of EVs even if the price were to come down and people started to buy them.

Fourth - the transition from gasoline to EVs if forced upon the American public would keep our weakened economy from growing as a sustainable rate in order to achieve full employment.  That weakened economy would make us vulnerable to our enemies...  to say the least.

Our current administration is not doing a very good job of PLANNING FOR OUR FUTURE...  outside of making a lot of free stuff available which is going to raise taxes.

Somewhat Political

 

China's Cargo Drone

An unmanned cargo aircraft developed by Sichuan Tengden Sci-tech Innovation Co. takes part in a maiden flight at an airport in Zigong, Sichuan province, China August 11, 2024. 

BEIJING, Aug 12 (Reuters) - Engineers sent China's biggest-yet cargo drone on a test run over the weekend while a helicopter taxi took to the skies on a soon-to-open 100-km (62-mile) route to Shanghai, laying new milestones for the country's expanding low-altitude economy.

Packing a payload capacity of 2 metric tons, the twin-engine cargo drone developed by state-funded Sichuan Tengden Sci-tech Innovation Co took off in southwestern Sichuan province on Sunday for its inaugural flight that lasted approximately 20 minutes, state media reported.     READ MORE...

SANTANA - Black Magic Woman / Oye Como Va

Abortion

 

Insurrection

 

The Band

 

Thinking

 

Updates

Slow Learners

In The NEWS

Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani's 50th home run ball sells for $4.4M at auction, a record price for a sports ball of any kind (More) | Fernando Valenzuela, Dodgers pitching legend, dies at age 63 (More)

> Actresses Julianne Moore and Rosario Dawson, Radiohead's Thom Yorke, and author James Patterson among at least 15,000 creatives signing on to statement warning against unauthorized use of their work to train generative AI (More)

> Director Roman Polanski won't face trial for alleged rape of a minor in 1973 after settling out of court (More) | Harvey Weinstein's retrial on an overturned 2020 rape conviction to be pushed back to 2025 (More)


Science & Technology
> Google's DeepMind deploys invisible watermark for AI-generated text; approach alters words used in a formulaic but indistinguishable way that can be decoded with a key (More) | How generative AI works (More, w/video)

> Researchers discover how ovarian cancer shuts down immune cells, promoting tumor growth; cancer cells effectively block the energy source T cells rely on to function (More) | What are T cells? (More)

> Archaeologists uncover the most extensive medieval urban sites discovered to date in Central Asia; cities of Tashbulak and Tugunbulak, located along the Silk Road, date back to 550 CE to 1050 CE (More)


Business & Markets
> US stock markets close lower (S&P 500 -0.9%, Dow -1.0%, Nasdaq -1.6%) (More) | US existing home sales drop 1% month-over-month in September to the slowest annual pace since October 2010; median home price topping $404K is up 3% year-over-year (More)

> Tesla shares rise 12% in after-hours trading on better-than-expected profits (More) | Peloton shares close up 11% after hedge fund founder says stock is undervalued (More) | McDonald's shares close down 5% after CDC announces E. coli outbreak linked to Quarter Pounder burgers across 10 states; total of 49 cases reported, with one person dead and 10 hospitalized (More)

> Apple and Goldman Sachs ordered to pay over $89M in penalties and refunds after US regulator finds they misled Apple Card holders (More) | American Airlines to pay record $50M fine over treatment of passengers with disabilities (More)


Politics & World Affairs
> The Pentagon confirms reports of North Korean soldiers in Russia but says purpose is unclear; South Korea says 3,000 troops are there, part of a planned 10,000-person deployment, with Ukraine saying they are joining Russia's war in Kursk (More) | G-7 finalizes $50B loan to Ukraine, backed by Russian assets (More)

> Florida mother files wrongful death lawsuit against Character.AI—a company allowing users to interface with AI chatbots—after her 14-year-old son, active on the site, dies by suicide (More)

> Mexican soldiers kill 19 suspected members of Sinaloa cartel in shootout in the northwestern state; attack comes months after arrest in the US of cartel cofounder Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada (More)

SOURCE:  1440 NEWS

About the WEALTHY

 

From time immemorial, societies HAVE ALWAYS been separated into the WEALTHY and the POOR...  It is only in the USA, that society has managed to develop into three categories:  Wealthy - Middle Class - Poor.

Once you understand that, then the rest of my comments will be easier to understand.

The American Government MUST COLLECT TAXES in order to pay for all the services they provide, such as:

• public education
• public transportation
• public parks and recreation
• public healthcare
• military and law enforcement
• retirement benefits
• unemployment insurance

Anything and everything that is made available to the public COMES FROM TAX DOLLARS.

The WEALTHY HIDE THEIR INCOME in TAX FREE offshore banks accounts typically in the Caymans in the Caribbean.

In short, WEALTHY PEOPLE DON'T PAY TAXES or the fair share of taxes.

Congress makes the tax laws and the WEALTHY give the people money for their re-elections to keep the tax laws from changing.

Neither the middle class nor the poor class has the ability to influence congress.  The only thing that these two classes can do is pay their taxes and/or refuse to pay their taxes and go to prison.

The more services that the government wants to provide the people so that the people will keep their party in power, the more taxes increase.  When the politicians say taxes will not increase on you, but they will on the wealthy, THEY ARE LYING.

Until you believe what I just wrote, the government will continue to give you programs, continue to raise your taxes, and continue to lie to you saying the wealthy will pay for it all.

THIS WILL SIMPLY NOT HAPPEN...

EVERTIME YOU PUT THESE ASSHOLES BACK INTO POWER, THE MORE FOOLISH AND STUPID AMERICANS LOOK BECAUSE THEY JUST CANNOT SEEM TO FIGURE OUT WHAT IS HAPPENING TO THEM...

YOU ARE GETTING EXACTLY WHAT YOU DESERVE...

Somewhat Political

 

China's Humanoid Robot Race

Robot Era, a rising name in the humanoid robot space, has captured the attention of tech enthusiasts again with a new stunt.

After showcasing its XBot-L humanoid strolling along the Great Wall of China a few months ago, the company has now released footage of two Star1 models racing through the Gobi Desert.

Racing humanoids in the Gobi Desert
The video (below), shot late last month, shows two Star1 humanoid robots racing through diverse terrain in the Gobi Desert. The robots are seen navigating rocky paths, grassy areas, and winding roads.

One of the robots runs “bare-footed,” while the other sports a pair of sneakers, which, as it turns out, played a significant role in the outcome of the race.     READ MORE...

Dire Straits - Sultans Of Swing 1979 Live Video

A Female President

 

Is the US of A ready for a female president?

When Hillary Clinton was challenging Trump for the position of POTUS, she lost.

Just like Trump complained for 4 years of not really losing in 2020 to Joe Biden, Hillary has also complained for four years about unfairly losing to Donald Trump in 2016.

Aside from the bitching of both these candidates, the US of A is again faced with an opportunity to elect their first female president.

A very big step for the leader of the FREE WORLD.

Will Kamala Harris...

1. stop illegal immigration?
2. make the USA energy independent again?
3. reduce inflation?
4. stop crime and violence?
5. stop illegal drugs?
6. repair our divided country?
7. stand tall against our enemies?
8. grow our economy?
9. fix our deteriorating education system?
10. reduce or increase taxes?
11. reduce or increase our national debt?
12. build up or military and space force?
13. Prevent WWIII from taking place?

Will Trump be able to achieve these 13 items?

2024 is a crossroads, a turning point if you will for the future of the USA.

• Will she again take her rightful role of leader of the FREE WORLD?
• <or>
• Will she succumb to the influences of SOCIALISM and become no better than any other country in the world?
• Will she allow CHINA to become leader of the world?
• Will she allow nuclear proliferation again?
• Will she allow global wars of aggression to take place again?
• Will she allow illegal immigration to change the culture of the USA?
• Will she allow shrinkage of the middle class?
• Will she allow BILLIONAIRES to dictate policy and our future?
• Will she allow humanoid robots to take our jobs?

Tolerance

 

Chemo Day

 

Twice a month, I have infusions, one is for the continued suppression of my Melanoma and the second one is to boost my immune system because the infusion for my Melanoma has destroyed it.

Every four weeks I have an infusion of OPDIVO and the next day, I have an infusion for IVIG.  The former lasts 30 minutes, the latter lasts 2.5 hours.  The former I have a UT Medical Cancer Center, the latter I have at UT Medical Satellite facility in Morristown.

I have been having infusions over 15 years, and with my December 2024 infusion, I will have completed my 16th year.  I have had over 150 chemo infusions for my two cancers and over 60 infusions of IVIG to try and repair the damage my chemo infusions have caused.

At the age of 60, I was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's B Cell Lymphoma and I the age of 65 and as a result of my Lymphoma treatments, I was diagnosed with Melanoma.

My Melanoma diagnosis caused me to have a few surgeries as the cancer moved from my foot to my groin to my neck before finally being killed by radiation treatments.

My treatments now (Opdivo infusions for Melanoma - daily Venclexta pills for Lymphoma) are simply to keep my cancers from growing at all.  I will have these treatments for the rest of my life.

I typically awake at 6:00 am on Chemo Day, shower and arrive at UT Medical Cancer Center by 7:30 am for labs, doctor visit, and treatment.  If the flow of patients is smooth, I am on my way home by 10:00/10:30 am.

However, some mornings, like this one, I cannot sleep and was up at 3:30 am drinking decaf coffee with sugar free Cappuccino Mix and working on my two blogs.

On my IVIG days, like tomorrow, I will be up at 6:00 am and will finish at 10:30/11:00 am but trip home will take only 15 minutes as opposed to 40/45 minutes when traveling to Knoxville.

I consider myself to be lucky that I am still ABOVE GROUND.

Evidence