Sunday, June 22
In The NEWS
Summer officially begins with the start of the solstice.
The summer solstice marks the start of summer in the Northern Hemisphere, bringing the longest day and shortest night of the year as the Earth's tilt positions the northern half most directly toward the sun. The word “solstice” comes from Latin, combining “sol” (sun) and “stitium” (pause or stop), representing the moment when the sun appears to pause before reversing direction. Learn more here.
Europe holds nuclear talks as Iran and Israel trade strikes.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said yesterday Iran will not consider diplomacy efforts over its nuclear program while under attack by Israel. The comments came after Araghchi and his European counterparts met in Geneva to reach a resolution that would prevent Iran from developing its nuclear weapons capabilities. Separately, Israel struck areas in western Iran, while Iran struck areas in southern Israel yesterday. See the latest updates on the conflict here.
Judge orders release of former Columbia student Mahmoud Khalil.
A federal judge ruled Friday the federal government failed to justify detaining Khalil, a former Columbia graduate and legal US resident who was arrested in early March over pro-Palestinian protests. The Trump administration has kept Khalil in a Louisiana ICE detention center as it seeks to deport him. While the judge has barred deportation based on his activism, he is allowing the administration to continue pursuing deportation based on allegations Khalil lied on his green card application.
UK lawmakers back bill allowing assisted death for terminally ill adults.
The House of Commons voted 314–291 Friday to approve a bill allowing terminally ill adults in England and Wales, who are over 18 and expected to live less than six months, to request assisted death. The bill now heads to the House of Lords, where its unelected members can review and suggest changes but have limited power to delay or amend bills approved by the elected House of Commons. If passed, the UK would join a handful of countries and some US states that have passed such laws.
World's largest digital camera to release first images Monday.
The world’s largest digital camera was installed in March at an observatory in Chile to capture 1,000 detailed images per night of the southern sky as part of a decade-long survey. The Legacy Survey of Space and Time camera is roughly the size of a small car and weighs over 6,000 pounds. It is also the world's highest resolution camera—roughly 400 ultra-high-definition televisions would be needed to display one of the camera's full-size photos. See how the camera works here (w/video).
SOURCE: 1440 NEWS
Discrimination in America
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Yes, I believe it is.
It is obvious that discrimination focuses on whites' treatment of blacks... but it is not so clear that discrimination can focus of black's treatment of whites as well.
Discrimination is a door that swings both ways, not just one way.
There are also examples of discrimination being white on white as well as black on black, although we don't really think of it like that... it may happen more within the race than between the races.
- We discriminate among the various religious groups, especially in the Baptist denomination.
- We discriminate among those that are educated and those who are not.
- We discriminate among those who are wealthy and those who are not.
- We discriminate among those who are obese and those who are not.
Discrimination is NOT JUST A BLACK/WHITE THING...
What amazes me about discrimination as it relates to races, it would appear, at least to me, that there is more hate in the black community against whites than there is in the white community against blacks.
Blacks create song lyrics that say... KILL WHITEY and I don't believe the same is true about white song lyrics.
The BLACK PANTHERS were a group that wanted to KILL ALL WHITES.
SLAVERY was a terrible concept and many of us wish that it had never happened, but slavery has been around almost since the beginning of time where the wealthy owned the poor. The USA should not have participated in slavery, but it did. Everything that the BLACKS HATE about the whites, comes from slavery.
- HOWEVER, light black dislike and discriminate against dark blacks... go figure?
- Some blacks think it is extra special to have a white wife... go figure?
- Some black churches preach killing the white man... go figure?
OUR FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS here in the USA gives us the ability to say and write negatives thoughts about either race. Sometimes, those thoughts are classified as HATE SPEECH... oftentimes, they are not unless they are spoken by a white person.
As long as we have different kinds of people immigrating and living in the USA, we will have discrimination...
That may be a sad fact, but it a truthful one.
We Are Past the Event Horizon”: Controversial AI Visionary Says the Singularity is Here, and It’s Not What We Expected
Artificial intelligence may have crossed a technological threshold popularly known as “Singularity,” according to one expert who says we have surpassed the point where machines merely assist us, with intelligent machines now exceeding human capabilities.
The claims were made by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who in a recent blog post wrote that AI is already demonstrating intelligence that goes beyond what humans can do naturally, but that for now, things aren’t looking as strange as some might have expected once we reached this point.
Saturday, June 21
Green Energy Amusements
Over the last several years, there has been a push in this country, primarily from the Democrats, to END PETROLEUM CRUDE OIL and NATURAL GAS in favor of green energy:
- Electric Vehicles
- Solar Panels
- Windmills
- Hydro
While at the same time, there has been a movement to push for ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE and HUMANOID ROBOTS...
For a while, all the experts said AI Humanoid Robots would not take JOBS but it they did, it would not happen before 2040.
NOW... those same experts are saying that AI Humanoid Robots will take millions of jobs in the next few years...
QUITE A BIG CHANGE...
Similarly, green energy experts that were convinced going green would SAVE THE PLANET... are now backed into the corner because of AI and Humanoid robots.
MEANING WHAT EXACTLY???
The energy requirement needed to SUSTAIN AI ALONE, can never be met by GREEN ENERGY...
Our current electric grid does not have the power to sustain 80-100% electric vehicle usage much less AI...
Did the Green Energy Folks not do their homework or their due diligence?
It makes one wonder that they DID NOT!!!
Surely these experts were smart enough to calculate ELECTRICAL USAGE of EVs and AI robots or just AI alone...
I mean, isn't that why we call them EXPERTS?
So, here is our DILEMMA...
Do we want to save the planet by using green energy?
<OR>
Do we want to save our minds by using AI?
Maybe we should pay attention to people with COMMON SENSE rather than EXPERTS...
Just a thought....
Ponderings
Who is the leader of the Democratic Party?
Tradition shares that the leader of either party is either the current or recently removed president. Following that logic, then Joe Biden is the current leader of the party. However, Joe Biden is currently mentally incapacitated... to say the least.
So, does this distinction fall on the shoulders of the Chair of the DNC... or the House Minority Leader... or the Senate Minority Leader???
Perhaps, the most outspoken member of the party like AOC???
Maybe the DNC's largest financial contributor?
In the 6 months after the election of 2024, it is clear that the Democratic Party had NO LEADER(s) nor do they have a PLAN OF ACTION to move forward except the following:
Fight Trump in the courts and in the media as much as possible and delay the:
- deportation of illegal immigrants
- reduction of government waste
- passing of tax cuts
- improvement of the economy
This is the same strategy that lost them the 2024 election and subsequently has caused several people as well as financial supporters to leave the party or substantially reduce their support and financial gifts.
The Democratic Party has turned into the party of the ELITE, the wealthy and privileged, and progressives that clearly want to move closer and closer to SOCIALISM.
If they really want to be the party of the American People then their FIRST PRIORITY is to push for a law that limits the number of terms a person of Congress can serve whether that person be in the House or Senate.
Term Limits will help this country IMPROVE more than taxing the wealthy, which should also be done by eliminating TAX SHELTERS...
Headlines
Celal Gunes/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Fed official says rate cuts could come as soon as July. Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller said in a CNBC interview yesterday that he and his colleagues should consider slashing interest rates “as early as July” because he doesn’t believe tariffs will significantly drive up inflation. These remarks came after he and other Fed governors voted to keep rates unchanged this week. President Trump has criticized Fed Chair Jerome Powell for refusing to lower them, but with Waller’s comments, the call is now coming from inside the house. Waller noted that he wasn’t speaking for the whole committee that decides, but said it was time to start thinking about a cut to avoid harming the labor market. That presents a stark contrast to the cautious tone Powell struck in a press conference earlier this week, reiterating the Fed’s wait-and-see stance and expressing concerns that tariffs could still drive up prices.
No breakthroughs in Europe’s talks with Iran. European and Iranian negotiators met in Geneva yesterday in hopes of hashing out an agreement to deescalate Iran’s conflict with Israel over Iran’s nuclear program—which President Trump said Thursday he’d decide whether to join within two weeks to give diplomacy a chance first. But they failed to come to an agreement as Iran reportedly insisted it be allowed to continue enriching uranium. Despite ending at an impasse, the negotiations left open the possibility of more talks going forward. Meanwhile, Israel’s military chief warned the public to prepare for a “prolonged” campaign in Iran.
16 billion passwords have been exposed. And yours are probably among them, not only because that represents more login credentials than there are people on Earth, but also because they include passwords from Google, Facebook, and Apple, according to a report from Cybernews, which called it the largest data breach ever. The data is scattered across 30 different databases, so some of the information likely overlaps. The leaked information does not come directly from attacks on the companies or a single source, meaing they were probably obtained from multiple events over time, but the cybersecurity site noted that bad actors compiling the information can be as damaging as them actively trying to steal it.—AR
READ MORE...
Robert Reich
And the three policies he’s pursuing will only worsen it
Friends,
What’s the biggest single economic challenge facing working and middle-class Americans? Housing. Its supply isn’t nearly keeping up with demand. This means higher home prices and higher rents.
Data released by the Census Bureau yesterday shows fewer housing starts in May than in any month since the 2020 pandemic.
So what’s Trump doing about the slump in new housing? Three things. All will worsen it.
1. He’s put a tariff on Canadian lumber, which is driving up the cost of a key component of new homes. Trump is considering even higher tariffs on wood materials including lumber.
At A Glance
Bookkeeping
> Less than 4 minutes: Fastest recorded time to eat a half-gallon of ice cream at the halfway point of the Appalachian Trail.
> $250K: Starting auction price for Pope Leo XIV’s childhood home.
Browse
> The world's 50 best restaurants.
> ... and a ranking of all 29 Pixar movies.
> Real-life case of “The Ugly Duckling” fairy tale.
> The ancient Roman Empire had a graffiti problem.
> A $2K AI-generated ad aired during the NBA Finals.
> The battle has begun for crowning the song of the summer.
Listen
> We may have been thinking about ADHD all wrong.
> Life, explained by a doctor bringing people to the edge of death.
Watch
> A freezing, 14-course culinary journey at the end of the world.
> What happens if you funnel Niagara Falls through a straw?
> See the first clear images of the sun's south pole.
> How South Florida is becoming the new Wall Street.
Long Read
> Billionaires' megamansion amenities, from granite gorillas to shark ponds.
> The modern world may have an invisibility crisis.
> An anthropologist examines a society that shifts with the seasons.
Most Clicked This Week: The unwritten rules of visiting a British pub.
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