Friday, October 17
Headlines
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Trump says he’ll meet with Putin in Hungary. Following what he described as a “lengthy” and “very productive” phone call with Vladimir Putin, President Trump said he plans to meet with the Russian leader soon in Budapest to discuss ending the war in Ukraine. The phone call came ahead of today’s meeting between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House, where the two are expected to discuss sending long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine. The missiles would allow Ukraine to reach much farther into Russia, including to Moscow, which experts say could force Putin to negotiate. Trump said Putin “didn’t like that idea” when he brought it up during their phone call.
Furniture tariffs prompt IKEA to raise prices. The Swedish home furnishings giant, known for its low prices, is particularly vulnerable to tariffs because it sources only 15% of the products it sells in the US regionally. “We have to adapt and pass on parts of the cost increase to the customers,” Tolga Öncü, retail manager at Ingka (which operates most IKEA stores), told the Wall Street Journal. Total retail sales at the company fell for the second year in a row as inflation keeps US shoppers from making some big purchases. President Trump’s 25% tariff on upholstered wooden furniture, kitchen cabinets, and vanities went into effect this week.
Nestle is cutting 16,000 jobs as part of turnaround effort. The biggest food company in the world is slashing the roles to “simplify our organization” and “automate our processes,” CEO Philipp Navratil wrote in a LinkedIn post. The maker of everything from Kit Kat candy bars to Nespresso coffee pods, Nestle has faced investor pressure over falling demand in China and internal drama, including the ouster of its previous CEO, Laurent Freixe, over an undisclosed romantic relationship with an employee. Nestle’s stock spiked more than 9% yesterday following the news of the layoffs.—AE
Robert Reich
Who really works for whom?
Friends,
A formal organization chart of the Trump regime would show Trump on top, his Cabinet officers arrayed underneath him, the White House staff below them, and an assortment of lower-level appointees at the bottom.
The reality is far different.
Today I want to give you what might be described as a power map of the regime — where power really lies and who really reports to whom.
At the top center of the map is the troika of Stephen Miller, Russell Vought, and JD Vance. Their joint goal appears to be to destroy American democracy.
Their power comes from their knowledge, tenacity, connections, and fanaticism — and from Trump’s apparent willingness to sign off on whatever they want to do.
At A Glance
Auctioning off $15K fine-art tattoos.
Ranking the US' most budget-friendly tourist destinations.
How trees warn each other about potential danger.
Rating US airports based on timeliness.
Tips for increasing neuroplasticity.
Oldest woman to complete the Ironman World Championship.
See the 2025 Wildlife Photographer of the Year winners.
... and winners of the Nikon Small World competition.
In partnership: How to protect yourself from the $100B+ scam industry.*
Clickbait: A mushroom-powered outhouse.
Historybook: Actress Rita Hayworth born (1918); Mae Jemison, first Black woman in space, born (1956); Eminem born (1972); Mother Teresa wins Nobel Peace Prize (1979); Earthquake near San Francisco kills 63 (1989).
In The NEWS
Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> President Donald Trump threatens to move 2026 World Cup matches from Boston over alleged safety concerns; Boston is set to host seven matches at the international event (More)
> Penelope Milford, Oscar-nominated actress known for "Coming Home," dies at age 77 (More) | Drew Struzan, artist behind iconic movie posters like "Star Wars" and "Indiana Jones," dies at age 78 (More)
> MLB championship series continues tonight with NLCS Game 3 (6 pm ET, TBS) and ALCS Game 4 (8:30 pm ET, FS1); see latest scores and schedule (More)
Science & Technology
> Apple unveils series of products powered by faster M5 chip, designed to enhance performance of artificial intelligence-driven workloads (More)
> Researchers hypothesize early lead exposure damaged hominid brains, stunting language and social development; modern humans may have carried gene mutation that protected their brains, enabling higher intelligence (More)
> Physicists accidentally produce shortest X-ray pulses ever observed, a breakthrough that could allow scientists to examine atomic bonds in greater detail and observe the fastest processes within materials (More)
Business & Markets
> US stock markets close mixed (S&P 500 +0.4%, Dow -0.0%, Nasdaq +0.7%) amid ongoing concerns over US-China trade relations and a government shutdown (More)
> Investor group, including BlackRock, Nvidia, Microsoft, and xAI, agrees to buy Aligned Data Centers in $40B deal to secure computing capacity for AI; purchase is largest-ever global data center deal (More)
> Morgan Stanley tops Wall Street earnings and revenue estimates by the largest margin in nearly five years, posts record Q3 revenue of roughly $18B (More)
Politics & World Affairs
> Federal judge temporarily blocks Trump administration from firing federal workers during the government shutdown, following a lawsuit filed earlier this month by several unions (More)
> Dozens of journalists turn in Pentagon access badges after refusing to comply with government-imposed reporting restrictions (More) | President Donald Trump authorizes CIA operations in Venezuela, considering military strikes (More)
> Bodies of at least 19 Israeli hostages still unaccounted for, as Hamas claims it has returned all remains recoverable without extensive effort or specialized equipment; Israel maintains that peace deal hinges on return of all remains (More)
SOURCE: 1440 NEWS
Large Numbers
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I stated a long time ago that when a group of people realize that their numbers are greater than the numbers of the people controlling them, DEMOCRACIES will NEVER WORK...
For example, highway patrol cars cannot enforce the speed limits if there are a pack of 100 cars exceeding the speed limits collectively.
This is true even when radar is used because there is no telling which one of the cars is being checked. Lawyers would have a field day in court with this.
Similarly, if 50% of the population refused to pay taxes, the Federal Government would not be able to put all of them in jail.
When the people realize their power as a whole, the only way to control them is through a DICTATORSHIP or MARSHAL LAW.
A real time example of this is witnessing the crime and violence that is happening in the streets of our larger cities, especially when ICE officers come in to remove illegal immigrants.
If ICE starts arresting too many people, then we do not have the prisons to hold them until trial, nor do we have the money to feed, clothe, and provide medical services while in custody.
And the last thing ICE wants to start doing is shooting the protestors.
In large numbers the people do have POWER...
New surgery tool at Vanderbilt helps surgeons isolate, remove cancer
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Last month, Vanderbilt University Medical Center identified a life-saving way to improve medical procedures in real time.
In a brand-new clinical trial, the Head and Neck surgery team at VUMC is using an intraoperative PET-CT scanner inside the operating room.
Inside an oral cancer surgery, Dr. Michael Topf explained that the use of the scanner — which shows the cancer in its entirety — is making history. His team is the first to introduce it into the OR in the United States.
Thursday, October 16
Wonderings 13
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the power of acting without the constraint of necessity or fate; the ability to act at one's own discretion.
It is my belief that free will, however powerful and/or believed, is non-existent...
Let me start by asking these questions:
Did you have a say so in your own birth, that is to say, were you given a chance to choose your parents or your birth location?
Obviously, the answer is NO...
Do you think or believe that outside of suicide. you will have the free will to choose when you die and/or how you die?
Obviously, the answer is NO...
AND YET...
many of us believe that we have the free will to make decisions for all those moments in between those two events.
- We do make choices and decisions.
- Seemingly we make those on our own.
- If we have FAITH, God makes those decisions for us.
HOWEVER,,,
if we presuppose a creator, then that creator controls our birth, our death, and all those moments in between those two events... BY DEFAULT...
Think of it this way...
Who controlled or controls the EVOLUTION of human beings?
Do you think the COMPLEXITIES of EVOLUTION just came about haphazardly?
That does not even make sense LOGICALLY.
What events might have been set into motion... and when... that resulted in the current peace between ISRAEL and HAMAS?
OR...
the 2024 election of Donald Trump?
OR...
the invasion of Ukraine by Russia?
OR...
Judas betraying Jesus?
NOTE: think about this a moment or two. Without the betrayal of Jesus, there would have been no crucifixion of Jesus on the cross and no creation of Christianity in the wake of his death.
JUDAS HAD TO HAVE BETRAYED JESUS...
Judas HAD NO FREE WILL...
Headlines
Jemal Countess/Getty Images
SCOTUS seems poised to limit Voting Rights Act. The Supreme Court seemed open to curbing the use of the Civil Rights era law to allow states to consider race in drawing electoral maps during a second round of oral arguments yesterday in a case over the creation of Louisiana’s second majority-Black electoral district. The court’s conservative majority questioned whether using race as a factor in determining Congressional districts, which the law permits to remedy the suppression of Black voters, should have an end point in time. If the court finds that it should, the change could help Republicans win more seats in Congress. But despite current redistricting battles, it might not impact the midterm election cycle since a ruling is unlikely to come before this summer.
Judge temporarily blocks firing federal employees during shutdown. A federal judge in San Francisco issued a temporary restraining order barring the Trump administration from firing government employees as the government shutdown drags on. In a case brought by two labor unions, the judge said the firings are illegal, and the administration had used the shutdown “to assume that all bets are off, that the laws don’t apply to them anymore and that they can impose the structures that they like on the government situation that they don’t like.” The decision came soon after President Trump’s budget director, Russell Vought, said the administration planned to eliminate more than 10,000 roles.
BlackRock and tech giants to buy data center company for $40 billion. Stop us if you’ve heard this one before, but there was a major deal announced yesterday in the AI space. A consortium of investors that includes BlackRock’s Global Infrastructure Partners, Nvidia, Microsoft, and xAI, among others, is buying Aligned Data Centers. Aligned, currently owned by Macquarie Asset Management, designs and operates data centers in North and South America. The deal, expected to close next year, comes amid a race to build more data centers as AI models hoover up computing power.—AR
Robert Reich
He’s 10 days older than I am, but I'm years younger. Here's why.
Friends,
I recently had a minor health scare — not unusual when you’re pushing 80. Everything is fine, at least for now.
But it got me thinking.
Trump is 10 days older than me. He doesn’t look the model of robust health.
Even though we’re almost the same age, Trump has one big health problem I don’t have: his hatefulness.
“I hate my opponents,” he says.
Hate is a corrosive. It eats away at one’s health. It attacks a hater’s central nervous system by releasing stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline. It compromises a hater’s cardiovascular system with high blood pressure and heart disease. It weakens immune systems, making the hater more vulnerable to all sorts of illnesses. It weakens gastro-intestinal systems, causing stomachaches, nausea, and other digestive problems. It leads to difficulties falling and staying asleep. It causes muscle tensions that harm the jaw and neck, such as clenching and teeth grinding, and contributes to headaches and migraines.
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