Saturday, October 25
Headlines
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Trump ends Canada trade talks over Reagan anti-tariff ad. President Trump announced on Truth Social Thursday night that he was halting all trade negotiations with Canada, the US’ second-largest trading partner, because of an ad criticizing the high tariffs he imposed on the country’s goods. Trump called the ad, which was released by the province of Ontario, “FAKE,” and said it was meant to interfere with the US Supreme Court case over the legality of the tariffs. The ad features real audio from parts of a speech given by former President Ronald Reagan criticizing tariffs (though Reagan was defending his own decision to place tariffs on Japan). Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said yesterday his country is ready to resume trade talks “when the Americans are ready,” and Ontario plans to pause the ads—though it is still slated to run during the World Series.
US sends aircraft carrier to the Caribbean in latest escalation. In the latest sign that the Trump administration is taking the phrase “war on drugs” literally, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the USS Gerald R. Ford, which had been deployed in the Mediterranean, to the Caribbean, bringing with it dozens of fighter and surveillance aircraft, as well as other Navy warships to accompany it. The decision to send additional military firepower to the region comes after the administration recently conducted several fatal airstrikes on boats it accused of smuggling drugs, treating the people on them as combat enemies rather than criminals. It represents a major escalation of the US campaign against drug smuggling and Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro.
Good luck finding a KPop Demon Hunters costume. The members of HUNTR/X are among the season’s most searched for Halloween costumes on Google, but it’s not the golden opportunity you might expect for Netflix, which had to scramble to get licensed merch out in time. As parents of kids who have a very particular idea of how they want to look while trick-or-treating already know, the movie’s success took Netflix by surprise, and before it hit the big time, the company couldn’t get retailers interested in deals, the Wall Street Journal reports. But by next Halloween, the singing teens will likely be everywhere: Netflix recently signed an unprecedented licensing deal with rival toymakers Hasbro and Mattel to bring out official KPop Demon Hunters products.—AR
Robert Reich
You or I could be next
Friends,
The United States is now executing people on the high seas whom Trump calls “enemy combatants.” He’s doing so without a declaration of war, without input from Congress, and without any findings that they pose a threat to the United States.
At this moment, Secretary of Defense (or Secretary of War, as Trump prefers) Pete Hegseth is positioning warships, including an aircraft carrier, and planes in waters off Latin America.
Hegseth has already bombed 10 boats, eight of them in the Caribbean and two others this week in the eastern Pacific.
So far, the death toll is 43.
Neither Trump nor Hegseth has offered any evidence to support their claims that the vessels have been smuggling drugs to the United States or were “operated by” Tren de Aragua, a group that Trump has designated as a terrorist organization.
Bookkeeping
> 1.4 billion pounds: How much cheese the US government reportedly stores in underground caves.
> 19: How many states had adult obesity rates at or above 35% last year, down from 23 states in 2023—a first-time decrease.
Browse
> How to train yourself into lucid dreaming.
> Will billboard ads help this woman find a husband?
> Cronuts were only the start of croissant innovation.
> Lemurs doing yoga among Comedy Wildlife Award finalists.
Listen
> What's worse: a bad doctor or no doctor?
> Despite that text, your toll payment isn't overdue.
Watch
> Why a breakup reveals more than years of marriage.
> Can you drive west to lengthen the sunset?
> How La-Z-Boy captured and lost America's heart.
> Inside the most crowded place on Earth.
Long Read
> The enduring value of college newspapers. (w/archival photos)
> How to build a memory palace.
> Couples set aside tens of thousands of dollars in seemingly secure accounts to pay surrogates—then the money disappears midway through the pregnancy.
Most Clicked This Week: What it means if you see a blue stop sign.
Historybook: Artist Pablo Picasso born (1881); Benjamin O. Davis Sr. becomes first Black general in US Army (1940); Katy Perry born (1984); Hall of Fame golfer Payne Stewart dies in plane crash (1999).
In The NEWS
Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> King Charles III and Pope Leo XIV pray together in the first joint service between Church of England and Catholic Church leaders in 500 years (More)
> Broadway's musicians union reaches tentative labor deal with commercial producers, averting strike that threatened to halt 23 shows (More) | "Stranger Things" series finale to premiere on Netflix and over 350 movie theaters Dec. 31 to Jan. 1, marking first Netflix series theatrical release (More)
> Athletics Integrity Unit bans women's marathon world record-holder Ruth Chepng'etich from competing for three years after positive doping test (More)
Science & Technology
> Google Earth expands artificial intelligence features, enhancing ability to identify infrastructure and communities at risk from severe weather (More) | Two Florida coral reef species deemed functionally extinct after 2023 heat wave (More)
> Paleontologists unearth well-preserved dinosaur remains, mummified by microorganisms for over 66 million years (More)
> Researchers discover Alzheimer’s disease disrupts the circadian rhythms of plaque-clearing brain cells, suggesting correcting these rhythms as potential Alzheimer’s treatment (More)
Business & Markets
> US stock markets close higher (S&P 500 +0.6%, Dow +0.3%, Nasdaq +0.9%) as traders await release of delayed September US inflation report today (More)
> US existing home sales rise 1.5% month-over-month in September to seven-month high; median home price of $415,200 is up 2.1% from a year ago and the highest price for any September on record (More) | Average US 30-year fixed mortgage rate falls to lowest level in more than a year (More)
> EV-maker Rivian to cut over 600 jobs, roughly 4% of workforce (More) | Apple loses UK class-action lawsuit over excessive fees charged to app developers (More)
Politics & World Affairs
> Senate votes down competing bills to pay active-duty military members, essential workers amid standoff over federal government shutdown (More)
> President Donald Trump says he will back off plans to deploy the National Guard to San Francisco after speaking with tech leaders, including CEOs of Nvidia, Salesforce (More)
> Sudan's military intercepts drone attack on main international airport from Rapid Support Forces; the paramilitary group targeted Khartoum International Airport one day after it reopened to passenger flights (More)
SOURCE: 1440 NEWS
Decision Making
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Sometimes...
We ask for input from people we respect to help formulate our final opinion, judgment, decision, and ultimate action but we should not feel inclined to use their input just because we asked for it.
I respect my wife's opinion for example, but I seldom use her advice... my decision is made for a couple of reasons. First, she does not understand me as well as she thinks she does. Second, she is more cautious than I am about trusting people.
That second reason is important because of the word trust and what it is with which you are trusting them.
I would not trust anyone with a secret, I would want to keep, but as far as my opinion or what I have previous written down, like an article or a poem, I would trust damn near anyone with that.
The other issue that underlies all of this is that my wife worked in the rank and file all her career and I worked in management all of my career. Each of those two areas have different mindsets and those mindsets influences one's personality and behavior.
I learned a long time ago that people who work in the rank and file, have very little power to make decisions; whereas those who work in management have the opportunity to make lots of decision.
I have worked in several management positions where I would ask my subordinates, also in management, for their opinions about an issue. I knew and they knew that while they were giving me their opinions, I would be making the final decision, and I alone would have to live with the consequences of that decision.
One thing I learned early on was that subordinates always want your job and will say and do things to make you look bad; therefore, one must always take their advice lightly because one never knows when their advice in intentionally bad.
Now, I would never say, nor would I suggest that my wife's opinion was intentionally bad, but because of my training, those thoughts are always on my mind.
Medieval artifacts up to 750-years-old discovered in a bearded vulture's nest
A study describes how archaeologists exploring abandoned cliff nests in southern Spain pulled a medieval surprise from a bearded vulture’s home, a woven sandal that radiocarbon tests place between 650 and 750 years old.
Bearded vultures, Gypaetus barbatus, are unusual raptors because they specialize in osteophagy, a bone heavy diet, and they reuse protected cliff cavities as family sites for generations.
Friday, October 24
Wonderings 21
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Well,
we know what life is because we are alive, breathing, and thinking.
Well,
we know what liberty is because we live in the USA and have more freedoms (liberty) than any other country in this world.
Well,
pursuit of happiness...
This one's a pisser because the notion (concept) of happiness varies from person to person.
Not only that... but...
our happiness CANNOT ENFRINGE on the rights of others.
For instance...
let's say you are sitting under an umbrella down at Myrtle Beach, SC and the two visitors to your left who have rented that umbrella are smokers, and their secondhand smoke, drifts into your space that you have rented.
Similarly.
Let's also say that the couple sitting under their rented umbrella are playing RAP MUSIC so loud that it can be heard one hundred feet in all directions.
What RIGHTS do YOU have and what RIGHTS do THEY have in regard to the HAPPINESS concept that the three of you have been given?
Obviously, nobody is silly enough to take any of those people to court to prove a point - the lawsuit is likely never make it to court, being deemed frivolous and tossed out.
But,
this example creates the point beautifully that PURSING HAPPINESS is not as easy as it sounds, even though it is a right that has been given to ALL AMERICANS.
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