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Post by mhbruin on Jan 25, 2024 9:18:20 GMT -8
A boiled egg in the morning is hard to beat.
In Today's Episode of "Dumb Defendents" ...
Donald Trump spent two hours overnight posting smears and denials against author E. Jean Carroll ahead of his possible testimony in a defamation trial. ---------- Defiant Proud Boy Gets Six Years After Insane Rant Telling Judge, “You’re A Clown And Not A Judge!”
Marc Anthony Bru, 43, of Vancouver, Washington, was convicted in October of five misdemeanor counts and two felony counts of civil disorder and obstruction of an official proceeding. Bru declined to offer a defense during his trial and said little except to repeat that he did not consent to the proceeding.
“You are outside of your jurisdiction,” Bru said in lieu of giving a closing argument. “You have trafficked me and you have committed war crimes against me.”
Bru was similarly defiant during his sentencing hearing Wednesday. He interrupted an assistant U.S. attorney to accuse D.C. District Chief Judge James Boasberg of running a "kangaroo court" and demanded five years of tax returns from both the judge and prosecutors. He also said, in no uncertain terms, that he felt no remorse about what he'd done on Jan. 6.
"You can give me a hundred years and I'd do it all over again," he said.
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Post by mhbruin on Jan 25, 2024 9:20:50 GMT -8
Here's Previous Guy's Economic Plan
Former U.S. president Donald Trump campaigned on the economy during his failed reelection bid in 2020 and it remains a major theme in his push to retake the White House again in 2024.
Inflation and high interest rates are at the heart of Americans' concerns as Trump steers towards a probable November rematch with President Joe Biden
Here are three subjects likely to feature among his economic priorities if he returns to the White House:
- Tariffs and US-China trade -
"When companies come in and they dump their products in the United States, they should pay automatically, let's say a 10 percent tax," Trump told Fox Business back in August.
"That money would be used to pay off debt," he added.
According to the World Trade Organization (WTO), tariffs on goods entering the United States currently average 3.4 percent, with disparities depending on the product and country of origin.
It is not clear, however, whether this automatic "10 percent tax" would replace or be added to the existing one.
This "trade war" would be key among Trump's economic policy if he returns to office, Marcus Noland, vice president of the Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE), told AFP.
He said he worries that this will "have additional effects of further weakening the international trade system," and do "further damage to the WTO and the rules-based trade order."
And with consumers already struggling to cope with inflation, higher tariffs could push up the price of imported goods.
China, in particular, is likely to remain in the former president's crosshairs, George Washington University professor Steven Hamilton told AFP.
"There's a lot of unknowns about what will happen post the election," he said, adding that "Trump seems to have focused on the trade war with China."
- Tax cuts-
One of the main measures of Donald Trump's first term in office was a major package of tax cuts, introduced in 2017, which impacted both households and large companies. These reforms are due to expire in 2025.
"I would assume his goal and, you know, a lot of the people that are around him, would want to extend what they did," Richard Stern, a director at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, told AFP.
Nevertheless, with higher interest rates driving up the cost of debt, "there's gonna be a lot of pressure to have the tax reform bill have less on paper deficits than it had last time," he added.
Ben Ritz of the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) told AFP he believes "the centerpiece of Trump's economic agenda is going to be trade wars and tax cuts."
"He's gonna say that's putting money in Americans' pockets," said Ritz, who is director for PPI's Center for Funding America's Future.
"But what it's really going to be doing is just adding to our debt, increasing the cost of borrowing, increasing the cost to consumers, and probably isolating us internationally from our allies," he added.
- Green industries under attack -
Electric vehicles and solar panels are also in danger of losing their momentum if Trump returns as president.
The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which passed in the summer of 2022, will direct around $370 billion towards clean energy.
It is "probably Biden's biggest initiative," notes Hamilton.
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Post by mhbruin on Jan 25, 2024 9:22:59 GMT -8
Here's Current Guy's Results
The economy grew at a much more rapid pace than expected while inflation eased in the final three months of 2023, as the U.S. easily skirted a recession that many forecasters had thought was inevitable, the Commerce Department reported Thursday.
Gross domestic product, a measure of all the goods and services produced, increased at a 3.3% annualized rate in the fourth quarter of 2023, according to data adjusted seasonally and for inflation.
That compared with the Wall Street consensus estimate for a gain of 2% in the final three months of the year. The third quarter grew at a 4.9% pace.
In addition to the better than expected GDP move, there also was some progress on inflation.
Core prices for personal consumption expenditures, which the Federal Reserve prefers as a longer-term inflation measure, rose 2% for the period, while the headline rate was 1.7%.
On an annual basis, the PCE price index rose 2.7%, down from 5.9% a year ago, while the core figure excluding food and energy posted a 3.2% increase annually, compared with 5.1%.
The two components together added up to "supersonic Goldilocks, because it's really a strong number yet inflation hasn't shown up," said Beth Ann Bovino, chief economist at U.S. Bank. "Everybody wanted to have fun. People bought new cars, a lot of recreation spending as well as taking trips. We've been expecting a soft landing for some time. This is just one step in that direction."
CNN's Response Was to Play an Interview with a New Hampshire Trump Voter Talking About How Bad the Economy is and How Trump Will Fix It.
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Post by mhbruin on Jan 25, 2024 9:24:49 GMT -8
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Post by mhbruin on Jan 25, 2024 9:26:34 GMT -8
There Must Be a Lot of Idiots in Uganda.
A Ugandan government minister is facing criticism after calling those who have died of hunger in his country "idiots".
Many have deemed Henry Okello Oryem's comments tone-deaf.
In 2022, more than 2,200 people died of starvation and related illnesses in north-east Uganda, a report by an official human rights body said.
But Mr Oryem argued that given Uganda's favourable climate and fertile land, people should be able to grow food for themselves.
"It's only an idiot, a real idiot, that can die of hunger in Uganda," the state minister for foreign affairs told the NTV Uganda television channel.
"If you work hard, there is land in Uganda. The climate is right in spite [of] climate change. If you make a double effort to make sure that you go out in the morning, you till your land, you plant the seeds, you maintain your plantation, surely, how do you fail then to get food?"
As well as killing many people, the food shortage in the north-east left nearly half-a-million people in "acute hunger", said the report by the Uganda Human Rights Commission, which was established by the constitution.
The minister's comments have sparked outrage.
One of those Idiots is Henry Okello Oryem
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Post by mhbruin on Jan 25, 2024 9:29:41 GMT -8
Oy Vey!
At least 20 killed and 150 wounded as Israeli tanks fire shells and live rounds at people in northern Gaza City who lined up to receive much-needed humanitarian supplies, health officials say.
Oy Vey! Oy Vey!
A children’s clothes seller from Gaza, standing unarmed among a group of Palestinian men holding a white flag, was shot dead minutes after speaking to an ITV cameraman.
A report aired by the British public service broadcaster showed the events unfolding as the group of five Palestinian men tried to reach family members stranded in a house inside an active combat zone.
Ramzi Abu Sahloul, a 51-year-old clothes seller, has been identified as the man who died during the incident.
The Israeli army had instructed the group to evacuate Khan Younis, which has been encircled by IDF forces, but Sahloul’s mother and brother were unable to get out from a house nearby.
According to John Irvine, the foreign correspondent for ITV news who presented Tuesday evening’s report, the five men were “doing their utmost to appear non-threatening” to Israeli soldiers nearby. They were “trying to proceed with care”.
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Post by mhbruin on Jan 25, 2024 9:32:44 GMT -8
Can We Finally Start to Have a Sane Debate About What To Do About Climate Change?
Americans are warming to climate change — but they can't agree after that[/font] More Americans, even Republicans, are accepting the reality that the Earth is getting warmer — but they’re still very much split on why and what to do about it. That trend was true even in many Republican strongholds. In Texas and North Carolina, for instance, the percentage of adults who said they think global warming is happening rose to 72% in 2023 — the national average — from 60% in 2010. And in Indiana, that figure rose to 65% in 2023, from 55% in 2010. While there is scientific consensus that human activities, such as burning fossil fuels, are the main driver of climate change, only 58% percent of Americans across the country echoed that conclusion.
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Post by mhbruin on Jan 25, 2024 9:34:02 GMT -8
And the Beat Goes On
Fox Corp. must face Smartmatic's $2.7 billion defamation suit, a New York judge ruled on Wednesday, denying a motion to dismiss defamation claims against Fox News' parent company.
But Smartmatic must also face Fox's counterclaims that the substantial defamation claims are intended to supress free speech, the judge ruled in a separate order.
The pair of orders — a win for each side — continue the lengthy and costly court battle between Smartmatic, a voting company accused of rigging the election despite being used by just one U.S. district in 2020, and Fox News Corp., which has said it covered newsworthy events and individuals surrounding the 2020 election.
Smartmatic sued Fox and some of its hosts and guests in 2021; this case is one of at least 11 ongoing lawsuits over election conspiracy theories.
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Post by mhbruin on Jan 25, 2024 9:37:06 GMT -8
Listening to Previous Guy So You Don't Have ToIn speech after speech in New Hampshire, Trump mentioned, in no particular order: Joe Biden’s inability to pick up a beach chair; his uncle Dr. John Trump’s career at MIT; Al Capone and Scarface; the difference between prison and jails; Hannibal Lecter; a real estate deal with Ted Kennedy; and the weather in Iowa. Trying to discern a clear picture of Trump or his plans for a second term from these remarks is like trying to find patterns in a Pollock painting. --------------------- I went to Trump’s rally on Saturday night in Manchester, where he didn’t address the Haley-Pelosi mix-up but assured his supporters that he “took a cognitive test” and “I aced it.” He has previously boasted of his ability to identify an image of a “whale” on said assessment, but, as The Post’s Ashley Parker and Dan Diamond pointed out, there is no such marine mammal on any version of the test. But I listened carefully to Trump that night — no easy feat because he went on for 100 minutes — and noticed that, even though his text was fed to him through a teleprompter, he told many of the same stories over and over again, repeating some lines almost word for word in the same speech, with no apparent awareness that he had done so. “Each drug dealer kills on average 500 people during his or her lifetime,” he informed his audience early in his speech. “Each dealer is responsible for the deaths during their lives of over 500 people or more,” he informed them late in his speech. He told them early in the speech about Hunter Biden’s “laptop from hell, right, where the 51 intelligence agents said, oh, no, it was from Russia.” He told them late in the speech that “Hunter Biden’s laptop from hell was Russian disinformation,” according to “51 intelligence agents.” During the Trump presidency, he declared, “Hamas, Hezbollah, they didn’t have any money because Iran had no money to give them.” Later, he announced: “Iran was broke under President Trump. They didn’t have the money to fund Hamas, Hezbollah.” Previous Guy Killed a Lot More People Than Other Drug DealersTrump’s White House Pharmacy Handed Out Drugs Like Candy: ReportWhite House pharmacists reportedly distributed uppers and downers like candy to Trump administration officials during his time in office, according to a new report from the Department of Defense Inspector General. The 80-page document, which was released on Jan. 8, found that “all phases of the White House Medical Unit’s pharmacy operations had severe and systemic problems due to the unit’s reliance on ineffective internal controls to ensure compliance with pharmacy safety standards.” The investigation, which began in 2018 after the Office of Inspector General (DoD OIG) received complaints about improper medical practices within the White House Medical Unit, found a slew of compliance issues and improper safety standards. The medical unit’s operations fall under the jurisdiction of the White House Military Office. The report covers a period between 2009 and 2018, with a majority of its findings coalescing around 2017- 2019, during the height of the Trump administration. While Trump lived under the White House roof, the pharmacy reportedly kept messy, handwritten records, spent lavishly on brand-name medications, and failed to comply with a slew of federal law and Department of Defense regulations governing the handling, distribution, and disposal of prescription medication.
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Post by mhbruin on Jan 25, 2024 9:43:34 GMT -8
Who Would Go to the University of Arizona for a High Quality Education?When the University of Arizona announced its acquisition of Ashford University, a for-profit online college with a history of fraudulent marketing practices that saddled students with debt and questionable degrees, administrators assuaged dissenters with a promise: The beleaguered school would increase student diversity and provide a guaranteed source of revenue. But less than four years later, as the public university stares down the barrel of a multimillion-dollar budget shortfall, the merger is coming into focus as a significant contributor to the university's financial instability. The online university — rebranded as the University of Arizona Global Campus, or UAGC — has yet to turn a profit for UA. Instead, it has added hundreds of millions of dollars to the university’s costs after Zovio, the educational technology company that ran UAGC's operations, shut down last year. Start the day smarter. Get all the news you need in your inbox each morning. Meanwhile, enrollment in the online university has plummeted since the start of the acquisition, with the online school hemorrhaging about a third of its student body in less than four years. Still, UA and UAGC officials both say they are betting on an enrollment boom. UA President Robbins OK'd online school deal despite red flags. It's costing the university $265MBut At Least They Have a Ranked Basketball Team
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