[FoxNews] Rep. Seth Moulton is a moderate Democrat and military veteran
A top aide to Rep. Seth Moulton, a moderate Democrat from Massachusetts, has reportedly resigned after the lawmaker’s recent comments about transgender athletes and the left’s tolerance for dissenting views.
Moulton has faced a barrage of criticism from progressives after he used the issue of transgender athletes in school sports to illustrate his complaint that liberals showed little capacity for dissent in an interview with The New York Times.
Hours after the interview was published, his campaign manager Matt Chilliak resigned, according to the Boston Globe.
The report did not cite a reason, and Moulton’s campaign would not comment on personnel matters.
The Democratic operative posted on X shortly after Trump won the election in the early hours of Wednesday morning, "Millions of Americans today showed that they hate immigrants and transgender people more than they fear fascism."
Moulton had told the Times, "Democrats spend way too much time trying not to offend anyone rather than being brutally honest about the challenges many Americans face."
"I have two little girls, I don’t want them getting run over on a playing field by a male or formerly male athlete, but as a Democrat I’m supposed to be afraid to say that," he said.
The article doesn't discuss the downside.
[Regnum] According to seismologists, the United States may be threatened by a 30-meter tsunami and a 9-point earthquake, the British newspaper Daily Mail reported.
Experts have found signs of a possible cataclysm by surveying the Cascade Subduction Zone and identifying four segments along the 970-km-long fault that stretches from the US-Canada border to northern California, the report said. The data was obtained through high-precision underwater photography.
In the coming years, the region could experience tremors that would cause a powerful tsunami that would threaten several states, the authors noted. In the worst-case scenario, tens of thousands of people could die from the cataclysm, and the economic damage would be enormous, the article says.
The detailed image of the fault suggests that the potential earthquake and tsunami in the region could be the largest in history, the authors noted. Researcher and marine geophysicist Suzanne Carbotte pointed out that current U.S. emergency response plans are based on outdated information and that the country is not prepared for a disaster of this magnitude.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, Hurricane Milton reached Florida on October 9. Forecasters and scientists expected Milton to become one of the strongest hurricanes in recorded history, but upon reaching the coast, it weakened significantly. Nevertheless, the elements had a devastating impact on several states at once. At least 14 deaths were reported, more than 5 million US residents were evacuated, and 3.5 million people were left without power.
As I read the above, I noted all the weasel words — maybe, could, possible, worst case scenario — and wondered whether this is just Daily Mail hysteria over something highly unlikely or a real concern. Fortunately, the internet regularly throws up answers to even the most obscure questions, and here is one for ours, dated October 29, 2024:
Oh. A worst case scenario drill, to make sure the authorities have thought of everything, just in case.
[HoodlinePortland] As the specter of an overdue megaquake looms over the Pacific Northwest, emergency crews and agencies in Washington County are taking proactive steps to ensure readiness through the state-wide disaster response drill named "IronOR." The exercise, happening today and tomorrow, is a multilayered simulation that involves the Oregon Department of Emergency Management and multiple local agencies, as reported by Washington County.
This drill envisions the aftermath of a catastrophic magnitude 9.0 earthquake striking along the well-known Cascadia Subduction Zone, alerting authorities to anticipate a situation where they must navigate the complexities of rescue and recovery in the quake's aftermath; on it, the IronOR initiative fosters interagency collaboration and aims to streamline the flow of critical information to policymakers, for, undeniably, in such harrowing times, clear communication is crucial for effective disaster management.
Participants are expected to hone in on critical areas such as human services, focusing on sheltering, public information, and communications, all within the challenging context of coordinated inter-agency operations. The underlying goal is to critically examine and update existing earthquake response plans based on the insights gained from this drill. "The IronOR exercise provides Washington County and other response and recovery partners with the opportunity to test our plans and coordinate our efforts," according to Washington County. John Wheeler, Washington County Emergency Management's manager, highlighted the value of these simulations.
The drill is not merely an abstract precaution; the Cascadia Subduction Zone has historically been the epicenter of significant seismic activity, with experts stating a major earthquake occurs roughly every 300 years
… not urgent, then…
— with the last major incident recorded over 324 years ago,
…or possibly even less urgent than that, or more urgent. The thing about statistics is that you don’t know until it actually happens…
this region braces for what seems to be an inevitable geological event, and while agencies prepare at the macro level, individuals and households are urged to devise their survival strategies that must include adequate supplies, communication plans, and safe meeting locations in the likely event that a natural disaster of this scale disrupts the very fabric of daily life for an extended period.
#5
Wouldn't wiping out the West Coast basically be a Sodom and Gomorrah redo?
While I see the article as likely slow news weekend filler.
Compounded with so many Media groups are in a panic and retuning their news models, staff and political slanted coverage. In order to appeal to the clear and overwhelming proven actual Reader/Viewer audience.
Looking forward.
It will be interesting how these media groups cover "The Big Surprise" that the DC Swamp/ LSD's are surely cooking up to inhabit or eliminate Trump's MAGA agenda.
Of course! Everyone reads the Daily Mail. How else would you know what GCHQ wants you to think?
Personally, I like the variety of curated news sources here at the 'Burg. Carry on!
Side Question: is there a formal name in the intelligence community for that thing where you leak a story to your pet journalist and then go to your boss and say "See! This really is a thing because the media is reporting it".
#14
Obviously there is, SteveS. The SteelE Dossier method was slick and well-practiced. It was discussed, as I recall, in the BBC comedy “Yes, Minister.” Or possibly the sequel, “Yes, Prime Minister.”
[FoxNews] Critics say China's trade status has allowed companies to outsource their manufacturing
Fresh off Tuesday’s red sweep, House Republicans have begun to renew the idea of ending China’s preferential trade status.
They have begun to promote the idea of ending China’s Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR). With Republicans seizing control of the White House and Senate, and being on track for a likely win in the House, the idea that was once considered a longshot now now become a likelihood.
"For too long, the Chinese Communist Party has taken advantage of America’s open hand with predatory economic practices that target the American economy, our workers, businesses, and our national security. We believe in free trade with free nations, but as the Committee recommended on a bipartisan basis, it is now time to reset our relationship with China by moving past PNTR to a trade relationship that reflects the threat we face from the CCP," a spokesperson for the House China Committee told Fox News Digital.
In 2000, Congress voted to grant China permanent normal trade relations. The designation fundamentally changed China-U.S. trade relations: U.S. consumers gained access to low-priced Chinese imports, and between 2001 and 2021, the value of goods imported from China quadrupled to $500 billion.
Critics of PNTR say it allowed companies to outsource their manufacturing to China – and that renewed tensions with Beijing could lead to supply chain issues.
Proponents of PNTR say that removing that status would cause inflation, allowing further tariffs on billions’ worth of Chinese goods.
President-elect Donald Trump has already proposed an across-the-board 60% tariff on all Chinese goods and end China’s favored trade status.
Repealing PNTR would automatically reset the tariffs on Chinese goods to higher levels.
Trump could enact much of his trade agenda on goods he deems to be an "unusual and extraordinary threat" to national security or the U.S. economy.
The GOP's platform unveiled in July called for an ending of PNTR. In September, Fox News Digital first reported that a group of Republican senators put forth a bill to mmmend China's PNTR and increase tariffs on many of its goods up to 100%.
The revenue generated, according to the bill, would go toward farmers and manufacturers injured by potential Chinese retaliation, the purchase of key munitions important to a Pacific conflict, and paying down the debt.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Emily, a part-time receptionist at a cardiology centre in a small New South Wales town, wasn't used to seeing people her age at the clinic where she worked.
So when a 21-year-old - pretty, stylishly dressed, in towering heels and carrying a pricey tote - announced she had an appointment with the specialist, her first thought was that she had come to the wrong place.
She was having heart palpitations, the young woman said, and her GP referred her.
When Emily registered some surprise at this - palpitations are typically associated with older people with high blood pressure or heart disease - the patient uttered six words that took her breath away.
'Yeah, I do coke on weekends.' "We don't have Coke. We have Pepsi.
"OK, I'll take a gram of that"
It was a join-the-dots moment for Emily, whose other job is a weekend bartender at a lively country pub where the sight of young people 'doing lines' in the bathrooms has become so commonplace it hardly raises an eyebrow.
Since then, Emily has begun to notice more and more young people reporting heart problems at the clinic. She recognises some from the pub.
Australia holds the unenviable distinction of having the most cocaine users per capita in the world, which is attributable to the enormous number of weekend users who don't think twice about spending up to $350 on a bag every Friday night.
The National Drug Strategy Household Survey 2022–2023 found cocaine was the second-most used illicit drug in Australia behind cannabis. In that year, 4.5 per cent of Australians used cocaine, equating to roughly a million people.
While it's no secret our appetite for cocaine is fuelling the bloody international drug trade, what is less often discussed is the drug's dire effects on our heart health.
The surge in casual cocaine use in recent decades coincides with data showing sudden cardiac death (SCD) as one of the biggest killers of Australians under 50.
Researchers at the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute last year found almost a third of young adults in Victoria who died of sudden cardiac issues between 2019 and 2021 had been users of illicit drugs, including cocaine.
Cannabis was the most common illicit drug found in the deceased's toxicology reports, but coke - along with amphetamines and heroin - wasn't far behind.
The study's lead investigator and cardiologist Dr Elizabeth Paratz says there's nothing new about drugs wreaking havoc on young people's bodies, but the correlation between drug use and SCD has been alarming.
'We certainly found that a very high number had toxicology that was positive for illicit substances, such as cocaine and methamphetamine,' says Dr Paratz, who has since moved to the St Vincent's Institute of Medical Research.
'As clinical cardiologists, we've definitely noticed we have more young patients who've had issues with their heart. If people don't have a genetic issue or a structural issue, it tends to be that they've been using illicit drugs.
'We've certainly seen people who are in their twenties who've wound up requiring transplants and things for heart failure. That's purely caused by illicit drug use - so it's an avoidable cause.
'It's something that doesn't need to happen and it's pretty tragic when it does happen.'
Cocaine increases the risk of both heart attacks and SCD. A heart attack is caused by a blockage and can often be remedied by a stent or surgery, explains Dr Paratz, but SCD occurs when the heart stops completely and requires CPR.
'Cocaine speeds up your heart rate, increases blood pressure and thickens the heart muscle so if you're using it regularly it can be associated with all sorts of issues,' she adds.
'It's important to note the increased heart rate is different from the high heart rate you get from exercising as drugs are affecting all the movement of your electrolytes, like sodium and potassium, and it throws your body out of balance.
'We've personally seen people's heart rates reach 250bpm. We say about 60 to 100bpm is healthy. It's a similar story with blood pressure.
'Serious heart damage is typically seen in people who are using illicit drugs regularly but there's so many variables - like how much they're taking and the drug's purity. Some drugs are cut with actual poisons on the street. You never really know what you're having.'
Fortunately, if young cocaine users become aware of any heart issues early on and dedicate themselves to quitting, some of the damage can be reversed.
'It really depends on how established the damage is at the time it's picked up and how motivated you are to stop,' Dr Paratz says.
'There have certainly been cases where a person has stopped using and fully reversed the damage to their heart. They go on to lead a very normal life. We've had some real success stories there.
'That's why this is such an important public health message, because it's a health issue you didn't need to have and it's something you, hopefully, can reverse if you stop early enough.'
People who suffered SCD after using drugs often died while sedentary or sleeping. Patients were more likely to be male, smokers and excessive alcohol drinkers.
Other common traits included a psychiatric diagnosis, lower body mass index and lower rates of high blood pressure.
Dr Paratz is pushing for more research to be done in the area to determine exactly what drugs and dosages are having the worst effects on heart health.
However, those familiar with the nightlife in major cities like Melbourne and Sydney will tell you exactly what the drug of choice is: cocaine.
'I think the take-home message in the meantime is, don't wait for researchers to tell you what the safe dose is - there is no safe dose of drugs,' Dr Paratz adds.
'The simplest thing is to just not use them. If you do use them, stop. There's quite a good chance damage can be reversed.'
It's not the first time researchers have raised the alarm.
A 2012 Australian study found that young people who used cocaine at least once a month 'had up to a 35 per cent increase in aortic stiffening, higher blood pressure than non-users and an 18 per cent greater thickness of the heart's left ventricle wall'. These factors all increase the risk of cardiac arrest.
Lead researcher and cardiologist Prof Gemma Figtree remarked: 'It's so sad. We are repeatedly seeing young, otherwise fit individuals suffering massive heart attacks related to cocaine use.
'Despite being well-educated professionals, they have no knowledge of the health consequences of regularly using cocaine.
'It's the perfect heart attack drug.'
That research from 12 years ago was prompted by a surge in otherwise healthy cocaine users presenting at hospital with heart problems. Crucially, it marked one of the first studies of social users, rather than addicts.
There were 884 cocaine-related deaths in Australia between 2000 and 2021, another study from 2022 found, citing data from the National Coronial Information System.
That study's lead author, Prof Shane Darke, a world expert on drug deaths, said of the findings: 'These deaths are largely due to more widespread use of cocaine.'
Tellingly, his research showed a significant increase in cocaine-related deaths among people who had no history of substance use problems.
'Twenty years ago, 90 per cent of cocaine deaths had a history of substance use problems. Now that figure is much lower at 50 per cent,' said Prof Darke, who also noted casual users tended to be unaware of the heart disease and stroke risk.
Emily - the bartender and cardiologist receptionist - isn't remotely surprised by the statistics on Australia's cocaine use. She tells me almost half her customers at the bar are under the influence by 10pm on a Friday or Saturday night.
'It's not always coke but often you can just look at people and see something's not right,' she says.
'Every weekend we're cleaning little plastic baggies off the bathroom floors - all used and ripped open for any remains.'
Cocaine has become so common many pubgoers don't even care to hide their usage. One patron even asked Emily while she was in her uniform where they could buy a bag. Another ordered a round of drinks and 'looked like he'd just smashed his nose into a plate of flour'.
Efforts were recently made to limit the number of flat surfaces in the pub toilets, but patrons have resorted to racking up and snorting drugs off toilet lids. Pub management can't easily prevent this because cameras are banned in bathrooms.
Emily tells me that while the cocaine epidemic hit regional New South Wales hard and fast, a new wave of drugs is already taking hold.
'There was a real phase with coke but now people have gone back to pills. I think people find them more convenient,' she said.
'No matter what it is, the drug problems are never going to go away.'
A large part of the problem is how readily accessible drugs are once revellers are already drunk and open to suggestion.
'People will offer laced cocaine for free in the bathrooms and it could be mixed with anything from GHB [a common date rape drug] to meth. Free coke is not just going to be coke,' Emily says.
'Then that person will either get hooked or, more often if it's a girl, they'll get attacked.
'Other people will spend hundreds of dollars on coke when they're blind. They get even more desperate when the pubs shut. I've heard of bags being sold for $800.'
While pub workers are usually quick to spot dealers in venues, they often face trouble kicking users out.
'Most of the time you're just going off suspicion. You don't want to kick someone out because their pupils are the size of dinner plates, only to find out they have a medical condition,' Emily adds.
#4
This is not news. Back in the 1990s, we'd see young black men who were prescribed the same medications as their elderly grandmothers.
Crack was big in the north, while Meth was pretty much unknown at the time.
Young Crack smokers would suffer major heart attacks and the ones that survived were "cardiac cripples." They'd take medications such as Lopressor, Cardizem, HCTZ, and Lasix. All medications we'd expect to see in the elderly, not kids.
Crack pipes littered the streets of black neighborhoods. For the most part white kids used Heroin, which brought it's own problems, but not cardiac disease.
Meth was almost unknown at the time.
A lot of younger people used Cocaine during COVID.
#5
Not saying cocaine is not a problem, but this story gives me the feeling that they are still covering for Big Pharma and the Australian government for the Cerveza virus "vaccine".
#6
No such thing as a safe "street drug". They are not dispensed from reputable pharmacies, nor manufactured by reputable manufacturers. What the user of street drugs actually gets could be anything at all, or nothing at all.
[JustTheNews] The money will go to 33 public transportation projects designed to increase the ease and efficiency of moving residents to economically significant employment centers or places of work outside their home communities.
I was completely unaware of this. Even our poor people have cars out here.
Ohio plans to spend $17.5 million in taxpayer funds to get people to and from work.
The state announced a series of grants Friday to fund workforce transportation efforts in both rural and urban areas across the state as part of the Ohio Workforce Mobility Partnership Program.
The money will go to 33 public transportation projects designed to increase the ease and efficiency of moving residents to economically significant employment centers or places of work outside their home communities.
“Transportation should never be a barrier to opportunity," Gov. Mike DeWine said. "With these grants, we're ensuring that Ohioans can easily travel to and from work without having to choose between a good paying job or the relocation of their family.”
The program funds infrastructure, equipment, technology vehicles and planning projects.
The projects include more than $1 million for the Central Ohio Transit Authority, covering Columbus and the surrounding areas, for an entry drive, canopy and technology that shows real-time bus arrival information at the system’s transit hub at Rickenbacker International Airport.
The hub connects central Ohio's transit authority and the Groveport Rickenbacker Employee Access Transit to transit agencies in Fairfield, Fayette, Madison and Pickaway counties.
“Public transit serves an important role by providing mobility options for our workforce. This funding ensures that transit agencies are better able to connect Ohio's workers to their jobs and to employment opportunities across the state,” Ohio Department of Transportation Director Pamela Boratyn said.
Also, the Butler County Regional Transit Authority, near Cincinnati, will get $2.5 million to expand its bus yard, add a propane fuel station and train drivers. It supports the CincyLink Commuter route that connects people in Butler and Warren counties with jobs in Hamilton County.
The state estimates 25,000 jobs within 3 miles of CincyLink.
Funding is also going to Clinton, Cuyahoga, Delaware, Lake, Marion, Morgan, Ottowa, Perry, Portage, Sandusky, Shelby and Stark counties.
"Come on, man! Graft is such a harsh word. We just want to get our beaks wet. And some of us have *very* dry beaks!"
Normal, results-oriented people look at projects like California's Train to Nowhere and see failure. But that ignores all the people getting paid. The purpose of a system is what it does.
[The Hill] Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) is projected to beat Republican Kari Lake in a consequential race for Arizona Senate, dealing the former local news anchor her second straight electoral loss, according to Decision Desk HQ.
Gallego, who has served in the House for nearly a decade representing a Phoenix-based House seat, will succeed outgoing Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.). Sinema opted against reelection after changing her political affiliation from Democrat to Independent last year, as Sinema faced steep odds in getting reelected.
Gallego announced his challenge to Sinema even before she made clear she would not be seeking another term, putting Senate Democrats in a temporarily awkward position of possibly having to choose which Democrat they would support.
The Arizona Democrat leaned into his biography as the son of a single mom, with family roots in Mexico and Columbia. He also touted his time in the Marines.
#5
Gallego flooded the airways with Dem money using his supposedly poor background and lies about Lake. The GOP refused to help Lake and she ran almost zero adds. Funding mattered here.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
11/10/2024 11:25 Comments ||
Top||
#6
Just think of all those Republican lawyers who were watching the polls showing up in February as DoJ lawyers doing a Jack Smith on the Maricopa County election machine.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Supersonic test plane XB-1 smashed its top speed record Tuesday, screaming through the sky at Mach 0.82 or 499 knots (575 miles per hour) true air speed.
The milestone, achieved high above California's Mojave Desert, marks the closest that aerospace innovator Boom Technology's supersonic demonstrator aircraft has come to traveling faster than the speed of sound, Mach 1.
Boom's XB-1 effort promises to deliver the technical knowhow for their future supersonic passenger jet, Overture: a Mach 1.7 craft slated for testing in 2026.
At Mach 0.82, subsonic test plane XB-1 could get from New York City to London in 6 hours — but, at Mach 1.7, the Overture will soon make that trip in just 2.7 hours.
But, Tuesday's test also took the exotic aircraft higher than it has every gone before.
'XB-1 reached a new top altitude of 23,015 feet, allowing the team to perform a final cockpit pressurization test,' Boom noted, 'ensuring that it is safe to proceed up to 30,000 feet — the altitude XB-1 will fly when it reaches supersonic speeds.'
Boom's project has been likened to the famous Concorde passenger jets of the 20th Century, which flew over the Atlantic at speeds of Mach 2 from 1973 to 2003.
#5
"Eu, why so excitable, Neville?"
"By Jove, Yves, she flies like the devil!"
The Mail: "What a FEAST!
Chocolate ration increased
To one-half of its '70s level!"
Who knew The Future would be a Father Brown car chase... forever?
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
