[JustTheNews] The payout is expected to impact more than 6,800 people with cases stemming as far back as 1959. Most of the cases occurred in the 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s, and a significant number took place at the MacLaren Children’s Center.
Los Angeles County on Friday agreed to pay a whopping $4 billion to settle more than 6,800 sexual abuse claims brought by generations of children in the county's juvenile detention and foster care systems.
Attorneys claim that the settlements, which still need to be approved by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and the county’s claims board, will amount to the largest payout of its kind in American history.
The payout is expected to impact more than 6,800 people with cases stemming as far back as 1959, according to the New York Times. Most of the cases occurred in the 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s, and a significant number took place at the MacLaren Children’s Center in El Monte, California, which has since been shut down.
“On behalf of the county, I apologize wholeheartedly to everyone who was harmed by these reprehensible acts,” LA County CEO Fesia Davenport said in a statement. “The historic scope of this settlement makes clear that we are committed to helping the survivors recover and rebuild their lives — and to making and enforcing the systemic changes needed to keep young people safe.”
The unprecedented settlement stems from a temporary California law in 2019 that widened the ability for public institutions to be sued for sexual abuse that were allegedly committed by employees and widened the window for victims to sue.
The biggest payout for sexual abuse claims so far is the $2.4 billion that was paid to victims who sued the Boy Scouts of America, which was paid out to more than 80,000 victims.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. government has banned American government personnel in China, as well as family members and contractors with security clearances, from any romantic or sexual relationships with Chinese citizens, The Associated Press has learned. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif. granted lifetime, global exemption from ban.
Four people with direct knowledge of the matter told the AP about the policy, which was put into effect by departing U.S. Ambassador Nicholas Burns in January shortly before he left China. The people would speak only on condition of anonymity to discuss details of a confidential new directive.
Though some U.S. agencies already had strict rules on such relationships, a blanket "non-fraternization" policy, as it is known, has been unheard of publicly since the Cold War. It’s not uncommon for American diplomats in other countries to date locals and even marry them.
A more limited version of the policy was enacted last summer prohibiting U.S. personnel from "romantic and sexual relations" with Chinese citizens working as guards and other support staff at the U.S. Embassy and five consulates in China. But Burns, the departing ambassador, broadened it to a blanket ban on such relations with any Chinese citizen in China in January, days before President Donald Trump took office. The AP was unable to determine exactly how the policy defined the phrase "romantic or sexual relationship."
Two of the people with knowledge of the ban told the AP the new policy was first discussed last summer after members of Congress contacted Burns to express concern that restrictions on such relationships were not stringent enough. The House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party did not respond to a request for comment.
[People] ...said Springsteen in a statement. 'I’ve played this music to myself and often ̶s̶o̶c̶i̶a̶l̶ ̶p̶r̶i̶s̶o̶n̶e̶r̶s̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶h̶a̶n̶g̶e̶r̶s̶ ̶o̶n̶ close friends for years now. I’m glad you’ll get a chance to finally hear them. I hope you enjoy them.'
No, I won't...
Unsold so as not to oversaturate the market, or because it was uncommercial? I met a young musician some years ago who had found success in Christian rock, so his love of the blues remained a private pleasure.
Text taken from a news article posted at mk.ru. Additional data supplied at MIrvMomente
Commentary by Russian military journalist Boris Rozhin is in italics.
[ColonelCassad] The declared service life is 50 years without recharging. The battery does not emit radiation, and at the end of the life cycle, it turns into ordinary copper.
The BV100 nuclear battery is based on the radioactive isotope nickel-63. It is completely safe, since it does not emit heat during the degradation process (it is not explosive) and turns into stable copper. The declared service life without the need for maintenance and recharging is 50+ years. The current version of the battery for mass production has a voltage of 3 V with a total power of 100 microwatts.
The BV100 has an energy density 10 times higher than lithium-ion analogues.
Soon, phones will not need to be charged.
Finally, there will be something to power the Brotherhood of Steel Armor.
Some sort of gaming thing, apparently. If you know, you know.
But seriously, if you put such blocks on drones, this will seriously increase their autonomy in the foreseeable future.
The service life of the atomic power source is reported to be about 50 years. Its size is 15 * 15 * 5 mm, the operating temperature range is from -60 to +120 degrees, that is, literally all temperatures that can be encountered in everyday life, and with a reserve. At the same time, the power source is safe in terms of radioactivity: the half-life of nickel-63 is 100 years, and it decays into "non-radiating" components - a stable isotope of copper.
In addition to this nickel isotope, the battery, which was named BV-100, uses diamond semiconductors - their function is to convert the decay energy of nickel-63 into electricity. To create more powerful power sources based on this technology, the manufacturer is preparing to release a 1-watt element (announced in 2025) and batteries from several sources. It is reported that these batteries are of greatest interest to doctors, manufacturers of drones, gadgets and in the aerospace industry.
And a few years ago, this technology was Russian. "Scientists from NRNU MEPhI have come close to implementing this task," the institute's website reported in early 2023.
In fact, it was invented here (in Russia)
, but the Chinese were the first to move to mass production.
The two cultures would make a marvelous team, if only China’s first move was not always to steal intellectual property and keep all the profits for themselves — in true Communist style.
#3
Sounds like a niche application to me (Reddit)Tell my nickel-63 isotope powered batteries are a bad idea?
Money quote: "...62Ni (used to make 63Ni) is itself a rare (3.6%) isotope of nickel, it first gets enriched to 96% to get a sufficiently high level of 62Ni isotopes to even start the production of 63Ni. Which then needs to undergo 15 reactor cycles of 23 days each."
The decay produces an energetic electron so the only danger might be a soft X-Ray when the electron is captured in the "battery". It might be used as a power supply for deep space missions ...maybe.
[Epoch Times] Despite joining the WTO in 2001, China did not evolve into the fully-fledged market economy that the United States had anticipated.
China's economic growth has accelerated dramatically since the country joined the WTO. However, the Chinese Communist Party’s trade-distorting practices, such as intellectual property theft, massive state subsidies, currency manipulation, wage suppression, and labor rights violations, have led to the closure of many U.S. manufacturers and the loss of millions of U.S. jobs.
There is a bipartisan view in Washington on the need to address China’s market practices.
Before the November election last year, President Joe Biden’s National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan defended tariffs against China. "Previous efforts to build a China policy on changing China have not succeeded," Sullivan said on Oct. 24.
As a result, he said, the United States must adopt a new set of strategies based on the current geopolitical and economic realities.
During his first term, Trump imposed tariffs on more than $300 billion worth of Chinese goods in response to various unfair trade practices, including intellectual property theft.
The Biden administration chose to maintain those tariffs and announced additional tariffs on products such as electric vehicles (EVs), solar panels, medical equipment, lithium-ion batteries, steel, and aluminum.
Both administrations have used tariffs to level the playing field for domestic manufacturers and American workers.
Nick Iacovella, executive vice president for the Coalition for a Prosperous America, an organization that represents domestic producers and workers, said that Trump’s new tariffs will address the decades of deindustrialization in the United States. "It is incredibly important that those tariffs actually stay in place."
For decades, there has been a disconnect between Wall Street and Main Street, Iacovella said, commenting on the recent market reaction to the global tariffs. "When automakers moved their jobs to Mexico, their stock prices went up, but car prices didn’t decrease for American consumers," he said.
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/06/2025 08:55 ||
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Link ||
[11125 views]
Top|| File under: Commies
[THEEPOCHTIMES] The production of uranium in the United States registered a gain last year following several years of subdued output, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA).
''Companies in the United States produced more uranium concentrate in 2024 than in any year since 2018 after a sustained period of higher uranium prices spurred production,'' the agency said in an April 2 statement.
''Production in the fourth quarter of 2024 alone was higher than the total annual production for each of the years in 2019—23.''
In 2024, you say. Why d’you suppose that is?
Uranium concentrate is used as fuel for nuclear reactors. However,
women are made to be loved, not understood... it must first be processed through conversion and enrichment facilities where the concentrate gets turned into fuel rods or pellets, which then power the reactors.
Production had crashed over the past decade. Between 2010 and 2014, the country produced between 3.5-5 million pounds of uranium concentrate. This fell to between 2-3.5 million pounds during 2015—2017.
Switch 2 was supposed to be released soon, and the release date was pushed back at a month, if I understand correctly, and they are receiving backlash on prices plus putting out a balloon about how there are likely to be product shortages. So they blamed Trump's Tariffs even though video games companies have been pushing $100 games, typically around $60 for a premium label game, for months now and that the rumor is the controllers, made in Chyna, had a production shortfall because Chyna is Asshole.
**information only: Nintendo Shills came out in defense of the price increases with, basically, "Well stop being so poor." Classy.
[JUSTTHENEWS] Ford on Thursday announced a new, lower-cost vehicle pricing plan — ''From America, For America'' — following President Trump unveiling the previous day 25% tariffs on non-American-made vehicles.
The spring plan will offer employee pricing to potential customers for most vehicles — electric, gas-powered and hybrid — with the exception of some higher-end models include Navigator SUVs.
Ford's chief policy officer, Steve Croley, confirmed the plan Thursday morning on The Fox News Channel.
Addressing customer concerns and uncertainty about the tariffs he said, ''We want them to be assured that Ford, the most American auto company, is going to do right by them, as are our dealers.''
Posted by: Fred ||
04/06/2025 00:00 ||
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[BREITBART] General Motors (GM) plans to expand production at one of its plants in Indiana thanks to President Donald Trump ...Perhaps no man has ever had as much fun being president of the US... 's tariffs on foreign-made cars.
On Wednesday evening, Trump announced a 25 percent tariff on all foreign-made cars to protect the nation's auto industry from unfair trade competition.
[JustTheNews] The combination of the tariffs and the Saudi-led response dropped Brent crude oil prices down to just $65.58 a barrel.
The global oil market on Friday saw prices hit its lowest number since 2021, with Brent crude oil being down nearly 6% at the end of trading.
The oil prices come as the stock market also recoils over President Donald Trump's new tariffs on all imports into the U.S., which also included 25% tariffs on countries that import oil and gas from Venezuela and then trade with the United States.
The drop in prices also comes after the OPEC Plus oil cartel led by Saudi Arabia announced its own increase in oil output, which would take place in May, according to the New York Times.
The combination of the tariffs and the Saudi-led response dropped Brent crude oil prices down to just $65.58 a barrel, the New York Times also reported. It was at $74 a barrel on Monday.
China retaliated against the U.S. tariffs on Friday by promising to impose 34% tariffs on the country.
However the refineries are switching to the summer blend of gasoline. This switch combined with some refineries closed for the maintenance produced the increase in gasoline prices.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
04/06/2025 17:28 Comments ||
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[FoxBusiness] 'Staff from the Department of Government Efficiency are currently working at Peace Corps headquarters and the agency is supporting their requests,' the agency said
The Department of Government Efficiency, which is led by Elon Musk, arrived Friday at U.S. Peace Corps headquarters in Washington, D.C., suggesting it could be the latest target of the Trump administration's efforts to downsize the federal workforce.
"Staff from the Department of Government Efficiency are currently working at Peace Corps headquarters and the agency is supporting their requests," the agency said in a statement to Reuters.
The Peace Corps, established in 1961 by then-President John F. Kennedy, sends volunteers around the world to help countries with projects focused on education, health and economics. Since then, more than 240,000 Americans have served as Peace Corps volunteers. The agency is widely viewed as one of the most visible tools used by the U.S. government to promote global influence.
The purpose of DOGE's visit was not immediately clear, but the arrival of DOGE staff at a federal agency is often followed by layoffs.
The Peace Corps, which has an annual budget of more than $400 million, has long been popular with both Democrats and Republicans. There is a bipartisan Peace Corps caucus in Congress.
In 1983, then-President Ronald Reagan said: "By the example of these Peace Corps volunteers, people throughout the world can understand that America’s heart is strong, and her heart is good."
My best friend in high school talked about joining the Peace Corps after university. She wanted to teach Appalachian hill folk scientific farming, even though she had studied English lit. at a prestigious Northeastern lib arts college, and her entire farming experience was seeing her mother grow tomatoes and basil in their suburban garden. Thank goodness she never followed through with it — nth generation subsistence farmers were not likely to listen to someone as ignorant as she on the subject. Had she really wanted to do good instead of feeding her ego, she would have donated a few years to adult literacy classes in the Appalachias, a thing desperately needed and that she would have done well.
Peace Corps staff had been told by the agency's leadership to expect members of DOGE to arrive on Friday afternoon and work through the weekend, according to Reuters.
President Donald Trump has already taken several steps since returning to the White House in January to eliminate key pillars of America's soft power, including efforts to dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development, the U.S. Institute of Peace and government-funded broadcasters such as Voice of America.
Roughly 130 employees at the Wilson Center, a non-partisan foreign policy think tank in Washington, D.C., were placed on leave after DOGE began targeting the organization this week, according to The New York Times..
[Breitbart] U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio asked allied foreign ministers gathered in Brussels on Thursday to increase their defense spending to five percent of their gross domestic products (GDP) – a very substantial increase for most members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and considerably more than the even the United States spends as a percentage of GDP.
“We do want to leave here with an understanding that we are on a pathway, a realistic pathway, to every single one of the members committing and fulfilling a promise to reach up to 5 per cent of spending,” Rubio said from Brussels.
“No one expects that you’re going to be able to do this in one year or two. But the pathway has to be real,” he said.
Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly seemed rather cool to Rubio’s request. “I replied that the U.S. was at 3.2%,” she told reporters in Brussels.
This is much less of a mike-drop response than Joly seems to think, given the titanic size of both America’s GDP and military spending. The U.S. spent $916 billion on defense last year, which is far more than most of its allies combined, and in fact constitutes about 40 percent of the military spending for the entire world.
Canada, on the other hand, is currently spending just 1.37 percent of its far smaller GDP and has pledged only an anemic increase to 2.0 percent. Getting to five percent would require about $100 billion more in military spending than Canada laid out last year.
“We are living in a much more dangerous world, not only because of what’s going on in Ukraine, not only because China has carried out the biggest military buildup in peacetime in recent history and not only because they’re partnering together with Russia in the Arctic,” Joly conceded.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot chimed in by saying France has a self-professed “objective” of reaching three percent to 3.5 percent, “which is about the level of American defense spending.” France spent a little over two percent of its GDP on defense last year.
Barrot added that increased defense budgets in Europe should be spent on buying European-made weapons and equipment, not the American equipment that most NATO countries have bought heavily in years past.
“5% is of course much more than the U.S. itself spends and it’s a very high ambition and we are not ready to commit to a number at this time. Just as it’s important to spend more, it’s also important to spend more smartly,” Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said, making the same argument as Joly and Barrot.
Portuguese Foreign Minister Paulo Rangel said five percent is “probably too high” at the moment, but Portugal plans to raise its current 1.55 percent spending to the NATO target of two percent in the coming year.
Rangel said his country would be open to discussing new spending targets at the next NATO summit, which is currently scheduled for June.
Asked if the U.S. would meet its five percent target for defense spending, Rubio responded, “Sure, we’re heading there now.”
For all their talk about the severity of the threat posed by China and Russia, nearly a third of NATO members currently fail to meet the alliance’s target of a mere two percent of GDP in defense spending, the target Canada pledged to meet before Rubio asked for five percent. This general reluctance to meet even NATO’s modest spending targets is not easily reconciled with the enthusiasm of so many European governments for inviting Ukraine to join the alliance.
“We are as involved in NATO today as we have ever been, and we intend to continue to be. But it has to be a real alliance. And that means that our alliance partners have to increase their own capabilities,” Rubio said.
A European official told Reuters on Thursday that, despite this exchange of barbs over defense spending rates, the meeting with Rubio was “very reassuring” and “not confrontational.” The official said Rubio asked America’s allies to “do more,” but there was no “bashing.”
In the near term, Rubio’s talk of five percent spending could be a bargaining tactic, using a high demand to light a fire beneath NATO’s assorted posteriors and get them up to the two percent they were always supposed to be spending.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said on Friday that member states have already conducted “the biggest increase in defense spending on the European side of NATO since the end of the Cold War” to counter Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but the alliance is not adamantly opposed to spending more.
“Through the years, working together, Allies have delivered security through strength. From all I heard during the last two days, we are well on track to continue delivering well into the future,” Rutte said.
Rutte said he “absolutely” believes the U.S. remains a reliable partner for NATO after the Trump administration’s criticism.
“There are no plans for them to all of a sudden draw down their presence here in Europe,” he said.
#1
Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly seemed rather cool to Rubio’s request. “I replied that the U.S. was at 3.2%,” she told reporters in Brussels.
Yes, 3.2% of the world's largest economy for the strongest military on earth.
Canada, meanwhile, has a military that is ranked 26th. Step up.
#2
We have so much deferred maintenance and weapons systems upgrades needed that our spend will need changes as well. Whether we will actually need to increase totals after fraud, waste, abuse, and bad decisions are squeezed out is a good question. We may even get most of the way there just by redirecting money currently being spent on all the wrong things.
[UnofficialNetworks] The Sage Wall in Montana, a possible ancient stone structure, could challenge historical timelines, suggesting advanced engineering and astronomical knowledge by prehistoric North American civilizations.
Deep in Montana’s remote wilderness lies the Sage Wall, a stunning megalithic structure composed of massive granite blocks intricately stacked in a straight line extending 275 feet (84 meters). Reaching up to 25 feet (8 meters) high, with some blocks weighing 91 tons, it is believed that the wall continues an additional 15 feet underground. This unique formation appears to have precise, interlocking stones resembling ancient masonry found worldwide.
Despite its remarkable features, the Sage Wall remained hidden for centuries, covered by dense foliage on private land owned by Christopher Borton and Linda Welsh. Its discovery occurred when the landowners cleared their heavily forested property, revealing the wall and sparking scientific interest. The site drew comparisons to megalithic structures in Peru, Egypt, and other regions due to its angular formations and mysterious knobs on the stones, which are common in ancient constructions globally.
The wall’s construction raises numerous questions about the people who built it. The precision and scale of the stonework indicate a deep understanding of mathematics and astronomy, leading some experts to speculate that the Sage Wall might have served multiple purposes. It could have been a ceremonial site, a defensive structure, or even an astronomical observatory designed to track celestial events. The alignment of certain stones with solstices and equinoxes supports the latter theory, hinting at a complex understanding of the cosmos by its builders.
The discovery of the Sage Wall is challenging the conventional timeline of human activity and architectural development in the region. Previously, such advanced construction techniques were not believed to exist in North America during this period. This site could potentially lead to a reevaluation of the technological and cultural advancements of prehistoric civilizations on the continent, offering a new perspective on the ingenuity and sophistication of ancient peoples.
Michael Collins, from the YouTube channel Wandering Wolf, and Dr. Samir Osmanagich, known for his work on the Bosnian Pyramid, have studied the site. They noted the wall’s magnetic properties and its alignment with the winter solstice, suggesting it might be man-made and predating the last Ice Age. However, some experts argue it is a natural formation resulting from volcanic and tectonic activities. Regardless of its origins, the Sage Wall remains a fascinating site, inviting further exploration and study.
Video at the link.
Posted by: Old Salty ||
04/06/2025 00:00 ||
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Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
04/06/2025 8:12 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Sorry...my take is that it's not a natural formation.
Single outcropping aligned with the Winter Solstice. What are the odds?
Perfectly circular and geometric carvings in the granite with no hint of intrusion zones responsible if it were naturally occurring.
My NW Wyoming field area in grad school had many areas of Andesite (Granite-like) arrayed in columnar jointing - like Devil's Tower but nothing like this.
Assuming man-made, you could get a more accurate date in that the North Pole is not fixed over time. You could posit a timeline using computer modelling to determine when this site accurately pointed toward the Solstice. This would be done based on the work by Carlotto (2020) and Hapgood (1960's).
They did it on ancient temple sites usually aligned to the cardinal axis but might be applicable here.
Worth a look...
#6
Looking at the video, the stones seem to be unusually orthogonal for igneous rock. I've seen columnar joints in Madeira and Ireland, and lotsa photographs, but it's been a long time since I studied geology.
I did have to look up 'orthogonal' to be sure my memory hadn't failed again. It's a 90-degree orientation.
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/06/2025 8:46 Comments ||
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#7
I bow to Warthog's knowledge!
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/06/2025 9:18 Comments ||
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#8
Orthogonal: up (or down) the Z axis on an X-Y plane. It’s my favourite axis. :-)
#10
The odds are actually 1:180 if totally random. Much less than that based on local factors like general orientation of tectonic features, potentially.
Not saying high odds, but not astronomically low necessarily either. YMMV.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
04/06/2025 12:42 Comments ||
Top||
#11
its not out of place, you see small ones deep in the sawtooth mtns
#12
I've been there. If you climb over to the back side and up the valley a bit, it looks pretty natural.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
04/06/2025 17:41 Comments ||
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#13
similar formations exist elsewhere in the world although the Montana stone wall is exceptional
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
04/06/2025 19:44 Comments ||
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#14
In Montana, tall radiant pines
All rise up from the ground in straight lines!
Did the aliens teach
Ancient trees how to reach
For the stars?
[and the Sun shyly shines]
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.
[JustTheNews] The payout is expected to impact more than 6,800 people with cases stemming as far back as 1959. Most of the cases occurred in the 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s, and a significant number took place at the MacLaren Children’s Center.
[Epoch Times] Despite joining the WTO in 2001, China did not evolve into the fully-fledged market economy that the United States had anticipated.
[JUSTTHENEWS] Ford on Thursday announced a new, lower-cost vehicle pricing plan — ''From America, For America'' — following President Trump unveiling the previous day 25% tariffs on non-American-made vehicles. 
...Perhaps no man has ever had as much fun being president of the US...
[JustTheNews] The combination of the tariffs and the Saudi-led response dropped Brent crude oil prices down to just $65.58 a barrel.
