China

Another real product: Lilith Vulva Ring Costs $10,000

Yeah, media in this country does a bad job of reporting the facts, and of asking tough questions. You're right about that. And clickbaity headlines are truly annoying.

The dates proposed by both the defense and the Special Counsel's office were proposed during the March 1st hearing. Two months later, she still can't pick a date. She's in over her head. She's not going to schedule the trial before the election. I'd wager large sums of money on that.

They really should file to have her removed from the case. All these CIPA issues she's droning on about could have been dealt with months ago, but she has been dragging her feet, I think both purposely and due to incompetence (never having worked on a case with CIPA issues before, and thus doesn't know what she's doing as a couple of the Special Counsel's filings have noted). Yeah, they requested delay to July, not indefinitely, and Trump's team said they could go in August.

Evangelicals Hate Stormy Daniels But Love Trump. Here’s Why. He’s been found liable for committing sexual abuse. He’s bragged about grabbing women by the you-know-what. He’s in the middle of a court case over paying hush money to a porn star with whom he allegedly cheated on his wife — the third woman he’s married. And he’s the de facto leader of American evangelicalism. How could Christians embrace a leader who has seemingly treated half the “thou shalt nots” in the Bible as a challenge? The typical answer is that it’s a matter of political convenience. Donald Trump may not be a choir boy, the conventional wisdom suggests, but he offers Christians wins on socially conservative policies, and he appointed Supreme Court justices who delivered for evangelicals by overturning Roe v. Wade. But anyone who’s so much as set foot in an evangelical church over the last eight years knows that Christians don’t describe Trump as an unfortunate necessity, but a literal God-send. Political convenience alone doesn’t explain that. Sex might. According to Samuel L. Perry, a sociologist of religion who has written several books on conservative Christianity including Addicted to Lust: Pornography in the Lives of Conservative Protestants, Trump’s sinful behavior may actually reinforce his support among at least some evangelicals. Trump’s sexual misdeeds may break religious doctrine, Perry says, but they also affirm his masculinity — at least in the evangelical view. They demonstrate that Trump is a virile, red-blooded man, afflicted by God — like all “real men” — with lust. Not just lust for sex, Perry says, but for power. And much like Biblical warriors who themselves struggled with sexual temptation, Trump can wield that power to lead the faithful to glory. In an interview for POLITICO Magazine, Perry spoke about how evangelical ideas about masculinity, pornography and sexuality help explain the most unusual but politically potent alliance in modern politics. Click on the link for the full interview

Ukraine Says It Foiled Russian Plot to Kill Zelensky Ukraine’s security services said on Tuesday that they had foiled a Russian plot to assassinate President Volodymyr Zelensky and other top military and political figures. Two Ukrainian colonels accused of participating in the plot have been arrested on suspicion of treason. The Ukrainian domestic intelligence agency, the S.B.U., said in a statement that the plot had involved a network of agents — including the two colonels — that was run by Russia’s Federal Security Service, or F.S.B., the main successor to the K.G.B. According to the S.B.U., the agents working at Russia’s direction were tasked with identifying people close to Mr. Zelensky’s security detail who could take him hostage and later kill him. The agency’s statement said the other top Ukrainian officials targeted in the plot included Vasyl Malyuk, the head of the S.B.U., and Gen. Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Ukraine’s military intelligence agency. The Ukrainian claims could not be independently verified. Click on the link for the full article

I said this before. If I'm the judge I tell Trump that if he doesn't attend his son's graduation, after ****ing about it to get the day off, he will be held in contempt and jailed.

Or Gaetz could confess to his crimes, and then they could be cell mates.

Jail For Man In Pink Dildo Domestic Attack An ex-con has been convicted of attacking his girlfriend with a pink dildo after she derided him as a “limp dick” in need of Viagra, according to court records. Steven Nurdin, 38, pleaded no contest Friday to a domestic battery charge stemming from a violent confrontation earlier this year in the Florida residence he shared with the 37-year-old victim. According to a police report, the victim told cops she was arguing with Nurdin about their relationship when she declared that he needed an erectile dysfunction medication to address his sexual shortcomings. Nurdin, she said, became irate and retrieved the sex toy from a bedroom shelf and shoved the item into her mouth. He also punched her in the eye, the woman said. Click on the link for the full article

Never-before-seen creature with 'blade-shaped fangs' is discovered in a Thailand cave Two reptile hunters have discovered a new species of snake with 'blade-like' fangs in Thailand. This slithering animal, they report, also has strongly ridged scales on its underbelly that allow it to 'climb vertical rock faces.' 'It is especially adapted to life in this harsh environment,' said one of the reptile hunters, who named their find the 'Cave Kukri Snake' or, Oligodon speleoserpens, after its unforgiving home in Thailand's limestone karst mountain caves. Evolutionary biologists who assisted these reptile hunters in categorizing their new snake said the creature's two 'enlarged blade-shaped maxillary teeth' and its mountaineering ridges offered 'strong evidence' indicative of a brand new species. While only three specimens of the new snake were captured for study, those samples were enough to positively ID it as a new species, thanks to its 'climbing grip' underbelly. Top right (d), the inflated 'hemipenes' or reproductive organs of the male Cave Kukri Snake specimen Grassby-Lewis, a herpetologist and tour guide, said that the new snake preys mostly upon the eggs of two local species of gecko, Cnemaspis and Cyrtodactylus, both expert navigators of rocky terrain as well. The body of the cave-dwelling, cliffhanging snake is a light-medium brown, with a lighter shade towards its head and black borders around its individual scales. Click on the link for the full article

House Republicans urge Gov. Moore to veto gun industry measure With Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) scheduled to sign more than 200 bills into law Thursday, the state’s leader continues to receive letters and verbal pleas to veto certain legislation the General Assembly approved this year. The House Republican Caucus has asked Moore to veto House Bill 947 – Gun Industry Accountability Act – which would give the Office of the Attorney General and the 24 local state’s attorneys authority to sue firearms manufacturers and gun dealers. The bill isn’t listed as part of Thursday’s bill signing ceremony. The legislation sponsored by Del. N. Scott Phillips (D-Baltimore) would permit those legal officers to seek “injunctive relief, restitution, compensatory and punitive damages, reasonable attorney’s fees and costs and any other appropriate relief.” Click on the link for the full article

Um, what?

He is entitled to appear in "ordinary civilian clothes." I don't think orange makeup is ordinary. But that's just me.

Divided Trump campaign weighs joining TikTok, the app he tried to ban Donald Trump’s presidential campaign is weighing whether to join TikTok, the wildly popular video app he once tried to ban, and the decision has sparked discussion among his advisers in recent weeks, according to four people familiar with the matter. In 2020, the then-president said the app was a threat to national security because its parent company, ByteDance, is based in China, and he called for TikTok’s forced sale or a nationwide ban as part of an executive order that was ultimately overturned by the courts. But Trump advisers say he changed his stance before the election that year after seeing internal polls suggesting a ban could hurt his standing with voters. More recently, he has criticized a similar sale-or-ban effort signed into law by President Biden as mostly benefiting Facebook, which he has partially blamed for his election loss. Trump would be one of the few high-profile Republicans to use the app, which many in his party have attacked over concerns that the Chinese government could use it to gather data on Americans or spread propaganda. Click on the link for the full article

RNC co-chair Lara Trump: ‘You cannot have ballots counted after elections are over’ Republican National Committee co-chair Lara Trump argued Sunday that ballots should not be counted after elections are over. While speaking to Fox News host Maria Bartiromo, Trump explained why her party had filed a lawsuit in Nevada to stop vote counting after the election. “You cannot have ballots counted, Maria, after elections are over,” Trump opined. “And right now, that is one of the many lawsuits we have out across this country to ensure that just that happens, that we have a free, fair, and transparent election.” “So in Nevada, as you pointed out, we are saying we want, on election day, that to be the last day that mail-in ballots can be counted,” she added. “And we’ve been very successful in a lot of lawsuits.” Trump pointed to another lawsuit in Pennsylvania. Click on the link for the full article and video

Trump complained donors aren't giving him enough cash to get a picture taken with him At the same donor luncheon at his Mar-a-Lago resort on Saturday where Donald Trump swore at President Joe Biden, special counsel Jack Smith and attacked his other perceived foes, the former president also complained he wasn't raising enough cash from the attending wealthy donors. Buried deep in a Washington Post report of the former president's profanity-laden speech where he ranted about Biden's "Gestapo" and called the DOJ's Smith a “f-----g a--hole,” is a note that the former was not happy about having to have his picture taken with so many attendees. Add to that, he also let some of his guests know they weren't coughing up enough cash. According to the Post, "About 400 people who gave at least $40,000 each attended, according to people familiar with the planning who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe a private event. He spoke for about 90 minutes, and the remarks veered widely," before pointing out Trump's complaints. "At another point, he complained about having to take so many pictures with donors and told people in the crowd that if they didn’t get a picture, it was because they didn’t give enough money," the report continued. Click on the link for the full article Squeeze 'em for every last penny.

The tornado outlook for today: Convective outlooks are issued for the following eight days (issued separately for Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, and Days 4–8), and detail the risk of severe thunderstorms and tornadoes during the given forecast period, although tornado, hail and wind details are only available for Day 1. Days 2 and 3, as well as 4–8 use a probabilistic scale, determining the probability for a severe weather event in percentage categories.

First Patient Begins Newly Approved Sickle Cell Gene Therapy On Wednesday, Kendric Cromer, a 12-year-old boy from a suburb of Washington, became the first person in the world with sickle cell disease to begin a commercially approved gene therapy that may cure the condition. For the estimated 20,000 people with sickle cell in the United States who qualify for the treatment, the start of Kendric’s monthslong medical journey may offer hope. But it also signals the difficulties patients face as they seek a pair of new sickle cell treatments. For a lucky few, like Kendric, the treatment could make possible lives they have longed for. A solemn and shy adolescent, he had learned that ordinary activities — riding a bike, going outside on a cold day, playing soccer — could bring on episodes of searing pain. “Sickle cell always steals my dreams and interrupts all the things I want to do,” he said. Now he feels as if he has a chance for a normal life. Near the end of last year, the Food and Drug Administration gave two companies authorization to sell gene therapy to people with sickle cell disease — a genetic disorder of red blood cells that causes debilitating pain and other medical problems. An estimated 100,000 people in the United States have sickle cell, most of them Black. People are born with the disease when they inherit the mutated gene for the condition from each parent. Click on the link for the full article

Are We Talking Too Much About Mental Health? In recent years, mental health has become a central subject in childhood and adolescence. Teenagers narrate their psychiatric diagnosis and treatment on TikTok and Instagram. School systems, alarmed by rising levels of distress and self-harm, are introducing preventive coursework in emotional self-regulation and mindfulness. Now, some researchers warn that we are in danger of overdoing it. Mental health awareness campaigns, they argue, help some young people identify disorders that badly need treatment — but they have a negative effect on others, leading them to over-interpret their symptoms and see themselves as more troubled than they are. The researchers point to unexpected results in trials of school-based mental health interventions in the United Kingdom and Australia: Students who underwent training in the basics of mindfulness, cognitive behavioral therapy and dialectical behavior therapy did not emerge healthier than peers who did not participate, and some were worse off, at least for a while. And new research from the United States shows that among young people, “self-labeling” as having depression or anxiety is associated with poor coping skills, like avoidance or rumination. In a paper published last year, two research psychologists at the University of Oxford, Lucy Foulkes and Jack Andrews, coined the term “prevalence inflation” — driven by the reporting of mild or transient symptoms as mental health disorders — and suggested that awareness campaigns were contributing to it. Click on the link for the full article So too much talk, and not enough action?

Planters nuts recalled across America over potentially fatal contamination Two Planters nuts products have been recalled after the maker warned they may have been contaminated and could cause fatal infections. Minnesota-based Hormel Foods Sales LLC issued a recall for 4-ounce packages of Planters Honey Roasted Peanuts and 8.75-ounce cans of Planters Deluxe Lightly Salted Mixed Nuts across five states. The at-risk products were distributed to Publix warehouses in Florida, Georgia, Alabama and North Carolina as well as Dollar Tree warehouses in South Carolina and Georgia. Hormel issued the recall after finding they could be contaminated with listeria monocytogenes. Listeria monocytogenes can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in vulnerable people including young children and elderly. Click on the link for the full article

He should be jailed for a weekend. And not be given access to any of his usual makeup and other sundries. Make him come to court in a wrinkled suit, looking pasty and disheveled, with his hair unkempt.

It’s been two years since the UK’s poop-engulfed beaches became a national scandal. Now it’s even worse It was late 2021 when James Richardson heard about England’s poop problem. “I saw a tweet talking about the extent of the problem, and the numbers were so enormous I thought it couldn’t be true – that there was so much sewage being dumped,” he says now. “I thought, ‘It’s social media, someone must be exaggerating.’ So I thought I’d look into it, because if it was true it’d be a scandal.” His research tallied with the tweet: raw sewage was being pumped into England’s rivers and onto beaches at a truly astonishing rate. So-called “storm overflows” – designed to flush overly full drains into rivers, seas and even across beaches – are supposed to be used in exceptional circumstances, as the name suggests. But in 2021, the year Richardson saw the data, they disgorged their contents across the country for a total of 2.7 million hours – equivalent to over 300 years. Over the past few years, members of the British public have seen beaches closed for swimming on peak summer holiday weekends, dead fish floating in busy rivers, and found themselves surfing effluent-engorged waves. “First it was the smell,” says Giles Bristow, who once found himself in the middle of a sewage slick when surfing in Staunton, Devon. “Then we saw toilet paper and sanitary products in the water. That was a real moment of, ‘Oh, god.’” Over the past few years, the UK’s “poopy beaches” problem has been sparking increasing anger from citizens around the country. The cancelation of an annual swimming race in the Thames right before the current bank holiday weekend has also caused concern. The race, which has been held since the 1890s, was due to be held in July, but was called off because of fears of sewage in the water. Click on the link for the full article

Job Experts Blame ‘Resenteeism’ For Why Gen Z Does The Bare Minimum At Work — But Gen X Workers Might Be Even Worse It's no secret that Gen Z has gained a reputation for being the most challenging generation to work with. Many companies and hiring managers have admitted to having a bias toward Gen Zers, preferring to hire older candidates because of their lack of workplace skills. This, in turn, has caused a level of resentment and lack of enthusiasm for how Gen Zers approach their roles at work. In a TikTok video, Brett Trainor, a career content creator, questioned if anyone had heard of the term "resenteeism." He explained that he recently learned the term after stumbling across a CNBC article about Gen Zers evolving their quiet quitting into resenteeism. In 2021 and 2022, employers admitted that quiet quitting had become a significant trend in which employees subtly disengaged from work and did the least they could get away with without drawing attention, often due to dissatisfaction with work conditions or company culture. However, a new trend has emerged — resenteeism. According to CNBC, resenteeism is a combination of "resentment" and "absenteeism," where employees continue working in roles they find dissatisfying because they either can’t find a better-suited job or think they won’t be able to. An evolved version of quiet quitting, not only are employees disengaged, but they carry a massive amount of resentment as well. In CNBC's Workforce Survey, 47% of Gen Z respondents say they are coasting by at work, with only 40% saying they are thriving. This is the opposite of all older generations, in which a higher proportion claim they are thriving in their roles. In addition to not feeling engaged in work, Gen Z also finds their responsibilities uninspiring. Gen Z workers report having the least meaningful work (14%) and least autonomy at work (21%) compared to other generations. In an interview with FOX Business, Jennifer Libby, a district manager with Insperity in Kansas City, Missouri, explained that over time, many employees, especially young adults, develop resentment for their employer because they feel trapped in a job they don't want. In Trainor's video, he pointed out that Gen Zers aren't the only ones who are struggling with resentment for their employer and job positions. He explained that Gen Z always have other options and opportunities to take up side hustles to supplement their income at jobs they don't enjoy. However, Gen Xers rarely have anywhere else to go, which is why they tend to stay at the same jobs for most of their careers. "This is exactly what I was feeling four years ago when I ended up just leaving and going solo again without a plan," Trainor admitted. "I think people are still underestimating the issue that this is gonna cause because Gen X keeps dropping out. It's going to cause a leadership void," he continued. Trainor even acknowledged that companies and employers brought on this resentment themselves with the major layoffs and return to office mandates. Click on the link for the full article