Trump goes socialist; Epstein to resurface; Musk's doing ok, you, not so much; falling iguanas; solar freakout warning
It's National Pizza with the Works Except Anchovies Day!
The Democrats’ popular affordability platform has Trump jealously weaving plans for 50-year mortgages and socialist-seeming tariff rebates, and Josh Johnson deciphers how the “money man” president thinks $2,000 checks will solve everything.
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Musk could be paid $1 trillion. Nvidia’s worth $5 trillion. Yet America’s poor are struggling to eat. We may be in a golden age for the super-rich – but it doesn’t feel that way for the 42 million Americans who use SNAP.
Panic grips Wall Street as tech’s ‘Warren Buffett’ quietly offloads ALL stock in world’s biggest company. Masayoshi Son, one of tech’s most–watched investors, quietly sold off all his Nvidia shares and most of his stake in T-Mobile last month, unloading roughly $15 billion worth of stock in total.
Adelita Grijalva is about to tip the scales on the Epstein files in the US House. Grijalva’s vote as early as Wednesday could be a deciding factor on whether the Justice Department releases files relating to the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein.
Jeffrey Epstein co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell plans to seek commutation from Trump. Maxwell has received what was described as “concierge-style” treatment at the minimum security prison camp that she was transferred to, including customized meals, permission to go to the exercise area after hours, and time to play with a puppy that was being trained by an inmate to become a service dog, among other things.
How Pete Hegseth is forcing women out of the military. A retired Coast Guard commander said she was “fearful for women in uniform right now.”
Trump administration moves again to dismantle top US consumer watchdog. Government argues funding mechanism behind Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is unlawful.
Trump wants to ‘call in the troops’ to help crime-ridden mall in Chicago. The problem is it doesn’t exist.
Koreans detained in Georgia battery plant raid preparing class action lawsuit against ICE.
California police intervene as ICE agent in plain clothes points gun at woman. Agent said woman was following and filming him, but officer said he couldn’t assist if no crime was committed.
Interstellar object 3I/ATLAS shows evidence of “galactic cosmic ray” processing. That’s not great news.
NOAA declares severe geomagnetic storm watch amid continued solar freakouts. Remember that sunspot cluster projected to cause a lot of problems? Yeah, it totally is.
Florida!
Florida man escaped into a porta potty after trying to run over a construction worker with his own car. A Florida man allegedly stole a construction worker’s car, tried to run him over with it, then hid in a portable toilet, where he took off his pants.
‘Why does this happen?’: Florida man says romance scammers have been using his picture to attract women for 15 years.
Floridians warned about falling iguanas as wintry weather hits eastern US.
Jeep driver goes to Florida Target. Then she sees one of those red balls on the loose, wreaking havoc in the parking lot.
Late Night:
Why is there a Late Night section? Because late night comedians, unfettered by institutional journalistic and corporate inhibitions, often provide observations and analysis that are more thorough and comprehensive than network or cable news. And the humor helps.
Jimmy Kimmel remembers his best friend and bandleader Cleto Escobedo III. (Video)
America’s Arctic blast | Trump threatens air traffic controllers | The math on 50-year mortgages-Stephen Colbert (Video)
The Donald J. Trump 50 year mortgage. (Video)
Mike Johnson orders Congress to return to Capitol Hill-Seth Meyers (Video)
Keep scrolling down. Lots of interesting stuff in On This Day, Birthdays, and Deaths.
Quote of the Day:
In order to get beyond racism, we must first take account of race. There is no other way. And in order to treat some persons equally, we must treat them differently.
--Harry Blackmun (Wikipedia link)
(More Harry Blackmun quotes from the KGB Quotations Database)
Today’s holidays:
Chicken Soup for the Soul Day, Elizabeth Cady Stanton Day, Fancy Rat & Mouse Day, International CJD Awareness Day, National French Dip Day, National Happy Hour Day, National Pizza with the Works Except Anchovies Day, and World Pneumonia Day.
Astronomy Picture of the Day from NASA.
(Not currently updating due to government shutdown.)
On This Day:
2021 – The Los Angeles Superior Court formally ended the 14-year conservatorship to pop singer Britney Spears.
2020 – The PlayStation 5 was released.
2020 – The Walt Disney Company launched the streaming service Disney+.
2001 – In New York City, American Airlines Flight 587, an Airbus A300 en route to the Dominican Republic, crashed minutes after takeoff from John F. Kennedy International Airport, killing all 260 on board and five on the ground.
1997 – Ramzi Yousef was found guilty of masterminding the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
1990 – Tim Berners-Lee published a formal proposal for the World Wide Web.
1990 – Crown Prince Akihito was formally installed as Emperor Akihito of Japan, becoming the 125th Japanese monarch.
1982 – USSR: Yuri Andropov became the General Secretary of the Communist Party’s Central Committee, succeeding Leonid I. Brezhnev.
1981 – Space Shuttle program: Mission STS-2, utilizing the Space Shuttle Columbia, marked the first time a crewed spacecraft is launched into space twice.
1980 – The NASA space probe Voyager I made its closest approach to Saturn and took the first images of its rings.
1979 – Iran hostage crisis: In response to the hostage situation in Tehran, U.S. President Jimmy Carter ordered a halt to all petroleum imports into the United States from Iran.
1970 – The 1970 Bhola cyclone made landfall on the coast of East Pakistan, becoming the deadliest tropical cyclone in history.
1970 – The Oregon Highway Division attempts to destroy a rotting beached sperm whale with explosives, leading to the now infamous “exploding whale” incident. (Video)
1969 – Vietnam War: Independent investigative journalist Seymour Hersh broke the story of the My Lai Massacre.
1958 – A team of rock climbers led by Warren Harding completed the first ascent of The Nose on El Capitan in Yosemite Valley.
1954 – Ellis Island ceased operations.
1946 – Walt Disney’s “Song of the South” premiered in Atlanta. (Video)
1942 – World War II: Naval Battle of Guadalcanal between Japanese and American forces began near Guadalcanal. The battle lasted for three days and ended with an American victory.
1938 – Nazi Germany issued the Decree on the Elimination of Jews from Economic Life prohibiting Jews from selling goods and services or working in a trade, totally segregating Jews from the German economy.
1936 – In California, the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge opened to traffic.
1927 – Leon Trotsky was expelled from the Soviet Communist Party, leaving Joseph Stalin in undisputed control of the Soviet Union.
1912 – The frozen bodies of Robert Scott and his men were found on the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica.
1892 – Pudge Heffelfinger became the first professional American football player on record, participating in his first paid game for the Allegheny Athletic Association.
1799 –First recorded meteor shower in North America was observed.
1775 –Abigail Adams led a rhetorical charge against Britain
(For comprehensive lists of the day’s historical events, check here, here, and here.)
Some Birthdays:
1982 – Anne Hathaway, American actress
1980 – Ryan Gosling, Canadian actor, producer and singer
1979 – Cote de Pablo, Chilean actress
1971 – Rebecca Wisocky, American actress
1970 – Tonya Harding, American figure skater
1961 – Nadia Comăneci, Romanian gymnast and coach
1958 – Megan Mullally, American actress and singer
1957 – Tim Samaras, American engineer, storm chaser (died 2013)
1945 – Neil Young, Canadian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1944 – Booker T. Jones, American pianist, saxophonist, songwriter, and producer
1943 – Wallace Shawn, American actor, comedian and playwright
1943 – Brian Hyland, American pop singer
1934 – Charles Manson, American cult leader (died 2017)
1930 – Bob Crewe, American singer-songwriter and producer (died 2014)
1929 – Grace Kelly, American actress, later Princess Grace of Monaco (died 1982)
1922 – Kim Hunter, American actress (died 2002)
1917 – Jo Stafford, American singer (died 2008)
1908 – Harry Blackmun, American lawyer and judge (died 1999)
1889 – DeWitt Wallace, American publisher and philanthropist, co-founded Reader’s Digest (died 1981)
1840 – Auguste Rodin, French sculptor and illustrator, created The Thinker (died 1917)
1815 – Elizabeth Cady Stanton, American activist (died 1902)
(A more complete list of today’s birthdays.)
Some Deaths:
2024 – Thomas E. Kurtz, American computer scientist and educator (born 1928)
2018 – Stan Lee, American comic book writer, editor, and publisher (born 1922)
2007 – Ira Levin, American novelist, playwright, and songwriter (born 1929)
2003 – Penny Singleton, American actress (born 1908)
2001 – Albert Hague, German-American actor and composer (born 1920)
1994 – Wilma Rudolph, American sprinter and educator (born 1940)
1993 – H. R. Haldeman, American diplomat, 4th White House Chief of Staff (born 1926)
1990 – Eve Arden, American actress and comedian (born 1908)
1981 – William Holden, American actor (born 1918)
1916 – Percival Lowell, American astronomer, mathematician, and author (born 1855)
(A more complete list of today’s deaths.)
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What if that’s his last gasp gambit? To make universal single payer the law of the land? To shift taxation into fifth gear, taxing the wealthy (who hate him, too. And Elon’s never gonna know what hit him.) That is, in short, to cut a deal with the Democrats to not prosecute him and his family and to keep the loot.(Probably close to Elon’s but in crypto.)