Ну что ж, с наступающим Новым Годом всёх, кто здесь есть. Я тоже здесь, и собираюсь сюда постить. Даже могу сейчас написать название следующего поста: "Телескоп или калейдоскоп - 2".
Всё собиралась написать в ЖЖ, и тут сегодня читаю, что он накрывается. Сносить я его не буду.
Чего-то всё закрывается и накрывается. Особенно жаль пивную на Алексе, которая закроется 10 января, и, видимо, насовсем. У меня было два любимых заведения в тех краях, одно закрылось уже давно, а теперь вот и второе собралось. Где теперь на Алексе пить пиво? Чтоб не пафосно и не очень дорого. Вот.
I DON’T KNOW IF HE CAN DO THAT, BUT I’M ALREADY LONG ON POPCORN, SO GO FOR IT: Trump threatens to sue Fed Chair Jerome Powell for ‘gross incompetence.’ “The president hinted that the lawsuit would be connected to the increasing cost of renovations to Federal Reserve buildings, stating that the chairman has allowed the expected cost to skyrocket.”
Politico’s legal affairs reporter all buts calls for Somalis to shoot and murder anyone who knocks on the doors of their businesses. This clown clearly has no idea what stand-you-ground laws are or what states they apply to (hint: Minnesota is a duty-to-retreat state, not a… https://t.co/pQjF96O5s2
Social media platforms have flooded with memes and viral jokes surrounding the “Quality Learing Center” after conservative YouTuber Nick Shirley’s Minnesota daycare fraud video spread widely online.
The footage of seemingly empty daycare facilities that allegedly received millions in state and federal funds had a sign up with the word “learning” misspelt as “learing.”
In the 42-minute investigative video, Shirley highlights a sign reading “Quality Learing Center,” a licensed daycare centre that appeared shuttered on a weekday with no children visible, despite allegedly receiving significant taxpayer funds.
In an exclusive interview with The New York Post, a resident says that he had never seen children enter the place before December 29. According to the resident, the parking lot was always empty.
In the video, which was released on December 26, Shirley is seen asking the person answering the door to the center, “You do realize there’s supposed to be 99 children here in this building, and there’s no one here?”
Republican House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, who represents St. Cloud and the Twin Cities suburbs, attacked Governor Tim Walz in response to the video.
He wrote on X, “4 million dollars of hard-earned tax dollars going to an education center that can’t even spell learning correctly. Care to explain this one, Tim Walz?”
No word yet if the Quality Learing Center is expanding its franchises, though the Second City seems like a logical next step:
Удивительно, но на умение мужчины зарабатывать напрямую влияют отношения с отцом, рассказали психологи.
Денежные установки закладываются еще с детства. И формируются правильным образом в том случае, если отец хвалит своего ребенка за выполненный труд. В голове образуется некая связка между усилием и вознаграждением, что позволит в будущем хорошо зарабатывать.
А вот слишком жесткое или слишком мягкое отношение может сказаться на умении зарабатывать не самым благоприятным образом. Такое поведение может нарушить нужную связку, а ребенку во взрослой жизни будет труднее получить деньги.
Нам не мало платят, нас просто воспитали неправильно.
Много смешного я прочитала за эти два дня в связи с происходящим с жж. Натлеопатка радуется, что жж наконец избавится от иностранцев; натали_я радуется, что успела прикупить головостика на жетоны... Вчерашняя паника сменилась успокоением - вроде всё нормально работает в каждом отдельно взятом секторе - кириллическом и не кириллическом. Израильтяне радуются тому, что наконец жж становится идеальным местом для их "славного междоусобчика" (не понимаю это ирония или безграмотность). И это, по-моему, самое смешное. С чего они взяли, что российские серверы будут работать на их "славный междоусобчик"? Зачем это владельцам жж? Только потому что каждый из них это пуп земли и их блоги невероятно ценны для всего человечества? Ну, да, конечно :) По мне так самым логичным шагом после разделения на клиентов сбера и остальных было бы грохнуть блоги остальных. Потому что на кой хер они сдались? Лично я не могу придумать причину для того, чтобы это не сделать.
The Trump administration plans to distribute between $147 million and $281 million to each U.S. state in 2026 through a widespread rural health program designed to provide better access to medical care in rural areas.
The effort, which is one aspect of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, earmarks $50 billion across five fiscal years, making available $10 billion annually from 2026 to 2030 to all 50 states. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz revealed the plan Monday, underscoring its goal to reverse the trend of long-term declines in rural health metrics while avoiding building out costly new infrastructure.
“This is a massive effort to change the unfortunate reality that has overtaken rural healthcare in America, which is that your ZIP code has started to predict your life expectancy,” Oz told reporters. He said the money will also go toward other pilot projects across the country.
Administration officials said that half the funds will be divided evenly between the states, with the other $25 billion apportioned according to rural healthcare infrastructure, state-led reforms, and application-based proposals. Funds could be reclaimed if states fail to meet benchmarks or neglect their committed reforms.
“The purpose of this $50 billion investment in rural healthcare is not to pay off bills,” Oz said.
“The purpose of this $50 billion investment is to allow us to right-size the system and to deal with the fundamental hindrances of improvement in rural healthcare.”
The announcement comes as rural hospitals have been at the center of Medicaid overhaul discussions.
“We have an unstable market that is causing lots of potential peril to Americans who need our help the most,” Oz told reporters in June.
This rural push aligns with Trump’s fiscal 2026 “skinny budget“ for the Department of Health and Human Services, cutting discretionary spending by 33 percent to $80.4 billion and axing 20,000 jobs.
Those reforms combine multiple agencies into a new Administration for a Healthy America, which integrates rural programs and redirects any savings from the streamlining to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s priorities, including environmental health, mental health services, and chronic disease prevention.
The administration has also highlighted $14 billion in identified Medicaid fraud, waste, and abuse through the Department of Government Efficiency, as highlighted by Oz earlier this year.
“There’s about $14 billion we’ve identified with DOGE, of folks who are duly enrolled wrongly in multiple states for Medicaid,” Oz told Fox News’s “Sunday Morning Futures” in May.
Complementary measures include agreements with nine pharmaceutical firms to cut drug costs and expanded coverage models for select weight-loss medications in a bid to help rural patients.
"Massive Abuse": HUD Audit Flags $5B In Improper Housing Assistance During Biden's Term
A new report from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development has found that more than $5 billion in federal rental assistance during fiscal year 2024 went to potentially ineligible recipients, including nearly 30,000 deceased individuals and thousands of non-citizens, according to MSN and the NY Post.
The audit, conducted by HUD’s Office of the Chief Financial Officer, reviewed nearly $50 billion in housing aid and identified $5.8 billion — about 11% — as “questionable.” More than 200,000 tenants were flagged, including 29,715 listed as deceased, 9,472 non-citizens, and 165,393 households receiving payments above local eligibility limits, particularly in large metro areas such as New Orleans. Officials said suspicious payments appeared nationwide, with heavy concentrations in New York, California and Washington, DC.
“A massive abuse of taxpayer dollars not only occurred under President Biden’s watch, but was effectively incentivized by his administration’s failure to implement strong financial controls resulting in billions worth of potential improper payments,” HUD Secretary Scott Turner said. “HUD will continue investigating the shocking results and will take appropriate action to hold bad actors accountable.”
The Post writes that the report faults federal directives that pushed funds out quickly “with minimal oversight,” while relying heavily on local housing authorities and contractors to verify eligibility. HUD said it is now reviewing funding for agencies involved and may suspend or revoke payments.
“HUD is implementing processes and procedures to revoke or pause funding as part of its efforts to hold bad actors accountable,” one official said. “Additionally, the Department could make criminal referrals and exercise other enforcement actions once it has confirmed fraud occurred.”
The findings follow earlier warnings. A 2022 HUD Inspector General audit said the agency “needed significant improvement” in its antifraud systems and lacked clear procedures for reporting suspected fraud.
In February 2024, prosecutors charged 70 current and former New York City Housing Authority employees in what US Attorney Damian Williams called “the largest single-day bribery takedown in the history of the Justice Department,” involving millions in kickbacks and corrupt contracts. NYCHA, which receives billions in HUD funding annually, said: “NYCHA partners with law enforcement to root out the corruption that directly led to the 2024 arrests… Each of the 70 cases brought by DOI has led to a conviction.”
Former HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge and former Deputy Secretary Adrianne Todman did not respond to requests for comment.
What do our Google searches tell us about ourselves? I think that many of you will be quite surprised by what I have to share in this article.
“Google’s Year in Search” for 2025 has been released, and it is a doozy. The past 12 months have been so crazy, and the top search trends of 2025 certainly reflect that.
Let’s start with the top search trend.
“Charlie Kirk” is number one on the list, and his assassination completely shocked the nation.
But it certainly was not an isolated incident.
Political violence is on the rise in our society. In fact, if President Trump had not moved his head slightly at just the right moment at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania last year, he would not be in the White House today.
Charlie Kirk was a prominent figure before his death, but after he died suddenly everyone knew who he was.
Unfortunately, I believe that we will see even more political violence in 2026. There is just so much anger and frustration out there right now on all sides.
“KPop Demon Hunters” is number two on Google’s list, and that stunned me. According to Wikipedia, it is “a 2025 animated musical film from Sony Pictures Animation and Netflix about a K-pop girl group, HUNTR/X, who secretly fight demons while performing, facing off against a rival demon boy band called the Saja Boys”.
Needless to say, it is particularly popular among young people.
This year our society continued to be fascinated by entertainment that explores very dark themes, and that is quite alarming.
And we see this with the third item on the list as well.
According to Wikipedia, Labubu is “a popular line of collectible, mischievous-looking elf-like monster figures created by Hong Kong artist Kasing Lung, known for their large ears, sharp teeth, and scruffy appearance, sold primarily through blind boxes by the company Pop Mart, which has led to a global craze and high resale demand.”
The sharp teeth and bizarre eyes certainly make them look like monsters.
In the old days, kids would play with teddy bears and other stuffed animals.
But now kids want to play with creatures that look like they have been pulled straight out of a nightmare.
I don’t think that is a good thing.
The iPhone 17 came in at number four on the list, and that shouldn’t surprise anyone.
Most of us are so addicted to our phones, and I don’t think that is going to change any time soon.
The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” came in at number five in the list, the government shutdown came in at number eight in the list, and “tariffs” came in at number ten in the list.
I think that is quite appropriate, because this is a year when the news was so focused on political drama.
Donald Trump’s first year in office was an extremely busy one, and people all over the country were endlessly talking about it.
There are tens of millions of Americans that absolutely love Trump, and there are tens of millions of Americans that absolutely hate Trump.
Of course Donald Trump will continue to play a central role in our society for as long as he remains in the White House.
A new political star on the left made the list at number six.
New York elected a “democratic socialist” named Zohran Mamdani as their new mayor, and suddenly he has become a major national celebrity.
That is pretty remarkable considering the fact that he wasn’t even a U.S. citizen a decade ago.
“DeepSeek” came in at number seven on the list, and I was glad to see that a term associated with AI was represented.
For better or worse, AI is in the process of transforming virtually every area of our society.
Interestingly, the FIFA Club World Cup ranked number nine on the list.
I still don’t think that Chelsea deserved to win the final, but PSG just didn’t show up that day for some reason.
Personally, I was shocked that the Epstein files did not make the top ten, but it did rank number eight in “news searches”.
To me, the drama surrounding the Epstein files was perhaps the most important political story of the year. It has dramatically shifted political opinion, and I think that much of the damage that has been done is permanent.
When they were finally released, they were so heavily redacted that they didn’t tell us much that we didn’t already know.
And now we are being told that they have discovered a million more documents that hopefully we will get to see eventually.
2025 has been so wild, and now 2026 is nearly upon us.
In the year 1998, Bill Clinton was facing impeachment proceedings, “Titanic” was cleaning up at the Oscars and most households still had landline phones. Gallup and USA Today called up 1,055 Americans on those landlines and asked them for their best predictions about a year in the distant future: 2025.
It turns out that those that responded to the survey were quite accurate about certain things, but on other matters they were way off…
Some were surprisingly prescient. Most Americans predicted that, over the next 27 years, the country would have elected a Black president, gay marriages would be legal and commonplace and a “deadly new disease” would have emerged.
Most people in 1998 correctly doubted that space travel would be common for ordinary Americans or that alien life forms would have made contact.
Other predictions didn’t hold up as well. About two-thirds of Americans thought the country would have elected a female president by now. More than half expected a cure for cancer and 61% expected that “people will routinely live to be 100 years old.”
Wouldn’t it be nice if most people lived to be 100 years old?
Sadly, life expectancy in the U.S. has fallen to the lowest level since 1996.
The first half of this decade brought us the pandemic, several major wars, the AI revolution and an endless series of natural disasters.
Stemming from the set of nuclear industry Executive Orders (EOs) issued earlier this year on May 23rd, the Department of Energy (DoE) established the Nuclear Fuel Chain Defense Production Act (DPA) Consortium back in August to meet some of the goals directed by the EOs. The consortium has since been working “to develop plans of action to ensure that the nuclear fuel supply chain capacity for mining and milling, conversion, enrichment, deconversion, fabrication, recycling and reprocessing is available to enable the continued reliable operation of the nation’s reactors.”
After some initial hype following the consortium’s establishment, rumors kicked back up about the potential for the government building a Strategic Uranium Reserve (SUR). However, most of the interest in the consortium’s activities/goals fell off after the government shutdown delayed the first meetings of the new group.
Fast forward to last week when the DOJ completed the required justification for the US government to enter into agreements with companies involved in the nuclear fuel chain that would have otherwise been illegal under antitrust laws. The DOJ presented their findings on December 19th, stating “the purposes … of the DPA may not reasonably be achieved through a voluntary agreement having less anticompetitive effects or without any voluntary agreement. Given this finding, the proposed Voluntary Agreement may become effective”.
So, what next? Most likely, press releases will start coming out from fuel chain companies over the next few weeks as they sign agreements with the DoE for capacity expansions or offtake deals at the various stages. Here's some companies to keep an eye on:
Uranium mining - UEC, EU, URG, and UUUU
Uranium milling - UUUU, AEC, and UEC
Uranium conversion - SOLS, SILXY, and UEC
Uranium enrichment - LEU, NNE, SILXY, ASPI, and BWXT
Fuel fabrication - CCJ, GEV, BWXT, OKLO, and ATI
Recycling and reprocessing - OKLO, FLR, AMTM, and BWXT
There’s also a long list of Canadian- and Australian-owned uranium mining companies, large private enrichment corporations, and dozens of others that will likely be involved at the various stages, but the above tickers are the most likely publicly-traded participants.
The U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) awarded two contracts to construct up to six Arctic Security Cutter (ASC) icebreakers to increase regional mobility and assert dominance, the agency said in a Dec. 29 statement.
“The Arctic Security Cutters will defend U.S. sovereignty, secure critical shipping lanes, protect energy and mineral resources, and counter our adversaries’ presence in the Arctic region,” the USCG said, adding that this was a “major step forward for America’s national security.”
“They will enable the Coast Guard to control, secure, and defend U.S. Alaskan borders, facilitate maritime commerce vital to economic prosperity and strategic mobility, and respond to crises and contingencies in the region,” the USCG said.
The contracts were awarded to Louisiana-based Bollinger Shipyards Lockport LLC and to Rauma Marine Constructions Oy, based in Finland. The awards are the result of “historic investments” authorized by President Donald Trump under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBB), USCG said.
Under the contract, Bollinger Shipyards will construct up to four ASCs in the United States, with delivery of the first domestically built vessel scheduled for 2029.
The contract awarded to Rauma involves constructing up to two ASCs in Finland, with the first vessel scheduled for delivery earlier in 2028.
According to the USCG, the plan is to leverage the Finnish company’s icebreaker expertise while onshoring it into the United States over the long run.
“America has been an Arctic nation for over 150 years, and we’re finally acting like it under President Trump. Our adversaries continue to look to grow their presence in the Arctic, equipping the Coast Guard with Arctic Security Cutters will help reassert American maritime dominance there,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said.
“Revitalizing the U.S. Coast Guard’s icebreaking capabilities is crucial for our security and prosperity, and today’s announcement is an important step in that direction.”
The acquisition of the ASCs is part of the Force Design 2028 initiative introduced by Noem, which seeks to transform the USCG into a “more agile, capable and responsive fighting force,” the agency said.
On Nov. 13, the United States joined Canada and Finland in signing the Icebreaker Collaboration Effort pact, which allows the three nations to share information, expertise, and resources to expand shipbuilding and counter the growing presence of China and Russia in the Arctic.
Late last year, the Chinese coast guard entered the Arctic for the first time to join Russian ships on patrol. In July this year, Chinese and Russian bomber aircraft carried out joint exercises off the coast of Alaska.
Under the Trump administration, the focus on building a fleet for the Arctic has intensified. In April, Trump signed an executive order to restore America’s maritime dominance, calling for the construction of commercial ships in the country and the rebuilding of America’s maritime manufacturing.
In July, Trump signed into law the OBBB, which has provided $8.6 billion for deploying the USCG’s icebreaker fleet in the Arctic. Out of the $8.6 billion, $4.3 billion was allocated to buy heavy icebreakers and $3.5 billion to purchase medium-sized ASCs.
On Oct. 8, Trump signed a memorandum—Construction of Arctic Security Cutters—noting that USCG’s fleet of Arctic-capable vessels and icebreakers remained “insufficient to meet current operational demands and presents a national security risk.”
“The United States faces an urgent and growing threat in the Arctic region posed by strategic competition, aggressive military posturing, and economic encroachment by foreign adversaries. These actions undermine United States sovereignty; jeopardize critical shipping lanes; and threaten energy, mineral, and national defense interests,” the order said.
According to a July 15 report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the United States currently has three polar icebreakers, compared to Russia’s fleet of 40. China, which is not an Arctic nation, has four icebreakers.
China is “likely to continue outpacing the United States’ sluggish icebreaker construction effort. This constitutes a giant spotlight on the U.S. national security risk in the Arctic,” the report said.
US Reaches 30th Strike In Boat Bombing Campaign Ahead Of New Year
As the world gets ready to usher in a new year, the US military campaign against Venezuela has reached another grim milestone. American forces carried out their latest airstrike on a vessel accused of drug trafficking in Latin American waters on Monday.
The operation announced by US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) represents the 30th strike since the campaign began on September 2.
The official US announcement indicated the boat was struck in the eastern Pacific Ocean - so the 'other side' opposite the Caribbean, which is certainly not the first in this area.
Officials claimed the strike resulted in the deaths of two individuals labeled as "narco-terrorists" - which has been used of the Trump administration to defend lethal actions at sea carried out without judicial proceedings, or so much as a warning.
Analysts have tallied that the number people killed by US military actions at sea connected to the Venezuela campaign has risen to 107 with this latest strike.
A thunderous boom rang out through the windless late-afternoon air. Seconds later, smoke began rising out of the sea as if the horizon were on fire.
Watching from the shore on Nov. 6, Erika Palacio Fernández whipped out her phone, she said, unwittingly recording the only verified and independent video known to date of the aftermath of an airstrike in the Trump administration’s campaign against what it calls “narco-terrorists.”
Two days later, on that same shore, a scorched 30-foot-long boat itself would wash up. Then, two mangled bodies. Then charred jerrycans, life jackets and dozens of packets that were observed by The New York Times and were similar to others that have been found after anti-narcotics operations in the region. Most packets were empty, though traces of a substance that looked and smelled like marijuana were found in the lining of a few.
A $30 million Reaper drone launched from a $1 billion navy frigate... all to take out a little wooden boat lined with marijuana packets?
...And backed by an unprecedented US forces build-up in these waters which is costing the American taxpayers some $18 million per day according to various rough estimates. Some sources assert much higher figures per day and per week, and that the cost will soar the longer the deployments go on...
JUST IN🇺🇲🇻🇪🔥 US now deployed a total of 16,000 troops to the Caribbean sea or in #VENEZUELA's airspace costing US taxpayers $40 million per day.
🚨 US' war against VENEZUELA may cost $100b per week and it will be goes another 10 years. pic.twitter.com/Ya2VumdT35
This underscores why many people within Trump's own MAGA base have been against this whole operation and military build-up in the Caribbean which seems set on pursuing regime change against Maduro.
There's also the fact that so long as the USS Gerald R. Ford carrier group is patrolling waters off Venezuela and is busy "facing down" what amounts to a third world army lacking in adequate arms and equipment, this one of just 11 operational supercarriers is absent from other parts of the world it might actually be needed in America's defense.
Я уже как-то писал о ю-туберах Jake and Logan Paul, которые использовали свою популярность чтобы зарабатывать на границе спорта и развлечений. Они ловко подбирали соперников из бывших профессиональных атлетов, в том числе и боксеров и ММА, чтобы более чем выровнять шансы и добились на этом поприще немалых успехов.
Так, Джейк недавно победил по очкам самого Майка Тайсона, которому скоро 60, а Логан выступил против Флойда Мэйвезера, которому на тот момент было за 50 и он был фунтов на 50 легче. При этом, надо признать, что братья достигли вполне приличного уровня мастерства в боксе. Тайсон и в 60 лет не подарок, если бы попал как следует. Джейк также отправил в нокаут Тайрона Вудли, который был чемпионом мира в весе 170 фунтов в UFC, и удар у него очень сильный. Но одно дело драться с пенсионерами или «малышами», а другое с настоящими сегодняшними атлетами.
Состояние Джейка Пола оценивается в 200 миллионов долларов. Пишут, что одним только боксом он зарабатывает 20-50 млн в год. Джейк Пол вызвал на матч самого Антони Джошуа, олимпийского чемпиона 2012 года в тяжелом весе (2 метра ростом, и 110 кг что на 15 см и 10 кг больше чем у Пола) впоследствии чемпиона мира среди профессионалов. Еще в прошлом году он опять дрался за чемпионский титул, но проиграл. Короче это был бой без шансов.
19 декабря Пол продержался до нокаута в шестом раунде, что очень почетно, если вспомнить, что в прошлом году Джошуа нокаутировал 120-кг гиганта Нганну, чемпиона мира в ММА, во втором раунде. Результатом боя для Джейка Пола, кроме заработка и уважухи, стала сломанная в двух местах челюсть и несколько выбитых зубов. Сейчас у него во рту две титановые пластины и он будет несколько недель питаться жидкостями через соломинку.
Я понимаю, что бедные люди должны зарабатывать на жизнь как могут. Бой против престарелого Тайсона в принципе могу понять тоже. Но этого я не пойму никогда. Зачем это было ему нужно? На что он рассчитывал?
For users who have disabled Cyrillic services.All posting features are fully available but everything published will be inaccessible to readers from Russia.Commenting is only available in the journals of users who have also disabled Cyrillic services. А то чего захотели, пропаганду свою двигать и совращать наших невинных поросяток. Не дадим подрывать наши традиционные ценности и наше родное Хуйло!
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
p_govorun
![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png){kind=small}
insta_feed
