House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) received a vote of confidence but is already preparing for another rocky session with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) leading the internal opposition to his leadership. With the lower chamber preparing for President-elect Donald Trump to take the reins in January, Johnson won the GOP nomination to remain in his […]

Bluesky has now crossed 14.7 million users and added 1 million members since the US presidential elections.

The post Bluesky Inches Closer to 15 Million Users appeared first on Thurrott.com.

In the ever-evolving landscape of pop music, the announcement that a band is going “on hiatus” often doesn’t bode well for its future…

India's edible oil imports saw a slight dip of 3.09% in the 2023-24 oil year, reaching 159.6 lakh tonnes. This decrease is attributed to a boost in domestic oilseed production and a slight decline in demand due to price increases. Despite the overall decrease, sunflower oil imports actually rose, while imports of other oils like palm and soybean oil decreased.

Operating revenue remained largely unchanged at Rs 1,430 crore compared to Rs 1,426 crore in FY23. The company, which secured its maiden fundraise last year, saw a 40% surge in employee benefit expenses at Rs 71 crore, while finance costs rose nearly 50% to Rs 29.5 crore. Total expenses increased to Rs 1,460 crore from Rs 1,432 crore in FY23.

Singing River is back with an exciting new album, 'Talkin' Destination Blues,' released on November 8, 2024. The duo, Mikey James and Anthony Kuhn describe their music as a blend…

[CW: strong, bleak/dark/violent humour, profanity] Frankie Boyle's American Autopsy was recorded shortly after the 2016 US election, and includes contributions from guests Sara Pascoe, Katherine Ryan, Michelle Wolf, Desiree Burch, and (unfortunately) Richard Osman. The show is based around three propositions concerning America, voted on by Americans in the audience. Link originally from a late 2016 post.

Content Warning: Incredibly ugly upcoming U.S. Politics. Stephen Miller and Donald Trump's public promise for a "bloody story" - plans for sweeping raids and mass deportations of 10 to 20 million people living in America are expected to start when Trump assumes office and begins on day one.

People living all across the United States, from farm camps in the backwaters of Florida to the ethnically diverse neighborhoods of major cities will likely be greviously impacted. Currently it is expected that the combined utilization of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), National Guard, local police, trained and armed civilians and possibly even the US Military will take part in the raids to capture legal and illegal immigrants. Sympathetic police departments will have their funding slashed if they don't participate in the raids. Surprisingly, some research suggests a majority of Americans support mass deportations and concentration camps, which was reflected in the election results. Whether the popular support continues after it begins depends on the effectiveness of ICE and the Department of Homeland Security's indoctrination and propaganda programs that they have already been preparing for this moment, as well as the mass media's whitewashing of the proceedings as an "affordable housing program," among other things. So the question is, what can we realistically expect? ICE's "Citizens Academy" program offers up some clues...

The academy trains civilians to operate multiple firearms, use lethal force, perform surveillance on immigrants, and conduct raids while also acting as a public relations initiative to try and sway public opinion about ICE, Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and the HSI unit of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). "We ran Border Patrol Citizen Academies back when I was an agent as well," Jenn Budd, former Senior Border Patrol Agent, whistleblower, and author of Against the Wall told Unicorn Riot. "The entire goal is to indoctrinate locals into why it's okay for us to violate people's rights." The training materials that show where to strike people with batons to subdue them are but the tip of the iceberg in terms of violence. While the ICE presentation on using force contains the "Monadnock Baton Chart" (presumably named after baton manufacturer Monadnock) showing the degrees of damage inflicted on a suspect based on where they're struck with a baton, the majority of this part of Citizens Academy training covers when to use deadly force.

What could happen to the people swept up? The program is generally portrayed as mass deportations, but already it has become clear that many countries (even Mexico) are expected not to welcome the tidal wave of migrants. Instead, the prison-industrial complex which is being flooded with investment money is gearing up to build large scale prisons and camps to house them. Many of these migrants can be expected to be kept there for years on end, with the Supreme Court supporting indefinite detetion of immigrants, an affirmation of long standing U.S. policy. Slavery in America is still legal in the prison system (even California voter's just reaffirmed) and many companies could stand to make a lot of money off of the cheap workforce. The prior Trump administration focused on breaking families up, but this time they promise to include everyone in the family, no matter the immigration status, even denaturalization of American citizens. How will it be payed for? The operation is projected to cost upwards of $300 billion or much more and this has frequently been cited as a major reason that the invisioned plans will falter. If Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency's (DOGE) plans for freeing up $2 trillion of the yearly federal budget succeeds, there appears to be plenty of money to reallocate. Even without these slush funds, Trump has already declared that the operation has "no price tag." Some recent and historical parallels In China, many Uyghurs have been put into forced labor prison camps for decades now, and the Xinjiang region has long been at the technological vanguard of state of the art large scale surveillance and population control research and development. American and Western tech companies can take what they have learned in Xinjiang and finally bring it home for wide spread use domestically. During the Holocaust, many "good Germans" helped to report their neighbors, and already Americans are arguing whether it is ethical to call in ICE on theirs. America has a long history of anti-immigrant campaigns and attacking ethnic communities, including Operation Wetback in 1953-54, the Japanese Internment Camps during WWII and tracing back to events like the Trail of Tears and traditional American slavery, to name a few. Hoping for the best While the years of preparation for Project 2025, combined with the GOP's complete control of all of the branches of the federal government suggests things are going to be harder to stop. It is good to remember that for all intents and purposes this will be an unimaginable kakistocracy and the revolving door of grifters is likely to spin even faster than it did during the first Trump administration. Major logistical questions remain - how fast can they actually scale up, for example, or deal with the massively inflated costs, bribes and outright theft chipping away at the budget. The chaos caused by replacing 50,000 federal employees with largely incompetent hacks while gutting government agencies left and right alone will likely slow down any plans significantly due to the complex and tightly coupled systems that make up the US government. Fortunately the ACLU and many other organizations and Democratic state governments vow to legally fight back against the upcoming operations. And lastly, it is likely that there will be large scale public action. Whether it is in the form of protests, strikes or imaginative work arounds for whatever crackdowns that are coming, there many Americans who will push back.

Oblique Strategies [Max for Live] (subtitled Over One Hundred Worthwhile Dilemmas) is...

---

---

A couple of weeks ago, my old colleague (lets call her M) passed away tragically, and turns out all signs point to spousal abuse and eventual tragedy. We weren't super close, but I was her first manager, and over the years, we ended up working together a lot, with her even managing me at times. She was a pretty big deal in our company eventually. I know that some of my other current and ex colleagues knew her. They may not know about the situation, I am conflicted about letting people know and also pushing for our company to address it. Some details inside

My company was pretty small, 200 people, which was as close as you could get to a company with people distributed across the country. We got bought by a huge company and M left a year or two into the acquisition. My company is still a formal entity in the new large company. Many but not all of these people live in the same area that M resided. Circumstances of the situation, which are rich attractive white people means that this is already BIG NEWS (like local tv, and local paper) in the city but outside city have not likely reached.

I'm not sure why exactly I have the urge or the urge not to pass on the information. My non-urge is if you didn't interact with this person on a daily basis after you left, your life would be same if you didn't hear it. On the other hand, if you do find out and nobody told you would feel out of the loop and a weird sensation fo not knowing. Also there's something about me maybe processing this grief. But rather not put it on others. It feels like gossip almost too?

Categories of colleagues:

- Set of ex colleagues i talk to almost daily on slack: where I found the information, we are processing it daily
- ex/current Colleague/friends who I talk to monthly (On text/chat): im thinking about texting and telling them about if they've heard
-Current colleagues i dont talk to but are all part of the same organization: I'd like to ask leadership to make a statement, or something acknowledging it. This situation is traumitizing to me and i cannot fathom how it would make the women in my organization or those who work with them closely feel

I looked for a previous post for this, but the one closest to my ask is ten years old. I'm looking for websites with good writing on current events – not even mostly political, but also pop culture, accessible science-y content, and other stuff I might not even know I'll like...

I've realized that my online perusing world has gotten very small, and after this past week I've had to stop looking at some to save my sanity (farewell Reddit main page randomness). I like Boing Boing and Laughing Squid, for reference. That old ask recommended these, all of which I've read here or there, but never had as regular online visits:

The New Republic
The Atlantic
The New Yorker
Vox
Raw Story

Thoughts on their current quality? What other sites do you head to after you catch up on MeFi?

George Cables
Born: 1944

When George Cables was going to school in New York City he used to walk the streets at night, taking in the cosmopolitan sights and sounds, mentally recording his encounters with “so many different kinds of people.” In his musical career as well, Cables has prowled sidestreets and main thoroughfares in relative anonymity, absorbing countless influences into his personal style. Born in New York City on November 14, 1944, Cables was classically trained as a youth and when he started at the “Fame”... Continue

By Aaron Stillman, Head of Product Marketing at Tresorit.

Research shows that 81 per cent of UK businesses handle digitised personal data, digitised non-personal data, or both, making secure and efficient data management crucial, particularly when critical transactions and confidential processes are at play. This is where virtual data rooms (VDRs) become invaluable.

RT @marshallk: Just signed up to get beta access to the @bluesky decentralized social network

Framer Motion is now independent. Introducing Motion, a new animation library for React and all JavaScript environments. Here's what it means for you.

yay!

Starter pack by @eryk.bsky.social An expanded edition of the Critical AI Starter Pack, for people engaging in thoughtful criticism of AI, and/or technology, technopolitics or the tech industry more generally. The original is here: go.bsky.app/UPULf1S

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) will be the third-ranking Senate Republican, winning election to Conference Chair Wednesday.

The post Tom Cotton Elected Senate Republican Conference Chair appeared first on Breitbart.

Outgoing Secretary of State Antony Blinken began a farewell visit to the headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in Brussels, Belgium, on Wednesday in which he repeatedly insisted that President Joe Biden would "push every dollar out the door that we have at our disposal" to Ukraine.

The post Blinken Assures NATO Biden Will Funnel Billions to Ukraine Prior to Trump Return appeared first on Breitbart.

President-elect Donald Trump met with House Republicans on Capitol Hill Wednesday morning to start a busy day in D.C.

The post Donald Trump Meets with House Republicans on Capitol Hill as President-Elect: ‘Isn’t It Nice to Win?’ appeared first on Breitbart.

The House Republican Conference on Wednesday nominated Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) to continue serving as the leader of the House.

The post House Republicans Nominate Mike Johnson for Speaker appeared first on Breitbart.

Sen. John Thune will replace Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) as Republican Senate Majority Leader after a close contest Wednesday that took two ballots to resolve.

The post John Thune Elected Senate Republican Leader in Tight Race appeared first on Breitbart.

Donald Trump's deputies say they will dramatically expand the detention space needed for the bureaucratic process of flying illegal migrants back to their foreign homes, according to NBC News.

The post Donald Trump’s Deputies Want More Detention to Block, Repatriate Migrants appeared first on Breitbart.

On Wednesday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “The ReidOut,” Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) vowed to “do everything that I can to protect our undocumented immigrants.” But also stated that the state “had the problem of the very inhumane shipping of migrants”

The post Pritzker: I’ll Protect Illegal Immigrants, It Was a ‘Problem’ When Texas Sent Us Migrants appeared first on Breitbart.

Lunchables are being removed from school lunch menus across the U.S. after just a year of them being included in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) after they tested positive for lead and other harmful materials.

The post Lunchables Pulled from School Menus After Testing Positive for Lead appeared first on Breitbart.

Senate Majority Leader-elect John Thune (R-SD) said Senate Republicans "are excited" to enact President-elect Donald Trump's agenda.

The post Senate Majority Leader-Elect Thune: Senate Republicans ‘Excited’ to Put Trump’s Agenda into Action appeared first on Breitbart.

Historian and political scientist Allan Lichtman said Tuesday on NewsNation's "Cuomo" that conservative media disinformation and billionaire Elon Musk were why his election prediction that Vice President Harris would win the presidency was incorrect.

The post Lichtman Blames Bad Election Prediction on Conservative Media ‘Disinformation’ and Elon Musk appeared first on Breitbart.

Pennsylvania's Senate race moved to a recount as Senator-elect Dave McCormick (R) continues to hold a lead over incumbent Sen. Bob Casey (D).

The post Pennsylvania Senate Race Moves to Recount as Republican Dave McCormick Holds Lead over Bob Casey appeared first on Breitbart.

Colorado's winter huts blend adventure, luxury, and scenic beauty.

The NBA Cup is here, and people are wearing captain hats in Golden State! How about those courts? Terrible or just plain awful?

The U.S. 50 bridge over Blue Mesa Reservoir closed in April after state and federal transportation officials discovered cracks in the steel supports. 

Federal prosecutors say all three supporters worked together to spray-paint a racist slur aimed at Black people on a campaign sign for Mobolade on April 23, 2023, during the city's mayoral runoff election campaign

The BLM Public Lands Rule recognizes that conservation is equal to other uses of our public lands.

The Oak Ridge Boys member Joe Bonsall's latest and final book 'I See Myself: Musings and Memories of a Blessed Life' is available

Country superstar Blake Shelton is set to release his new single, 'Texas,' on November 15

In the locker room, players came to Forsyth’s defense with similar intensity.

Vanessa James will return to the ice to compete in the Battle Of The Blades, as Canadian broadcaster CBC announced that the new season will launch on October 22nd, with eight new pairs — including James and her partner Akim Aliu –ready to hit the ice in support of charities across Canada. The Battle Of […]

Vanessa James and her partner Akim Aliu finished fourth in the ‘Battle of the Blades’ event in Canada, earning $25,000 for The Time To Dream Foundation, which aims to make youth sports, including the game of hockey, more diverse, inclusive, affordable and accessible to all. A statement from CBC said, “In the nail-biting Season 6 […]

Bermudian/French figure skater Vanessa James and her partner Akim Aliu joined Season Six of the Battle of the Blades, an event in Canada hosted by CBC. The duo finished fourth earning $25,000 for The Time To Dream Foundation, which aims to make youth sports, including the game of hockey, more diverse, inclusive, affordable, and accessible […]

[Written by Stephen Wright] Bermudian-born ice hockey player Willy James has made the most of his opportunities since signing for the Saskatoon Blades in the Western Hockey League [WHL] – the top major junior league in Canada. Rookie James, who signed a WHL Scholarship and Development agreement in March last year, spent the first eight […]

[Written by Stephen Wright] Bermudian ice hockey player Blake Montgomery has reflected on the moment he got drafted by National Hockey League [NHL] team the Ottawa Senators. Rather than attend the draft at the Sphere in Las Vegas in June, Montgomery, 19, visited Bermuda to watch the live televised event at the Boundary Sports Bar […]