link to these and more short takes from the longer vid below
Tense meeting between Trump and South African President Ramaphosa, “Genocide” accusations
Supreme Court orders Maine House to restore vote of GOP lawmaker who ID-ed trans teen athlete online
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered the Maine legislature to count the votes of a GOP lawmaker who was censured after she identified a transgender teen athlete in a viral social-media post.
The court majority sided with Rep. Laurel Libby, who filed an emergency appeal to restore her ability to vote while her lawsuit over the punishment plays out. There were two noted dissents, Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson.
The majority did not explain its reasoning, as is typical on the court’s emergency docket.
This made me laugh
It wasn’t Joe, ‘It was the people that knew he was cognitively impaired and took over the Autopen. TREASON at the Highest Level! They did it to destroy our Country’ — Trump
Joe Biden was not for Open Borders, he never talked about Open Borders, where criminals of all kinds, shapes, and sizes, can flow into our Country at will. It wasn’t his idea to Open the Border, and almost destroy our Country, and cost us Hundreds of Billions of Dollars to get criminals out of our Country, and go through the process we are going through now. It was the people that knew he was cognitively impaired, and that took over the Autopen. They stole the Presidency of the United States, and put us in Great Danger. This is TREASON at the Highest Level! They did it to destroy our Country. The Joe Biden that everybody knew would never allow drug dealers, gang members, and the mentally insane to come into our Country totally unchecked and unvetted. All anyone has to do is look up his record. Something very severe should happen to these Treasonous Thugs that wanted to destroy our Country, but couldn’t, because I came along. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!
It was treason and the people who managed, led, paid for, abetted, and planned the invasion should be named and prosecuted. There is nothing petty or personal or partisan about holding them accountable for their acts of war against USA and USA citizens. Harris, Mayorkas, and Garland should be at or near the top of that list because not only did they do the deed, they also repeatedly lied about it, loudly claiming in public ‘there is nothing we can do. Congress must act’. Most of SCOTUS is not far behind as an injudicious majority of discourteous anti-intellectual bench-warmers have repeatedly ruled in favor of the invasion and in disfavor of ousting the invaders. The disproportionality of their rulings is a blatant insult to reason itself, let alone the grand tradition of American law. ABN
Biden pardons to be examined
How smiling is understood in Russia
Russians do not smile at strangers
Russia is a collective culture, consisting of ’in-groups’. Russians do smile at people they know. Shop assistants smile at the clients they already know, not necessarily at others.
If you smile at a stranger in Russia, he/she can smile back, but it can already mean an invitation to come and talk. Russians take smiling as a sign that the person cares about them. To smile at a stranger can raise the question:” Do we know each other?”
You see two behaviours in one person in Russia: formal – unsmiling is for ’them’ (strangers); friendly – smiling for ’us’ (friends, people he/she knows). Some Russians skip to friendlier behaviour after a shorter time. You can consider yourself accepted when people you have met begin smiling at you.
Real feeling – not fake
Smiling in Russia usually shows the real good mood and good relationship between people, as it is not used as a form of politeness. When a Russian smiles at you, he/she really cares about you or is genuinely in a good mood.
How to smile
Russians prefer not to show their teeth too much when smiling. Showing your upper and lower teeth when smiling, looks a bit vulgar, a horse grin to Russians.
Smiling without a reason
Others must understand the reason of smiling in Russia. If they don’t, it is considered strange. They start wondering what is behind the smile. Perhaps they interpret that the person who ”keeps smiling” is a bit simple or stupid. All Russians know the saying: “The laugh without reason – is the sign of stupidity” (“Smeh bez prichiny – priznak durachiny”)
Pretty sure if was in Kumarajiva’s Commentary on the Great Perfection of Wisdom that I read a passage about how a man should not show his teeth when smiling; a smile should be demure or none at all. Smiles can be understood very differently in different places. ABN
Rise, sunshine! Latvian pagan song
The Baltic languages Latvian and Lithuanian have preserved to this day the world’s oldest versions of spoken Indo-Aryan. They are remarkably similar to ancient Sanskrit. This song shows the continuity of culture, language, and spirituality from ancient times to today, still remembered and felt in this part of Europe. ABN
‘Our future depends on us standing up for ourselves’ — Shiloh Hendrix in her own words
The U.S. Just Ran a Solar Storm Emergency Drill. The Real Deal Would Be a Catastrophe
A group of participants from several U.S. agencies took part in a first-of-its-kind exercise that tested their preparedness for a severe solar storm, revealing major cracks in scientists’ ability to forecast space weather—which could put crucial systems at risk.
The Space Weather Operations, Research, and Mitigation (SWORM) task force, an inter-agency group that includes the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), organized a space weather exercise aimed at better understanding the U.S. government’s preparedness for an impending solar storm. The results were recently published in a report, which highlighted significant limitations in space weather forecasting.
The exercise was held from May 8 to 9, 2024, at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, and at a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) site in Denver, Colorado. The space weather scenario was organized into four modules involving a series of solar events that resulted in adverse effects on our systems on Earth and in space. The effects included radio communication blackout, loss of GPS functionality, power outages, intense radiation exposure for astronauts and satellites, and an inability to track and communicate with orbiting satellites.
‘We will abandon you if war continues’ — Trump tells Israel; report
US President Donald Trump has been increasing pressure on Israel over recent days, an anonymous source told The Washington Post on Monday.
“Trump has been letting Israel know ‘we will abandon you if you do not end this war,'” the source added, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press.
The increase in pressure from Trump came after Israel called up tens of thousands of reservists and ramped up Gaza bombings, the Washington Post added.
Scott Adams has prostate cancer; expects to be ‘checking out sometime this summer’
‘Just completed my two hour call with President Vladimir Putin of Russia. I believe it went very well’ — Trump
Just completed my two hour call with President Vladimir Putin of Russia. I believe it went very well. Russia and Ukraine will immediately start negotiations toward a Ceasefire and, more importantly, an END to the War. The conditions for that will be negotiated between the two parties, as it can only be, because they know details of a negotiation that nobody else would be aware of. The tone and spirit of the conversation were excellent. If it wasn’t, I would say so now, rather than later. Russia wants to do largescale TRADE with the United States when this catastrophic “bloodbath” is over, and I agree. There is a tremendous opportunity for Russia to create massive amounts of jobs and wealth. Its potential is UNLIMITED. Likewise, Ukraine can be a great beneficiary on Trade, in the process of rebuilding its Country. Negotiations between Russia and Ukraine will begin immediately. I have so informed President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, of Ukraine, Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, President Emmanuel Macron, of France, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, of Italy, Chancellor Friedrich Merz, of Germany, and President Alexander Stubb, of Finland, during a call with me, immediately after the call with President Putin. The Vatican, as represented by the Pope, has stated that it would be very interested in hosting the negotiations. Let the process begin!
We are under attack by a group attacking us from within our countries
Nick Bostrom on superintelligence likely coming soon
This will be the greatest technological advance in human history. I hope we use it to provide wealth and leisure for everyone, while also improving our gene pools. Leisure time well used helps humans become even more wonderful. Is it not probable our global elite will become bored with greed? Once machines can outdo us in (almost) everything, we will enjoy other humans in new ways. I am confident FIML will become very attractive and widely used because it will be central to the few things that only we humans are able to do. ABN
American Buddhist Net 