February 15, 2025 Politics, Republicans
Via press release from Sen. Lisa Murkowski: U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) today introduced legislation that would officially designate North America’s highest mountain as Denali, the name bestowed by Alaska’s Koyukon Athabascans. The bill would require that any reference in U.S. laws, maps, regulations, or other records refer to the mountain as Denali. “In Alaska, it’s Denali,” Senator Murkowski said. …
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February 15, 2025 Republicans, Trump cultists
The Washington Post reports: Missouri’s attorney general has sued Starbucks, accusing it of engaging in discrimination with its diversity, equity and inclusion policies and alleging that such initiatives have made the coffee giant’s workforce “more female and less white.” The federal lawsuit filed by Andrew Bailey, a Republican, accuses Starbucks of engaging in “systemic racial, sexual, and sexual orientation discrimination” …
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February 15, 2025 Trump Corruption, Trump Lies
The New York Times reports: President Trump has been busy upending the federal government, reorienting U.S. foreign policy, threatening trade wars and winning confirmation for his Cabinet choices. But he has managed to find time for a project closer to home: He has told associates that he wants to rip up the grass in the Rose Garden, one of the …
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February 15, 2025 Elon Musk, Trump cultists
The New York Post reports: A conservative influencer claimed she gave birth to a child fathered by Elon Musk in a shocking public declaration on social media. Author Ashley St. Clair, 31, alleged in an X post Friday night that she and Elon Musk share a 5-month-old child. “Five months ago, I welcomed a new baby into the world. Elon …
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February 15, 2025 Science, Trump Administration
NBC News reports: As avian flu drives egg prices to record levels and increasingly poses a risk to humans, moves by the White House to cut spending and restrict communications have hobbled public health officials’ response, with the new administration yet to outline a clear strategy on how it plans to stem the spread of the virus. State and local …
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February 15, 2025 Crackpots, Medicine
Mother Jones reports: Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has issued a statement that laid out sweeping plans for his first 100 days in office. Chief among his goals, he wrote, was to combat what he called a “growing health crisis” of chronic disease. The government, he said, would “assess the prevalence of and threat posed by the prescription of selective serotonin reuptake …
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February 15, 2025 LGBT News, Trump Administration
The Military Times reports: Veterans Affairs officials this week unveiled new rules banning LGBTQ Pride flags and other unofficial banners at department offices and spaces, saying the move will bring “consistency” to agency messaging. VA Secretary Doug Collins said the new policy would limit the display of all flags except for the American flag at all VA facilities. Exceptions include …
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February 14, 2025 JMG Community, Open Thread
Deadline reports: Operation Mincemeat, the hit London musical comedy that begins previews at Broadway‘s John Golden Theatre tomorrow, will have to start performances without the usual marquee lights shining: The LED bulbs are stuck in China, a casualty of the Trump tariff. According to the musical’s spokesperson Rick Miramontez, thousands of ceramic yellow LED bulbs were scheduled to arrive from …
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February 14, 2025 Business, Technology
The Washington Post reports: Amazon plans to unveil a revamped version of its Alexa virtual assistant in New York later this month — the second launch event after a series of delays since the artificial-intelligence-powered upgrade was first announced in September 2023. Amazon staff learned of the new delay, which is due in part to the new version of the …
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February 14, 2025 Republicans, Trump Lies
The Texas Tribune reports: The Texas Supreme Court on Friday dismissed the State Bar of Texas’ lawsuit against Attorney General Ken Paxton for his attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, extending a cascade of legal and political wins for the once-embattled Republican leader. The state bar had sought to sanction Paxton, which could have carried a …
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