Half Siamese, half alley cat, Bootsie (AKA Boots, AKA The Grey Beast, AKA Murder Kitty, AKA Mr. Meowgi) is a grumpy old man. 17, 18, or 19 years old depending on who you ask. I’m by nature more of a dog person so Bootsie and I have never really been on the best of terms, but lately he’s realized that I can be a bit of a softy on occasion and will massage his arthritic shoulders from time to time. His brother Frankie (AKA Frankenstein, AKA Piglet), by far the mellower of the two, passed on to The Land of Eternal Catnip a few years ago.
Cryptocurrency, Investing, Money, Economy, Business, AI, and Debt:
Google plans to back $5B data center for Anthropic
FTC warns PayPal, Visa, Mastercard and Stripe against debanking after Trump’s executive order
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Flash Fiction:
Fugbum, Nebraska is named after pioneer settler Gustav Fugbum, famous for coining the saying “You can’t get there from here.” Most men would have let the fame go to their heads and tried to parlay it into a lucrative career of ghostwritten travelogues about the Hottentots of remote Tibet or hunters tracking elusive Wolpertingers through the beautiful forests of his native Bavaria, but Gustav was a famously humble man who instead led a quiet life, content among his corn, his cows, and his thirteen children that he and his beloved Hildegard raised.
Generations of Fugbum’s proud residents have however profited from his genius to light the way to their fortunes. The All Roads Lead to Fugbum Cafe is known for the best strawberry rhubarb pie in the tristate area and the Fugbum Chamber of Commerce has organized Gustav Fugbum Days every August since 1947, drawing tens of thousands of visitors from across the globe.
Written for this prompt.
Coronavirus and Public Health:
Kids’ cognitive skills declined during COVID-19 pandemic, studies show
A growing body of research suggests that the COVID-19 pandemic delayed the development of key cognitive skills that help children make plans, control their impulses, and adapt to new situations.
Iran:
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Qatar's Real Problem Isn't the War. It's the Machines.
Everyone is talking about force majeure. Everyone is talking about 13 million tonnes of LNG offline. Everyone is talking about what it means for gas prices and European energy security and Trump's $750 billion deal.
Nobody is talking about the machines.
I'm going to show you why the physical hardware inside Ras Laffan Industrial City is the real reason Qatar's recovery will take half a decade. Why the global supply chain for the most critical components cannot produce replacements at the speed or scale required. And why five workshops in Germany, Italy, Japan, and Wisconsin hold the timeline for the entire global energy market in their hands.
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Trump Is ‘Getting a Little Bored’ with the Iran War
Nearly one month after the U.S. began strikes on Iran, President Donald Trump is sending thousands of troops to the Middle East to potentially fight in a war he said he has ‘already won.’
That contradiction has frustrated some senior White House aides and outside allies… They described it as confusing, internally inconsistent and increasingly detached from battlefield reality.
Trump calling the war already won is ‘mostly hyperbole,’ said a senior White House official granted anonymity to speak candidly about the administration’s thinking. ‘It’s part of Trump just wanting to declare victory and move on.’
Said the official: “Trump is getting a little bored with Iran. Not that he regrets it or something — he’s just bored and wants to move on.”
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Trump’s Words Don’t Predict War. His Deployments Do
Command integration under United States Central Command has tightened. Now, airborne infantry—forces designed for rapid insertion and early-stage ground operations—are being added to that structure.
This is not a signaling exercise. It is a structural shift in military posture.
Air campaigns can escalate quickly. Sustained presence cannot. It requires fuel, maintenance, logistics, and time. It creates commitment even before a formal decision is made. Each additional deployment narrows the gap between capability and action.
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The U.S. and Israel are pounding Iran’s missile-launching sites, hitting some over and over across almost a month of war. But Tehran’s missiles keep flying.
Iran has shifted to firing from deeper inside its territory with longer-range missiles…
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Politics:
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‘No Kings’ protests surge nationwide as Trump policies draw pushback
———— Stark. Raving. Mad. ————
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Trump Suggests Renaming Strait of Hormuz After Himself
President Trump is prioritizing taking control of the Strait of Hormuz as he grows frustrated by the lack of military help from allies to force open the economically crucial waterway.
…he’s considering rechristening it the ‘Strait of America’ or even after himself.
———— Autocracy R Us ————
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———— Blatant In-Your-Face Corruption ————
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———— Putin&Krasnov vs. Ukraine ————
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———— Hegseth on the Rocks ————
Hegseth Strikes Black, Female Officers From Promotions
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is blocking the promotion of four Army officers to be one-star generals, a highly unusual move that has prompted some senior military officials to question whether the officers are being singled out because of their race or gender.
Two of the officers targeted by Mr. Hegseth are Black and two are women on a promotion list that consists of about three dozen officers, most of whom are white men.
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———— Mors Imperii ————
Serendipity:
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