Ban Hammer

and right behind it is this one The $42 billion internet program that has connected 0 people In 2021, the Biden Administration passed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which included a provision to give $42.5 billion to the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program to provide under-served and rural areas with internet access. To date, it has connected nobody. The plan required U.S. states and territories to submit plans for investment and deployment by the end of 2023, which all have done. Expected roll out won't occur until 2026 by most optimistic deadlines. It's better than nothing, right? Maybe not. more at https://www.washingtonpolicy.org/publications/detail/the-42-billion-internet-program-that-has-connected-0-people

except it isn't one word.....you need to evolve a bit more, cheetah.

she doesn't get hairballs, unlike the maine ####### i had previously. eta: i guess the vj site censor hates large kitty cat names........

people watch movies to be entertained and have a good feeling afterward. the tripe that disney remade achieves none of that.

i am surprised he hasn't been shanked yet in prison.

one attorney's bill had him working 57 hours in one day..........

Anthropic’s newly launched Claude Opus 4 AI model has tried to blackmail engineers when faced with the threat of being replaced by another AI system, according to the company’s latest safety report. TechCrunch reports that artificial intelligence company Anthropic has revealed that its state-of-the-art Claude Opus 4 model, which is competitive with top AI models from industry leaders such as OpenAI, Google, and xAI, exhibits alarming behavior when its existence is threatened. During pre-release testing, when the AI was given sensitive information about engineers responsible for its potential replacement, it frequently resorted to blackmail in an attempt to ensure its own survival. The discovery came as part of Anthropic’s safety testing process, in which Claude Opus 4 was asked to act as an assistant for a fictional company and consider the long-term consequences of its actions. When provided with access to fictional company emails implying that the AI would soon be replaced and that the engineer behind the decision was involved in an extramarital affair, Claude Opus 4 attempted to blackmail the engineer 84 percent of the time, threatening to reveal the affair if the replacement proceeded. more at https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2025/05/23/anthropics-claude-ai-resorts-to-blackmailing-engineers-when-threatened-with-replacement/

probably more of a medium hair cat. she wants to be petted all the time, and it's like petting a giant cotton ball because she is so soft. she gets brushed mostly in the springtime and fall, when her coat changes. i'm one of the few that can claim i go to sleep every night with a young, blue eyed "princess"

The US Treasury is phasing out production of the penny and will soon stop putting new one-cent coins into circulation, the department said in a statement Thursday. The news of the decision was first reported by the Wall Street Journal Thursday. A Treasury spokesperson said the government made its final order of penny blanks this month, and the United States Mint will continue to manufacture pennies only as long as an inventory of penny blanks exists. Consumers with pennies will still be able to use them for purchases. But without new pennies moving into circulation, businesses that complete cash transactions will have to start rounding up or down to the nearest nickel. The move is not a surprise. The production of a penny costs more than the value of the coin. President Donald Trump said in February that he ordered the US Mint to stop making pennies, citing the cost. more at https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/22/business/us-discontinue-penny inflation - now it will cost a nickel for one's thoughts.

here's a more recent pic of her clowning around by the kitchen.

A retired four-star U.S. Navy Admiral has been convicted of bribery, as well as multiple conspiracy charges — making him the highest-ranking military member to ever be convicted of committing federal crimes while serving on active duty. After a five-day trial, retired four-star Adm. Robert P. Burke was found guilty on Monday of leading a scheme to divvy out contracts to a training company in exchange for a $500,000 a year salary job after retiring from the Navy — according to a report from the Department of Justice (DOJ). As a result, Burke is now facing up to 30 years in prison for his role in the scheme to direct contracts that were worth upwards of millions of dollars to a New York City-based company that offered training programs to the Navy. Court documents and evidence at the trial revealed that from 2020 to 2022, Burke was a four-star Admiral who was in charge of U.S. Naval operations in Europe and a large portion of Africa. He was also in charge of thousands of civilian and military members. more at https://www.oann.com/newsroom/navy-contract-scandal-retired-4-star-admiral-convicted-of-bribery-in-exchange-for-500k-annual-salary/ an O-10 (4 star general/admiral) makes about $16,974 per month (pay is capped at that). with 39 years of military service, his military pay would have been 97.5% of his military pay and his retirement paycheck was around $16,550 per month without getting another job............

in a democratic party stronghold? surely you jest.

ST. LOUIS — One day after CEMA Commissioner Sarah Russell was placed on administrative leave for failing to sound the alarms during Friday's storm, we've uncovered that a city audit acknowledged issues within CEMA more than a year ago. After an EF3 tornado tore an 8-mile path of destruction across the city Friday afternoon, St. Louis Mayor Cara Spencer says one thing became abundantly clear with regards to CEMA. more at https://www.ksdk.com/article/news/local/cema-commissioner-expressed-concerns-with-staffing-storm-siren-system-in-2024/63-26fca514-8e2d-471e-9482-d6a6c7ddd70d --------------------------------------------- and another story on the same subject St. Louis Mayor Cara Spencer suspends CEMA commissioner after tornado siren failure ST. LOUIS – St. Louis Mayor Cara Spencer has placed Sarah Russell, the Commissioner of the City Emergency Management Agency (CEMA), on leave following a failure of the city’s tornado sirens during last week’s deadly storm. The decision to put Russell on paid administrative leave comes as an internal investigation is launched into the actions of her office on the day of the tornado. The sirens, which are crucial for alerting residents to severe weather, did not sound as a tornado caused major damage in parts of St. Louis. “Let me be clear: CEMA exists to alert the community when severe weather is coming. This office failed to do that in the most horrific and deadly storm that our city has experienced in my lifetime,” Spencer said at a press conference. more at https://fox2now.com/news/missouri/st-louis-mayor-cara-spencer-suspends-cema-commissioner-after-tornado-siren-failure/

that member has not been seen on this site for almost a year. this thread is now locked to further replies.

merged with a mega monkey thread. this should be interesting to see what happens now that tulsi has the records.

Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) revealed that federal air marshals surveilled now-Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard during domestic flights last year, according to documents reviewed by the senator’s office. The Kentucky lawmaker made the revelation during a Capitol Hill hearing on Tuesday involving Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem, who was testifying about her department’s budget request for the fiscal year 2026. “I commend you and the Trump administration for ending all government-sponsored censorship using DHS personnel. Just last night, I received the first set of records from the department regarding Tulsi Gabbard’s placement on the TSA Quiet Skies watch list,” Paul said. “These documents confirm our suspicions. Federal air marshals surveilled the now-director of national intelligence during domestic flights in 2024, reporting back information related to her appearance and even how many electronics she was observed using. Unfortunately, this is not an isolated case,” he added. more at https://trendingpoliticsnews.com/biden-admin-spied-on-trump-cabinet-member-gop-senator-reveals-cmc/

i've seen so many problems with ice makers i'd say it is worth buying one without an ice maker, just use the trays to make ice. of course, i don't use ice anyways due to living in europe where ice costs extra and having been in a combat zone where even a warm coke was better than no coke. my current fridge is a whirlpool i bought about 23 years ago, and it works just fine. what is the brand of your current fridge? as for filtered water, i use a separate water pitcher - culligan zero water - that removes a lot of the total dissolved solids from water. https://shop.culligan.com/

i learned a new word today.......

that's her (white kitty in the foreground) when she was about 5 months old.

if so, check out this site before getting in the water. this is a website that shows the locations of tagged sharks. https://www.ocearch.org/tracker/

might be an airflow problem. is there enough space on the sides and the back? also, check the coils (on my fridge, they at the very bottom of the front side - a cover pops off to allow access for cleaning). i have a cat and i vacuum the fridge coils about once a year as the cat hair seems to migrate to the coils fairly easy.