Fun Food Facts: Part 1

Food 6 Minutes

Reader’s Digest had an interesting article on surprising, fun, food facts:

1 Bananas are technically berries

It’s hard to miss the huge yellow heap of bananas in the produce section at a typical grocery store. Grocers are definitely giving the people what they want because, according to the USDA, bananas top the list of the most popular fresh fruit in America. While that may not be a surprising food fact, what may be is that bananas are classified as berries because they come from a single seed. With consumption at 13.4 pounds per person in America, bananas clearly have plenty of a-peel.

2 Watermelons are popular hostess gifts in China

A slice of cold, sweet watermelon is one of summer’s greatest pleasures—all the water in the melon’s pretty pink flesh is a sweet and juicy way to stay hydrated. Turns out, Americans aren’t the only ones who appreciate a watermelon. More than 1,200 varieties are grown in 96 countries around the world (ever heard of a yellow watermelon?), and, in terms of production, the United States currently ranks seventh, while China is in first place. Maybe that has something to do with why watermelons are popular hostess gifts in China.

3 McDonald’s isn’t the oldest fast-food chain

For decades, Americans have turned to fast food when they’re hungry and on the go. While some people think McDonald’s ignited the category in the 1950s, the first fast-food burger chain was actually White Castle, which was founded in Kansas in 1921.

4 Around 66 percent of Americans like their toast lightly toasted

There’s a strong preference for lightly toasted toast on breakfast plates. According to a 2019 survey from YouGov, 58 percent of respondents are in the “somewhat lightly toasted” camp, with another 8 percent preferring their bread very lightly toasted. On the other hand, 32 percent prefer somewhat to very darkly toasted toast, and 1 percent like their toast burnt. No judgments here.

5 Only a fifth of Americans take their morning coffee black

Just 20 percent of Americans like their coffee black, and another fifth (19 percent) don’t drink coffee at all. The remaining 60 percent of coffee drinkers like their cuppa somewhere along the tan spectrum. “With milk, very light tan” covers 39 percent of respondents, “with light milk, brown” is the preference for another 10 percent, and “with a lot of milk, almost white” rounds things out with 11 percent. This particular survey only asked about milk—sugar is another matter, and iced coffee was not a choice.

6 One of the sweetest American traditions started with copious quantities of homemade sugar cookies

The selling of Girl Scout cookies began as early as 1917, around five years after Juliette Gordon Low founded the Girl Scouts of America in the United States. Through the 1920s, Girl Scouts baked sugar cookies, packed them in waxed paper bags, then sold them door to door for 25 cents to 35 cents per dozen to raise cash for troop activities. The tradition continues to this day—only now there are nine cookie varieties and a box costs $5 to $6.

7 Florida isn’t the biggest seller of ice cream in the United States

It’s logical to assume that the most successful ice cream market in the country is where it’s hot all the time, but according to ice cream makers and retailers, that distinction goes to the Great Lakes region (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin). In 2020, U.S. ice cream makers churned out just over 1 billion gallons of ice cream—the majority of which was made from March through July.

8 Oranges get all the glory for packing a vitamin C punch, but this green veggie has even more

A cup-size serving of broccoli delivers 81 milligrams of vitamin C, 18 grams more than you’d get from a whole orange. The same amount of broccoli provides 3 grams of protein, 2.5 grams of fiber, and 31 calories. The green veggie is native to Asia and the Mediterranean, and it was introduced to the United States centuries ago—most likely during the colonial era.

9 Boston may—or may not—be the birthplace of this famous pie

Was Boston cream pie really invented in Beantown? Folks fascinated with food facts have debated the answer to this question for decades, and the answer is a resounding…maybe? Boston’s Parker House Hotel often gets anecdotal credit, but there doesn’t seem to be solid proof anywhere. There is also no explanation for why it was called a pie when it has no crust and is clearly a cake. Regardless, it’s delicious.

10 Pilgrims are responsible for apples in America

Several hundred years back, pilgrims planted the first U.S. apple trees in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Now, there are apple orchards in every state. The old adage about an apple a day keeping the doctor away aside, annual per capita consumption of apples in the United States has fluctuated between about 15 and 19 pounds in the years spanning 2000 to 2021. Apples contain about 5 grams of fiber, and they don’t contain any fat, sodium, or cholesterol. You can’t go wrong munching an apple!

11 Though Italy often gets all the credit, lasagna actually originated in Greece

Layers upon layers of noodles and cheese are the stuff of dreams, as well as a Sunday staple in many Italian homes. Centuries ago, lasagna was named for the fermented noodle laganon, which was popular in ancient Greece, where lasagna originated. Yes, Greece, not Italy. Lasagna made its way to Italy by way of Roman conquerors. Italians then brought the recipe to North America in the 1800s when they immigrated.

12 When runners want a performance enhancer, they should grab a handful of raisins

Store aisles are packed with sports chews that promise to enhance athletic performance, but there’s a simple, cost-effective, whole-food alternative. Raisins are a gift from Mother Nature to runners, thanks to their carbohydrate and glucose content, which are both sources of quick energy. According to a study in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, noshing on raisins and drinking water improved running performance as effectively as downing commercial chews.

13 Blue-green eggshells draw tons of ooohs and aaahs, but what’s inside is no different

Though rumors fly around that eggshell color indicates nutritional variances, that’s not true at all. Shell color is simply indicative of the breed of hen that laid the egg. Assorted white and brown shells are laid by dozens of different breeds of hens: Brown speckled shells are laid by Maran, Speckledy, and Wellsummer hens, while gorgeous blue-green eggs are laid by Araucana, Rumpless Araucana, and Cream Legbar hens.

14 Only about one in 1,000 eggs will have a “bonus” yolk inside

No matter what any given egg’s fate will be—fried, scrambled, hard-cooked, mixed into batter—it starts in the hen’s ovary with the formation of an ovum. Once the ovum reaches full size, it breaks free and moves down the oviduct, where the white and shell form around it. This start-to-finish process usually takes 24 to 26 hours. But if something goes amiss, occasionally two yolks move down the oviduct together and are both enclosed in a single shell. This doesn’t mean the egg is expired—it’s perfectly safe to eat.

15 Ice cream is one of the oldest desserts in the world

The origin of this most delightful dessert goes back to the 2nd century B.C., according to the pros at the International Dairy Foods Association. However, specific details are hazy. Numerous early rulers, including Alexander the Great and Nero Claudius Caesar, supposedly enjoyed snow flavored with honey or fruit juices. For the sweet treat we eat today, fast-forward 1,000 years, when the intrepid Marco Polo returned from the Middle East with a sherbet-type recipe that historians say morphed into ice cream sometime in the 16th century. Today, purveyors of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream say vanilla is the favorite flavor in the United States, as well as in Germany, Italy, and Brazil.

16 New York officially classifies hot dogs as sandwiches

The USDA agrees with New York state (specifically the department of taxation and finance) in its sandwich determination. But the president of the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council—a trade group that refers to itself as “the official voice of hot dogs and sausages”—likens calling a hot dog a sandwich to calling the Dalai Lama “just a guy.” The confusion around this food fact stems from a philosophical divide about the precise definition of the word sandwich.

SOURCE: READER’S DIGEST

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Published by pat frederick

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136 thoughts on “Fun Food Facts: Part 1”

      1. Morning. We did about 9 inches. Depends on who you ask.

        But it looks like i have to go clear the driveway….neighbor called and said he’d do it….yeah for everybody else not ours. They expect me to watch There house all the time and the one time I could have used help. 😡
        Moms like let’s move to a tiny island…I’m like good idea.
        Good deeds bite you in the behind it seems.
        Mom wants to help but I can’t risk it.

        People used to be trustworthy.

        Dog goes on the deck and I’m tossing out bird food all the time.

        Liked by 1 person

        1. stay safe! my sil is a farmer with a skid loader. when it’s gonna snow, he brings it home and does all the neighbor’s driveways for free. sometimes they’ll give him a bottle of wine but mostly he refuses it. neighbors do for neighbors he always says.
          the year that their power went out, they were the only house with a whole house generator. he took turns letting all the neighbors use it for the 3 days they were without power.

          Liked by 1 person

    1. Morning, Pat! Temp @ 15 here this morning, still no wind to speak of thankfully; but more snow arrived overnight and it’s still snowing lightly. A few more inches, maybe.

      Liked by 1 person

            1. “The Oxford dictionary defines slut as “a woman who has many casual sexual partners”

              The masculine version would be womanizer defined by the Oxford dictionary as “a man who engages in numerous casual sexual affairs with women.”

              Liked by 1 person

  17. TheseTruths

    TheseTruths(@thesetruths)

    Offline

    Wolf

    January 7, 2025 00:19

    Benny Johnson:

    Attorney Mike Davis tells Juan Merchan to GO TO HELL and LAWYER UP:

    “What he is doing is a very serious federal civil rights felony. He put an illegal gag order so President Trump can’t speak… Juan Merchan can go to Hell and Lawyer up, buddy.”

    🚨Attorney Mike Davis tells Juan Merchan to GO TO HELL and LAWYER UP:

    “What he is doing is a very serious federal civil rights felony. He put an illegal gag order so President Trump can’t speak… Juan Merchan can go to Hell and Lawyer up, buddy.” pic.twitter.com/vhwsRuyA4c

    — Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) January 6, 2025

    Liked by 1 person

  18. Smith’s appointment was ruled unconstitutional so writing and releasing a “report” now would seriously hurt the appeal cases of the co defendants.

    FTA
    Could Merrick Garland and his staff, plus other DOJ Officials TBD potentially face criminal investigation for improper access/disclosure of Rule 6(e) materials to Jack Smith after he was DQ’d from the Florida case, and the D.C. case was dismissed?

    Violations of Rule 6(e) are…
    — Shipwreckedcrew (@shipwreckedcrew) January 7, 2025

    Could Merrick Garland and his staff, plus other DOJ Officials TBD potentially face criminal investigation for improper access/disclosure of Rule 6(e) materials to Jack Smith after he was DQ’d from the Florida case, and the D.C. case was dismissed?

    Violations of Rule 6(e) are subject to a criminal penalty.

    If Jack Smith still has access to those materials for purposes of writing his “Report” to the AG, has he been provided unauthorized access in violation of the Rule????

    The defendants are urging the court to issue an injunction preventing Smith, Attorney General Merrick Garland, and the Department of Justice from finalizing or disseminating the report. They argue that its release would cause “irreparable harm” by violating due process and the rules governing criminal proceedings. A hearing on the matter has been requested to address these concerns fully.

    https://redstate.com/joesquire/2025/01/06/jack-smith-breaking-more-rules-trump-co-defendants-file-motion-to-block-special-counsel-report-n2184032

    Liked by 1 person

  19. “New Orleans Police Superintendent has Collected $2.97M from Taxpayers since 2016 — Superintendent Kirkpatrick has received criticism over response to fatal New Year’s attack.”

    OpenTheBooks, Jan 06, 2025

    “After a man drove a truck into a crowd of people in New Orleans on New Year’s Day, leaving 14 dead, reporters asked police superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick why the city had not installed anti-vehicle barriers as a safety precaution. Her response? The city had owned barriers since 2017, but Kirkpatrick “didn’t know” they existed. The barriers were installed around the crime scene on Jan. 2.

    Kirkpatrick worked for the FBI, Chicago, Oakland, and five other cities before coming to New Orleans. She apparently didn’t believe she was required to know about her department’s inventory of anti-vehicle barriers, but she has collected $2.97 million from taxpayers since 2017, including salary and legal settlements.

    New Orleans hired Kirkpatrick in September 2023 with a salary of $337,943, making her the second-highest paid person in the city. Only 10 other people in the city made more than $200,000. No one else in the police department earned more than $172,787. Mayor LaToya Cantrell made only $188,370.

    Kirkpatrick was previously the chief of police in Oakland, California, beginning in January 2017. Her starting salary was $250,003, but by 2019 her earnings had reached $334,090. The Oakland Police Commission voted unanimously to fire Kirkpatrick without cause in February 2020. She sued for wrongful termination, claiming she was fired for speaking out against alleged corruption in the Commission, an independent civilian group that oversees Oakland’s police.

    A federal jury agreed, and in 2022 ordered the City of Oakland to pay her $1.5 million in damages. The sum included a full year’s salary ($337,675) and legal costs ($250,000). Kirkpatrick had originally asked for $3 million, including “emotional damages.”

    Before her Oakland job, Kirkpatrick worked all across the country. She started with the Memphis Police Department before working in four different cities in Washington and as a leadership instructor with the FBI. She returned to Washington as chief deputy at the King County Sheriff’s Office, but left two years later to head up the Chicago Police Department’s Bureau of Professional Standards, where she earned $79,652 for five months’ work in 2016.

    OpenTheBooks’ data shows that Kirkpatrick earned $18,657 from Chicago in 2017, even though she left for Oakland in January.

    New Orleans had 193 homicides in 2023, or 53.8 per 100,000 people — the highest rate in the country, according to the Rochester Institute of Technology. Only St. Louis was close with a 53.7 homicide rate. Detroit, in third place, had 40.9 homicides per 100,000 people.

    Before the New Year’s Day attack, New Orleans announced that murders are down 35% and overall crime is down 26% in the past year since Kirkpatrick took over. Still, 2,408 violent crimes were reported in 2024, including 120 homicides. That’s a rate of 33.5 homicides per 100,000 people, which would have been fourth worst in the country in 2023. Many cities have not yet released 2024 data.”

    Liked by 1 person

  20. EXCERPT: “With only two weeks left in his presidency, President Joe Biden on Monday enacted a ban on oil and gas drilling for 670 million acres of America’s coastline. President-elect Donald Trump immediately vowed to overturn the measure. “It’s ridiculous. I’ll un-ban it immediately. I have the right to un-ban it immediately,” Trump said on Hugh Hewitt’s podcast Monday morning. 

    The oil and gas industry was quick to condemn Biden’s action. “As is typical of most regimes who are kicked out of office, now that they looted the Treasury, they intend to salt the earth on their way out the door. The same unelected and unaccountable apparatchiks which just shoveled billions of taxpayer dollars to their friends in the waning days of this administration also took action to cost the U.S. government billions in future royalties,” Tim Stewart, president of the U.S. Oil and Gas Association, told Just the News. 

    Unlike many of Biden’s anti-fossil fuel actions, the permanent ban on offshore drilling isn’t by way of an executive order, and this may make it more difficult for Trump to simply overturn Biden’s ban. 

    Political purposes

    Biden said in a statement Monday that the goal of the ban was to address what he called the “climate crisis.” The ban effectively applies to all of the country’s East and West coastlines, the eastern part of the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska’s Northern Bering Sea.

    “President Biden has determined that the environmental and economic risks and harms that would result from drilling in these areas outweigh their limited fossil fuel resource potential,” a White House announcement stated. 

    To enact the ban, Biden intends to use Section 12(a) of the 1953 Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA). The OCSLA law grants federal jurisdiction over coastal lands and authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to lease the lands for federal development. Section 12(a) states that the president “may, from time to time, withdraw from disposition any of the unleased lands of the outer Continental Shelf.” 

    In 2020, hoping to shore up more votes in his unsuccessful 2020 campaign, Trump used the law to block drilling off the coast of Florida, the eastern Gulf of Mexico, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia. Trump’s moratorium set a time limit of 10 years on his ban, whereas Biden’s ban has no end date.  

    David Blackmon, an energy analyst who publishes his work on his “Energy Absurdities” Substack, told Just the News that the text of Section 12 concerns national emergencies. “Biden cites none of that in his order, nor did Trump in his order. It was all done for political purposes,” Blackmon said. 

    Lawfare coming up…..”

    https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/energy/trump-vows-un-ban-bidens-ridiculous-ban-offshore-oil-drilling-which-may

    Liked by 1 person

  21. Leftist Groups Plan Inauguration Day ‘Insurrection’

    In a total failure to accept a clear electoral loss, leftists plan to gather in Washington, D.C., and other large cities across the nation on Jan. 20, Donald Trump’s Inauguration Day. They claim their aim is to “defeat Trump’s extreme right, billionaire agenda.”

    Good luck with that, losers. The FBI is still prosecuting people who attended the chaotic Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol.

    Based on that, shouldn’t these leftists be worried that they too will be thrown into jail for being present and disagreeable? Will the FBI and Department of Justice disseminate their photos, knock on their doors, interview their friends, drag them to court, and leave them to languish in prison?

    Probably not. Conservatives don’t throw the opposition in prison; it’s un-American and unconstitutional. — The Federalist

    Liked by 1 person

  23. Ah-ha! An answer as to why Deb Fischer’s hubby didn’t shake the Hoe’s hand: he was holding the Bible in one hand and a cane in the other!

    EXCERPT: “….Video from the moment showed Harris extending her hand out to shake Bruce Fischer’s and him not taking it, and also that he only briefly looked her in the eye as he said “thank you.”

    Soon after the clip began making the rounds, “news” outlets like Newsweek, The Grio, and HuffPost pounced and seized, with The Grio predictably suggesting racism and sexism were at play and Newsweek and HuffPost declaring, also without evidence, that Mr. Fischer “refused” to shake the twice-failed Democrat presidential candidate’s hand.

    It prompted negative reactions from leftists and NeverTrump sellouts. But what did the critics leave out? The fact that Bruce Fischer was holding a Bible with one hand, and a cane with the other. 

    In fact, if you look closely, it’s in the very video that is circulating courtesy of a guy with an incredibly ironic Twitter/X name considering the subject matter:…”

    “…I saw some folks suggest that Fischer could have shaken her hand after he gave the Bible back to the Senator. But the full video clip shows that Mr. Fischer looked a little unsteady on his feet and was watching the floor, perhaps to make sure he didn’t fall:…”

    “….Speaking from my role as a caregiver, I watched my dad constantly look down when he used his cane over the years and then later his walker, terrified he was going to fall. My mom has done the same. Dad did not like to be touched (hand on back, shoulder, handshake, etc), either, while using the cane and walker for the same reasons.

    Is it possible Mr. Fischer’s actions were deliberate?  Maybe. Some conservative Twitter/X accounts were praising him for the same reasons Cohen and others were criticizing him. But my money is on Mr. Fischer likely being far more concerned about losing his balance and falling than for being viewed as “low character” by low-character clout-seeking social media mobs for not shaking Harris’ hand. Just my .02.”

    https://redstate.com/sister-toldjah/2025/01/06/sen-deb-fischer-and-husband-bruce-with-kamala-harris-at-swearing-in-n2184028

    Liked by 1 person

  24. under the not so fast category…

    wtd

    January 7, 2025 8:23 am

    DO NOT BE FOOLED: Trudeau has not resigned!
    
    At first glance, it looks like Justin Trudeau resigned this morning as prime minister. But that’s not true — here’s why.
    
    At first glance, it looks like Justin Trudeau resigned this morning as prime minister. But if you listen carefully to what he said, he’ll resign only after the Liberal Party elects its new leader. And that could be many months in the future.
    
    To make sure no-one kicks him out, he’s convinced the Governor General to suspend all Parliamentary business. He effectively escapes any scrutiny or accountability, as MPs won’t be able to vote him out on a non-confidence vote.
    
    Trudeau going to hang on to power and all the perks of being prime minister as long as he can.
    
    Even when Parliament comes back on March 24th, he didn’t say he’d resign then. He’s still probably scheming with the NDP to get them to prop him up, as they always do.
    
    In other words, nothing has actually changed, other than Trudeau has managed to avoid taking responsibility, yet again. In his self-serving speech today, he didn’t take any responsibility. He blamed “internal battles” in his own party. He thinks he’s done nothing wrong — ever.
    
    Folks, expect a flurry of activity, moving forward.
    
    Trudeau will be appointing every crony, every pal, every donor to lucrative patronage positions.
    
    He’ll be signing massive sole-source contracts to friends. Passing insane executive orders.
    
    He’ll also likely raid the treasury like never before. And he’ll shred incriminating documents and delete emails like Hillary Clinton on speed.
    
    But there’s something else that’s dangerous: the Liberal Party’s shocking membership rules allow foreign citizens, and teenagers as young as 14, to vote to choose the new leader. That’s how the Chinese Communist Party infiltrated 11 different ridings in the last election.
    
    And I just saw a prominent Hamas supporter, Mohamed Fakih, ordering his troops to sign up to the Liberal Party en masse.
    
    It’s disgusting that foreign activists will be able to pick our prime minister before the rest of us are allowed to exercise our rights as citizens in an election.
    
    The entire country is being put second while Trudeau puts himself and his Liberal cronies first.
    
    So what can we do?
    
    One, put pressure on the Governor General and Trudeau’s lame duck government. The Governor General should never have allowed Trudeau to prorogue Parliament — she needs to realize we’re in a government crisis and the business of the country cannot take a back seat to the private interests of the Liberal Party.
    
    Notably, we’re going to deploy our Rebel News digital billboard truck to Ottawa to send a message to Trudeau — and to the spineless Governor General for obeying him.
    
    FULL REPORT by
    @EzraLevant

    DO NOT BE FOOLED: Trudeau has not resigned!

    At first glance, it looks like Justin Trudeau resigned this morning as prime minister. But that’s not true — here’s why.

    At first glance, it looks like Justin Trudeau resigned this morning as prime minister. But if you listen… pic.twitter.com/sSw2YfRJuy

    — Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) January 7, 2025

    Like

  25. EXCERPT: “….Janno Lieber is the CEO of New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). On Monday, during an interview with Bloomberg, he appeared to dismiss the concerns about an increase in violent crimes plaguing the subway by not only those who depend on it but also those who may use it more now to avoid the newly instituted “congestion tax” by not driving, and declared the problem all “in peoples’ heads.” 

    Lieber stated, “Some of these high-profile incidents, you know, terrible attacks have gotten in people’s heads and made the whole system feel unsafe.” He added, “The overall stats are positive.” Some of those “high profile” cases Lieber mentioned included the death of Debrina Kawam, who was set on fire by an illegal immigrant from Guatemala, who sat nearby and watched Kawam burn to death, a man being pushed into the path of an oncoming subway train on New Year’s Eve, who is expected to survive, and a 71-year-old woman on her way to church New Year’s Day, who was attacked by a group of teen girls.

    Lieber is technically right; according to NYPD statistics, overall crime was down in 2024 by around three percent compared to 2024. But he is leaving out the part that applies to public transportation. Those statistics are not as rosy. From 2019 to 2024, felony assaults on the subway and mass transit were up 65 percent, with 374 assaults reported in 2019, and 579 reported in 2024…..” 

    https://redstate.com/beckynoble/2025/01/06/new-york-mta-ceo-tries-gaslighting-subway-riders-tells-them-violent-crime-is-all-in-their-heads-n2184024

    Liked by 1 person

  30. Just The News: “Meta is planning to replace its fact-checking program with a system like X’s community notes. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on Tuesday that the 2024 election influenced the decision, which would impact Facebook, Instagram and Threads. He described the election as a “cultural tipping point.”

    He was critical of media and technology companies that have decided to censor more and more. 

    “We’re going to get back to our roots and focus on reducing mistakes, simplifying our policies and restoring free expression on our platforms,” Zuckerberg said in a video. “More specifically, here’s what we’re going to do. First, we’re going to get rid of fact checkers and replace them with community notes similar to X, starting in the U.S.”

    Community notes allows users to tag posts with relevant sources to provide additional context or combat inaccurate information.”

    Liked by 1 person

  32. holy crap!

    i have the feeder on a tray on the small table between the adirondak chairs. the titmouse is the largest bird to frequent there. the bluejays frequent the corn block where they can pull pieces of corn out of it.

    well the deer finished the corn block yesterday and i wasn’t going to put another out till tomorrow. one bluejay landed on the arm of the chair and scared the crap out of the other birds. IT WAS HUGE compared to the other birds.

    think it was just alerting me that it too is hungry…LOL

    Liked by 1 person

  33. Personally, I’m getting a little sick and tired of all the boo-hooing about the “terrorists” FJB is releasing from Gitmo – I’d much prefer seeing the US participants sitting in Gitmo! It wouldn’t have happened without THEM!

    Liked by 1 person

  35. In all of the sound-bites of Trump that Fox is playing, his voice sounds decidedly raspy……😟😯😟 – hopefully, I’m worrying over nothing but….🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

    Liked by 1 person

      1. TBH, I just heard another clip and it seems to be more than that…..ok, maybe it was because they were recorded because I’m listening to his press conference and he sounds normal. Phew! Yes, I’m a worrier….I’m also hesitant to get TOO excited, we’ve had sooo many opportunities blown for whatever reason.

        “….Honored to welcome one of the most respected business leaders in the ME, indeed, in the world; he is a founder and Chairman of DeMac Properties, Hussein Sajwani and, I’m thrilled to announce today that DeMac will be investing at least $20B over a short period of time into the US and they may go double or even somewhat double that amount of $. It’s a great thing and I believe that he is saying that he will do it because of the fact that he was very inspired by the election. They wouldn’t do it without that election, I can tell you, a lot of people wouldn’t…you saw last week where somebody was going to go from $100B to $200B, and we have many other people….we will be bringing some of them out. Some of them like to do it somewhat more quietly and some don’t and they feel so strongly about the country that they want to let people know about it. But it’s an honor to have such a great investor investing in our country – the investment will support massive new data centers across the midwest, the sunbelt area and also to keep America on the cutting edge of technology and AI, very big into the data centers and that’s going to be a hot item in the coming years, as you know, with AI…..”

        Sajwani is speaking now.

        Like

  36. Liz Wheeler
    @Liz_Wheeler
    The content of the new House report on the Jan. 6th pipe bomber is shocking.

    The FBI tracked phone data & narrowed the suspects down to 186 phone numbers… and then down to 1 phone number… And then the FBI suddenly stopped the case. Just, ended it.

    WHY? Who is that one person that they didn’t want to reveal???

    The FBI agent in charge (Steven D’Antuano) then told Congress that the phone data from a major telecom company was corrupted. But the telecom company says the data was NOT corrupted. Uhh… The FBI lied? To cover up?

    Now the FBI and other agencies are stonewalling Congress over WHY this investigation into what we’re told is the biggest domestic terror attack attempt in recent history just… stopped.

    Oh, and the two people who “found” the “pipe bombs” on Jan 6 we’re a “woman carrying a basket of laundry” who is actually a swamp creature who works for an intel-connected org where she works on “disinformation.” LOL. And the other “bomb” was found by a plainclothes fed.

    Both “bombs” sat in plain sight undetected for 15+ hours until both were found independently within 15 mins of each other also within 15 mins of the first breach of the Capitol.

    And the frame rate of the one video the FBI released of the pipe bomber—which came from the DNC—was 1.2fps which is lower than any security camera on the market by 8x?? Which implies that the video was tampered with? By whom? What’s on the frames that were removed from the publicly released tape??

    The implications of this are enormous.

    We are closer than we’ve ever been before in totally exposing the totality of what an absolute, evil hoax J6 was.

    Don’t lose steam now. Raise your voice. Get this over the finish line. Expose it ALL so everyone can see we aren’t crazy conspiracy theorists, that the Feds actually staged J6 to demonize MAGA after Biden & his ilk rigged the election.

    You are the media. Make this famous.

    Liked by 1 person

  37. “Why is Russiagate’s Origin Story Redacted? In a parting gesture of defiance, the FBI releases a long-awaited document, blotting most of it out. Journalist Aaron Maté explains why the Bureau’s FOIA follies matter”

    Matt Taibbi, Jan 07, 2025

    Former FBi Deputy Director and current CNN contributor Andy McCabe

    “On January 11, 2019, at the peak of Russiagate mania and months before the release of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s deflating report, the New York Times for the first time made public a remarkable fact. In “FBI Opened Inquiry Into Whether Trump Was Secretly Working on Behalf of Russia,” a trio of Times reporters revealed that in the days after Donald Trump’s May 2017 firing of FBI Director James Comey, the Bureau “began investigating whether he had been working on behalf of Russia.”

    The country first learned the FBI was investigating “any links between individuals associated with the Trump campaign and the Russian government” when Comey testified in Congress in March, 2017. Comey then was referring to the FBI’s much-ballyhooed Crossfire Hurricane probe, which was opened in July, 2016 and targeted the likes of George Papadopoulos and Carter Page.

    This second FBI probe disclosed by the Times in 2019 carried far more explosive implications, making its delayed disclosure unusual. It’s one thing for the FBI to investigate possible “links” between foreigners and a presidential campaign. It’s another for Deputy Director of the FBI Andrew McCabe to open an investigation into whether a sitting president, i.e. his boss, is “working on behalf of Russia.”

    “Imagine even opening this investigation up on just your average Joe,” says Aaron Maté of RealClear Investigations. “That would be crazy, unless you have some real predication. But this is the fucking president. Andrew McCabe decides that he can do this. On what basis?

    Either the FBI had evidence to start such an investigation, which would be damning to Trump, or it didn’t, which would be damning to the FBI. Which was it?

    The 2019 Times story suggested the FBI probe was begun in part to determine if Trump’s “firing of Mr. Comey constituted obstruction of justice.” Beyond that, details were scant, and once the new investigation was folded into Robert Mueller’s inquiry, the reasons for its opening disappeared into the proverbial dustbin of history. Even when Special Counsel John Durham issued his report on the FBI and Crossfire Hurricane, he made just one mention of this second investigation, saying it was beyond his purview:

    We also have not interpreted the Order as directing us to consider the handling ofthe investigation into President Trump opened by the FBI on May 16, 2017.

    Nobody seemed to care what this second investigation was about, or what evidence was submitted to justify its opening, until Aaron and RealClear in December, 2022 sent a Freedom of Information request. They sought a copy of the original document explaining why the FBI opened a new “Sensitive Investigative Matter” on May 16, 2017. It took over two full years for the Bureau to respond. The answer was a middle finger: six pages, almost entirely redacted, with the exception of a few paragraphs.

    THRILLING READING: From the FBI’s newly released document

    The released documents weren’t entirely bereft of information. In fact, they should contain enough to pique the curiosity of any incoming officials looking for places to start unraveling the Russiagate mystery. Whatever’s underneath these redactions is embarrassing to someone. Aaron yesterday published a story on the subject at RealClear Investigations which I recommend everyone read. This document is one of a series of Russiagate-related revelations about to hit the public.

    The memo is included below. Apart from the fact that it names former FBI Counsel James Baker and Counterintelligence chief Bill Priestap at the top, the most interesting section is probably this passage:

    The FBI is opening [redacted] based on an articulabe factual basis that reasonably indicates that President Donald Trump may be or has been, wittingly or unwittingly, involved in activities for or on behalf of the Russian government which may constitute violations of federal criminal law or threats to the national security of the United States.

    The intro of the just-released memo on the second Trump-Russia investigation

    If your first thought is, “How can a person ‘unwittingly’ be involved in activities on behalf of Russia that ‘may constitute violations of criminal law’?” you’re not alone. I reached out to multiple lawyers with experience working on the Hill to ask how one betrays the country criminally without intent. One sent back a “shrug” emoji, while another said this was the problem with the new generation of broad national security probes. The FBI often does investigations that are “not tethered to or bound by criminal law.”

    “Unwittingly, without his knowledge, he’s being manipulated by the Kremlin,” laughs Maté. “It’s unbelievable.”

    McCabe, now an author and sometimes contributor to CNN, said in 2019 that Trump’s “own words” prompted the investigation. Aaron attempted to reach him for his RealClear story, but he did not respond.

    This is not a small issue. The FBI opening an investigation into a presidential candidate on the thinnest of pretexts, then continuing it despite repeated dead ends, then leaking word of an active investigation despite a total lack of results, and finally opening a second probe into a sitting president after their Director was fired, all speak to a law enforcement agency that was coloring way outside its lines, involving itself in unprecedented political interference. Whoever takes over the Bureau needs to unredact these and many other pages.

    “It’s nuts,” says Maté. “Trump is in office, and they decide after he fires Comey to open a second investigation just of him, not his campaign but him, suspecting him of being a Russian agent. Why?” He pauses. “We know the pretext for the first investigation was George Papadopoulos. What’s the reason for this one? Probably the firing of Comey is in there in the redaction, but there’s got to be something else too.”

    But what? Let’s hope we find out soon.”

    Like

  38. NF: Yes, I believe it has been developed successfully – by Gates – it was used in Afghanistan. I have (had?) a video of Gates briefing the CIA, IIRC.

    “The creation of personalized bioweapons? This is crazy…”

    Strange Sounds, Jan 07, 2025

    “Yes, I know, 1998 was 16 years ago… I just picked an article among others. So keep in mind that it isn’t the first time a country has attempted to make weapon/germ of sorts to only affect one part of a population. Many have tried and it remains a mystery if one has ever developed this weapon successfully. They are probably improving it right now…

    But this kind of stuff is the reason why I’ve never used a DNA testing service, despite a desire to know more about my own DNA and heritage. I’m yet to come across a company I haven’t been skeptical of for one reason or another.

    Incoming podcast excerpt:

    ‘So, you have cyber war, you have narrative war, then you have economic war. Something I’ve really never talked about publicly that we’ll give you here on the show, is the one thing that they’re (China) so good at is putting U.S. industry out of business. As you probably know, the generic drug business is almost 100% in China now. There are drugs that are absolutely mission critical drugs here like heparin for dialysis patients, and that’s 100% made in China.

    They could just stop sending it to us, and we’d be in a real problem very quickly, but even worse than that is the people that are sequencing genomes here in the United States, let’s say you go to 23andMe or you go to ancestry.com or you just want to pay to get your genome sequenced. There’s a Chinese company called BGI that does the overwhelming majority of all the sequencing of U.S. genes. There are other Chinese companies that are all the backbones of any of the U.S. genomic sequencing companies. China has the genomic sequence of every single person that’s been gene typed in the U.S., and they’re developing bio weapons that only affect Caucasians, which is crazy.

    A genetic scientist that is a friend of mine, his name is David Mittelman, he works at a company called Othram, but for 25 years, he’s been sequencing genomes. He’s known in the business as one of the best in the world, and David has brand new equipment. He’s been doing this his entire life, and he tells me that there is absolutely zero chance that someone can sequence a genome for less than 1,400 bucks or something like that … I don’t know the exact number, but the Chinese company, BGI will sequence your genome for 1,200 bucks. That’s how they got all the business. Because they want that information. They can undercut every single company in the U.S. because it’s state driven. This is how they put our aluminum business out of business. This is how they went after our steel business…

    They subsidize businesses they want to take over, and they’ll operate at an economic loss. We won’t. We can’t. So, we have to stop these things from happening.’

    Quote taken from a podcast, you can listen to the full episode here:”

    If you want to go down the rabbit hole, see also:

    The Navy’s top officer warned against using popular at-home ancestry DNA test kits this week, saying scientific advancements are making biological weapons more tailorable.

    Biological weapons that can target specific groups or individuals vulnerable to pathogens or other diseases are a growing national security concern, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson said during a Tuesday speech on nuclear deterrence in Washington, D.C.

    “Be careful who you send your DNA to,” Richardson said at the event, hosted by the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies. “There’s a number of those companies where you can go and find out what your makeup is. That’s a lot of information.“

    https://www.military.com/daily-news/2019/07/03/mail-ancestry-dna-kits-may-help-enemy-target-you-navys-top-officer-says.html

    Or this one:

    The U.S. government is surreptitiously collecting the DNA of world leaders, and is reportedly protecting that of Barack Obama. Decoded, these genetic blueprints could provide compromising information. In the not-too-distant future, they may provide something more as well—the basis for the creation of personalized bioweapons that could take down a president and leave no trace.

    https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/11/hacking-the-presidents-dna/309147/

    Here’s a link about the history of ethnic Bioweapons…

    Remember when Covid was supposedly less targeted towards Ashkenazi and some East Asian people? Remember when 23andme got hacked and they specifically looked for Ashkenazi Jew and Chinese DNA? Remember when grocery were cheap?

    Just for the record, I do not consent to this…”

    Like

  39. Just The News: “Judge Aileen Cannon blocked special counsel Jack Smith from releasing his final report from his investigation into President-elect Donald Trump until the court has time to review an emergency motion from two Trump co-defendants. 

    Smith was set to publish the report on both of the federal investigations of Trump in the coming days and Trump’s legal team made a last minute push to halt the release yesterday. The president-elect’s team asked Attorney General Merrick Garland not to release the report, arguing that the decision should rest with the incoming Trump administration, and claimed that releasing it would illegally interfere with the presidential transition.

    Trump’s legal team was reportedly allowed to review the two-volume report, which would present Smith’s narrative of the evidence he gathered in the cases. It centers on the classified documents case and Trump’s alleged efforts to subvert the results of the 2020 election. 

    The request from the Trump camp came the same day that attorneys for two of Trump’s former co-defendants in the classified documents case asked Judge Aileen Cannon to issue an emergency order that bars Smith from releasing his report on the classified documents case by Jan. 10.”

    Liked by 1 person

  42. NF: Personally, I’d prefer airlifting the POS back to his OWN country sans parachute! This means that the US taxpayer will pay for his care for the rest of his miserable life in what is, for him, relative comfort!!!

    Just The News: “The House on Tuesday passed the “Laken Riley Act” in a 264-159 vote. The bill received bipartisan support with 48 Democrats and 216 Republicans voting to for it. The Senate is expected to vote on it later this week.

    The bill provides law enforcement with more authority to detain illegal immigrants who have been accused of crimes.

    Earlier this year, Georgia nursing student Laken Riley was murdered by Jose Ibarra, an illegal immigrant, who was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

    The legislation was sponsored by Rep. Mike Collins, R-Ga. “I promised Laken’s family that I would fight for this bill like she fought for her life,” Collins wrote on X prior to the vote. “Let’s get this done.”

    Liked by 1 person

  43. “Guy Who Said Facebook Was Not Suppressing Free Speech Announces Facebook Will Stop Suppressing Free Speech”

    Internet · Jan 7, 2025 · BabylonBee.com

    Article Image

    PALO ALTO, CA — Social media users rejoiced today as in an initiative to fight back against censorship, the guy who said Facebook was not suppressing free speech announced that Facebook would stop suppressing free speech.

    Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg released a video statement outlining the upcoming changes that would be made to content restriction policies on Facebook and Instagram, revealing that Facebook would stop suppressing all the free speech he had previously insisted wasn’t being suppressed on Facebook.

    “This is a major shift toward no longer doing the things I said we weren’t doing,” Zuckerberg said in the statement. “While we never suppressed free speech and expression at Facebook, we felt that the election of 2024 was a cultural pivot point that made it clear that we had to stop suppressing free speech and expression. Even though we absolutely never did it, starting now, we’re going to stop doing it.”

    Conservatives who had been victimized by the social media platform’s oppressive policies were pleased to find out that the conduct Zuckerberg said never happened would reportedly come to an end in the coming months. “Even though it wasn’t ever happening, we’re not going to do it anymore,” Zuckerberg emphasized. “We owe it to our users who were never censored to stop censoring them.”

    Zuckerberg stressed that these changes would be implemented over time, with the goal of putting an end to the policies that he said were never in place.

    At publishing time, Zuckerberg’s video promoting free speech and limiting censorship on Facebook had been censored by Facebook.

    Like

  44. “Trump Announces Plan To Rename The Moon ‘Space America’”

    U.S. · Jan 7, 2025 · BabylonBee.com

    Article Image

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — With a little less than two weeks to go before the inauguration, President-elect Donald Trump has just announced his plan to rename the moon “Space America.”

    Trump’s proposal neatly solves the age-old conundrum of what to call Earth’s satellite, as in previous years, Earth’s moon has simply been referred to as “the moon,” which has occasionally led to difficulties in disambiguating it from the moons of other planets, which are also called “moons.”

    “It’ll be just like America, but in space,” Trump told reporters. “It’s going to be a big, beautiful extension of our amazing country. They all said we couldn’t do it, but I told them, ‘No, it’s going to be called Space America, because we were the ones who landed on it first.’ Believe me, Putin was very jealous, very upset. But that’s what happens when you lose the space race. Very sad. Poor little losers. Should have tried harder during the Cold War.”

    While several countries have attempted to protest Trump’s renaming of Space America, their objections were overruled after Trump pointed out that there’s nothing in international law that specifically prevents him from renaming astronomical bodies after the United States of America.

    At publishing time, Buc-ee’s, McDonald’s, and Starbucks had all announced plans to open locations on Space America as soon as Trump takes office.

    Liked by 1 person

  45. “You’re Not Ready for What’s Coming in 2025…”

    “Victor Davis Hanson unpacks the seismic shift in American politics following a Republican landslide unlike any seen since 2004. With control of the White House, Congress, and even a transformed Supreme Court, the GOP finds itself in a position to institutionalize its revolutionary platform—one that challenges the status quo on immigration, foreign policy, energy, and government overreach.

    Hanson delves into the key issues that fueled this victory, from calls for secure borders and energy independence to policies that sparked fierce debates, such as mass deportations and sanctuary city crackdowns. These ideas, once considered radical, now resonate with a majority of Americans. Yet, as Hanson highlights, this has led to a counter-revolution, where any pushback against entrenched policies is framed as extremist or even racist.

    What makes this political moment even more volatile? Trump’s deliberate appointment of individuals like Kash Patel, RFK Jr., and Jay Bhattacharya—outsiders who were victims of the very institutions they’re now tasked with reforming. Hanson explains how these choices are emblematic of a broader counter-revolutionary movement, one aimed at dismantling the “Jacobin madness” that has gripped not only the U.S. but also Europe and the Commonwealth.

    But this movement is not without its challenges. Hanson explores Trump’s nuanced role—not as the sole catalyst but as a figurehead riding a wave of class solidarity that transcends race and ethnicity. For the first time, a Republican president has united working-class Americans across racial lines, defying conventional wisdom and unsettling the elites.

    Will this counter-revolution succeed in transforming American governance, or will the entrenched establishment strike back? Hanson’s insightful breakdown offers a compelling look at the forces reshaping the political and cultural landscape. Don’t miss this deep dive into one of the most pivotal moments in modern history.”

    Liked by 1 person

  48. Just The News: “The New York appeals court on Tuesday denied President-elect Donald Trump’s attempt to dismiss his sentencing Friday in his hush money case.

    A New York City jury in May found Trump guilty on all 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in connect to pay hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels, with who he allegedly had an affair. Trump has denied the allegation. 

    On Tuesday, New York appeals court Judge Ellen Gesmer rejected Trump’s request following a short hearing. 

    The trial judge, Juan Merchan, previously rejected Trump’s motion to halt the sentencing, as he prepared to take office Jan. 20. Merchant has already signaled that he is not likely to sentence Trump to any punishment for his convictions.”

    Liked by 1 person

      1. It’s soooo convoluted – from what I understand, he can only appeal this directly AFTER he is sentenced….at least, I think that’s what I read….😶🤨🙁😕😕

        Liked by 1 person

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