More of the same from mainland China https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-04-12/addis-ababa-ethiopia-metro-s-decline-shows-china-s-step-back-from-africa A Crumbling Metro Reveals Failed Promise of China’s Billions in Africa A $475 million light-rail system serving Ethiopia’s Addis Ababa shows how some China-funded infrastructure investments across the continent are now suffering from neglect. and From Kenya to Nigeria and beyond, China over the past decade has loaned billions across Africa and other parts of the so-called Global South as part of its drive to gain sway and counter US influence, build markets for its products and gain access to the natural resources needed to drive its economy back home. The US says the money simply leaves host governments mired in debt. The project may have prioritized short-term political goals over long-term operational sustainability, says Frangton Chiyemura, a lecturer in Global Development at the UK Open University’s Development Policy and Practice Group who studies China-Africa relations and Chinese-funded projects in Africa.

https://www.foxnews.com/us/former-us-ambassador-nsc-official-admits-acting-secret-agent-cuba-learns-fate-doj A former U.S. ambassador to Bolivia and a National Security Council member pleaded guilty on Friday to secretly acting for decades as an agent of the government of the Republic of Cuba, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ). A federal judge sentenced Victor Manuel Rocha, 73, of Miami, to 15 years in prison for working against the U.S. government for decades for communist Cuba in "clandestine intelligence-gathering missions."

So will the Fed have to raise interest again to get all those billions back out of the M1 that Biden just pumped back in?

Oh, what fun they'll have!

That's an interesting vote...

Neither here nor there but credit for honestly labeling an AI image in the article.

https://chicagocitywire.com/stories/657662449-dexter-reed-felon-killed-after-he-shot-at-police-received-20-832-ppp-loan-for-his-transportation-business

Break the silence? How about a few fvcking minutes of silence? By the way, we’re always told how strong and brave they are. If that’s the case, why do they need constant reaffirmations and why do they all apparently kill themselves in a mass genocide f we call them the wrong gender?

I saw a video from San Francisco of a tow truck driver trying to grab a running car from the road. It's apparently a thing. In that case it was a rental car that the driver never returned.

I read Bernstein's book With Your Own Two Hands. His students are lucky to have had him.

I used to find this very difficult to deal with. On the one hand, you're seeing your loved one suddenly talking again, almost as if they're returning to you, which is wonderful - it's a reminder of what they were before the dementia took hold, something that is very easy to forget. On the other you then have to watch them slip away back into confusion and non-involvement.

More importantly, what would Margorie Taylor Greene have to say about this situation?

Couple of questions. Is there really anything wrong with the Bone? Seems like a capable aircraft. Are today's replacement better? They are no longer "nuclear capable." What does it mean to be "nuclear capable?" Pardon my naïveté, but when you drop a bomb, it's pretty much out of your hands, right?

Who you gonna believe, the government or you own lyin' wallet? I suppose this could go in the "Biden's lies" thread. Biden falsely claimed yesterday that inflation was soaring when he took office—again fact check, it was 1.4%.

Somewhat related....... The US Navy Minister recently toured South Korea shipbuilsing plants. "Our Korean and Japanese allies build high-quality ships, including Aegis destroyers, for a fraction of the cost that we do," he said, according to a transcript from the Navy's website. He shared his experience from a tour of South Korean shipbuilding facilities earlier this year. "When my team and I went to South Korea, we were floored at the level of digitization and real-time monitoring of shipbuilding progress, with readily available information down to individual pieces of stock materials," he said. "Their top executives could tell us -- to the day -- when ships would be delivered. It's an ethos, a commitment to constant improvement that is the foundation of their reputation for consistently delivering on time, on budget -- even during COVID." Toro lamented America's shipbuilding approach, calling it "inadequate" and "inefficient." "This is an inefficient approach, requiring far too much time, workforce and taxpayers' dollars," he said. "And it is certainly an approach that is wholly inadequate to pace our 21st-century competitors." https://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20240412050077 (one of the things I have noticed when working with North Asian (Korean, Japanese, etc.) project teams is that they are super super good when things are going to plan. But if there are unexpected occurances, they are not as at correcting.)