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As the climate changes, Chicago and the Great Lakes are sometimes referred to as a "climate haven," an area that will be sheltered from some of the worst impacts. Far from Gulf Coast hurricanes and California wildfires, Chicagoland seems like a safe place to be in a warming world. But is it? "There's really no place in the world that is truly a climate haven. It's more a matter of picking your poison," said climate researcher Dr. Kirstina Dahl. "My top concerns would probably be increased flood risk." Heavy rain is now 10% heavier than it was in 1970. Just...

Editor’s Note: For the record, I’m among the EXTREMELY skeptical when it comes to automation of anything that can kill people. Big rigs qualify. Call me a Boomer if you’d like but I prefer drivers to be human… as long as they speak and read in English and are U.S. citizens. With that said, the data on AI trucks is at least a little compelling… ============================================================== Artificial intelligence has officially taken the wheel—literally. A recent large-scale safety showdown between AI-driven trucking systems and top-rated human drivers has revealed something few expected: the machines won. According to results released this week,...

Republican senators on Tuesday railed against the administration’s plans to import more beef during a closed-door meeting with Vice President JD Vance.p> Officials said last week they would allow Argentina to ship four times as much beef to the US as it previously did at a lower tariff rate. Ranchers immediately panned the move, as did the lawmakers who represent them: Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., warned “this isn’t the way to do it.”Vance sought to “explain what the administration is thinking” in Tuesday’s meeting, one Republican senator in attendance told Semafor.“There were a number that really expressed …...

I know many claim things are better but the there are 0.97 open jobs to every 1 unemployed...Businesses are closing right and left..Banks are in trouble, repos are at record levels, Credit Card defaults are at atmospheric levels. Beginning to look like 1929...the beginnings of it anyway...Let them eat cake I guess... October layoffs Amazon 30,000+ UPS 46,000 Target 1,800 Paramount 1,000 Applied Materials 1,400 Sika 1,800 And many more

More controllers are now calling in sick and some are working second jobs to make ends meet, according to union officials.As air traffic controllers miss their first full paycheck, more are calling in sick and some are working second jobs to make ends meet, according to union officials. (Scripps News) Air traffic controllers are missing their first full paycheck on Tuesday due to the government shutdown.The National Air Traffic Controllers Association, which represents those workers, is sharing the stories of those workers in an effort to push lawmakers to reopen the government.The president of the union says the added stress...

A federal judge has indefinitely blocked President Trump’s efforts to lay off thousands of federal employees amid the government shutdown. U.S. District Judge Susan Illston, an appointee of former President Clinton, sided with government employee unions that asked her to bar the administration from carrying out the reductions in force (RIFs) as the lawsuit moves forward. More than 4,000 workers were set to be impacted by the job actions.The preliminary injunction extends Illston’s previous order temporarily stopping the administration’s attempted layoffs, which she has said she believes will ultimately be deemed illegal and an overstep of executive authority.The judge said...

Thomas Lukaszuk, a former deputy premier of Alberta who circulated a petition to make it official policy for the province to stay in Canada, says it has more than 456,000 signatures. The final tally is far greater than the required 294,000 signatures to initiate a possible referendum in Alberta. The "Forever Canadian" petition started as a counter to separatists who want a referendum on Alberta independence and asks: "Do you agree that Alberta should remain within Canada?" "The number of signatures don't surprise me because I know that the vast majority of Albertans are proud Canadians," Lukaszuk told reporters on...

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday ordered the Israeli military to carry out “immediate, powerful” strikes in Gaza. Earlier today, Netanyahu’s office said that Hamas is in “clear violation” of the Gaza ceasefire agreement after returning remains to Israel that did not belong to any of the 13 hostages still unaccounted for in the enclave. The armed wing of Hamas, the Al-Qassam Brigades, subsequently announced it would postpone the handover of a hostage’s body that was recovered in southern Gaza on Tuesday due to Israel’s “violations.”

President Donald Trump said Monday he was “very much opposed” to the immigration raid at a Hyundai electric vehicle plant in Georgia last month after an operation that saw hundreds of South Korean workers detained and sent home. Nearly 500 employees were arrested during the Sept. 4 raid at Hyundai Motor Group’s facility in Ellabell, Georgia. Workers were sat on the factory floor as officers shackled their legs in scenes that caused outrage in South Korea, where the government scrambled to secure the workers’ release. They were eventually flown home on a chartered flight after urgent negotiations. Speaking to reporters...

Next week, millions of Americans who rely on food stamps are going to feel something brutal and immediate: their benefits won’t show up. The money simply won’t load onto EBT cards. Grocery trips that were already hard are about to become impossible. Food banks are already warning they can’t absorb the impact if this drags on. This is not an accident. This is not a “glitch.” This is a direct result of the ongoing federal shutdown — a shutdown driven by Democrat demands to force taxpayer-funded health coverage for illegal aliens back into the budget.

There are a few reasons to doubt the American government's stated aim of wiping out these so-called "narco terrorist" gangs threatening the US from Venezuela, even after one takes out of the equation the sort of equipment the military is deploying - which isn't what they would need for effective drug smuggling interdiction. While the president acknowledges that the synthetic opioid fentanyl is a huge killer in the US (which it is) and is supplied by drug gangs (which it is), to blame Venezuela for fentanyl production is simply incorrect.Mexican cartels produce fentanyl with precursors largely supplied from China, and...

Catherine Connolly’s lop-sided victory to be Ireland’s next head of state was accompanied by a surge in vandalized ballots from right-wing voters. DUBLIN — Independent socialist Catherine Connolly swept to a landslide victory Saturday to become Ireland’s next president, dealing a record-breaking rebuke to the two center-ground parties of government.Jubilant supporters of the 68-year-old Connolly, a lawmaker from the western city of Galway, embraced and kissed her as final results from Friday’s election were announced at the Dublin Castle count center.In her victory speech, Connolly struck an immediate note of unity. She stood side by side with Ireland’s government...

White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller on Friday dodged a question from reporters about the potential for ground troops on Venezuelan soil, as tensions escalate amid the Trump administration’s war on drugs in the Caribbean. While he said he “would not now or ever get into any detailed discussion” about potential military options, Miller called Venezuela a “central hub” for the trafficking of narcotics, weapons and humans. The White House aide called the drug cartels linked to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s regime, which are designated terrorist organizations, the “ISIS of the Western Hemisphere.” When asked directly about the...

Americans are likely to face even more flight interruptions after Congress failed to provide last-minute relief for air-traffic controllers and other federal aviation workers whose paychecks will stall due to the government shutdown. While Donald Trump's administration moved funds to delay impact on some areas – such as pay for the troops – lawmakers warn that next week aviation workers will not receive their paychecks. Around 13,000 air traffic controllers and 50,000 TSA officers are facing work without pay, leading to surging absences and sick says. Since the shutdown began on October 1, staff absences have contributed to 53 percent...

President Trump is facing a growing political problem in America’s agricultural heartland, as he looks to import Argentinian beef to help bring down prices for U.S. grocery shoppers. The Trump administration is reportedly looking to quadruple low-tariff imports from Argentina, raising the quota to 80,000 metric tons per year. The news has enraged America’s beef farmers — and the Republican senators who represent them. “This isn’t the way to do it,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said of Trump’s efforts to drive down prices. “It’s created a lot of uncertainty in that market. So I’m hoping that the White...

U.S. President Donald Trump said he stopped Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from fighting in Gaza, a war he said would have continued "for years" without his pressure on Netanyahu. “He would have just kept going,” Trump told TIME in a newly published interview. “It could have gone on for years. It would have gone on for years. But I stopped him, and everybody came together when I stopped him.” Trump and Netanyahu have heaped praise on each other publicly. But Trump has also shown signs of frustration with Netanyahu's hardline approach, saying in his recent speech to the Knesset...

The Trump administration excels at sowing uncertainty. But it is sending an unambiguous message to crypto entrepreneurs who may be operating on the fringes of the law, or outside of it: Don’t worry about a thing. ICYMI: President Donald Trump on Thursday issued yet another reprieve for a crypto mogul who happens to have greatly enriched the Trump family’s net worth. Changpeng Zhao, the founder and former CEO of crypto exchange Binance, served a four-month prison sentence after pleading guilty in 2023 to charges related to anti-money-laundering violations. Zhao, widely known as “CZ,” was released in September 2024. After months...

Some members of Donald Trump's inner circle are serious about him serving a third term in the White House, according to Steve Bannon. Trump's former chief strategist — who has remained loyal to the MAGA movement, despite the fact that Trump fired him from his White House role less than a year into his first term — made the comments in an interview with The Economist's editor-in-chief, Zanny Minton Beddoes, and deputy editor, Ed Carr, in Washington, D.C. this week. Bannon shared his certainty that Trump will remain in office for at least another term. "He's gonna get a third...

The first video “Richard LA” posted to TikTok appeared on Aug. 21, 2024. “Accident at 27th and San Pedro,” he wrote in Spanish under video clips showing two damaged cars and paramedics pushing a man on a gurney into an ambulance. “2 people were taken to the hospital.” “Richard LA” was actually Carlitos Ricardo Parias, 44, a father of two living in southern Los Angeles. His TikTok feed soon filled with similar clips. A fire at a home on 36th and Trinity streets. A car crash on 29th Street and Maple Avenue. His audience grew steadily over the ensuing months....

CBS reports an eighth operation in which the US military killed at least two civilians The U.S. military campaign against vessels crewed by civilians allegedly involved in drug trafficking continued Tuesday with a new extrajudicial attack, the eighth reported since September. The novelty this time is that the latest strike took place off the Colombian coast, in the Pacific Ocean, and not, as in previous cases, in the Caribbean Sea. The news was reported Wednesday by CBS, citing two anonymous official sources. Confirmation came shortly thereafter from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who said that the U.S. military had killed two...