First pharaoh's tomb found in Egypt since Tutankhamun's

BBC

Egyptologists have discovered the first tomb of a pharaoh since Tutankhamun's was uncovered over a century ago.

Until recently, King Thutmose II's tomb was the last undiscovered royal tomb of the 18th Egyptian dynasty.

But a British-Egyptian team located it in the Western Valleys of the Theban Necropolis near the city of Luxor. Researchers had thought the burial chambers of the 18th dynasty pharaohs were more than 2km away, closer to the Valley of the Kings.

The crew found it an area associated with the resting places of royal women, but when they got into the burial chamber they found it decorated - the sign of a pharaoh.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5ym30v356po

The Musk-Trump regime is conducting an online Blitzkrieg against America

By Wicked Blue

The threats, the tweets, the shocking news conferences are coming at us faster than we can respond.

And that is precisely their plan. Blitzkrieg, a tactic employed by Nazi German during World War 2, is a coordinated military effort to overwhelm an enemy. What we are experiencing is a coordinated propaganda effort to overwhelm us.

Others have written about the campaign of "shock and awe" being used to overwhelm news media, elected officials and courts of law as well as the American public. Whatever it is called, the idea is to blast us with issues upon issues until we become numb and incapable of reacting.

Keeping up with their latest deviltry is exhausting. But we have no choice except to monitor them intensely, so some outrage won't slip past our notice.

How do we respond to this?

The key is to focus, the way you focus while driving. You concentrate on the road directly in from of you, but you maintain awareness of things happening at the periphery, and take occasional glances in the rear view mirror.

We have to sift through their planned chaos to focus on the most critical issue facing our nation. Forget the sideshows: they are intentionally set up to distract us.

The crucial issue at this time is whether anyone can stop the Musk-Trump regime from destroying and looting our our government, our Constitution, and our nation. Who can stop them, and how can it be done?

They have already stated they will ignore judges that rule against them. Will they ignore Congress if it suddenly refuses to cooperate with one of more of their schemes? Probably.

Will the regime reject a ruling by the Supreme Court if it disallows one or more of the regime's initiatives?

Three of the nine justices on the court were appointed by Trump in his previous term. Conservatives hold a 6-3 majority. The court ruled in Trump v. United States (2024) that a president has both civil and criminal immunity for their official acts.

If one of the legal cases concerning the actions of the Musk-Trump regime comes before the Supreme Court, will the justices refuse to accept it, and send it back to a lower court? That would be one way for them to pass the buck and avoid committing themselves.

The justices could accept accept a case, hear it, and postpone judgment until months later, during which time the issue might become moot. Stalling would enable them to delay the question of taking responsibility for controlling, or not controlling, the actions of the regime.

If they do decide to act, they could rule that the case in question is covered by presidential immunity.

What we hope, of course, is that a majority of justices will decide that the most egregious actions of the Musk-Trump regime are prohibited under the Constitution, and enjoin them from continuing.

Even then, could anyone enforce such a ruling by the Supreme Court? The Supreme Court does not have a police force. The Supreme Court cannot command US Marshals or the military to enforce a ruling.

There is an interesting discussion on this issue posted six years ago on politics.stackexchange.
https://politics.stackexchange.com/questions/32066/how-can-the-judicial-branch-enforce-its-orders

How can the Judicial Branch enforce its orders? was the question posted.

The reply with the highest score, posted by ohwilleke in 2018 states:

"Unless the President can almost unanimously convince all of the myriad components of the military and law enforcement that his defiance of the U.S. Supreme Court or a Congressional impeachment is proper, he faces the prospects of a bloody military struggle to retain control."

and concludes:

"So, any President who wants to attempt to defy the Courts needs to have the overwhelming near unanimous support of the people with guns and the people whose support is needed to rule at both the federal and state and local level, which is not an easy thing to manage."


I have no idea what course the current Supreme Court might take if confronted with a case requiring it to determine the constitutionality of one of more actions of the Musk-Trump Regime. There may be legal scholars capable of making educated guesses, but I am not a legal scholar.

The Supreme Court may be the only entity capable of putting a peaceful stop to the rampaging regime, assuming that Musk and Trump would accept the court's ruling.

God/Goddess help us all if the Supreme Court fails America, or if the Musk-Trump regime elects to defy it.

UK offers Ukraine peacekeeping troops as European resolve hardens

Source: Reuters

Britain said it was ready to send peacekeeping troops to back up any peace deal for Ukraine as European leaders gathered on Monday to agree a unified strategy, while Russian and U.S. officials prepared to meet for their own competing talks.

The Europeans were holding an emergency summit in Paris to discuss their role in Ukraine's future after President Donald Trump's U.S. administration, Kyiv's main military backer, announced it would sit down with Russia to seek an end to thethree-year-old war. Russia has ruled out conceding territory.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer's comments on Sunday reflect a growing realisation among European nations that they will have to play a bigger role in ensuring Ukraine's security. Washington has made clear to Europe it must stop relying on the United States for its defence.

A peacekeeping force would not only raise the risk of a direct confrontation with Russia but also stretch European armies, whose stocks have been depleted by supplying Ukraine and decades of relative peace. There are also difficult questions about how some European nations, whose public finances are already groaning, will pay for such efforts.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/fast-moving-ukraine-diplomacy-means-europeans-must-do-more-official-says-2025-02-17/

STOP MUSK

During the Vietnam War era, people made stickers that said WAR and stuck them under the word STOP on traffic stop signs. They were all over.

Printing stickers that say MUSK and putting those on stop signs would be a simple way to raise public consciousness about the heinous things he's doing.

Who can stop Trump and Musk? Who will bell the cat?

Many, many people on DU and around the country are asking how to stop Trump and Musk's destructive reign of terror before it destroys America.

We ask, where are our leaders? Why doesn't the Democratic Party do something? What about former presidents? Can we count on SCOTUS? Members of Congress? U.S. Marshals? The governors of blue states? The media? Will it take Americans holding massive nonviolent protests? Economic boycotts? Why isn't SOMEONE stepping forward to lead us?

I ask myself these questions, and mentally run through a list of potential saviors. And I still don't know who is willing and able to guide us through the struggle.

Those who step forward to lead us will risk their freedom, their lives, and those of their families.

There is a fable, incorrectly attributed to Aesop, that describes our present dilemma. It is called "Belling the Cat." This version comes from a Library of Congress website.

"The Mice once called a meeting to decide on a plan to free themselves of their enemy, the Cat. At least they wished to find some way of knowing when she was coming, so they might have time to run away. Indeed, something had to be done, for they lived in such constant fear of her claws that they hardly dared stir from their dens by night or day.

Many plans were discussed, but none of them was thought good enough. At last a very young Mouse got up and said:"I have a plan that seems very simple, but I know it will be successful. All we have to do is to hang a bell about the Cat's neck. When we hear the bell ringing we will know immediately that our enemy is coming."

All the Mice were much surprised that they had not thought of such a plan before. But in the midst of the rejoicing over their good fortune, an old Mouse arose and said:"I will say that the plan of the young Mouse is very good. But let me ask one question: Who will bell the Cat?"

It is one thing to say that something should be done, but quite a different matter to do it."

Trump egg prices hit record high: U.S. Agriculture Department predicts how high they will go

Source: NJ.com

President Donald Trump‘s campaign pledge didn’t age well.

“When I win, I will immediately bring prices down, starting on Day One,” he said over the summer as voters repeatedly told pollsters the economy and rising prices were the largest things that concerned them.

Trump has been in office for weeks, now, and egg prices are soaring thanks to an ongoing bird flu outbreak.

The latest monthly consumer price index showed that the average price of a dozen Grade A eggs in U.S. cities reached $4.95 in January, eclipsing the previous record of $4.82 set two years earlier and more than double the low of $2.04 that was recorded in August 2023.

The spike in egg prices was the biggest since the nation’s last bird flu outbreak in 2015 and accounted for roughly two-thirds of the total increase in food costs last month, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Read more: https://www.nj.com/politics/2025/02/trump-egg-prices-hit-record-high-us-agriculture-department-predicts-how-high-they-will-go.html

Ta Da! Your Valentine's Day Weirdness

New evidence allowed in brazen Jersey Shore polluter case. Site considered one of worst in U.S.

NJ.com

It’s not the final victory Jersey Shore advocates are looking for, but it’s a big step in that direction.

Nonprofit Save Barnegat Bay and Toms River officials have long challenged a proposed $500,000 settlement between the state of New Jersey and BASF, which took over Ciba-Geigy and is blamed for decades of pollution at its former 1,255-acre chemical manufacturing site.

A court order issued Tuesday will allow new evidence to be considered in the challenge, according to documents provided this week to NJ Advance Media.

The additional items will provide a better understanding of groundwater and other toxic impacts polluters brought to the region’s land and water, Save Barnegat Bay said.

In its ruling, the panel of judges said “certain evidence not presented during the administrative proceedings may be material to the issues on this appeal.”

https://www.nj.com/ocean/2025/02/new-evidence-allowed-in-brazen-jersey-shore-polluter-case-site-considered-one-of-worst-in-us.html


I live about 3 miles from the Superfund site and am glad that Save Barnegat Bay will have a chance to introduce additional evidence. The $500,000 settlement is woefully inadequate and an insult to the community

According to an AP article, beginning in the 1950s Ciba-Geigy — which had been the town's largest employer — flushed chemicals into the Toms River and the Atlantic Ocean, and buried 47,000 drums of toxic waste in the ground. This created a plume of polluted water that has spread beyond the site into residential neighborhoods and is still being cleaned up.

More than 80 children in Toms River were diagnosed with cancer from 1979 to 1995. The state Health Department study did not explicitly blame the increase on Ciba-Geigy’s dumping, but the company and two others paid $13.2 million to 69 families whose children were diagnosed with cancer.

More info from a 2014 interview in Democracy Now:

https://www.democracynow.org/2014/4/23/toms_river_how_a_small_town

Band-Aids marketed to people of color contain harmful chemicals, lawsuit says

By Jackie Roman | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
Updated: Feb. 08, 2025, 9:58 a.m.|Published: Feb. 08, 2025, 9:00 a.m.

At least half a dozen customers who purchased Band-Aid products have filed a class-action lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson and global consumer health company Kenvue for selling bandages that contain harmful PFAS chemicals.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in New Jersey, claims that while Band-Aid products are marketed as having better ingredients and better processes, PFAS — or forever chemicals — are present in unsafe amounts in Band-Aid brand adhesive bandages.

Moreover, the lawsuit alleges that a disproportionate number of Band-Aid OURTONE products specifically marketed to people of color contain PFAS chemicals, raising questions about disparity.

The lead plaintiff in the case, a Georgia resident, “would not have purchased the bandages, or would have paid less for them, had she known that they contained and/or had a material risk of containing dangerous PFAS,” the lawsuit claims.

https://www.nj.com/healthfit/2025/02/band-aids-marketed-to-people-of-color-contain-harmful-chemicals-class-action-lawsuit-alleges.html

(paywall)

https://www.nj.com/healthfit/2025/02/band-aids-marketed-to-people-of-color-contain-harmful-chemicals-class-action-lawsuit-alleges.html

Amish Powerball