Iran goes public with stark warning over suspected spy ship as U.S. refuses to rule out more strikes
Iran goes public with stark warning over suspected spy ship as U.S. refuses to rule out more strikes
https://www.yahoo.com/news/iran-goes-public-stark-warning-130042353.html
Sen. Lankford says a ‘popular commentator’ threatened to ‘do whatever I can to destroy you’ if he negotiated a border deal during a presidential election year
“Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma spoke on Wednesday about the political challenges he’s encountered while serving as the top GOP negotiator on a bipartisan border security deal.
In a speech shortly before the expected failure of the deal, Lankford bemoaned the fact that some fellow Republicans were objecting to the bill for purely political reasons.
“Some of them have been very clear with me,” Lankford said of his GOP colleagues, “they have political differences with the bill. They say it’s the wrong time to solve the problem. We’ll let the presidential election solve this problem.”
Lankford went on to say that a “popular commentator” — without naming any names — threatened to “destroy” him if he negotiated the deal during a presidential election year, regardless of what was in it.
“I will do whatever I can to destroy you, because I do not want you to solve this during the presidential election,” Lankford recounted the commentator saying.
“By the way, they have been faithful to their promise, and have done everything they can to destroy me,” he added.”
https://www.yahoo.com/news/sen-lankford-says-popular-commentator-200553824.html
How Demography Destroys (or Builds) Armies – Recruitment, Retention and Manpower
America is retreating from global health leadership at the worst possible time
“the American government remains the single-most important entity in global health. The US spent nearly $13 billion on global health programs in its 2023 fiscal year. It provides one-third of the funding to and has a permanent seat on the board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, an organization also started during the George W. Bush administration, which supports prevention and treatment for some of the world’s most deadly diseases in 130 countries.
The US iso the single largest contributor to the World Bank’s newly established Pandemic Fund. And along with the United Kingdom and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the United States underwrites much of the budget for Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, which largely supports vaccine programs in developing countries and has contributed to the vaccination of nearly 1 billion children since its founding in 2000.
But the failure to reauthorize PEPFAR signals growing ambivalence among some US political leaders about funding health programs around the world. The internationalist “compassionate conservatives” of yesteryear, perhaps best embodied in George W. Bush’s presidency, have been pushed out of the Republican Party, replaced by Trump acolytes less interested in public health domestically or abroad. Donald Trump’s “America First” nationalism and the ferocious conservative backlash against public health authorities during Covid have unmoored a field that long viewed itself as above politics.”
https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2024/1/15/24036314/us-global-public-health-infectious-disease-covid-19-hiv-aids-pepfar
Is Biden Just Blue MAGA?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8IUGJLZRpU
Is it in U.S. Interests to Support Israel? Piece Sources.
Why America cares about Israel’s security Alan W. Dowd. 2023 12 12. American Legion. https://www.legion.org/landingzone/260767/why-america-cares-about-israel%E2%80%99s-security U.S. National Interests in the Middle East Manuel Hassassian. 1997. Palestine-Israel Journal. https://www.pij.org/articles/450/us-national-interests-in-the-middle-east Why has it been considered in the United States’ national interest to have materially
Toy manufacturers’ shift from China is no child’s play
“Toy makers grappling with surging costs in China are finding no easy options when it comes to shifting production to cheaper centres elsewhere.
Six years ago, monopoly maker Hasbro approached Indian durable goods and aerospace supplier Aequs to sub-contract.
“They said if you can get into toy manufacturing, now we’re looking to shift millions of dollars worth of product from China to India,” Rohit Hegde, Aequs’ head of consumer verticals, told Reuters. “We said: as long as we can get at least about $100 million of business in the next few years, we can definitely invest in it.”
Fast forward to today and Aequs makes dozens of types of toys for Hasbro and others including Spin Master in two 350,000-square-foot facilities in Belgaum, India.
But Hegde and other manufacturers acknowledge that India and other countries cannot match China for efficiency”
…
“Still, for toy manufacturers including Hasbro and Barbie doll maker Mattel, the risks of relying on China for most of their production were highlighted during the COVID-19 pandemic, when Chinese ports struggled to export goods and were periodically shut down, leaving shipments stranded.
Soaring labour costs in China had already been driving manufacturers across industries to diversify production geographically.”
…
“setting up to source from other countries can take 18 months if a company is buying product from a contract manufacturer, and up to three years if a firm is building a new factory from scratch, Rogers said.”
https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/toy-manufacturers-shift-china-no-130838077.html