NYT breaking: “Venezuelan opposition leader gives Trump her Nobel Peace Prize”

What’s the sentiment…? “Freedom isn’t Free” I hope he holds onto it for a few days and gives it back. Venezuela: President Trump said that the Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado gave him her Nobel Peace Prize during their meeting at the White House on Thursday. Ms. Machado said she had made the presentation … Read more

NY Times: “Older Americans Quit Weight-Loss Drugs in Droves”

It’s the side effects. It even accelerates muscle loss. In some studies, half of patients stopped taking GLP-1s within a year despite the benefits, citing the expense and side effects. Year after year, Mary Bucklew strategized with a nurse-practitioner about losing weight. “We tried exercise,” like walking 35 minutes a day, she recalled. “And 39,000 … Read more

Pope Leo’s important address to Vatican Diplomat Corp.

I love it. “Peter among us.” this is from The Pillar, a Catholic online publication. —Pope Leo XIV gave last week his first annual address to the Vatican’s diplomatic corps — a speech which customarily sets out diplomatic priorities for the year, and is the pope’s “state of the world” address. Edgar Beltran broke down … Read more

NYT: “U.S. and Venezuela Explore Restoring Diplomatic Ties”

This is good. She sees the handwriting on the wall. “The move embodied the contradictions and fast-changing nature of the two countries’ relationship.” Less than a week after the United States snatched its president under cover of night, Venezuela said it was exploring restoring diplomatic ties and sending a delegation to Washington to check on … Read more

CNBC: Tom Friedman on Venezuela, Trump & next steps

Friedman is skeptical that Venezuelan oil can be restarted without a change of regime, which he thinks will require boots on the ground. But see the NYT article below the video. Venezuela is not Libya and the new leader – Delcy Rodriguez – is super-ambitious and if it’s in her self interest to suddenly become … Read more

Sunday wordle – 51 in a row

I am an everyday wordle kind of guy with a 96% success rate. And now I’m on a “quest” to break my old record of 77. A good friend of ours had something like 133 in a row before she (women are smarter than men of course) by haphazard neglect missed doing it on a … Read more