The UAE’s a federation of authoritarians, and Dubai an authoritarian mass surveillance state with different norms than that of places where there is more freedom of expression. That is probelm enough, but even a crackdown for “security by obscurity” — if that is even the purpose — is problematic.
Probably with the kind of inexcusable violence that happened at a synagogue in Michigan today happening to mosques and other Islamic centers or yet again with some people assaulting or killing (non-mona) Sikh men and places of worship yet again.
Sadly, this was prescient and very quickly at that if the following is accurate about the antisemitic attack on the synagogue in Michigan:
x.com/ryangrim/sta...
There is footage of all sorts where missiles are landing there and elsewhere in Ukraine. One of countless examples:
m.youtube.com/watch?v=-s7u...
And if the immigrant workers say anything the rulers don’t like, they are in serious trouble. Dubai and the rest of the UAE are very much a hierarchical authoritarian regime, and Dubai has mass surveillance state capabilities always in play.
For “security”/defense” purposes is a lame excuse in this context. The Iranians already know the layout of Dubai like the back of their hand and have plenty of Russian assistance to know what is in what condition if that really matters.
“Security by obscurity” is stupidity in this context.
Al-Quds is Arabic for “The Holy” or references “Holy Jerusalem”.
What does this British Labour Government & its lame Home Secretary have against a march that is The Holy March or Jerusalem March?
Around 15 years ago, NYT columnist Tom Friedman suggested march to Jerusalem.
Thanks for coming back and laying it straight.
I think that they are desperate to show they are trying to do something, anything. I suspect that they think this could help get around some bottlenecks somewhere. Which bottlenecks? I would guess refining or storage ones, but who knows for these clowns are a bad combo of clueless and uncurious.
On CBP.gov I found Jones Act Waiver Request listing a waiver for Hurricane Fiona in March 2024 and a separate one in May 2021 due to damage on a pipeline. So the Biden Admin did find some use to grant a temporary exemption to cabotage restrictions.
Some pipelines transport crude while others transport refined product, and I would guess that the pipeline owners/operators want to keep the kinds of oil separated and flowing in the usual direction by type.
Hopefully, there is a resident oil transport/logistics expert to tell us more.
Theoretically it would allow a given tanker to unload fuel at different refineries instead of having to wait to unload everything at once at one unloading point.
Can’t say I mind exemptions to cabotage prohibitions. A hole in the 1920 Jones Act and the 1926 Air Commerce Act is good for competition and for consumers.
Cool. Thanks, and out will go more money because of nostalgia. :D
Do you happen to know if they have the full archive of the early runs of those ACK and Tinkle comics with their digital subscription access?
Those were some of Trump’s most active years of picking up girls and women from the Epstein list?
Indeed there is funny irony.
Turnage had 0 chance to win. Schumer & Warren would know it, but they wouldn’t want to demoralize him & undercut his political aspirations. A political party puts itself at long-term risk if discouraging young gen involvement & if seniors hoard and lord power too much.
He was a former staff member for each of those Senators, so if he didn’t get even lukewarm support from them it would be indicative of a problem.
I like him, but a district tends to see more economic goodies come from seniority-based high-ranking Congressman member than from a freshman.
Taxation without representation at work.
Non-residents/out-of-state visitors don’t get to vote for state officials, so painful arrangements don’t get addressed with the same intensity as state residents.
Had fun* playing.
Glass half-empty view: it could be a loss given the opportunity cost from not having invested the same money in say an S&P 500 index fund.
Glass half-full view: you had playing the domain picking and squatting game.
Iran can’t win battles against the US or even a US-backed Israel via a conventional attack strategy, but it can fight a war of attrition against the US & run up regional and international pressure in its hopes that this would get Trump to knock off the war and move on.
If the larger desalination plants in these Gulf kingdoms get blown up, there will be a serious water crisis since hauling in water is only a temporary solution and can’t keep up with how oversized these cities are for a desert environment absent those desalination plants.
But it being a bit weird doesn’t mean much in such situations when there are checked bags to be claimed and you’re not members of the same household waiting for everyone to get their bags at the same time. Also, guys are less likely to have checked luggage than women even on long-haul flights.
What’s also interesting about that is she seems to be the only one in that area for secondary. If she came in with 5 others (2 US & 3 LPR Pakistanis) as noted elsewhere and they all were flagged for secondary, it seems a bit weird that she would be all by herself in the first photo.
That only indicates an exit from secondary without being in escorted custody at that point. It doesn’t show an exit into the public landside section at ORD Terminal 5 after leaving the FIS area and passing the baggage recheck area. Federal authorities can grab people after release from secondary.
US hotels, January 2026 compared to January 2025:
Average daily rate (ADR): US$152.09 (+0.6%)
Revenue per available room (RevPAR): US$79.69 (+0.4%)
So much for the Chief Conman’s claim that hotel rates are “way down” in this oligopolistic US hotel market.
Hotel rates are way down? Maybe at Trump hotels because he’s so very unpopular, but revenue per available room at major hotel brands’ US properties have only dipped a bit from 2024 and that dip is likely a product of Trump being economically destructive & driving down foreign visitors.
Could she have been Section 412’d (under the awful USA PATRIOT Act) on the basis of claiming doubt of the validity of her US citizenship (despite having prima facie evidence of US citizenship & identity on arrival at O’Hare)?
