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Report: NAFTA Cut Lifespans for American Factory Workers

The economic impact of the 1994 free trade deal with Mexico chopped a year off many Americans’ lives, according to a report in the New York Times.

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) boosted Wall Street by sending millions of U.S. jobs to lower-wage workers in Mexico. The civic cost is described in a new study titled ‘Trading Goods for Lives: NAFTA’s Mortality Impacts and Implications.”

“In the first 15 years of NAFTA, about 3 percent of 45-year-old men lost a year of their remaining life expectancy as a result of the trade deal,” hte newspaper reported, adding:

The researchers saw increases in mortality across most major causes of death, including illness, drug overdoses and suicides. The overall trends particularly affected working-age men, and were more pronounced in the Southeast and parts of the Midwest, like Michigan.

Matthew Notowidigdo, one of the report’s authors, said in an interview that the work highlighted an “underappreciated cost of globalization.” In the cities and towns facing new competition from Mexican factories, “life expectancy falls, and it hits really hard on men,” he said.

“We’re talking about a lot of life years lost,” he added.

The study concluded:

In the 15 years post-NAFTA, an area with average NAFTA exposure experienced an increase in annual, age-adjusted mortality of 0.68 percent … an increase that more than erases prior estimates of the welfare gains from NAFTA’s nationwide economic benefits. Mortality increases appear across all broad age by sex groups, but are particularly pronounced among working-age men, a demographic that also experienced disproportionate NAFTA-induced declines in (primarily manufacturing) employment

President Donald Trump renegotiated the three-nation NAFTA deal in 2018 to help Americans. This year, he is expected to review the replacement treaty, dubbed the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), with Mexico and Canada.

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Dept. of Education Says Colorado School District’s ‘Gender Identity’ Policies Violate Federal Law

The Department of Education on Friday announced that a Colorado school district is violating federal law with its broad-sweeping “gender identity” policies that disenfranchise female students.

The Department of Education said its Office for Civil Rights (OCR) concluded its investigation into Jefferson County Public Schools and found that it violated Title IX by allowing male students to access female bathrooms, locker rooms, overnight accommodations, and to play on female sports teams. 

Specifically, OCR found that the district has policies allowing students to access facilities and participate on sports teams that match their self-proclaimed “gender identity,” rather than their biological reality. OCR said it received athletic rosters from the district showing that male students may take up to 61 roster positions on girls’ sports teams in the district. 

“Today’s findings reveal sweeping Title IX violations by Jefferson County Public Schools—denying fairness and equality to female students by allowing males into their private facilities, overnight accommodations, and athletics. The District’s decision to prioritize ‘gender identity’ over ensuring equal access for its female students is unconscionable,” Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Kimberly Richey said in a statement. 

OCR opened an investigation into the school district in June 2025 over allegations the district removed single-sex overnight accommodations from school trips. 

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Now They Are Actually Admitting That There Is A Massive “Gravity Hole” Underneath Antarctica?

For decades, we were told to ignore any of the strange reports that we were hearing about Antarctica. Experts assured us that nothing unusual was going on and that there wasn’t anything to be concerned about. Of course we couldn’t go investigate for ourselves, because as you will see below, there are 72 areas of Antarctica that only those with a special permit are allowed to enter. And if you try to fly to Antarctica without authorization, you will get into all sorts of trouble.

So why all the secrecy?

What are they trying to hide from all the rest of us?

One thing that scientists are admitting about Antarctica is that it sits directly above the strongest “gravity hole” on the entire planet…

Earth may look like a smooth “blue marble” from space, but it’s better to imagine it as a slightly gnarled orange, with an inside that’s firm in parts, but squishier in others. Since the planet isn’t a perfect sphere and its internal density varies across the globe, gravitational pull changes from place to place. Where there’s less mass in the underlying geology, gravity is weaker, and vice versa.

These dips in the gravitational field are formally known as gravity anomalies, but they’re more commonly called “gravity holes”. The largest is found in the middle of the Indian Ocean, spanning over 3 million square kilometers (roughly 1,100,000 square miles), while the strongest is found in Antarctica.

Isn’t that interesting?

It turns out that there is a gigantic “hole” under Antarctica after all.

But the experts are insisting that there really isn’t anything particularly special about it.  In fact, they try to make it sound as boring as possible…

A “gravity hole” beneath Antarctica sounds like the plot to a bad sci-fi movie, but it’s a very real situation deep beneath the Earth’s surface stretching back tens of millions of years. The phenomenon thankfully isn’t as apocalyptic as it sounds, either. In fact, researchers say these complex interactions between rock densities, gravitational pull, and sea levels are actually helping them understand how the southernmost continent’s ice sheets evolved, and what their influences mean for the planet’s climate.

Yawn.

That does sound pretty boring.

But could it be possible that there is a lot more to this than we are being told?

It is being reported that the team of researchers that mapped the colossal gravity hole directly under Antarctica was able to use a combination of methods to actually “reconstruct the three-dimensional structure” that exists underneath the continent…

In the study, published recently in Scientific Reports, Forte and Petar Glišović, Ph.D., of the Paris Institute of Earth Physics, mapped the Antarctic gravity hole and revealed how it developed over millions of years. They relied on an Earth-spanning scientific project that combined global earthquake recordings with physics-based modeling to reconstruct the three-dimensional structure inside Earth.

“Imagine doing a CT scan of the whole Earth, but we don’t have X-rays like we do in a medical office. We have earthquakes. Earthquake waves provide the ‘light’ that illuminates the interior of the planet,” Forte said.

It certainly appears that something is down there.

Could some of the reports that we have heard over the years actually be true?

I wouldn’t hold your breath waiting for the truth to come out.

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Comey Releases Bizarre Video Message Revealing He Started Singing a Beyoncé Song to a Table Full of Agents During an Important Briefing

This guy ran the US’s premier federal law enforcement agency…

Fired FBI Director James Comey released a bizarre video message on his Substack on Sunday, recalling the good old days at the bureau.

Comey recounted a time in which he sang a Beyoncé song to a table full of agents during an important briefing.

“The briefer started by saying the operation was codenamed Sandcastles…” Comey said.

“So I said, ‘Oh, like the Beyoncé song.’ Blank stares all around the FBI conference room. So I did the natural thing, I sang,” Comey said.

Comey actually began singing a Beyoncé song in his Substack video message.

A grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia indicted former FBI Director James Comey in September. He was indicted on two counts – false statements and obstruction of a congressional proceeding.

The charges were related to Comey’s testimony to Senate investigators in September 2020 about whether he authorized leaks to the media.

Newly released November 2016 emails revealed that James Comey was guiding his media mole, Daniel Richman, and authorized leaks to the media.

Comey’s case was thrown out after a Clinton judge dismissed the case based on the Appointments Clause.

James Comey also created a media firestorm last May after he posted a cryptic message to his Instagram account and spelled out in seashells: “86 47”

“Cool shell formation on my beach walk,” Comey said in his caption.

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Will This Make Chicago Safe?

An ultimatum issued by the Trump administration has pushed the Chicago Transit Authority to unveil a beefed-up security plan, threatening to yank federal funding unless the agency tackles the rampant crime plaguing its trains and buses.

This move comes after a string of brutal attacks exposed the failures of soft-on-crime policies in the Windy City.

The CTA submitted its Revised Security Enhancement Plan to the Federal Transit Administration, detailing a “75 percent increase in monthly system policing hours, aggressive crime reduction targets, and expanded social service support,” according to an official agency statement.

Elements include more patrols from Chicago Police and Cook County Sheriff’s deputies, expanded mental health outreach to connect individuals with housing and services, and tighter collaboration with prosecutors for tougher handling of transit-related crimes.

“The plan is CTA’s formal response to an FTA Special Directive issued in December,” the agency noted, highlighting early signs that recent strategies are curbing crime.

This overhaul follows the FTA’s rejection of an earlier CTA submission, with the Trump administration giving the agency until March 19 to deliver or risk losing up to $50 million in funds.

The push stems from high-profile horrors like the November 18 attack where Lawrence Reed, a career criminal with 72 prior arrests, allegedly doused a young woman with gasoline and set her ablaze on a Blue Line train. 

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Rich Get Richer: Hollywood Elites Treat Themselves to Oscars Gift Bags Worth $350,000 in Luxury Swag

The 98th Academy Awards on Sunday night will be the usual explosion of a champagne-fueled, self-obsessed celebrity glory orgy — that comes, every year, with hundreds of thousands of dollars in free luxury gifts thrown in. This year’s swag bag price tag reached a value of nearly $350,000 for the select 25 Oscar nominees, given free for simply getting out of bed and attending.

Sunday night Academy Awards will be the 24th year some attendees receive an iconic collection of gifts held within aptly named “Everybody Wins” bags.

These include top-notch beauty products and treatments, luxury vacations, alongside innovative wellness products.

Gift-giving company Distinctive Assets delivers it all to the stars in suitcases in lieu of the Academy itself which stopped providing official six-figure gift bags in 2006.

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Companies Are Starting To Enforce AI Use. Is That A Good Or Bad Thing?

Years ago, I was working on the editorial side for what was then a hot new media company, and found myself spending more and more time with Johan, the lead programmer, and his team, asking them a lot of annoying questions as it was all so new – certainly to me. I was standing over Johan’s left shoulder, mesmerized by whatever new video game he was obsessing over that week…when suddenly, out of nowhere, a spreadsheet and a pie chart appeared on his screen.

“Whatcha got there, Johan?” asked Jim, Johan’s boss, peering over a sheaf of print-outs as he sharked past the cubicle.

“Hey, just looking at some numbers,” Johan replied. Johan had hit the “game key” in the nick of time – in those days, every video game had a game key – ALT-G if memory serves – calling up a slight variation of the same spreadsheet and pie chart.

This would never happen today. First, you’re probably not working in a cubicle, and if you are, it’s not the game key you’d hit to give your boss the impression that you’re actually doing productive work…it would be the “AI key.”

“Tech Firms Aren’t Just Encouraging Their Workers to Use AI. They’re Enforcing It.”

This article appeared in the February 24 edition of the Wall Street Journal. It includes the subtitle: From startups to giants, including Meta and Google, companies are factoring AI use into performance reviews and trying to track productivity gains

Across industries, companies are now enforcing AI use through performance reviews, dashboards that track adoption, and explicit mandates that tie it to compensation and promotion. What began in Silicon Valley has rapidly spread to consulting firms, banks, manufacturers, hospitals, and even government agencies.

As you’d expect, Meta, Google, Amazon, and Microsoft were the first to move from encouragement to enforcement. Employees at these firms now see AI usage metrics appear in quarterly reviews. Non-adopters have reported stalled promotions or explicit warnings that “AI fluency” is a core competency (The Wall Street Journal, Feb 2026, reporting on internal policies).

The trend has jumped sectors. PwC requires every consultant to complete an “AI + Human Skillset” curriculum and incorporates usage into evaluations (Business Insider, Feb 5, 2026). Colgate-Palmolive’s “AI evangelist” tracks adoption across global teams. Major banks have begun tying bonuses to the number of AI-assisted analyses completed. Even some hospitals now require doctors and nurses to use AI-assisted diagnostic tools for certain procedures.

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Five Losers in the War on Iran

There may be no winner in the war on Iran. But, although it is Iran that is under attack, they will not be the only losers. This war, fought without legal reason or political or security justification, will have myriad losers. Here are five.

The first loser of the war on Iran is the Iranians. Iran has an “inalienable right to a civilian program that uses nuclear energy for peaceful purposes” as a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. They signed the JCPOA nuclear agreement that closed all roads to a military nuclear program. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) repeatedly verified that they were in full compliance. They were currently negotiating further voluntary limitations on their civilian nuclear program, which would have assured the world of the impossibility of diverting their civilian nuclear program to a military one. Nothing was illegal or unusual about Iran’s nuclear or missile programs.

But bombs fell on Iranians. The people of Iran live in daily terror. Their cities are being bombed, and their infrastructure and water desalination plants have been devastated. Nearly 20,000 civilian buildings have been damaged, including dozens of hospitals and schools. Their leader has been assassinated. Over 1,300 civilians, hundreds of them children, have been killed.

The second country that will pay a price for the war on Iran is Ukraine. Just as Russia is thought to be massing for a large late spring offensive, its war economy is being pumped full by the rising cost of oil; which was caused by the effective closing of the Strait of Hormuz and the resultant easing of sanctions on Russian oil, while Ukraine’s supply of weapons is being threatened. Russia will have the money to continue launching missiles and drones, and Ukraine will lack the missiles to defend against them.

The U.S. is firing an incredible number of interceptors to defend against Iranian missiles and drones. The war on Iran is using up the defensive weapons that would have been sent to Ukraine. “The biggest and most immediate impact will be on air defense,” Jennifer Kavanagh, Senior Fellow & Director of Military Analysis at Defense Priorities, told me, since “Ukraine depends almost entirely on the United States for air defense, especially Patriot air interceptors and AMRAAMs.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said, “We understand that a long war… and the intensity of the fighting will affect the amount of air defence equipment we receive.”

In this war of choice, the U.S. has made a bad choice, and it too will be a loser in this war. The U.S. will lose the war in Iran in four ways.

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California Startup Starts Drilling World’s First Underground Nuclear Borehole

Deep Fission, a California-based nuclear energy startup, started drilling the world’s first underground nuclear borehole March 10 in Kansas, taking a major step forward in building small modular pressurized water reactors one mile below the surface.

The test project is being funded as part of the Trump administration’s plan to breathe new life into the American nuclear sector by investing in new technology.

“It represents the shift from concept to construction and begins the process of demonstrating a fundamentally new approach to nuclear energy deployment,” Liz Muller, CEO and co-founder of Deep Fission, said.

The initial phase will include the sinking of three wells for site characterization and engineering validation.

The first well will be drilled about 6,000 feet below the ground and will be about eight inches in diameter. Workers at the site will be able to gather critical data to inform the company’s final engineering design, safety analysis, and regulatory planning.

The site’s location in the rural community of Parsons, about 130 miles east of Wichita and home to about 10,000 residents, was chosen in December for its dense and impervious shale and limestone, which provide natural containment and radiation shielding.

“By placing reactors one mile underground, the surrounding geology provides billions of tons of passive shielding and natural containment—enhancing safety and security while significantly reducing cost, surface footprint, and visual impact,” the company stated.

The company also plans to complete construction of its first reactor and achieve criticality by July 4 at the Kansas location.

Deep Fission has already signed an agreement with the Great Plains Development Authority to develop a full-scale commercial project at the same site.

The company’s design uses pressurized water reactor technology with deep-borehole drilling techniques from the oil and gas industry and geothermal heat-transfer.

Each gravity reactor is installed one mile underground, where the surrounding geology provides natural shielding and containment, while also reducing the need for above-ground megastructures, according to Deep Fission.

The company has already entered into an agreement to buy low-enriched uranium from Urenco USA for the small water reactors.

“Securing fuel is one of the most important steps for any nuclear project,” said Deep Fission’s CEO Liz Muller. “This agreement with Urenco enables us to move quickly toward commercialization and scaling our technology with high-quality fuel.”

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Veteran ’60 Minutes’ reporter says the network ‘crumbled’ under Trump’s pressure

A veteran “60 Minutes” journalist slammed the previous owners of his parent network, CBS, for settling an election interference lawsuit with President Donald Trump.

“Our previous owners at CBS faced political pressure and crumbled‚” Scott Pelley said, according to The Guardian’s Jeremy Barr, referencing the fallout over the legal dispute between Trump and CBS. Pelley was introducing former “60 Minutes” executive producer Bill Owens at the National Press Foundation Annual Journalism Awards Dinner last week. 

Pelley was referencing former CBS parent company, Paramount Global, before it was merged with Skydance Media, run by David Ellison, the son of billionaire Oracle founder and Trump ally Larry Ellison.

In the days leading up to the 2024 presidential election, CBS News aired its “60 Minutes” interview featuring then-Vice President Kamala Harris. Critics at the time noticed that an answer she gave to a question about Israel that first aired in a preview clip on “Face the Nation,” which was mocked by conservatives for her “word salad” comments, appeared to have been swapped with a different answer that aired during the primetime election special the next evening.

Trump accused the network of election interference and filed a $20 billion lawsuit against the company. 

After months of contentious mediation, Paramount and CBS settled Trump’s lawsuit for a sum expected to be north of $30 million, including $16 million upfront for Trump’s presidential library.

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