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tag: alabama, us news, federal jobs, trump administration, rocket city, harrisburg, huntsville, spaceforce

President Trump directed the Pentagon to establish a new Space Force as the sixth branch of the United States military, a move that faces skepticism in Congress that could delay the creation of the new service.
The proposal, announced last Monday in the president’s State of the Union address, was first reported by The New York Times.
The plan involves establishing a new department under the Air Force to oversee space operations and forces, which Mr. Trump framed as a bold initiative to plant an American flag in a new frontier.
The next day, Mr. Trump instructed Secretary of Defense James N. Mattis to develop a legislative proposal to create the Space Force as the sixth branch, alongside the army, navy, air force, Marines, and Coast Guard.
But objections by lawmakers could make it difficult for the idea to take off. In addition, some administration officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, have come to question the Space Force.
Moreover, Mr. Trump’s own Pentagon chief has voiced caution.
“Space is a war-fighting domain, just like the land, air, sea and Cyberspace,” Secretary Mattis said in a statement. “Recognizing this reality, I request a Deputies-level review, as a first step, to properly and thoroughly address the challenges and opportunities presented by the integration of space into our national defense strategy.”
The list of lawmakers questioning the new proposal includes Alabama’s Democratic Senator, Doug Jones. Jones, whose state is home to one of the nation’s leading space agencies, is concerned the new branch will siphon off resources for NASA and Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville.
Jones noted Huntsville coined the moniker “Rocket City” a vital hub for engineering talent and the aerospace industry. Jones said the new Department of the Space Force could have negative consequences.
“The last thing we need to do right now is pull people from the vital work of implementing NASA’s space exploration strategies and divert federal resources away from Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery and Redstone Arsenal in my hometown of Huntsville, to create yet another bureaucracy,” Jones said.
The Air Force’s Space Command is headquartered in Colorado and overseen by a four-star general who reports to the chief of staff of the Air Force.
The president’s proposal to move the headquarters for the command to Alabama, to coincide with Mr. Trump’s announcement that he is nominating former Senator Jon Kyl to be secretary of the Air Force, could have political appeal.
But moving the headquarters would also be a major challenge given the number of people and resources that would be involved.
“It would require construction of a brand new headquarters facility,” the general said in a statement to reporters Monday. “Today’s Space Command at Peterson Air Force Base has more than 4,000 people and more than 52 deputy to – or principal director of – various staff elements.”
Mr. Mattis and his senior advisers are leading a review of whether such a sixth branch is needed. But some criticize the proposal, describing it as an unnecessary bureaucratic layer that would waste money in an era of tight budgets.
“It’s unnecessary, and it’s going to cost billions and billions of dollars to do this,” said Ellen M. Osin, a legislative specialist in defense appropriations who’s wrote “National Security, Military Spending and the Dangerous Illusion of College for All,” and is a senior fellow at the left-leaning Center for American Progress “Burdening the military with a new bureaucratic layer would put at risk its readiness, as congressional cost analysts have repeatedly confirmed.”
The idea is reminiscent of proposals made in the 1980s, when President Reagan proposed the creation of a Space Force. The proposal was met with strong opposition from lawmakers, including some in Congress from Alabama, and was ultimately rejected.
The proposed Space Force is particularly unpopular among Democrats and some members of the Republican Party, including Arizona Senator Jeff Flake, who said in a recent interview that the Space Force proposal is “ridiculous” and a waste of money.

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In a move that sparked controversy and raised questions about freedom of religion, President Trump’s administration cut funding for a United Nations agency that provides food aid to Palestinian refugees. This course of action drew criticism from the United Nations, which condemned the American action as having a ‘dangerous far-reaching impact.’
This recent funding cut by the United States is just one example of President Trump’s administration’s Christian aid policies, which have shifted the focus of foreign aid programs from secular humanitarian aid to faith-based initiatives. These policies aim to support Christian humanitarian organizations in their humanitarian work, often at the expense of other religions or secular organizations.
In this regard, President Trump’s administration’s policy approach and stance towards the United Nations’ humanitarian efforts to address global conflict, poverty, and disease is being scrutinized and criticized by the international community and a growing number of religious leaders and human rights activists.
Recent changes in the United States’ foreign aid policies have been significant. In 2017, President Trump’s administration’s budget proposed a shift in resources from foreign aid to defense and border security funds. This resulted in a 37% cut in funding for the State Department and foreign aid programs, which raised concerns about the potential negative impact on global humanitarian efforts.
Similarly, President Trump’s administration’s refugee resettlement policies have been criticized for being religiously motivated and against human rights principles. The administration has at times imposed bans on refugees from Muslim-majority countries, while in other occasions encouraging refugees who follow Christianity to settle in the United States above those of other religions.
Furthermore, the administration’s policies towards women’s and girls’ health and rights have been a source of contention, as they have weakened the funding for United Nations reproductive health and rights programs. This led to criticism from various religious and non-religious organizations that emphasized women’s right to make their own decisions regarding their own bodies.
In conclusion, President Trump’s administration’s policies towards foreign aid programs and humanitarian initiatives are reflective of a Christian aid approach that prioritizes the allocation of resources to faith-based organizations. However, these policies have been criticized for being religiously motivated, against human rights principles, and for causing negative impacts on global humanitarian efforts. The international community and religious leaders are calling for the need to reform foreign aid policies and allocate resources based on need rather than religious preference.

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This article published in the New York Times discusses the recent economic uncertainty caused by conflicting policy issues. The first quarter of the year typically experiences decreased business spending, which often signals an economic slowdown. However, this year’s uncertainty has further intensified due to political turmoil, particularly regarding trade policy and border security. Companies are delaying major investment decisions and door-stopping with lawmakers to lobby them to curb instability. The current uncertainty is comparable to previous events, such as the 1994-1995 government shutdown, and can significantly impact consumer confidence and the stock market. While optimism remains for a favorable government response in the near future, the ongoing impasse complicates policy prediction and analytical forecasting.

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Using WordPress’s tag feature, we can summarize the article “Belarus Says 3 Prisoners Swapped for U.S. Diplomat in Russia Have Been Sent Home” using a tag in the following format:

belarus us prison-exchange diplomacy russian-intervention.

In this format, each word in the title is separated by a hyphen “-” and encased in quotes. These words are selected based on the article’s main topics, where “belarus” represents the country where the three prisoners are from, “us” represents the United States, “prison-exchange” highlights the exchange of prisoners between the two nations, and “diplomacy” and “russian-intervention” indicate significant roles played by diplomacy and Russia in the exchange.

This tag can help classify and categorize the article for search and browsing functionality on WordPress, allowing readers to easily find articles with specific topics, while also accurately summarizing the article’s main points.

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The New York Times’ article, ” ‘This Is Treason of Historic Proportions’: Far Right in Germany Steps Up Attacks on Migrants,” covers the rising political tensions and violent attacks on immigrants, asylum seekers, and government-run refugee shelters in Germany. The topic is covered under the tags “politics,” “immigration,” “refugees,” “germany,” “vance,” “far right,” “amged mob,” and “munich.”

The article describes how the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party gained seats in the German Bundestag in 2017 and has since become more vocal in its opposition to migration and refugees. The party has used abusive language against Chancellor Merkel and has even called Merkel’s government the ” Traitor’s Government,” which is the title of the AfD leader’s book.

The article also reports incidents of violence, such as firebombing of refugee shelters, shooting of foreigners, and protestors across Germany. The police have reported an increase in the number of attacks against people of foreign origin. Some of the attacks have been justification by some of the perpetrators in the context of socio-economic grievances, while others have an explicitly anti-immigrant conviction.

The article concludes with a statement that these violent incidents and the political response represent a threat to Germany’s democratic structure and social stability. The far right’s rising influence threatens the Western alliance and could serve as an example for other far-right European and political groups.

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The article “In Munich, a New Shape of Europe Emerges” published in The New York Times on February 15, 2025, presents the fresh configuration of Europe, led by Germany, with the new appointment of the relative Chancellor, Isa Scholz, who emerged from the Social Democratic Party. Scholz intends to steer the continent towards a more open and synergetic business environment, and has pledged to prioritise reducing wealth disparity between native population and migrants. The topic is presented adopting a serious and formal style, with emphasis on facts rather than emotions. Meanwhile, the author offers personal opinion and interpretation through his words and phrases. The analysis shows that a new era of interdependence and cooperation is afoot for the European Union, where Germany possesses a key role due to its strengthened economic situation. However, the challenges remain significant, especially during the transition period, with countries such as Germany and the Netherlands still grappling with vaccine distribution, and Italy facing ordeal while navigating the pandemic.

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CATHERINETTE: THE QUIET FASHION ICON BRINGING HATS BACK TO LIFE
New York Times (@nytimes) – In T’s new Greats column, a tribute to the French milliner who has become a countercultural force in the world of hats.
By Alexandra Jacobs. Photographs by Simon Upton.
News | T Magazine (@tmagazine) – Stepping inside her apartment in the residential Marais neighborhood in Paris, one feels both like an unwelcome intruder and a privileged insider.
NEWS | T Magazine (@tmagazine) – Where to find unusual hotels in Italy.
TECH | WSJ (@WSJ) – Need a gift for a tech lover who has everything? Phones and tablets aren’t the only high-tech options for high-tech gifters.
TECH | T Magazine (@tmagazine) – Here’s an interactive gallery of original products aimed at enlivening your health, workspace, cooking, relaxation or leisure time.
FASHION | VOGUE (@voguemagazine) – Step inside Tom Ford’s intimate London home.
FASHION | T Magazine (@tmagazine) – A new short film, entitled “Beneath the Skin of an Impossible Dream,” imagines the evolution of an idea in the mind of a dressmaker.
TECH | OZY (@OZY) – A new solar-powered device that spins with water’s flow to transform wind into electricity.
TECH | NBC News (@NBCNews) – Cycling and beer consume calories, but they’ve also unintentionally become major greenhouse gas producers, scientists found.
POLITICS | The New York Times (@nytimes) – In the week since a decorated F.B.I. agent shot and killed a woman who had been in her bed, new details have emerged, throwing into question the account of his superiors.
POLITICS | Business Standard (@bsindia) – A student dies every two hours in India due to suicide.
The || quarterly (@the_oraclee) – The future of music: an interview with James Vincent McMorrow (@jamesvmcmorrow).
EASTERN MARKET | The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) – The Capitol Riverfront will soon have two new apartment buildings: one with a rooftop pool shaped like D.C.’s skyline, another shaped like a baseball diamond.
The latest updates, stats and news on the Microsoft cloud platform.
Intel. (@intel) – It’s terrifyingly easy to lose billions of dollars from a computer bug, which is exactly what’s happened to banks at least five times in the last decade.
THE BIG IDEA | T Magazine (@tmagazine) – ‘Driftwood’, the first feature from New York City photographer Alessandra Sanguinetti, “a new kind of family movie”, will debut at The International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam on November 24, 2017.
Education | –>Education and pedagogical methods, institutions, philosophy of education, and research and policy in areas such as literacy, technology, for…

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Victory! Extraordinary feat of survival as man survives swallow by whale in Chile
Chilean fisherman Martin Gutierrez, 44, is released from the whale that swallowed him for 12 hours before being passed into the jaws of another sea creature, this time saving him from further ordeal, prompting the rescue of both for their miraculous survival. Gutierrez, according to experts, escaped as both whales were regurgitating food. As reported by the National Geographic, this rare incident is considered an extraordinary testament of survival as whales tend to avoid any contact with humans.
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Whale is a mammal that lives in ocean and survives in water bodies of all forms. The biggest and the smallest whales are present in the world of this marine animal. The humpback wale is one of the whales from the baleen whales family, known for its ability to sing and dance in water. And what’s even more interesting is a recent incident that occurred in Chile, which seems to be far from fiction and more of a fantasy. Last month, a fisherman identified as Martin Gutierrez, 44, was swallowed by a humpback whale and remained in its stomach for 12 hours. Martin was freed after another whale passed the previous mammoth in the region. Experts say that Gutierrez survived the wild-goose experience due to being released at the point where both whales were regurgitating food.
From all available news sources, this incident is, to the best of our knowledge, the first record of a man being swallowed by a humpback whale and later regurgitated followed by a dive into the gaping orifice of another whale. But frankly, representatives at the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) confirmed the occurrence of this wild whale swallowing behavior in the past, primarily directed at other struggling sea creatures or marine debris.
NBC Universal Inc. published annual reports on The Whale’s Conservation for over 25 years now and, according to the 2016 report, the populations of most whales have shown a steady recovery since the whaling industry was banned in 1985. And after this recent event, the general public’s perception of a humpback whale, in particular, has most probably changed for the better.
In the end, what’s significant is the fact that every year there is less and less perpetration against whales all around the world, reducing the chance of even greater tragedies with humans and wildlife. And despite the fact that this situation is less than desirable and there was no methodical solution developed to guide encounter procedures, there is hope that a similar situation with another trapped man or woman, in this case, would not be as fatal.

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Eleanor Maguire, a renowned neuroscientist, has passed away at the age of 59. Maguire’s pioneering work in the field of cognitive neuroscience has led to significant understanding of the relationship between the brain and memory. Her landmark study in 1997 demonstrated that the hippocampus, a brain structure typically associated with memory, grows in response to learning. In addition, Maguire’s team discovered that regular exercise improves memory and brain function in older adults. She also contributed to the development of a technique called diffusion magnetic resonance imaging, which facilitates the tracking of connections between brain cells. Maguire’s impact on cognitive neuroscience research is evident through her creation of the London Transport Study, which has influenced researchers worldwide. Her contributions earned her numerous accolades, including an award from the British Psychological Society and a Fellowship from the Royal Society. She passed away peacefully, surrounded by her loved ones.

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music can change the world in ways nothing else can, it can leave you breathless or lift you up or move you to tears, it is the language of emotion, and there is a type of music that can elevate you to another level.
There are many kinds of music and not all of them have that profound effect on me, but it’s especially true of classical and progressive rock. That said, YES is one of my favorite bands. They are often mentioned in the same breath as Emerson Lake and Palmer, Rush, and Genesis. YES was formed in England in the mid-1960’s and has been through numerous line-up changes over the years, but their music remains compelling.
If you have the opportunity to see them live, They’re usually pretty good. I tried to catch them on a Pacific West coast tour when they came through the region a few years ago, but the tickets were sold out within minutes of going on sale. Fortunately, they have a number of recordings available, so you can experience what the act is like when they’re on stage. I’m not really a concert-goer, anyway. The best concerts I’ve ever been to are ones where I’ve been playing the music myself! In fact, you might call me a closet musician. I have a Fender Stratocaster, Gibson J-45, Ibanez RG & ESP Electric Guitars, a Hammond L-100 Organ, Les Paul Standard, a couple Fender Basses, a Gibson ES-175, and enough Tubes and Mics to fill a small closet…er, room. I’ve characterized myself as a wings-wanted-id-be-comin’ Guy thing…I’d rather be a Rock Star than a Lawyer or even a doctor – and yes, I ‘d love to be able to hit the Road and play music for a living, but I suspect that when you get to that point in life, it’s too late – you have to put in the sweat equity to make it work in the early years. So I play my Music at home and dream about becoming a real Axe-slinging ROCK Star in the Legends of Time & Rock w/ a distinctly Kiffe-Overton Flavor, all over the world. If I make it…Great! If not… Wells, I tried, right? And in that spirit, I continue to play – Dreaming of the Day when my music will be heard and appreciated.
PS…The music of YES has a distinctly Californian flavor. You can hear it in all their albums, especially their most current releases. You can hear it in songs like “Roundabout”, “Kashmir”, “Starship Trooper”, “Close to the Edge” and even in their early Jethro Tull-like stuff like “Yours is No Disgrace”, “Perpetual Change” and “Soon”. From seeds planted and grown under the California sun, YES grows to reach towards the Heavens with their original sound.
I just think, if you want to make the world a better place, follow my lead.. Here are my tips:
It is part of Universally accepted proper descriptive writing rules that you should not disparage or personally attack another organization or person in your writing unless it is attractive to do so i.e. you’re willing to get legendary status as a troll if it’s really worth it…
So 1st off Ad Agency folk without an interesting or disruptive portfolio that actually addresses an advantage that your agency has over others, then you my friend will have a very hard time of it.. So to everyone else who believes they can do superlative work, fantastic, but at least deliver something at 2am that is highly original or disruptive. That is, as far as your agency at least, no one else can do that highly original work wouldn’t EXACTLY be the same s#$t dumbed up with a bigger budget..
In other words, quantity does matter as does higher conceptual work, presence, buzz, etc. but the higher your IQ the more you do fewer highly sophisticated pieces well…not a laundry list of ANY piece of work.. I mean the most sophisticated people live in the smallest houses (house used as metaphor) i.e. a nuclear family and household etc. or some other extremely tiny house physically. Sure, the people I admire also have kids but really look at yourselves, your staff, etc. The more smart people you have, the fewer high-concep strategy and creative wins you’ll get. It’s not about quantity, it’s about nuclear quality…
So with that understood, take your clients/prospects, and put them through a highly skilled research process for them. Many in the agency community disparage it, but you’ve got to do it or you will end up making a humanitarian argument to brief them on your skills and wares. Sure, some people will get it, but everyone hates to hear about someone’s “unique selling proposition” unless they have to..
To do that, you need to often run what I call research-help-sessions, and I believe that they are often invaluable not only to agencies, their clients but are often surprising in a profound way.. Which brings me to my conclusions. The art of any brilliant process that delivers amazing insight is to “Keep it Simple” not to create a “Sophiobratic” process full of jargon ad Crud many, many, brilliant agencies are known for..
I just have to say that, in reading this very pointed and interesting article, I became so involved that the time passed by in a blur. I also must say that, to a large extent, this effort strikes me, at least, as the act of a highly creative man. The author effectively employs a wide variety of writing styles and situations to get his points across. He also manages to stimulate a variety of emotions in his readers.
I would, however, warn you that you had better be careful if you publish this kind of material. You will antagonize a great many people who, for better or worse, have the ability to visit unholy vengeance upon you for ‘daring’ to publish something to which they object. That is to say, you should be aware that there are individuals out there who will do what they can to stop you from writing anything else forever.
All in all, however, with this article, you managed to avoid that fate. You wrote something that I felt was a valuable and honest attempt to discuss a complex and thought-provoking set of issues in a medium that usually receives very little attention and even less respect.
Volere lo facciam.
#dailyOM Post of the Day on The Artistry of Writing may cause symptoms from radiation sickness in some segments of the population.
I love writing and suggesting meaningful solutions involving the improvement of current media & technology.
Avid writing lover and wordsmith. Thought leadership engager with wow impact.

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