Trump thinks Norway decides the Nobel Peace Prize!

Sorry but Trump is an idiot. There are many signs, the latest of which is his letter to the Norwegian president, Jonas Gahr Stoere, that he has given up on peace missions and now will concentrate on American interests which at this juncture means invading Greenland!! 😱😢 He's mad and some (many) American politicians think that he is losing his mind.

Trump is acting like an emotionally hurt 10-year-old child who petulantly demands something.

Here is the letter  - the 'moanings of a petulant child' as described by a news reporter on Sky News.

Dear Jonas:

Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace, although it will always be predominant, but can now think about what is good and proper for the United States of America. Denmark cannot protect that land from Russia or China, and why do they have a “right of ownership” anyway? There are no written documents, it’s only that a boat landed there hundreds of years ago, but we had boats landing there, also. I have done more for NATO than any other person since its founding, and now, NATO should do something for the United States. The World is not secure unless we have Complete and Total Control of Greenland.

Thank you!

President DJT

Stoere said he had repeatedly told Trump that the Norwegian Nobel Committee, which awards the peace prize, ‍was independent and that Norway's government had no control over it. As if he needed to be told that! He did and he did not listen. Trump is known to be a poor listener because he likes to deliver monologues to all and sundry.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins. Also, sources for news articles are carefully selected but the news is often not independently verified. And, I rely on scientific studies but they are not 100% reliable. Finally, (!) I often express an OPINION on the news. Please share yours in a comment.

3 suggested European responses to Trump's Greenland tariffs

It pays to read The Times letters to the editor. This is something I've learned over the years because a lot of really clever and sensible people write to The Times. A lot of their letters don't get published but the ones that get through the vetting procedure are often very good and in this instance we have three interesting and I would argue good suggestions for how Europe can respond to Donald Trump's Greenland tariffs namely a 10% uplift to the tariff currently applied to the UK and Europe on first February and a further 25% uplift in June if European countries don't comply with his request to own Greenland.

The first suggestion comes from Professor Costas Milas of the University of Liverpool. He suggests that European countries should withdraw their national football teams from this summer's FIFA World Cup which is being held mainly in the United States. It's believed that it will bring $9.6 billion to the US economy and it would be an enormous embarrassment to Trump and the American government if this upcoming World Cup was so catastrophically damaged by mass withdrawal of European teams. That may force Trump's hand. He may become more reasonable. At the moment Trump is being highly unreasonable and his demands are simply untenable. No European country would agree to allow him to simply move into Greenland and own the island to plunder minerals which I believe is his main purpose and for personal financial gain as well I would argue.

The second suggestion comes from Colin Kennedy from Suffolk in the UK. He argues that "Europe should respond graciously and politely to the US president by stating that the leases on all US military facilities in Europe will attract a similar tariff to the one he is imposing from February 1. If payment is not forthcoming then the US should be asked to vacate all such facilities without exception.

Finally, the third suggestion comes from Simon Brown KC living in Stevington, Bedfordshire, UK. He writes this: 

"We have a powerful response available. President Trump has interests in Scotland that are close to his heart: Turnberry golf club and Trump International near Aberdeen. Sequestration and nationalisation of them by the Scottish government would deter him and would be for the public benefit and well-being.

The last suggestion would certainly hurt Trump personally. He is very fond of Scotland. We know he is addicted to golf notwithstanding the fact that he cheats and lies about his accomplishments on the golf course. That's his style. His lying is transparent when it comes to golf and his golf swing isn't that great either.

This last suggestion is very personal which I think is appropriate because he often makes things very personal. When he talks about world leaders he discusses whether they are a nice person or not. He speaks of their character. I think this is inappropriate because discussions between world leaders are about achievements not about personal characteristics. It's about doing business pragmatically and sensibly. It's inappropriate to talk about the person's character and whether you like them or not.

In any case, Trump needs to be pushed hard. Europe must stand up and show courage and a backbone. Starmer was weak before Trump in the past. He was obsequious towards him. He was a poodle towards the president and now the president is jerking Starmer around like a lapdog on a lead. Starmer asked for that. We must stand up and do the right thing and if the consequences are uncomfortable then so be it.

At the end of the day, Trump respects strong characters (look at how he talks about Vladimir Putin for instance) and is therefore more likely to listen to them and come to an agreement with strong characters.

Europeans have been heavily criticised by J.D. Vance for being weak and instigating sloppy policies. Let's see Europeans including the UK stop being weak. Let's see them beat Donald Trump at his own game.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins. Also, sources for news articles are carefully selected but the news is often not independently verified. And, I rely on scientific studies but they are not 100% reliable. Finally, (!) I often express an OPINION on the news. Please share yours in a comment.

Hand operated cat elevator loved by the cat

These are not that uncommon particularly, it seems, in continental Europe. Perhaps more common in Eastern Europe. I am unsure. But I have seen a lot of these. It is a very simple solution to letting you cat go outside when living on the 3rd floor! 

Cat elevator hand operated. Screenshot.

I guess he could have put a cat flap in the front door of his apartment but I am sure there is a front door to the apartment block which makes a cat flap unworkable. There is some risk. What if the cat is spooked by a sudden noise on the ground and jumps out of the bag halfway up the building and lands awkwardly? Just a thought.

Nice to see the cat enjoy it. He asks for the elevator all the time apparently. Proof that full-time (FT) indoor cats are bored and don't like it. I am not saying that letting a cat outside unsupervised is great either. See where I'm going? FT inside is not optimal and neither is indoor/outside unsupervised.

Cat domestication is no longer optimal. Double tap the video to see it full screen!

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

The first domestic cats of Europe in Poland lived off mice and voles

In confirmation of currently accepted fact that the first domestic cats in existence some 10k years ago were effectively working cats living on farms and feeding on mice and other rodents in the Fertile Crescent (this area includes Syria), a study on the first domestic cats in Europe, in Poland, found that they lived the same lifestyle. They studied domestic cat remains dated to 4200-2300 BC and confirmed through isotopic evidence that they preyed upon mice and voles. In their own words this is the conclusion:

Archeological dig in Europe researching early domestic cats (believed). Photo: Magdalena Krajcarz

"The isotopic signature of Late Neolithic NE cats suggests that they were free-living, not dependent on a human-produced food, and preyed upon synanthropic mice and voles (i.e., crop pests). The NE cats shared their isotopic niche with European wildcats although the native subspecies utilized a much broader niche than the NE cats did."

Note: the late Neolithic period varies depending upon which part of the world one is referring to but in Poland it is the dates as specified above. It is interesting that they decided that the cats were free-living. This meant that they lived side-by-side with people not in the classic domestic cat relationship. They appear to have been more like barn cats. The word "synanthropic" refers to animals or plants that live near and benefit from an association with human beings and the artificial habitats the people create around themselves.

These cats were imported by traders from the Middle East and lived in a country were there was an abundance of European wildcats who lived on a similar diet.

The study: Ancestors of domestic cats in Neolithic Central Europe: Isotopic evidence of a synanthropic diet. It is published on PNAS.