pelespirit

A Donald Trump-appointed official accused of leaking hundreds of racist, private text messages sent by the party’s youngest leaders is believed to have acted after a major bust-up over a photo-op with the president.

Wax, the former president of the New York Young Republican Club, is under fire despite not being in the chat at all. Multiple sources with knowledge of the matter told the Daily Beast that the 31-year-old obtained and leaked the messages to settle a longstanding feud with Peter Giunta, the former chair of the New York State Republican Club, who was implicated in the report.

Sources close to Giunta told the Daily Beast that “a miscommunication” resulted in Wax being left out of the photo with Trump, for which he blamed Giunta, 31.

It wasn’t until this year—while Giunta was running on a pro-Trump slate to lead the Young Republican National Federation—that he discovered Wax had never fully recovered from the incident, and was allegedly enacting revenge through support for Giunta’s opponent, Hayden Padgett.

“It’s just stupidity at this point,” the source said. “It’s a race, a race to see who destroys who first. And it’s just really disgusting.”

But those close to Wax, who declined to comment for this story, vehemently denied he was the leaker and insisted he was made the fall guy because of his feud with Giunta.

Some MAGA supporters who paid for Donald Trump watches are seriously ticked off. The majority of reviews for GetTrumpWatches on Trustpilot give the company just one star, with some people complaining that it is a “scam.”

The timepieces are made by TheBestWatchesonEarth LLC and range from $499 to $2,999 per watch, or $5,389 for the “Ultra Mega Collector Set.” The president has been criticized for hawking them on cable TV as a government shutdown drags on over healthcare funding.

On Jan. 8 Lemme be Frank, from Switzerland—a country famed for its watches—wrote, “Absolutely horrible customer service. Do not buy any of these garbage products. Avoid like the plague!!”

Chicago’s viral ‘Rat Hole’ is less rat splat, more squirrel squish.

Researchers determined it was probably a squirrel that left a rodent-shaped impression in the concrete of the Windy City. Their new study, published October 15 in Biology Letters, borrowed paleontological tools to analyze the bizarre and beloved local landmark.

Michael Granatosky, an evolutionary biomechanics researcher at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, was motivated to study the decades-old imprint shortly after artist Winslow Dumaine posted about the site in 2024. Dubbed Splatatouille, the Chicago Rat Hole quickly became a viral sensation, with visitors to the city’s Roscoe Village neighborhood leaving coins, flowers and other paraphernalia before the slab was moved to City Hall. Despite Chicago’s status as the “rattiest city in America,” the culprit has long been questioned.

“So several times a year we’re taking these potshots at people on the Earth and fortunately so far missing. So far we’ve been very lucky, but it won’t last.”

Deorbiting Starlink satellites may not pose a risk to people, but Dr McDowell said they may still prove problematic.

Scientists are still trying to understand what impact this rate of deorbits might have on the Earth’s atmosphere.

The variety of metal-organic frameworks scientists can concoct are seemingly endless; so are their applications. Such structures can collect water from air, conjuring potable liquid in the desert. They can capture greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide expelled from industrial plants. They can extract forever chemicals known as PFAS from water and recover rare earth elements from waste, Ramström said. “The list goes on and on and on.”

This year’s award “highlights chemistry’s greatest strength: the ability to design and build molecular structures that address global challenges,” American Chemical Society president Dorothy Phillips said in a statement.

A violin that once belonged to one of history's best known scientists has sold at auction for £860,000.

The 1894 Zunterer violin is believed to have been Einstein's first and was initially expected to fetch around £300,000 when it went under the hammer at Dominic Winter Auctioneers in South Cerney, Gloucestershire.

A philosophy book that Einstein gifted to a friend also sold for £2,200.

All prices will have an extra 26.4% commission added on top, meaning the final price for the violin will be above £1m.

Auctioneers believe that once the commission is added the sale could be the highest ever for a violin that was not previously owned by a concert violinist or made by Stradivarius - with the previous record being held by an instrument that was likely played on the Titanic.

The family of Mae Moore, a California resident who died at age 88 in 2021, sued the company the same year, claiming J&J's talc baby powder products contained asbestos fibers that caused her rare cancer. The jury late on Monday ordered J&J to pay $16 million in compensatory damages and $950 million in punitive damages, according to court filings.

When a health insurance company refuses to pay for treatment, most people begrudgingly accept the decision.

Few patients appeal; some don’t trust the insurer to reverse its own decision.

But a little-known process that requires insurers and plans to seek an independent opinion outside their walls can force insurers to pay for what can be lifesaving treatment. External reviews are one of the industry’s best-kept secrets, and only a tiny fraction of those eligible actually use them.