Can Big Balls and Capt. John Konrad save America?
Capt. Konrad will break down the Gulf of America name change; the push for Greenland; trade wars with Canada and Mexico; Gaza; the Red Sea conflict; whether DOGE will audit agencies like the Federal Maritime Commission and the Department of Transportation; and more.
Plus, 'Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2' review, how much it costs when a truck hits a traffic light and more.
Catch new shows live at noon EDT Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays on FreightWaves LinkedIn, Facebook, X or YouTube, or on demand by looking up WHAT THE TRUCK?!? on your favorite podcast player and at 5 p.m. Eastern on SiriusXM's Road Dog Trucking Channel 146.Watch on YouTube
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The post Can Big Balls and Capt. John Konrad save America? | WHAT THE TRUCK?!? appeared first on FreightWaves.
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Fox News
29 minutes ago
- Fox News
DAVID MARCUS: Trump understands that safety is for every citizen, not just the lucky few
For decades, Washington, D.C. has been synonymous with crime, murder, and more recently vagrancy, but this week, President Donald Trump is taking a page from an ancient political playbook and looking to finally clean up our nation's capital. "Salus Populi Suprema Lex Est," wrote Marcus Tullius Cicero over 2,000 years ago. It roughly means, "the safety of the people should be the supreme law," and the safety of the ancient Roman citizen, at least for a while, was almost unquestioned. Trump wants Americans to feel just as safe as they live in or visit the seat of our great democracy. Democrats' immediate reaction to Trump's common-sense plan to fight crime in D.C. by surging federal resources and approaches was to play deaf, dumb and blind to the plight of residents, citing statistics that show a recent drop in an already sky-high crime rate. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., perhaps from his Whites only beach club, took to X to claim that this use of the Home Rule act was only triggered by an assault on a DOGE team member. He conveniently left out the two Israeli embassy staff workers recently murdered in cold blood, the congressional aide killed by mistake in a drive-by, and the rise of 15-year-old carjackers. Meanwhile, Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., taking time off from his TikTok movie productions, posted several examples of crime in D.C. this week with the insane comment, "Trump owns it." One of these crimes, a murder, took place on Monday, just hours after Trump's anti-crime announcement. Setting aside the congressman's heartless glee in snarking at the president over the murder of an innocent, his ridiculous attack on Trump at least admits that, yes, crime is a big problem in Washington, D.C., one that will finally be tackled. Nobody likes crime, and nobody likes being told they are just imagining it. This is yet another example of Trump's incendiary common sense, by which he does something outlandish, like taking over the D.C. police department, to outrage from opponents who a day later have to admit, OK, yeah, crime is bad. Public safety is a gut issue, and it is also the foundation of all other blessings of good government. This is why Cicero called it supreme. Everyone in D.C. either knows, or has been, a victim or witness of a crime. You can't show them statistics and pretend everything is fine. Opponents of crime prevention display graphs that say the crime rate is down 30 percent this year, but from an already staggeringly high level that has been ignored for years. This is like a guy who loses his entire year's salary playing blackjack. He can likely circle a few weekends when he won big, but he still needs to call Gambler's Anonymous. The obvious model for Trump's anti-crime action in D.C. is the success of Rudy Giuliani in the 1990s in New York City, who slashed violent crime with almost impossible speed. He accomplished this by embracing new police tactics like Compstat crime computing, stop and frisk, and broken windows policing that focuses on smaller quality of life crimes. And the benefits of this miraculous turnaround were not limited to Gotham. Indeed, other cities across America used these innovations to lower crime nationwide. Trump and his administration have the chance to do the same thing with their D.C. efforts, by actually punishing juvenile crime, by seeking to end cashless bail, and by clearing out drug users and vagrants from D.C. parks, national trends could be set. One Democrat who has taken the high road, more or less, amid this takeover by Trump is D.C.'s Mayor Muriel Bowser, who knows exactly how bad crime in D.C. is, having put in place a juvenile curfew just this week, and she has shown an open mind to the endeavor. Traditionally, the Latin word "salus," in the famous quote from Cicero above, means safety, but the word, derived from the Goddess Salus, can also mean health, well-being and prosperity, because, as the ancients knew, all of these are of a piece. Donald Trump envisages a gleaming capital city where even at 2 am one can walk freely, admiring the moon atop the Washington monument in the big skies of D.C., and not just in D.C., but in all American cities. So, let the Democrats hoot and holler a little more if they must. Most Americans are hopeful about this move by the president. Nobody likes crime, and nobody likes being told they are just imagining it. Salus Populi Suprema Lex Est, the primacy of safety is as true today as when it was coined in the days before Christ, and whether he succeeds or fails, Donald Trump is going to try to provide that safety. It should be an effort we can all get behind and support.
Fast Company
an hour ago
- Fast Company
Russia restricts WhatsApp and Telegram calls
Russian authorities announced Wednesday they were 'partially' restricting calls in messaging apps Telegram and WhatsApp, the latest step in an effort to tighten control over the internet. In a statement, government media and internet regulator Roskomnadzor justified the measure as necessary for fighting crime, saying that 'according to law enforcement agencies and numerous appeals from citizens, foreign messengers Telegram and WhatsApp have become the main voice services used to deceive and extort money, and to involve Russian citizens in sabotage and terrorist activities.' The regulator also alleged that 'repeated requests to take countermeasures have been ignored by the owners of the messengers.' There was no immediate comment from either platform. Russian authorities have long engaged in a deliberate and multi-pronged effort to rein in the internet. Over the years, they have adopted restrictive laws and banned websites and platforms that won't comply. Technology has been perfected to monitor and manipulate online traffic. While it's still possible to circumvent restrictions by using virtual private network services, those are routinely blocked, too. Authorities further restricted internet access this summer with widespread shutdowns of cellphone internet connections. Officials have insisted the measure was needed to thwart Ukrainian drone attacks, but experts argued it was another step to tighten internet control. Russia's Digital Development and Communications Ministry said this month that along with internet providers, it was working on a 'white list' of essential websites and services users could access during shutdowns. In Crimea, which Moscow illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014, Russian-installed officials said Wednesday that shutdowns of cellphone internet may last indefinitely. The government adopted a law last month punishing users for searching for content they deem illicit and threatened to go after WhatsApp — one of the most popular platforms in the country — while rolling out a new 'national' messaging app that's widely expected to be heavily monitored. Reports that calls were being disrupted in WhatsApp and Telegram appeared in Russian media earlier this week, with users complaining about calls not going through or not being able to hear each other speak. According to Russian media monitoring service Mediascope, WhatsApp in July was the most popular platform in Russia, with over 96 million monthly users. Telegram, with more than 89 million users, came a close second. Both platforms had their run-ins with the Russian authorities in the past. The Kremlin tried to block Telegram between 2018-20 but failed. After Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the government blocked major social media like Facebook and Instagram, and outlawed their parent company, Meta, that also owns WhatsApp, as extremist. In July, lawmaker Anton Gorelkin said WhatsApp 'should prepare to leave the Russian market,' and a new 'national' messenger, MAX, developed by Russian social media company VK, would take its place. MAX, promoted as a one-stop shop for messaging, online government services, making payments and more, was rolled out for beta tests but has yet to attract a wide following. Over 2 million people registered by July, the Tass news agency reported. Its terms and conditions say it will share user data with authorities upon request, and a new law stipulates its preinstallation in all smartphones sold in Russia. State institutions, officials and businesses are actively encouraged to move communications and blogs to MAX. The Digital Development and Communications Ministry said access to calls via WhatsApp and Telegram may be reinstated if the platforms 'comply with Russian legislation.' It clarified that the partial restrictions, announced by Roskomnadzor, applied only to audio calls.
Washington Post
3 hours ago
- Washington Post
Russia restricts calls via WhatsApp and Telegram, the latest step to control the internet
Russian authorities announced Wednesday they were 'partially' restricting calls in messaging apps Telegram and WhatsApp, the latest step in an effort to tighten control over the internet . In a statement, government media and internet regulator Roskomnadzor justified the measure as necessary for fighting crime, saying that 'according to law enforcement agencies and numerous appeals from citizens, foreign messengers Telegram and WhatsApp have become the main voice services used to deceive and extort money, and to involve Russian citizens in sabotage and terrorist activities.'
