A fast history of punk legends The Damned. Includes: spit, vomit, cider, sulphate, haunted mansions, and "serious amounts of lunacy".

The Trump administration celebrated the increase in manufacturing jobs during President Donald Trump’s first full month in office as the February job report was released on Friday.  The report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics found that 151,000 jobs were added to the economy in February, including 10,000 new manufacturing jobs. Federal government jobs declined by 10,000 as the Trump administration has pushed to slash the size of the government bureaucracy.  “In one month under President Trump, the American economy is soaring back to greatness after the economic calamity left by Joe Biden,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said. “The manufacturing industry is already rebounding as there were 9,000 new auto jobs created — the most auto jobs added in 15 months!” “Under President Trump, the private sector is leading the way — 93% of the job gains in February were in the private sector. This is great news for American workers and families. The Trump Administration will continue to work hard to implement pro-growth policies and push Congress to enact the Trump Economic Agenda,” she added.  The White House said that the report was a “swift turnaround” from the Biden administration, saying that 111,000 manufacturing jobs were lost in Biden’s final year in office.  The report found that most growth was in the health care, transportation, warehouse, social assistance, and financial industries. The unemployment rate was at around 4.1%, a slight uptick from January.  The overall job group was 19,000 less than the 170,000 increase that had been predicted by the Dow Jones. The most notable decline was in federal government jobs, which comes as Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency has pushed cuts across the sprawling federal bureaucracy. Heritage Foundation economist E.J. Antoni noted that job growth increased most among native-born Americans. “​​Well, that was a fast reversal – for the 1st time in 15 months, annual job growth among native-born Americans exceeded that of foreign-born workers; still a long way to go, but a very good start,” he said.  Well, that was a fast reversal – for the 1st time in 15 months, annual job growth among native-born Americans exceeded that of foreign-born workers; still a long way to go, but a very good start: pic.twitter.com/VNFuM3eHAP — E.J. Antoni, Ph.D. (@RealEJAntoni) March 7, 2025 The report from the bureau added that revisions had been made to the previous months’ jobs reports, including an upward revision of 16,000 in December and a downward revision of 18,000 in January.

On Friday, President Donald Trump will host a cryptocurrency summit, illuminating the reversal of fortune the cryptocurrency has witnessed from the days it was hounded by the Biden administration. David Sacks, Trump’s AI and crypto czar, will host the meeting. “It’s really extraordinary and gratifying to go from being in exile to being in the room where it happens,” Faryar Shirzad, chief policy officer for Coinbase, stated before the meeting. On Thursday, Trump issued an executive order creating a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. He wrote, “Bitcoin is the original cryptocurrency.  The Bitcoin protocol permanently caps the total supply of bitcoin (BTC) at 21 million coins, and has never been hacked. … Because there is a fixed supply of BTC, there is a strategic advantage to being among the first nations to create a strategic bitcoin reserve.  The United States Government currently holds a significant amount of BTC, but has not implemented a policy to maximize BTC’s strategic position as a unique store of value in the global financial system.  Just as it is in our country’s interest to thoughtfully manage national ownership and control of any other resource, our Nation must harness, not limit, the power of digital assets for our prosperity.” “The Reserve will be capitalized with Bitcoin owned by the federal government that was forfeited as part of criminal or civil asset forfeiture proceedings,” David Sacks, Trump’s AI and crypto czar, wrote on X. “This means it will not cost taxpayers a dime. It is estimated that the U.S. government owns about 200,000 bitcoin; however, there has never been a complete audit. The E.O. directs a full accounting of the federal government’s digital asset holdings. The U.S. will not sell any bitcoin deposited into the Reserve. It will be kept as a store of value. The Reserve is like a digital Fort Knox for the cryptocurrency often called “digital gold.” Premature sales of bitcoin have already cost U.S. taxpayers over $17 billion in lost value. Now the federal government will have a strategy to maximize the value of its holdings.” On January 23, Trump issued an executive order titled “Strengthening American Leadership in Digital Financial Technology” to “support the responsible growth and use of digital assets. The order stated that the “digital asset industry plays a crucial role in innovation and economic development in the United States,” adding that federal agencies were prohibited from “undertaking any action to establish, issue, or promote CBDCs (central bank digital currencies)” anywhere in the world. The order revoked President Biden’s March 2022 Executive Order 14067, titled “Ensuring Responsible Development of Digital Assets,” and also directed the Secretary of the Treasury to “immediately revoke” the Biden Administration’s “Framework for International Engagement on Digital Assets,” issued on July 7, 2022.

Seven people have been indicted for the torture and killing of a trans-identified female, including members of the LGBT community. All seven were charged with the first-degree murder of 24-year-old trans-identified female Sam Nordquist and face life without parole, News 10 reported. They were also charged with second-degree murder, kidnapping, and conspiracy. One of the seven suspects, Precious Arzuaga, is also charged with coercion after it was discovered she allegedly forced two children – aged 7 and 12 – to participate in the torture. “Our state no longer has the death penalty but prior to the death penalty being struck down, this would have been a death penalty charge,”  Assistant District Attorney Kelly Wolford said after the indictment on Wednesday, according to News 10. “It’s heartbreaking. We have a seven-year-old and a 12-year-old who are also victims,” Wolford added. “They may have been forced to participate, but their lives are forever changed by what they saw and endured in there.” No one has been charged with a hate crime because at least some of the suspects are members of the LGBTQ community. Wolford added that the group “physically restrained” Nordquist, forced the victim “to obey their commands” and treated Nordquist “like a dog.” They allegedly covered Nordquist’s “face with towels and shirts and fabric” and poured bleach on the victim. Arzuaga, 38; Jennifer A. Quijano, 30; Kyle Sage, 33; Patrick A. Goodwin, 30; and Emily Motyka, 19, have all been charged in connection to Nordquist’s death, New York State police announced on February 12. Two more people, Thomas Eaves, 21, and Kimberly Socchia, 29, were charged a week later, News 10 reported. The group is believed to have physically abused Nordquist between December 2024 and February 2025, resulting in death. Nordquist also appears to have been sexually assaulted. “We urge the community not to speculate into the motive behind the murder as we work to find justice for Sam,” State Police and Ontario County District Attorney James Ritts said in a statement following the initial arrests, according to The New York Times. “At this time, we have no indication that Sam’s murder was a hate crime.” Nordquist was reported missing by family on February 9, months after Nordquist left home in Minnesota for New York. Family members requested a welfare check, and Nordquist’s body was discovered in a field in Yates County. Nordquist had been staying at a motel in Hopewell, along with Arzuaga, who has been charged in the murder. “In my 20-year law-enforcement career, this is one of the most horrific crimes I have ever investigated,” Captain Kelly Swift said at a press conference in February.