"China has released photos of the dark side of the moon from its successful mission to become the first country to land a spacecraft on the moon's far side." Congrats, China.
"NASA's New Horizons probe buzzed the outer solar-system object early on New Year's morning, making the first flyby of such a primitive object. Because 2014 MU69 has remained virtually untouched since the birth of the solar system 4.5 billion years ago, it can reveal new details about that era. Already the first puzzling photos are helping to prove models of the early solar system."
How goes Brexit? "Britain is scheduled to leave the European Union at end of March but, as the country's deadline for departure creeps ever closer, what will actually happen on that day remains far from certain."
How go the Trade Wars? Remember when the president said we were working with China to negotiate a new trade deal? "China has set a date for a new round of talks with the United States aimed at ending a trade war that is spooking global markets and hurting businesses." Now, yes, there have probably been low level talks, but these negotiations are what you normally discuss, not the "deputy assistants to the Deputy Secretary" level of talks.
"The economy ended the year by adding a much-stronger-than-expected 312,000 jobs in December — the biggest gain in 10 months, the Labor Department said Friday… Meanwhile, the unemployment rate jumped to 3.9 percent — the highest rate since August — as more people felt confident enough to quit their jobs and look for new ones." Huh, I'm pretty close to the average wage of $27.48 an hour (one over, one under).
"Liberty University president Jerry Falwell Jr. on Tuesday gave an interview to the Washington Post about the relationship between evangelical Christians and President Donald Trump — and it’s loaded with logical howlers, factual inaccuracies, and just plain gibberish." No, Junior has never read the Bible. All he's interested in is power. Just like his dad. (Grokked from Chuck Wendig)
"Hackers have released private data linked to Chancellor Angela Merkel and hundreds of other German politicians in the biggest data dump of its kind in the country… 'The perpetrators want to erode trust in our democracy and in our institutions,' German Justice Minister Katarina Barley said, according to news agency DPA. 'Criminals and their backers must not be allowed to dictate debate in our nation.'"
"Despite campaigning on a pledge to save the dirtiest of fossil fuels, President Donald Trump has presided over a faster rate of coal plant retirements in his first two years than President Barack Obama saw in his entire first term." (Grokked from Chip Dawes)
"House Democrats on Thursday approved a legislative package aimed at ending the partial government shutdown, while rejecting President Donald Trump's demand for additional funding for a border wall, despite a White House veto threat."
"Within hours of gaveling in the new Congress, House Democrats passed two bills aimed at reopening the government, including one that’s identical to legislation the Senate unanimously approved in December to extend funding for the Department of Homeland Security through February 8. The other measure included bipartisan, full-year appropriations bills for eight other federal departments. Both cleared the House with some bipartisan support, as a handful of Republicans broke with their leadership to vote yes." And yet the Atlantic frames this as a slow start and failure.
"With the partial government shutdown closing in on two weeks and no end in sight, Mitch McConnell says Democrats are privately urging him to help find a way out of the impasse." Yes, Majority Leader McConnell won't bring up the fund bill that passed the Senate on a unanimous voice vote last month because the Democrats control the House.
"A former kitchen employee at one of President Trump’s golf clubs in New Jersey said her superiors kept her name and those of other undocumented workers off a list of people to be vetted by the Secret Service before a Trump visit to the club in 2016." Managers who hire undocumented immigrants always know. These, "Oh, they showed me (forged documents)," or "We outsource our hiring" arguments are always bullshit. And this is the president's own business committing fraud. (Grokked from Michele)
"Seated at the head of his long board room table, Trump turned to the Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and began griping about the state of his administration's nominees, whom he complained were languishing without votes, according to an account from two people in the room… As the men… began arguing, Trump reached into his jacket pocket to retrieve a sheet of paper: the 'great letter' from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un he had brandished to reporters earlier in the day… 'Read this,' he instructed Schumer, before flinging the document over the table in the senator's direction." I've seen this tactic by other idiots who have power. So how does this letter relate to their conversation? My guess is Kim was flattering, and Trump just wanted Schumer to know how well regarded he is by a dictator, or something (maybe Kim urged Trump to act more dictatorially and it was a threat). Maybe the letter said how without Trump the Koreas would have been at war (which was unlikely). But despite the conservative call for "negotiations" it doesn't sound like the president is negotiating. Also, presidential nominations can't be filibustered anymore. Schumer is the minority leader, the majority can (and has been, see earlier links about justice approvals) move forward with nominations. It's just that the people he nominates are embarrassingly incompetent and corrupt.
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