Apparently the alligators ate Wednesday's blog. Actually it was another one of those blogger anomalies where I was pretty sure I closed one window, finished the blog on a different system, go back to first system and the blog entry is open, but without the updates I did on the other system and then blogger saves over the completed file.
"'Bat poo is highly informative, and especially so in the tropics, where the climate can make some of the more traditional modes of investigation less available,' Dr. Wurster said… A three-metre pile of bat faeces at Salah Cave in Borneo gave the researchers a 40,000-year-old record composed of insect skeletons." Sort of like a biological ice-core.
One of the problems with a warming planet… "The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed a girl in Delaware was bitten by a 'kissing bug,' ABC News reported… Formally known as Triatomine bugs, the blood-sucking insects can 'spread a deadly disease called Chagas,' with a bite, McClatchy reported."
"One in five adult Americans carry student loan debt. The issue returned to the headlines this week, when Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts proposed canceling this debt for more than 40 million Americans. Here's a look at the landscape."
This rabbit hole looks fun. "Political tension mounted in Sri Lanka on Wednesday over the handling of advance intelligence related to Easter Sunday’s suicide bombings, with an ally of the prime minister charging that top officials deliberately withheld critical information."
"White supremacist John William King, whose gruesome murder of James Byrd Jr. changed how the U.S. prosecutes hate crimes, was put to death Wednesday in Texas. The execution by lethal injection was carried out 21 years after King, in his early twenties at the time, and two other white men killed 49-year-old Byrd, who is black, in Jasper, Texas." While I believe the death penalty is too easily given in the US, I'm not troubled by my support in this case.
"Russian President Vladimir Putin said that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un wants to denuclearize but needs 'security guarantees' to do so… Speaking after a high-profile summit with Kim, Putin said Russia favored denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula and Kim agreed, but said bilateral security guarantees were not enough." This president doesn't agree with multi-lateral negotiations, and the North Korean version of "security guarantees" includes the US disarming. But what might be interesting is that Putin just upstaged Trump, and we will now see if Trump's fragile ego will overcome his deference to Putin.
"After hours of debate, the Florida House on Wednesday passed along party lines its version of a bill implementing Amendment 4, which was supposed to restore the right to vote to more than a million former felons… The 71-45 vote sets up a potential dispute with the Senate over whether court fines, fees and restitution should be required before felons can vote."
It's all fun and games until someone goes to jail. "'I’m angry,' Bridget Kelly, Christie’s former deputy chief of staff for legislative and intergovernmental affairs, told The Washington Post before a judge sentenced her to 13 months in prison. 'I think that he knew that I would be an easy target, and I’m wildly disappointed. I’m so angry at myself for trusting these people. I’m so angry at myself for not asking more questions. I find it really unfortunate.'" Won't get fooled again.
"U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced Wednesday that it is offering a 5 percent pay bump to agents willing to stay on the job another year as the agency grapples with a surge in families crossing the U.S.-Mexico border."
"From Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats cautioning that the 'warning lights are blinking red again' to reports that someone has launched a disinformation campaign to target 2020 Democrats, all signs point to the security of American elections once again being at risk… And yet, according to the Times, the Trump administration has hit a major road block in its attempts to address the issue: the president’s fragile ego." Waves to my Russian friends. You know, not even W made me shout, "Tell the president to go fuck himself" as many times in 8 years as I have done in just the past year. (Grokked from Michele)
"After months of deliberation, former Vice President Joe Biden on Thursday announced his decision to run for president for a third time, answering one of the biggest outstanding questions about the makeup of the 2020 race… Biden framed the 2020 race as a 'battle for the soul of this nation.'" Uncle Joe throws his hat in the ring. I am typically of the mindset that the Greatest Generation and the Boomers need to sit the fuck down, but maybe Biden could have a greater stabilizing effect on the race (or even the Presidency).
"The Democratic chairman of the House Oversight Committee accused the Trump administration of a 'massive, unprecedented, and growing pattern of obstruction' for ordering federal employees not to comply with congressional investigations."
So, could someone please inform the President that if he is impeached that SCOTUS sits in the Senate as the judge of the proceedings. Cause I think he's confused on this issue.
No comments:
Post a Comment