"A brewing storm system is posing a new threat to the northern islands of the Bahamas hit hard by Hurricane Dorian, and meteorologists say it could likely become a tropical storm over the weekend." Oh look at the cone of concern. It looks awfully familiar.
Our Lafferty's I Should Be Writing podcast with NaNoWriMo prep (and some tools to help).
John Scalzi's Whatever is 21. Congrats, John. Have a burrito. Now get back to work on that novel.
"'Lovers of Modena' skeletons holding hands were both men… Researchers believe pair might have been siblings, cousins or soldiers who died together". It would be an easy exercise to use this as another example of western beliefs and sexual taboos coloring the interpretation, but much of the world also doesn't hold to those values (and neither did the Romans). It is quite possible these are siblings, cousins or soldiers… but then that also doesn't negate them being lovers as well. And that this (so far) is the only grave found with a same sex burial this way, I would say most likely they were lovers. (Grokked from Deborah Beale)
"On a dirt road past rows of date trees, just feet from a dry section of Colorado River, a small construction crew is putting up a towering border wall that the government hopes will reduce — for good — the flow of immigrants who cross the U.S.-Mexico border illegally." I'll note this isn't new miles of barrier wall, they're just replacing lower barriers.
"The company that owned the mine, Blackjewel, had failed to pay the miners for their work, and, in turn, the miners had pledged to block the coal train until they got the money they were due. They were still waiting." But sure, let's not tax the billionaires because that would be "stealing." (Grokked from Laura J Mixon)
"A man checking out aerial views of his former Florida neighborhood on Google Earth helped officials discover the skeleton of a man missing for more than 20 years."
"An Ohio woman accused of killing her newborn daughter and burying her in her Carlisle backyard has been found guilty of abuse of a corpse… Brooke Skylar Richardson, 20, was found not guilty of aggravated murder, involuntary manslaughter and child endangerment."
How goes Brexit? "John Bercow has vowed 'creativity' in Parliament if Boris Johnson ignores a law designed to stop a no-deal Brexit… The Commons Speaker also said in a speech that the only possible Brexit was one backed by MPs." Never piss off a parliamentarian.
How go the Trade Wars? "Many of the president's top economic officials are trying to resurrect the terms they previously were negotiating with China, a deal officials said was '90 percent' done before a sudden impasse this summer, according to a person familiar with the discussions." So, back to square one then. I wonder when the markets will figure that out?
"Walt Disney Co., which became a dominant player in television production with its acquisition of Fox assets earlier this year, is pushing to transform how TV show creators are compensated for their work." Wow, they didn't even wait a year after acquiring Fox before going the route of the monopolist.
"Let's go to North Carolina now, where tensions between Republicans and Democrats have reached a whole new level. This is the same state where just last week, a judicial panel ruled that that Republicans legislative maps were unconstitutional. Today, Republicans who control the state House called a surprise vote on a critical issue. At least, it took Democrats by surprise."
"But what happened Wednesday is the result of a win-at-all-stakes mentality that’s come to define the North Carolina’s Republican party in recent years. Last week, North Carolina’s state court ruled the state’s legislative district map unconstitutional; 'extreme partisan gerrymandering,' it said, has allowed Republicans to control 29 out of 50 state Senate seats and 65 out of 120 state House seats despite having received less than half the vote overall." Here's what I've not been able to learn, overriding a veto requires a supermajority of members, does NC law specifically state "in attendance"? If not, they still wouldn't have the votes to override. When conservatives start yelling about how their (hopefully "minority" voices aren't being heard) just remember these moves (including the attempts in NC, Michigan and Wisconsin to remove power from the governor's office after the GOP lost those governorships). (Grokked from Seanan McGuire)
Remember that Politico article I shared about Liberty U and Jerry Falwell Jr? "High-profile evangelical conservative Jerry Falwell Jr., a staunch Trump supporter and president of Liberty University, wants the FBI to investigate current and former university employees for... forwarding emails." Jerry Jr. is not pleased. Remember the conservative talking point about "as long as you're doing nothing wrong you've got nothing to worry about"? Apparently Jerry has a lot to worry about. (Grokked from John)
Jim Wright ostensibly on John Bolton's resignation but more about the remaining imperial ambitions of the US and the work to be done in Afghanistan, the graveyard of empires. There are no good options. So our choice is the hard road (two generations of "occupation" and trillions in reconstruction to build a modern nation-state engaged with the world), or draw a line, declare that victory and leave… for the moment, because it will come back to bite us again just like last time.
"Gregory Cheadle, the black man President Donald Trump once described at a rally as 'my African American,' is fed up… After two years of frustration with the president’s rhetoric on race and the lack of diversity in the administration, Cheadle told PBS NewsHour he has decided to leave the Republican party and run for a seat in the U.S. House of Representative as an independent in 2020." It's not his first run. He also hasn't seen that the politics he still supports are intimately tied into the racism he abhors. (Grokked from Laura J Mixon)
"The widely reviled commercial, which aired on ABC and was paid for by donors to the GOP New Faces PAC, opened with a photograph of the young Latinx congresswoman’s face being set on fire to reveal images of the 1970s genocide in Cambodia underneath." Dear Elizabeth Heng, Khmer Rouge were communists, not socialists. I know conservatives get confused on this point, so I thought I'd help you out. Also, they were authoritarians who wanted totalitarism and were exceptionally reactionary. You might want to re-examine the party you belong to, because the GOP falls into that spectrum. You would think someone so intimately involved in the events would understand these things better. Also, can we stop with the violence porn from conservatives? (Grokked from Laura J Mixon)
Like this… "Less than an hour later, O’Rourke received what he described as a “death threat” from a fellow Texas politician. 'My AR is ready for you Robert Francis,' Briscoe Cain, a Republican state representative from the Houston area, wrote on Twitter, using O’Rourke’s legal name."
"Mike Pence’s controversial visit to President Trump’s resort in Doonbeg is slated to cost taxpayers $599,454.36 in limousine service alone, according to State Department contracts reviewed by CREW… The choice to stay at Trump’s Irish resort in Doonbeg was both highly inconvenient, and extremely expensive. Located 181 miles away on the opposite side of the country from Pence’s meetings in Dublin, Doonbeg was far from a convenient location." (Grokked from Laura J Mixon)
When is a non-impeachment actually an impeachment? "House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler tried to clear up confusion within his caucus about impeachment on Thursday as the committee approved guidelines for impeachment hearings on President Donald Trump."
"Former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe has failed in his efforts to convince the Justice Department not to file potential criminal charges against him for allegedly lying to federal agents, NBC News reported Thursday."
"Trump says he hates the Obama-era nuclear deal with Iran. But he’s toying with a French proposal to get the Iranians to comply with it: a $15 billion line of credit to Tehran." And now you know why John Bolton is out. "The deal put forward by France would compensate Iran for oil sales disrupted by American sanctions." Wow, that's a huge capitulation. (Grokked from Laura J Mixon)
Tweet of my heart: @MrJonCryer So all the Trumpers who were furious that Obama allowed Iran to get $50 billion of its own money back will be fine when Trump lends them $15 billion of our money just to get them to agree to the same terms Obama already got… Cool. (Grokked from Laura J. Mixon)
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