The whistleblower complaint as stored on the government servers. This is not normal. And while many have commented on various piece of the complaint, I just would like to point you to a line in the Classified Appendix (which has not been redacted), "According to White House officials I spoke with, this was "not the first time" under this Administration that a Presidential transcript was placed into this codeword-level system solely for the purpose of protecting politically sensitive – rather than national security sensitive – information." There are other conversations possibly with multiple foreign leaders that could place the president in political jeopardy and they've tried to cover them up by placing the transcripts on an offline server meant for national security interests. (Grokked from Kameron Hurley)
"However, in recent years, the scientific community has become understandably excited and skeptical about claims that a particular concept – the Alcubierre Warp Drive – might actually be feasible." You know, except for the energy needed to cause that ripple in space-time. To get a feel for that, we have just recently been able to "see" exceeding minute fluctuations in space-time caused by black holes and neutron stars colliding. IIRC, an initial investigation showed you would need to harvest the energy from 10 simultaneous super-nova.
You might remember me having mentioned what happens when a buffer reaches it's limits. "The world’s oceans have long helped to stave off climate change by absorbing heat and carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. But that is changing, with devastating consequences for humanity in the coming decades, leading researchers warn in a high-level report commissioned by the United Nations." We're boned.
"Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania stopped producing electricity at noon on Friday, part of Exelon Corp.'s plan to close and decommission the plant over the next 60 years… The closure comes 40 years after the partial meltdown of the plant's reactor No. 2… Tens of thousands evacuated amid uncertainty about the accident. Some radiation was released, but officials said it was within acceptable levels. Yet many who live in the area are convinced that their health problems in later years were related to the accident." Repeat after me, there is no safe level of exposure. There is only a level of exposure that is not expected to raise a population's chances of getting cancer to level where it is noticeably out of the norm.
Meanwhile, across the river in Ohio… "The intense fight over a petition drive seeking to overturn Ohio's nuclear bailout law is escalating with a counter petition now circulating around the state. The pro-nuclear bailout group is calling it a grassroots effort which doubles down on their anti-foreign investors’ message." First Energy (Solutions) is very committed to this fight.
"Beyond Meat's stock soars after McDonald's to test Beyond Meat-made plant-based burger." Wow, I didn't know they could scale so quickly.
"The researchers report finding nonhuman milk residue inside a type of ancient spouted clay bowl that sometimes featured animal feet and heads. The earliest examples of this kind of vessel — which the researchers are calling prehistoric baby bottles — date back more than 7,000 years." Bottle feeding goes that far back?
"Stacy Jupiter realized how dangerous flooding was becoming in her adopted home of Fiji in 2009 when she flew back after a vacation and landed on an island in crisis." She was just named a MacArthur fellow.
"'Plácido Domingo has agreed to withdraw from all future performances at the Met, with immediate effect. We are grateful to him for recognizing that he needed to step down.'"
"A California man faces arson and attempted murder charges after allegedly lighting a homeless man's cardboard encampment on fire while the man was sleeping in it."
"A New Zealand university is investigating after the body of a student was found in one of its residences this week, nearly two months after he died in his room."
"Federal prosecutors are charging 11 doctors with unlawfully distributing opioids and other substances, in the second large operation to target 'pill mill' operators and health care fraud this year. Two other people also face charges in the sting."
"Barring an eleventh-hour agreement, the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) will leave the Universal Postal Union (UPU) on October 17, ending 144 years of U.S. involvement in the international body that governs the exchange of mail and postal parcels between countries, and perhaps fundamentally changing the landscape of global air shipping." Get ready to pay more… for everything shipped anywhere. (Grokked from Laura J Mixon)
How goes Brexit? "Just one day after the British Supreme Court dealt the country's prime minister a devastating blow, ruling that Boris Johnson's suspension of Parliament was 'unlawful, void and of no effect and should be quashed,' the U.K. lawmaking body is back in session." Time to walk all the the accoutrements back to the House of Commons.
"The House of Commons — one of the most venerated democratic institutions in the world — descended into an atmosphere of vitriol and disbelief, as enemies and allies alike condemned language used by Prime Minister Boris Johnson as he continues in his quest to take the United Kingdom out of the European Union by Oct. 31."
How go the Trade Wars? "An American investigator traveled there last year, trying to find out if the factory really produced the pencils, as a U.S. importer claimed, or was simply repackaging pencils from China, as a competitor suspected. Chinese pencils have long been subject to a stiff anti-dumping tariff, which would have more than doubled the importer's cost."
"The agreement calls for lower Japanese tariffs on U.S. farm exports such as beef and pork. It also locks in tariff-free digital commerce. But it does not address the president's threat to level punishing tariffs on imported cars from Japan. A top trade negotiator says Trump has no plans to act on that threat for now." When you need to notch a win, sometimes you take half-a-deal and claim victory.
"Israel's president on Wednesday tapped Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to attempt to form a new government. The move could give Netanyahu up to six weeks to haggle for political allies." Uh, yeah. He didn't get the most votes.
"Saudi Arabia’s crown prince said he bears responsibility for the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi last year by Saudi operatives 'because it happened under my watch,' according to a PBS documentary to be broadcast next week." Well, I was in the room, but I couldn't hear what people were saying.
"Facebook this week finally put into writing what users—especially politically powerful users—have known for years: its community 'standards' do not, in fact, apply across the whole community. Speech from politicians is officially exempt from the platform's fact checking and decency standards, the company has clarified, with a few exceptions." Some are more equal than others. (Grokked from John)
"A Senate staffer told Washington Free Beacon reporter Stephen Gutowski that 'gun legislation is dead, at least for the time being, because of the impeachment inquiry' that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced Tuesday." Yeah, except it never really had a chance to begin with. This is just a "look what you made me do" excuse. They'll blame this for the do nothing Senate, but "In fact, the House has passed 395 pieces of legislation since January. McConnell has blocked nearly all of them and compared himself to the 'Grim Reaper' as he vowed to block future legislation."
How did we come to this? "The two Democratic leaders… had been united in their bid to suppress the growing impeachment push within the caucus. Now, Pelosi informed Hoyer, she was going to change her position and formally back an impeachment inquiry into Trump… Hoyer responded that he’d come to the same conclusion over the weekend…"
"President Trump told Ukraine's president that 'a lot of people want to find out' about former Vice President Joe Biden family's activities in Ukraine and asked him to be in touch with Trump attorney, Rudy Giuliani, and Attorney General Bill Barr." "I would like to ask a favor…" Wrap him up.
"Earlier this week, President Trump cited concerns about corruption as his rationale for blocking security assistance to Ukraine. But in a letter sent to four congressional committees in May of this year and obtained by NPR, Undersecretary of Defense for Policy John Rood informed lawmakers that he 'certified that the Government of Ukraine has taken substantial actions to make defense institutional reforms for the purposes of decreasing corruption [and] increasing accountability.'"
"Prominent GOP consultant Mike Murphy claimed on Wednesday that he was told by a Republican senator that the majority of Republican senators 'would vote to impeach' President Donald Trump if they could do so anonymously." And they love him in the emails. My guess is there are some, but not as many as is thought of here. Now if only they had the courage of their convictions and would come out publicly.
"The Trump administration's release of notes documenting President Donald Trump's conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has raised questions about Trump's relationship with Attorney General William Barr and whether he views Barr as someone whose job includes advocating for him on personal matters." That was, after all, Barr's calling card for the job.
"The nation's top spy told lawmakers on Thursday that he supports the whistleblower whose complaint sparked the Ukraine affair but said he struggled to deal with how to handle the case inside the Trump administration."
"Whistleblowing dates back to the nation's earliest days and, since then, it has been a risky and controversial exercise." Just a little lite exercise.
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