Linkee-poo has been locked inside your heart-shaped box for weeks

Mike Resnick and Buck Henry, and so it goes.

Cue the fanbase, Fox hints at Firefly revival.

"The heart of NASA's first Space Launch System (SLS) megarocket is on the move… The 212-foot-long (65 meters) SLS core stage rolled out of NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans Wednesday (Jan. 8) and was loaded onto a barge, agency officials announced."

"The couple say that about 95% of their income comes from the Prince of Wales. He pays for the public duties of Prince Harry and Meghan, as well as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, and some of their private costs." Like I said, I think they'll be fine. Their life might not be up to "royal" levels, but they certainly won't be eating raman to get by.

"One of the largest known meteorites to hit Earth struck nearly 800,000 years ago, but the exact spot where it smashed into our planet has been a mystery -- until now."

"A pair of massive bushfires in southeastern Australia has merged into a 'megafire' engulfing some 2,300 square miles — a single blaze more than three times as large as any known fire in California."

"A 5-year-old boy was taken to the hospital Wednesday after a coyote bit him several times outside a nature museum in Lincoln Park, CBS Chicago reports. Police said the boy was near the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum when a coyote bit him 'multiple times' around 4 p.m." That's quite unique coyote behavior. So is going after pets. Cities harbor enough rodentia that coyotes seldom have to change their diet, and they'd hardly ever get close enough to a human to attack (or be attacked).

"The mysterious outbreak in China causing dozens of people to fall sick with pneumonia may be the result of a new coronavirus, a member of the same family of viruses that caused SARS."

"President Donald Trump appeared to take credit for a low cancer rate under his presidency Thursday… Under Trump’s leadership, however, the administration proposed a $6 billion cut to the National Institute of Health and a $1 billion cut to the National Cancer Institute."

"The increase in lifespan would be the equivalent of a human living for 400 or 500 years, according to one of the scientists." :: puts finger to ear :: this just in, Republicans announce changing Social Security retirement age for full benefits to 390. Just like we have the best medicine for laboratory mice, we now have extremely long lived nematodes.

"The Montana Supreme Court has reversed a $35 million judgment against Jehovah's Witnesses for failing to report child sexual abuse… The unanimous decision from seven state Supreme Court justices found that religious authorities are not always obligated to report child sexual abuse to authorities due to an exemption in Montana state law." Fuckers.

"Unfortunately, not everyone seems to have gotten the memo about not offending, appropriating, or exploiting while navigating places foreign to their own. In an attempt to make your trip worthwhile and respectful to the people you will meet while on vacation, here’s how not to be a jerk when visiting another country, from someone in the know." Don't be the ugly American/colonizer, Karen. (Grokked form Xopher Halftongue)

"A new poll finds that rich people are much happier with their lives than poorer people. They're also far more likely to say they've achieved the 'American dream,' that they're satisfied with their education, and that they're not anxious about the future." That seems so weird. Well, actually, the various breakdowns are more interesting (including the differences between "conservative" and "liberal" 1%ers).

"Federal agencies may not have to consider climate change when approving big new infrastructure projects, such as highways or oil and gas pipelines, under new rules proposed by the Trump administration." Because that won't come back to bite us in the ass.

"J.C. Penney wasn’t able to buck the trend of declining sales at U.S. department store chains this holiday season. But despite a steep sales decline, it reaffirmed its financial outlook for the year."

"Somehow, in the midst of a monster holiday shopping season, America's biggest department stores managed to lose sales. Despite several attempts to revamp their images, department stores have gotten the cold shoulder from shoppers." The retail apocalypse continues unabated. But discount stores continue to grow. Funny that.

"The home of Doritos Locos Tacos says it’s going to test paying managers $100,000 a year at some company-owned locations in the Northeast and Midwest starting later this year." Funny what having problems with staffing will do for your "razor-thin margin" business.

"Lebanon has imposed a travel ban on fugitive former auto executive Carlos Ghosn one day after he briefed the world's media on why he fled Japan." Now don't you go nowhere.

"A crime wave is lapping at the undersides of cars, trucks and SUVs across the Twin Cities, as police field dozens of reports of catalytic converter thefts. St. Paul police say 70 vehicles have lost the auto parts since just the beginning of December. Even the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority’s truck fleet was hobbled by the thefts." Catalytic converters use platinum and some other precious metals. (Grokked from Laura J. Mixon)

"However, the latest court documents state, 'After reviewing the video, it appeared to the Government that the footage contained on the preserved video was for the correct date and time, but captured a different tier than the one where [Epstein] was located because the preserved video did not show corrections officers responding to any of the cells seen on the video.'" How convenient.

How goes Brexit? "The House of Commons has voted overwhelmingly in favor of Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Brexit deal, finally paving the way for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union later this month after more than four decades of membership."

"Hiring slowed somewhat in December, as U.S. employers added 145,000 jobs. According to the Labor Department, that's down slightly from the three previous months, when employers added an average of 200,000 jobs. But the unemployment rate held steady at 3.5%, matching its lowest level in 50 years." Considering just yesterday analysts were touring 225,000 as the possible number, that's a little disappointing. Also, manufacturing continues to decline and the majority of jobs were in the service sector. "Steady job gains, coupled with wage increases, are expected to keep fueling consumer spending in 2020. Consumers have been the most reliable drivers in the U.S. economy as business investment has faded." That's a little worrying.

"New applications for U.S. jobless benefits fell more than expected last week, but the labor market appears to be cooling, with the number of Americans on unemployment rolls surging to more than a 1-1/2-year high at the end of 2019." Whistling past the graveyard.

"On August 3, 1981, air traffic controllers all over the United States went on strike, threatening to shut down the skies and paralyze the country. But then President Reagan fired them." The Planet Money podcast on when Reagan broke the unions. And that's when the middle-class decline began in earnest, and it's the reason it happened. Yes, conservatives are directly fucking you over.

"The latest documents Boeing has released related to the design and certification of the 737 Max paint a dark picture of employee reactions to problems that came up during the development of the now-grounded airliners." People are assholes.

"Ukrainian officials were on Thursday considering terrorism, a missile strike and catastrophic engine failure as potential causes for the fatal crash of one of its airliners in Iran, as aviation authorities in Tehran revealed the jetliner was on fire before it came down." Here we go.

"Video verified by The New York Times appears to show an Iranian missile hitting a plane near Tehran’s airport, the area where a Ukrainian jet crashed on Wednesday, killing all 176 people on board."

"Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday that evidence suggests an Iranian missile strike brought down the Ukrainian jetliner that plunged from the sky Wednesday outside Tehran."

"A majority of those surveyed, by 52%-34%, called Trump's behavior with Iran 'reckless.'" Well, yes. Especially the more we hear about it, like how Soleimani was a late addition to a menu of responses and was only added to make the other options look less extreme (because killing him was the most extreme).

"'As we continue to evaluate options in response to Iranian aggression, the United States will immediately impose additional punishing economic sanctions on the Iranian regime,' Trump said in an address to the nation." Again, what is left to sanction?

So, was killing Soleimani an assassination or an act of self-defense. This Intercept article breaks it down and includes this bit, "Although Trump and has referred to the killing of an American defense contractor by rocket fire attributed to an Iranian-backed militia in Iraq last month as just the latest in a series of intolerable attacks, an analysis of a Pentagon casualty database, cross-referenced with news releases and obituaries, reveals the surprising fact that none of the nine American service members killed in action in Iraq since 2014 appears to have died at the hands of Iranian-backed militias. All of the fatalities came in connection with the fight against Islamic State militants." And yes, it does make a difference. (Grokked for someone, sorry, lost the link)

And now there is chatter about how Trump used the strike on Soleimani as an attempt to divert attention away from the impeachment to how he may have been a part of a deal (that fell through) that would have helped Iran, and Soleimani individually, launder money through a real estate development.

"Iran's UN ambassador said Friday the Iraqi bases housing US troops were primarily selected for this week's missile strikes to demonstrate target accuracy, not to kill Americans, disputing public claims made by top Trump administration officials."

"Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi has told the U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to send a delegation to Iraq tasked with formulating the mechanism for the withdrawal of U.S troops from Iraq."

"The House of Representatives approved a resolution that would force President Trump to seek consent from Congress before taking new military action against Iran… The nonbinding war powers resolution was approved in a mostly party-line vote of 224-194. Only three Republicans and one independent joined Democrats to pass the measure. Eight Democrats opposed it." Seriously, Republicans mostly voted to hand unrestricted power to the presidency?

"A federal appeals court has handed the Trump administration a victory by allowing the president to tap military construction funds to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border… A divided 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued the decision late Wednesday, reversing a lower court order that stopped Trump from using $3.6 billion in U.S Defense Department money to construct the long-promised border wall." The guardrails are coming off.

In case you ever wondered about my vitriolic against conservatives, it's because they believe these things… "Dear Representative Doug Collins… You are not my congressman, and while I am ever thankful for that fact, after seeing your performance on Fox News on Wednesday night, I'm not sure you are fit to be anyone's congressman. Specifically, I saw you blithely assert on national television that Democrats 'are in love with terrorists. We see that they mourn Soleimani more than they mourn our Gold Star families.'" Preet Bharara chalks this up to politics and posturing, and I used to as well. I no longer do that, because this has gone from a political position to a world view among conservatives and it's part of what is dividing the country. So no, this is not political messaging, conservatives actually believe this crap. Conservatives have declared war on progressives, so confirmed in their righteousness they've forgotten that the American way is compromise and the middle road. In modern politics the middle-road is solidly in the "leftie" spectrum. So we can no longer "understand" the right's abusive behavior. So fuck them. (Grokked from Laura J Mixon)

"Former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions appointed John Huber, Utah's top federal prosecutor, to look into matters including allegations that the FBI had not fully pursued possible corruption cases at the Clinton Foundation and during her tenure as U.S. Secretary of State, when the federal government allowed the sale of a company called Uranium One, the Post reported… The assignment has ended, but no official notice has been sent to the Justice Department or to lawmakers, the Washington Post reported." They didn't find anything actionable. I know, you're shocked too.

"And not just Senate Democrats who have become quite vocal in their desire to see the impeachment articles transmitted, finally, to the Senate. Several House Democrats that CNN spoke to Wednesday made clear (though notably not attributable to them by name), that while they believe Pelosi's strategy has been successful to a degree, and their trust in the Speaker remains rock solid, it was time for the speaker to pull the trigger and send the articles to the Senate."