"On a day when millions of Americans were expected to be traveling for the winter holidays, a massive cold weather system marched across most of the contiguous United States, bringing record-breaking cold, gusty winds and dangerous precipitation to states from Montana to Alabama."
"The weather system, which may build into a 'bomb cyclone,' is expected to move east in the days leading up to Christmas, disrupting travel and causing hazardous winter conditions. Where is this winter weather coming from, and what’s in store for the coming days?"
"We are advising the public that the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has prepared a draft environmental impact statement (EIS) and draft plant pest risk assessment (PPRA) evaluating the potential environmental impacts and plant pest risk that may result from the approval of a petition for nonregulated status for blight-tolerant Darling 58 American chestnut ( Castanea dentata ) from the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry. The trees have been developed using genetic engineering to express an oxalate oxidase enzyme from wheat as a defense against the fungal pathogen Cryphonectria parasitica, making Darling 58 American chestnut tolerant to chestnut blight. We are making the draft EIS and draft PPRA available for public review and comment." Public comments are open until the 27th. I originally was all for this, even though, in general, I'm against genetic engineering of this type in human foods. Chestnuts were one of the dominate tree species in North America, the wood itself is beautiful (although some of this may be history through rose-tinted glasses), and IIRC, the chestnut blight fungus was imported. But having slept on this, I'm not concerned for many other things. First off, these chestnuts in the wild will certainly appear invasive because the original American Chestnut out competed many other hardwood species. How will this affect the forest ecosystem from the animals who eat the wood and nuts, make their homes in the trees, and then feast on the fallen trees. And all of this we won't have a real grasp on until our grandchildren's time. So right now I'm at a 50/50.(Grokked from Clay Hale)
"A 'Cousin Eddie' display in Kentucky apparently looked a little too real and police were called to check it out."
"Polar bears in Canada’s Western Hudson Bay — on the southern edge of the Arctic — are continuing to die in high numbers, a new government survey of the land carnivore has found. Females and bear cubs are having an especially hard time."
"Japan adopted a plan on Thursday to extend the lifespan of nuclear reactors, replace the old and even build new ones, a major shift in a country scarred by the Fukushima disaster that once planned to phase out atomic power."
"NASA, as a federal agency that funds and conducts research, is onboard with the idea of freely accessible data. But it has a plan that goes much further than the White House’s and that is highly problematic. The agency currently gives a proprietary period to some scientists who use particular facilities, such as a 12-month period for the powerful James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), so that those scientists can gather and analyze data carefully without fear of their work being poached. NASA is looking to end this policy in its effort to make science more open-access."
"The average life expectancy for Americans shortened by over seven months last year, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention… That decrease follows an already big decline of 1.8 years in 2020. As a result, the expected life span of someone born in the U.S. is now 76.4 years — the shortest it has been in nearly two decades."
"They are among the first crop of students being trained how to accompany patients tripping on psilocybin, as Oregon prepares to become the first U.S. state to offer controlled use of the psychedelic mushroom to the public."
"Shrugging off rampant inflation and rising interest rates, the U.S. economy grew at an unexpectedly strong 3.2% annual pace from July through September, the government reported Thursday in a healthy upgrade from its earlier estimate of third-quarter growth."
"A far-right extremist who killed two people in the German city of Halle three years ago after attempting to attack a synagogue has been moved to a new prison hundreds of kilometers (miles) away following an apparent jailbreak attempt."
"The White House said Thursday that the Wagner Group, a private Russian military company, has taken delivery of an arms shipment from North Korea to help bolster its forces as it fights side-by-side with Russian troops in Ukraine."
"But in the coming days, (Westpoint) will take down a portrait of Lee dressed in his Confederate uniform from its library, where it has been hanging since the 1950s and place it in storage. It will also remove the stone bust of the Civil War's top southern general at Reconciliation Plaza. And Lee's quote about honor will be stripped from the academy's Honor Plaza." Good.
"Francis used his annual Christmas greeting to the Roman Curia to again put the cardinals, bishops and priests who work in the Holy See on notice that they are by no means beyond reproach and are, in fact, particularly vulnerable to evil." Just in case your office holiday party is a little awkward.
"The minister of higher education in Afghanistan’s Taliban government has defended his decision to ban women from universities – a decree that triggered a global backlash and protests inside the country."
"North Korean hackers have stolen an estimated 1.5 trillion won ($1.2 billion) in cryptocurrency and other virtual assets in the past five years, more than half of it this year alone, South Korea's spy agency said Thursday."
"'We'll be here as long as the governor thinks we're adding value, we are serving as a deterrent,' says Burkett, but the city and county leaders are clear — the (Texas) National Guard is not helping… 'We specifically told them we did not want them to send troops or militarize the border any further,' says David Stout, a County Commissioner and chairman of the Texas Border Coalition, which includes elected officials and business leaders. 'We told them we need humanitarian assistance and not this political game they're playing.'"
"Arizona will take down a makeshift wall made of shipping containers at the Mexico border, settling a lawsuit and political tussle with the U.S. government over trespassing on federal lands."
"With a looming Friday deadline to fund the government, the Senate has approved a nearly $1.7 trillion government funding bill by a bipartisan vote of 68-29. The package now goes to the House for approval."
"A suburban Philadelphia county elections board voted Tuesday to certify its November results, a development Pennsylvania officials had said was required before they can issue a statewide certification."
"Fox News star Sean Hannity – one of former President Donald Trump's strongest allies on the air and one of his closest advisers off it – admitted under oath that he never believed the lie that Trump was cheated of victory in the 2020 presidential election by a voting tech company… That stands in contrast to what played out on some of Fox's biggest shows – including Hannity's. On television, Fox News hosts, stars and guests amplified and embraced such wild and false claims, made by Trump, his campaign lawyers and surrogates, presenting them to millions of viewers." Funny how the tune changes when they're under oath.
"The FBI arrested Eric Christie on Thursday after several hours in which he refused to cooperate with authorities after they arrived at a home in Sherman Oaks, California. Two law enforcement officials confirmed his arrest."
"Nearly two years after the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, the Democratic-led House committee investigating the attack released its full report Thursday… The report comes after the panel's final business hearing on Monday, where they recommended former President Donald Trump be prosecuted by the Department of Justice on four charges: obstruction of an official proceeding; conspiracy to defraud the United States; conspiracy to make a false statement; and conspiracy to defraud the U.S. by assisting, aiding or comforting those involved in an insurrection."v
"The House Jan. 6 committee’s final report asserts that Donald Trump criminally engaged in a 'multi-part conspiracy' to overturn the lawful results of the 2020 presidential election and failed to act to stop his supporters from attacking the Capitol, concluding an extraordinary 18-month investigation into the former president and the violent insurrection two years ago."
"Former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson described to the House Jan. 6 committee a wide-ranging pressure campaign from Donald Trump’s allies aimed at influencing her cooperation with Congress and stifling potentially damaging testimony about him." Witness tampering.
"Cassidy Hutchinson, a former aide in the Trump administration and a key witness in the House select committee hearings on the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack, said she initially lied to the panel in a deposition about whether she'd heard that President Donald Trump lunged at a Secret Service agent in the presidential SUV on the day of the riot." The headline and this paragraph are intentionally misleading. Her lie was she originally said she had not heard anything about the incident.
"New transcripts of closed-door testimony to the Jan. 6 House committee show Donald Trump and his allies had a direct hand in the Nevada Republican Party’s scheme to send a phony electoral certificate to Congress in 2020 in a last-ditch attempt to keep the former president in power." And there's your smoking gun.
"Shortly after the 2020 election was called for Joe Biden, then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows told his aide, Cassidy Hutchinson, that President Donald Trump knew he lost but wanted to keep fighting to overturn the results, according to a newly released transcript from the House select committee investigating the January 6 insurrection." This is crucial knowledge for any court case against Trump. To be guilty of several of the charges that many of us are hoping will be brought, the prosecution must prove that Trump knew he lost and then made plans and acted to overthrow the results of that election to remain in power. If Trump's lawyer can prove that Trump believed the election "was stolen", that is a sufficient defense (because he would have been acting to restore the Constitution instead of attempting to tear it up).
"The Democratic-controlled House Ways and Means Committee on Tuesday voted to release former President Donald Trump’s tax returns, raising the potential of additional revelations in the coming days related to the finances of the longtime businessman who broke political norms by refusing to voluntarily make public his returns as he sought the presidency."
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