Post by mhbruin on Jun 8, 2021 9:24:19 GMT -8
US Vaccine Data - We Have Now Administered 303 Million Shots
Coming TOMORROW: Half of eligible people fully vaccinated
CALIFORNIA
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Will Crocodile Punching be the Next Big Thing?
When a crocodile grabbed her sister, there was only one option for Georgia Laurie - she punched it in the face.
The 28-year-old twins were swimming in Mexico when Melissa was dragged underwater by the reptile.
Both sisters, who live in Berkshire, are now in hospital in Mexico - and Melissa is currently in an induced coma, because of worries of infection from the injuries she sustained.
While they were swimming, Melissa disappeared under the water and Georgia had been trying to find her.
Crocodiles try to drown their victims.
"Georgia found her unresponsive and started to drag her back to the safety of a boat," says 33-year-old Hana from her home in Alton, Hampshire.
"She dragged her back as the crocodile kept coming back for more - so she just started hitting it.
"She'd heard that with with some animals, that's what you've got to do."
Hana says Melissa was thrown about like a "rag doll" by the crocodile.
"Luckily, her super-badass twin sister was there to punch it repeatedly - as it came back about three times - to try and save her."
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There are Bad Cops, Terrible Cops, and This Guy
A Met Police officer has admitted kidnapping and raping Sarah Everard.
The 33-year-old vanished as she walked home in Clapham, south London, on 3 March. Her body was found a week later in woodland near Ashford, Kent.
Appearing at the Old Bailey via video-link, PC Wayne Couzens, of Deal, pleaded guilty both to kidnap and rape.
The court heard he also accepted responsibility for Ms Everard's death but did not enter a plea on the charge of murder.
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There's General Jackson, Standing Like a Stone Wall -- Uh, Where Did He Go?
In a unanimous vote late Monday night, the Charlottesville City Council voted to remove two Confederate statues from the city's public parks, almost four years after they served as a flashpoint for the violent "Unite the Right" rally that killed counterprotester Heather Heyer.
The public now has a 30-day period to propose new plans for the statues of Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson after their removal. According to city documents, Charlottesville is requesting proposals "for any museum, historical society, government or military battlefield interested in acquiring the Statues, or either of them, for relocation and placement."
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I Just Want to Say One Word to You
What do old televisions, street signs, motorbike helmets, windsurf boards, and Christmas trees have in common? They were all caught floating down Amsterdam's Westerdok canal -- by a curtain of bubbles.
Commissioned by the municipality of Amsterdam and the region's water authority, the Bubble Barrier was installed in October 2019 in under five hours.
Ehrhorn says the idea is to catch plastic without having a physical barrier like a net or boom blocking the river, which could disrupt aquatic life or interfere with shipping.
It traps 86% of the trash that would otherwise flow to the River IJssel and further on to the North Sea, according to Philip Ehrhorn, co-founder and chief technology officer of The Great Bubble Barrier, the Dutch social enterprise behind the system.
Commissioned by the municipality of Amsterdam and the region's water authority, the Bubble Barrier was installed in October 2019 in under five hours.
Ehrhorn says the idea is to catch plastic without having a physical barrier like a net or boom blocking the river, which could disrupt aquatic life or interfere with shipping.
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Who Wants to Be His Lawyer?
Former Bosnian Serb army leader Ratko Mladic, nicknamed "the butcher of Bosnia," will have to serve his life sentence after an appeal against his war crimes convictions was rejected on Tuesday.
Mladic, 79, was sentenced to life in prison in 2017 after being found guilty of genocide for atrocities committed during the Bosnian war from 1992 to 1995.
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Democrats Fiddled While the US Burned
Congressional Democrats made sparing use of a law that allows them to immediately overturn the Trump administration's last-minute flurry of "midnight regulations" — including measures that weakened environmental protections, permitted discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity and made it harder for shareholders to hold corporations accountable.
While the Democrats were juggling many priorities over the past several months — including impeaching former President Donald Trump and passing a massive pandemic relief package — the inaction on many of the last-minute Trump rules disappointed some progressive advocates, who had urged the party to strike the rules as quickly as possible.
"It's disappointing because it's so important," said Sasha Buchert, a senior attorney for Lambda Legal, a civil rights advocacy organization focused on LGBTQ issues. The group had pushed Congress to undo a Trump-era rule allowing social services providers receiving federal funds to discriminate based on sexual orientation and gender identity, but lawmakers did not act in time to reverse it immediately.
The Congressional Review Act allows lawmakers to eliminate recently finalized regulations quickly, requiring only simple majorities in both the House and the Senate. (Such resolutions cannot be filibustered in the Senate.) But it allows a limited time to act: After a rule is finalized, lawmakers must introduce a resolution of disapproval within 60 days that Congress is in session. In the early months of the Trump administration, the Republican-controlled Congress used the law to eliminate 14 Obama-era rules.
During the Biden administration, Senate Democrats passed resolutions to eliminate only three Trump rules during the same period — and the deadline for Senate action closed the last week of May. The resolutions would halt the Trump administration's rollback of methane emissions standards, repeal a rule that gives employers certain advantages when workers file bias claims against them and stop lenders from circumventing caps on high interest rates. The resolutions still need the House's approval and President Joe Biden's signature to become law, although there is no deadline, and they are expected to be successful.
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True Dat
I’m afraid history will show that, in this shameful era, Republican senators were more united in their opposition to voting rights than Democratic senators were in their support for them.
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Maybe Putting this Guy on the Supreme Court Was Never a Good Idea
President Joe Biden’s Justice Department has made the surprising decision to continue the previous administration’s efforts to defend Donald Trump against a defamation suit brought by woman he’d accused of lying about being raped by him. As a presidential candidate, Biden had criticized the agency’s involvement in the case.
In its latest brief on Monday, Justice Department lawyers continued to argue that Trump was just another employee of the federal government when he accused columnist E. Jean Carroll of lying — a move that led Carroll to file a defamation lawsuit against the then-president. Carroll wrote in a June 2019 New York Magazine article and reiterated in her lawsuit that Trump raped her in a Manhattan department store’s dressing room in the 1990s.
He Really Wants to Defend a Rapist?
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Or They Can Just Arrest Him
He's the Guy Who Helped Protestors Breach the Oregon Capital
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Taxes Really Are for Little People
In 2007, Jeff Bezos, then a multibillionaire and now the world’s richest man, did not pay a penny in federal income taxes. He achieved the feat again in 2011. In 2018, Tesla founder Elon Musk, the second-richest person in the world, also paid no federal income taxes.
Michael Bloomberg managed to do the same in recent years. Billionaire investor Carl Icahn did it twice. George Soros paid no federal income tax three years in a row.
ProPublica has obtained a vast trove of Internal Revenue Service data on the tax returns of thousands of the nation’s wealthiest people, covering more than 15 years. The data provides an unprecedented look inside the financial lives of America’s titans, including Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, Rupert Murdoch and Mark Zuckerberg. It shows not just their income and taxes, but also their investments, stock trades, gambling winnings and even the results of audits.
Taken together, it demolishes the cornerstone myth of the American tax system: that everyone pays their fair share and the richest Americans pay the most. The IRS records show that the wealthiest can — perfectly legally — pay income taxes that are only a tiny fraction of the hundreds of millions, if not billions, their fortunes grow each year.
Full Story
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The Ad Fox News Doesn't Want Anyone to See
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Did You Think Stacy Abrams Wasn't Going to Get Involved?
The voting rights group Fair Fight Action, headed by activist and former Georgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, is announcing a month-long campaign to help mobilize young voters of color around the For the People Act, also known as S. 1, for the Senate version of the extensive voting rights bill championed by Democratic lawmakers.
The campaign, called Hot Call Summer, will last throughout June, and will feature virtual events, a paid media campaign and plans to text at least 10 million voters in 2022 battleground states that have seen controversial voting legislation move in state legislatures.
"We can't wait any longer for Congress to protect Americans' freedom to vote, which is why we need Senators to pass the For The People Act (HR1/S1)," Abrams said in an email to supporters first obtained by CBS News. "With voting rights under attack in 48 out of 50 state legislatures across the country, the moment has never been more urgent, and it will take all of us to ensure that Congress passes the voting rights protections our country and democracy desperately need."
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It's a Great Victory, But It Doesn't Really Change Anything
A massive international sting involving 16 countries, including the U.S., has netted more than 800 suspects, the seizure of 8 tons of cocaine and more than $48 million, officials said Tuesday.
The FBI and Australian law enforcement developed and operated an encrypted device company, called ANOM, that was then used to gain access to organized crime networks in more than 100 countries, according to Europol, the law enforcement agency of the European Union.
“Operation Trojan Shield is a shining example of what can be accomplished when law enforcement partners from around the world work together and develop state of the art investigative tools to detect, disrupt and dismantle transnational criminal organizations,” said Calvin Shivers, the assistant director of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division in a press conference in The Hague, Netherlands.
ANOM's users believed the devices to be secure, according to Jannine van den Berg of the Dutch National Police at the press conference. Access to the communications of those involved in criminal networks meant that law enforcement agencies were able to read encrypted messages over the course of 18 months.
The platform’s users communicated in 45 languages about trafficking and drugs, arms and explosives, armed robberies, contract killings and more, said van der Berg.
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Who's the Real Retard?
Donald Trump called Joe Biden a “mental retard” during the 2020 election, a new book says, but was reluctant to attack him too strongly for fear the Democrats would replace him with Hillary Clinton or Michelle Obama.
Biden went on to beat Trump by more than 7m in the popular vote and by 306-232 in the electoral college, a result Trump deemed a landslide when it was in his favour against Clinton in 2016.
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Tokes for Pokes
Licensed marijuana stores in Washington state can offer free joints to promote on-site COVID-19 vaccine clinics, officials said Monday.
The state Liquor and Cannabis Board is calling the effort the “Joints for Jabs” program. The board says licensed adult-use marijuana retail shops can give away a single pre-rolled joint to anyone over 21 who gets a shot at an on-site vaccine clinic held by July 12.
The board has already allowed breweries, wineries and restaurants to offer free drinks in exchange for proof of vaccination — though alcohol-serving establishments have not had to host a clinic on-site to give out product.
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Crypto is Not Quite Secure
The Justice Department on Monday recovered some $2.3 million in cryptocurrency ransom paid by Colonial Pipeline Co, cracking down on hackers who launched the most disruptive U.S. cyberattack on record.
Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said investigators had seized 63.7 bitcoins, now valued at about $2.3 million, paid by Colonial after last month's hack of its systems that led to massive shortages at U.S. East Coast gas stations.
The Justice Department has "found and recaptured the majority" of the ransom paid by Colonial, Monaco said.
An affidavit filed on Monday said the FBI was in possession of a private key to unlock a bitcoin wallet that had received most of the funds. It was unclear how the FBI gained access to the key.
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And the Beat Goes On
if she could turn back time, if she could a find a way, she'd take back those words about Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand.
Award-winning actress and singer Cher unloaded on the New York senator on Twitter Monday, ripping her as a "traitor" for her opposition to ending the filibuster — even though she's said she's open to doing away with it.
"If There Is Any Way 4 NEW YORKERS 2 KICK HER OUT OF SENATE They Must Try Be4 She Hands Our Country 2 trump & His Criminals," the "Believe" singer wrote in the tweet to her 3.9 million followers.
Ten hours after the original tweet, the 75-year-old "Moonstruck" star followed up with an apology tweet, which said she'd confused Gillibrand with Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz. Sinema, like Manchin, has been a staunch public defender of the filibuster.
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The Man Who Spent the Last Year Flushing Toilets
Michael Hurtado spent the past year of the pandemic flushing toilets. Once a week. Hundreds of toilets. Thousands of times.
“Every week, we go through the entire property and flush every toilet, run every hand sink, turn on every shower. You start at one end of the floor, and by the time you get back, you can turn them off,” he said.
Hurtado is the lead engineer for the Ahern Hotel, right off the Las Vegas strip. It’s officially been closed during the pandemic, and Hurtado had the job of keeping the building systems safe despite the lack of guests.
“It easily takes 60 hours a week every single week for my team,” he said.
Keeping water moving is necessary to protect shut-down buildings against pathogens that can build up in their miles of pipes.
The one that keeps safety experts up at night is Legionella pneumophila, the bacteria that causes 95% of Legionnaires' disease cases. It kills at least 1,000 Americans a year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“It’s almost certain that we’re going to be at risk for more Legionnaires' disease cases after the shutdown,” said Michele Swanson, a professor of microbiology at the University of Michigan and an expert on Legionella.
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Drought and Militias is a Dangerous Mix
Fears of a confrontation between law enforcement and rightwing militia supporters over the control of water in the drought-stricken American west have been sparked by protests at Klamath Falls in Oregon.
Protesters affiliated with rightwing anti-government activist Ammon Bundy’s People’s Rights Network are threatening to break a deadlock over water management in the area by unilaterally opening the headgates of a reservoir.
The protest has reawakened memories not only of recent standoffs with federal agencies – including the one led by Bundy in eastern Oregon in 2016 – but a longer history of anti-government agitation in southern Oregon and northern California, stretching back to 2000 and beyond.
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Another Vile Idiot
A Wisconsin state lawmaker compared a nonprofit children's museum's mask policy to the Nazi Party in a social media post that generated outrage and calls for an apology.
Republican state Rep. Shae Sortwell shared a Facebook post on Friday by the Central Wisconsin Children's Museum in Stevens Point detailing its mask policy. The museum said masks would be optional for those who show their vaccination cards and masks would be mandatory for everyone else over age 5.
“The Gestapo wants to see your papers, please," Sortwell posted on Facebook, a reference to the feared secret police of Nazi Germany.
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A Boring Story
Even by Las Vegas standards, the 1.7-mile tunnel opening on Tuesday to transport visitors through the city's Convention Center is creating a spectacle — especially among elected officials in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
In recent months, three separate groups of elected officials and business leaders from Fort Lauderdale traveled to Las Vegas to study this tunnel loop in which human-driven Tesla cars ferry passengers between three stations.
They also have twice hosted officials from Elon Musk’s Boring Co., which built the Vegas tunnel, to tour Fort Lauderdale and discuss building what Mayor Dean Trantalis hopes will be a nearly three-mile tunnel under the city for $30 million. With hopes to open by the end of 2022, Vice Mayor Heather Moraitis wrote to Gov. Ron DeSantis seeking state money for the project so that the city could ideally expand beyond a single tunnel to the beach.
“We’re very, very close to a deal,” said Trantalis, noting that other companies will be invited to bid and compete against the Boring Co.
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Throw Away the Key
Two people have been arrested in California over the shooting of a six-year-old boy who died in a suspected road rage incident last month.
Aiden Leos was killed while his mother was driving him to school, and his death triggered widespread anger and an outpouring of grief.
On Sunday, Marcus Anthony Eriz, 24, and Wynne Lee, 23, were detained at their home in Costa Mesa, Orange County.
They are expected to be charged with murder, police said.
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Note to Apple Employees: "Work" Means Doing Things You Don't Like. That's Why They Pay You to Do It.
Apple employees have launched a campaign to push back against Tim Cook's plans for a widespread return to the office, according to reports.
It follows an all-staff memo last week in which the Apple boss said workers should be in the office at least three days a week by September.
But staff are demanding more flexibility, according to an internal letter obtained by news site The Verge.
Apple's policy has "already forced some of our colleagues to quit", it said.
"Without the inclusivity that flexibility brings, many of us feel we have to choose between either a combination of our families, our wellbeing, and being empowered to do our best work, or being a part of Apple," the letter said.
"Over the last year we often felt not just unheard, but at times actively ignored," it also reads, accusing management of a "disconnect" with employees on the topic of remote or flexible working.
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BTS Can be Hazardous to Your Health in North Korea.
North Korea has recently introduced a sweeping new law which seeks to stamp out any kind of foreign influence - harshly punishing anyone caught with foreign films, clothing or even using slang.
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Doses Administered 7-Day Average | Number of People Receiving 1 or More Doses | Number of People Fully Vaccinated | |
| Jun 7 | 1,131,867 | 171,310,738 | 139,748,661 |
| Jun 6 | 1,133,361 | 170,833,221 | 138,969,323 |
| Jun 5 | 1,166,993 | 170,272,150 | 138,112,702 |
| Jun 4 | 1,199,416 | 169,735,441 | 137,455,367 |
| Jun 3 | 1,215,518 | 169,090,262 | 136,644,618 |
| Jun 2 | 1,303,431 | 168,734,435 | 136,155,250 |
| Jun 1 | 1,359,049 | 168,489,729 | 135,867,425 |
| May 30 | 1,315,466 | 167,733,972 | 135,087,319 |
| May 29 | 1,394,832 | 167,157,043 | 134,418,748 |
| May 28 | 1,500,632 | 166,388,129 | 133,532,544 |
| May 27 | 1,618,194 | 165,718,717 | 132,769,894 |
| May 26 | 1,703,162 | 165,074,907 | 131,850,089 |
| May 25 | 1,750,524 | 164,378,258 | 131,078,608 |
| May 24 | 1,782,714 | 163,907,827 | 130,615,797 |
| May 23 | 1,827,882 | 163,309,414 | 130,014,175 |
| May 22 | 1,872,697 | 162,470,794 | 129,006,463 |
| May 21 | 1,879,526 | 161,278,336 | 127,778,250 |
| May 20 | 1,828,681 | 160,177,820 | 126,605,166 |
| May 19 | 1,801,333 | 159,174,963 | 125,453,423 |
| May 18 | 1,771,807 | 158,365,411 | 124,455,693 |
| May 17 | 1,830,360 | 157,827,208 | 123,828,224 |
| May 16 | 1,886,917 | 157,132,234 | 122,999,721 |
| May 15 | 1,926,448 | 156,217,367 | 121,768,268 |
| May 14 | 1,951,333 | 155,251,852 | 120,258,637 |
| May 13 | 2,088,962 | 154,624,231 | 118,987,308 |
| May 12 | 2,159,146 | 153,986,312 | 117,647,439 |
| May 11 | 2,194,787 | 153,448,316 | 116,576,359 |
| May 10 | 2,117,025 | 152,819,904 | 115,530,780 |
| May 9 | 2,085,022 | 152,116,936 | 114,258,244 |
| May 8 | 1,983,391 | 151,315,505 | 112,626,771 |
| Feb 16 | 1,716,311 | 39,670,551 | 15,015,434 |
Coming TOMORROW: Half of eligible people fully vaccinated
| At Least One Dose | Fully Vaccinated | |
| % of Total Population | 51.6% | 42.1% |
| % of Population 12+ | 61.1% | 49.9% |
| % of Population 18+ | 63.7% | 53.0% |
| % of Population 65+ | 86.4% | 75.6% |
CALIFORNIA
7-Day Average Administered | |
| Jun 7 | 182,811 |
| Jun 6 | 183,406 |
| Jun 5 | 179,462 |
| Jun 4 | 165,253 |
| Jun 3 | 165,225 |
| Jun 2 | 170,223 |
| Jun 1 | 179,213 |
| May 30 | 173,351 |
| May 29 | 193,204 |
| May 28 | 213,796 |
| May 27 | 230,733 |
| May 26 | 244,708 |
| May 25 | 258,249 |
| May 24 | 268,071 |
| May 23 | 276,166 |
| May 22 | 285,578 |
| May 21 | 293,987 |
| May 20 | 281,184 |
| May 19 | 278,632 |
| May 18 | 269,324 |
| May 17 | 271,943 |
| May 16 | 286,457 |
| May 15 | 279,347 |
| May 14 | 278,877 |
| May 13 | 298,328 |
| May 12 | 306,629 |
| May 11 | 309,119 |
| May 10 | 292,285 |
| May 9 | 286,170 |
| May 8 | 277,007 |
| Mar 1 | 214,579 |
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Will Crocodile Punching be the Next Big Thing?
When a crocodile grabbed her sister, there was only one option for Georgia Laurie - she punched it in the face.
The 28-year-old twins were swimming in Mexico when Melissa was dragged underwater by the reptile.
Both sisters, who live in Berkshire, are now in hospital in Mexico - and Melissa is currently in an induced coma, because of worries of infection from the injuries she sustained.
While they were swimming, Melissa disappeared under the water and Georgia had been trying to find her.
Crocodiles try to drown their victims.
"Georgia found her unresponsive and started to drag her back to the safety of a boat," says 33-year-old Hana from her home in Alton, Hampshire.
"She dragged her back as the crocodile kept coming back for more - so she just started hitting it.
"She'd heard that with with some animals, that's what you've got to do."
Hana says Melissa was thrown about like a "rag doll" by the crocodile.
"Luckily, her super-badass twin sister was there to punch it repeatedly - as it came back about three times - to try and save her."
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There are Bad Cops, Terrible Cops, and This Guy
A Met Police officer has admitted kidnapping and raping Sarah Everard.
The 33-year-old vanished as she walked home in Clapham, south London, on 3 March. Her body was found a week later in woodland near Ashford, Kent.
Appearing at the Old Bailey via video-link, PC Wayne Couzens, of Deal, pleaded guilty both to kidnap and rape.
The court heard he also accepted responsibility for Ms Everard's death but did not enter a plea on the charge of murder.
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There's General Jackson, Standing Like a Stone Wall -- Uh, Where Did He Go?
In a unanimous vote late Monday night, the Charlottesville City Council voted to remove two Confederate statues from the city's public parks, almost four years after they served as a flashpoint for the violent "Unite the Right" rally that killed counterprotester Heather Heyer.
The public now has a 30-day period to propose new plans for the statues of Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson after their removal. According to city documents, Charlottesville is requesting proposals "for any museum, historical society, government or military battlefield interested in acquiring the Statues, or either of them, for relocation and placement."
-----------------
I Just Want to Say One Word to You
What do old televisions, street signs, motorbike helmets, windsurf boards, and Christmas trees have in common? They were all caught floating down Amsterdam's Westerdok canal -- by a curtain of bubbles.
Commissioned by the municipality of Amsterdam and the region's water authority, the Bubble Barrier was installed in October 2019 in under five hours.
Ehrhorn says the idea is to catch plastic without having a physical barrier like a net or boom blocking the river, which could disrupt aquatic life or interfere with shipping.
It traps 86% of the trash that would otherwise flow to the River IJssel and further on to the North Sea, according to Philip Ehrhorn, co-founder and chief technology officer of The Great Bubble Barrier, the Dutch social enterprise behind the system.
Commissioned by the municipality of Amsterdam and the region's water authority, the Bubble Barrier was installed in October 2019 in under five hours.
Ehrhorn says the idea is to catch plastic without having a physical barrier like a net or boom blocking the river, which could disrupt aquatic life or interfere with shipping.
-----------------
Who Wants to Be His Lawyer?
Former Bosnian Serb army leader Ratko Mladic, nicknamed "the butcher of Bosnia," will have to serve his life sentence after an appeal against his war crimes convictions was rejected on Tuesday.
Mladic, 79, was sentenced to life in prison in 2017 after being found guilty of genocide for atrocities committed during the Bosnian war from 1992 to 1995.
-----------------
Democrats Fiddled While the US Burned
Congressional Democrats made sparing use of a law that allows them to immediately overturn the Trump administration's last-minute flurry of "midnight regulations" — including measures that weakened environmental protections, permitted discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity and made it harder for shareholders to hold corporations accountable.
While the Democrats were juggling many priorities over the past several months — including impeaching former President Donald Trump and passing a massive pandemic relief package — the inaction on many of the last-minute Trump rules disappointed some progressive advocates, who had urged the party to strike the rules as quickly as possible.
"It's disappointing because it's so important," said Sasha Buchert, a senior attorney for Lambda Legal, a civil rights advocacy organization focused on LGBTQ issues. The group had pushed Congress to undo a Trump-era rule allowing social services providers receiving federal funds to discriminate based on sexual orientation and gender identity, but lawmakers did not act in time to reverse it immediately.
The Congressional Review Act allows lawmakers to eliminate recently finalized regulations quickly, requiring only simple majorities in both the House and the Senate. (Such resolutions cannot be filibustered in the Senate.) But it allows a limited time to act: After a rule is finalized, lawmakers must introduce a resolution of disapproval within 60 days that Congress is in session. In the early months of the Trump administration, the Republican-controlled Congress used the law to eliminate 14 Obama-era rules.
During the Biden administration, Senate Democrats passed resolutions to eliminate only three Trump rules during the same period — and the deadline for Senate action closed the last week of May. The resolutions would halt the Trump administration's rollback of methane emissions standards, repeal a rule that gives employers certain advantages when workers file bias claims against them and stop lenders from circumventing caps on high interest rates. The resolutions still need the House's approval and President Joe Biden's signature to become law, although there is no deadline, and they are expected to be successful.
-----------------
True Dat
I’m afraid history will show that, in this shameful era, Republican senators were more united in their opposition to voting rights than Democratic senators were in their support for them.
-----------------
Maybe Putting this Guy on the Supreme Court Was Never a Good Idea
President Joe Biden’s Justice Department has made the surprising decision to continue the previous administration’s efforts to defend Donald Trump against a defamation suit brought by woman he’d accused of lying about being raped by him. As a presidential candidate, Biden had criticized the agency’s involvement in the case.
In its latest brief on Monday, Justice Department lawyers continued to argue that Trump was just another employee of the federal government when he accused columnist E. Jean Carroll of lying — a move that led Carroll to file a defamation lawsuit against the then-president. Carroll wrote in a June 2019 New York Magazine article and reiterated in her lawsuit that Trump raped her in a Manhattan department store’s dressing room in the 1990s.
He Really Wants to Defend a Rapist?
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Or They Can Just Arrest Him
He's the Guy Who Helped Protestors Breach the Oregon Capital
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Taxes Really Are for Little People
In 2007, Jeff Bezos, then a multibillionaire and now the world’s richest man, did not pay a penny in federal income taxes. He achieved the feat again in 2011. In 2018, Tesla founder Elon Musk, the second-richest person in the world, also paid no federal income taxes.
Michael Bloomberg managed to do the same in recent years. Billionaire investor Carl Icahn did it twice. George Soros paid no federal income tax three years in a row.
ProPublica has obtained a vast trove of Internal Revenue Service data on the tax returns of thousands of the nation’s wealthiest people, covering more than 15 years. The data provides an unprecedented look inside the financial lives of America’s titans, including Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, Rupert Murdoch and Mark Zuckerberg. It shows not just their income and taxes, but also their investments, stock trades, gambling winnings and even the results of audits.
Taken together, it demolishes the cornerstone myth of the American tax system: that everyone pays their fair share and the richest Americans pay the most. The IRS records show that the wealthiest can — perfectly legally — pay income taxes that are only a tiny fraction of the hundreds of millions, if not billions, their fortunes grow each year.
Full Story
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The Ad Fox News Doesn't Want Anyone to See
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Did You Think Stacy Abrams Wasn't Going to Get Involved?
The voting rights group Fair Fight Action, headed by activist and former Georgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, is announcing a month-long campaign to help mobilize young voters of color around the For the People Act, also known as S. 1, for the Senate version of the extensive voting rights bill championed by Democratic lawmakers.
The campaign, called Hot Call Summer, will last throughout June, and will feature virtual events, a paid media campaign and plans to text at least 10 million voters in 2022 battleground states that have seen controversial voting legislation move in state legislatures.
"We can't wait any longer for Congress to protect Americans' freedom to vote, which is why we need Senators to pass the For The People Act (HR1/S1)," Abrams said in an email to supporters first obtained by CBS News. "With voting rights under attack in 48 out of 50 state legislatures across the country, the moment has never been more urgent, and it will take all of us to ensure that Congress passes the voting rights protections our country and democracy desperately need."
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It's a Great Victory, But It Doesn't Really Change Anything
A massive international sting involving 16 countries, including the U.S., has netted more than 800 suspects, the seizure of 8 tons of cocaine and more than $48 million, officials said Tuesday.
The FBI and Australian law enforcement developed and operated an encrypted device company, called ANOM, that was then used to gain access to organized crime networks in more than 100 countries, according to Europol, the law enforcement agency of the European Union.
“Operation Trojan Shield is a shining example of what can be accomplished when law enforcement partners from around the world work together and develop state of the art investigative tools to detect, disrupt and dismantle transnational criminal organizations,” said Calvin Shivers, the assistant director of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division in a press conference in The Hague, Netherlands.
ANOM's users believed the devices to be secure, according to Jannine van den Berg of the Dutch National Police at the press conference. Access to the communications of those involved in criminal networks meant that law enforcement agencies were able to read encrypted messages over the course of 18 months.
The platform’s users communicated in 45 languages about trafficking and drugs, arms and explosives, armed robberies, contract killings and more, said van der Berg.
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Who's the Real Retard?
Donald Trump called Joe Biden a “mental retard” during the 2020 election, a new book says, but was reluctant to attack him too strongly for fear the Democrats would replace him with Hillary Clinton or Michelle Obama.
Biden went on to beat Trump by more than 7m in the popular vote and by 306-232 in the electoral college, a result Trump deemed a landslide when it was in his favour against Clinton in 2016.
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Tokes for Pokes
Licensed marijuana stores in Washington state can offer free joints to promote on-site COVID-19 vaccine clinics, officials said Monday.
The state Liquor and Cannabis Board is calling the effort the “Joints for Jabs” program. The board says licensed adult-use marijuana retail shops can give away a single pre-rolled joint to anyone over 21 who gets a shot at an on-site vaccine clinic held by July 12.
The board has already allowed breweries, wineries and restaurants to offer free drinks in exchange for proof of vaccination — though alcohol-serving establishments have not had to host a clinic on-site to give out product.
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Crypto is Not Quite Secure
The Justice Department on Monday recovered some $2.3 million in cryptocurrency ransom paid by Colonial Pipeline Co, cracking down on hackers who launched the most disruptive U.S. cyberattack on record.
Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said investigators had seized 63.7 bitcoins, now valued at about $2.3 million, paid by Colonial after last month's hack of its systems that led to massive shortages at U.S. East Coast gas stations.
The Justice Department has "found and recaptured the majority" of the ransom paid by Colonial, Monaco said.
An affidavit filed on Monday said the FBI was in possession of a private key to unlock a bitcoin wallet that had received most of the funds. It was unclear how the FBI gained access to the key.
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And the Beat Goes On
if she could turn back time, if she could a find a way, she'd take back those words about Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand.
Award-winning actress and singer Cher unloaded on the New York senator on Twitter Monday, ripping her as a "traitor" for her opposition to ending the filibuster — even though she's said she's open to doing away with it.
"If There Is Any Way 4 NEW YORKERS 2 KICK HER OUT OF SENATE They Must Try Be4 She Hands Our Country 2 trump & His Criminals," the "Believe" singer wrote in the tweet to her 3.9 million followers.
Ten hours after the original tweet, the 75-year-old "Moonstruck" star followed up with an apology tweet, which said she'd confused Gillibrand with Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz. Sinema, like Manchin, has been a staunch public defender of the filibuster.
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The Man Who Spent the Last Year Flushing Toilets
Michael Hurtado spent the past year of the pandemic flushing toilets. Once a week. Hundreds of toilets. Thousands of times.
“Every week, we go through the entire property and flush every toilet, run every hand sink, turn on every shower. You start at one end of the floor, and by the time you get back, you can turn them off,” he said.
Hurtado is the lead engineer for the Ahern Hotel, right off the Las Vegas strip. It’s officially been closed during the pandemic, and Hurtado had the job of keeping the building systems safe despite the lack of guests.
“It easily takes 60 hours a week every single week for my team,” he said.
Keeping water moving is necessary to protect shut-down buildings against pathogens that can build up in their miles of pipes.
The one that keeps safety experts up at night is Legionella pneumophila, the bacteria that causes 95% of Legionnaires' disease cases. It kills at least 1,000 Americans a year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“It’s almost certain that we’re going to be at risk for more Legionnaires' disease cases after the shutdown,” said Michele Swanson, a professor of microbiology at the University of Michigan and an expert on Legionella.
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Drought and Militias is a Dangerous Mix
Fears of a confrontation between law enforcement and rightwing militia supporters over the control of water in the drought-stricken American west have been sparked by protests at Klamath Falls in Oregon.
Protesters affiliated with rightwing anti-government activist Ammon Bundy’s People’s Rights Network are threatening to break a deadlock over water management in the area by unilaterally opening the headgates of a reservoir.
The protest has reawakened memories not only of recent standoffs with federal agencies – including the one led by Bundy in eastern Oregon in 2016 – but a longer history of anti-government agitation in southern Oregon and northern California, stretching back to 2000 and beyond.
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Another Vile Idiot
A Wisconsin state lawmaker compared a nonprofit children's museum's mask policy to the Nazi Party in a social media post that generated outrage and calls for an apology.
Republican state Rep. Shae Sortwell shared a Facebook post on Friday by the Central Wisconsin Children's Museum in Stevens Point detailing its mask policy. The museum said masks would be optional for those who show their vaccination cards and masks would be mandatory for everyone else over age 5.
“The Gestapo wants to see your papers, please," Sortwell posted on Facebook, a reference to the feared secret police of Nazi Germany.
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A Boring Story
Even by Las Vegas standards, the 1.7-mile tunnel opening on Tuesday to transport visitors through the city's Convention Center is creating a spectacle — especially among elected officials in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
In recent months, three separate groups of elected officials and business leaders from Fort Lauderdale traveled to Las Vegas to study this tunnel loop in which human-driven Tesla cars ferry passengers between three stations.
They also have twice hosted officials from Elon Musk’s Boring Co., which built the Vegas tunnel, to tour Fort Lauderdale and discuss building what Mayor Dean Trantalis hopes will be a nearly three-mile tunnel under the city for $30 million. With hopes to open by the end of 2022, Vice Mayor Heather Moraitis wrote to Gov. Ron DeSantis seeking state money for the project so that the city could ideally expand beyond a single tunnel to the beach.
“We’re very, very close to a deal,” said Trantalis, noting that other companies will be invited to bid and compete against the Boring Co.
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Throw Away the Key
Two people have been arrested in California over the shooting of a six-year-old boy who died in a suspected road rage incident last month.
Aiden Leos was killed while his mother was driving him to school, and his death triggered widespread anger and an outpouring of grief.
On Sunday, Marcus Anthony Eriz, 24, and Wynne Lee, 23, were detained at their home in Costa Mesa, Orange County.
They are expected to be charged with murder, police said.
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Note to Apple Employees: "Work" Means Doing Things You Don't Like. That's Why They Pay You to Do It.
Apple employees have launched a campaign to push back against Tim Cook's plans for a widespread return to the office, according to reports.
It follows an all-staff memo last week in which the Apple boss said workers should be in the office at least three days a week by September.
But staff are demanding more flexibility, according to an internal letter obtained by news site The Verge.
Apple's policy has "already forced some of our colleagues to quit", it said.
"Without the inclusivity that flexibility brings, many of us feel we have to choose between either a combination of our families, our wellbeing, and being empowered to do our best work, or being a part of Apple," the letter said.
"Over the last year we often felt not just unheard, but at times actively ignored," it also reads, accusing management of a "disconnect" with employees on the topic of remote or flexible working.
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BTS Can be Hazardous to Your Health in North Korea.
North Korea has recently introduced a sweeping new law which seeks to stamp out any kind of foreign influence - harshly punishing anyone caught with foreign films, clothing or even using slang.
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