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Post by mhbruin on Aug 26, 2022 9:00:49 GMT -8
What if there were no hypothetical questions?
A Tablet a Day Keeps the Russians Away
Years before Russia invaded Ukraine, Oleksiy Savchenko helped develop one of the most lethal and inexpensive weapons now used by thousands of Ukrainian service members.
In 2014,, Moscow annexed Crimea and stoked a separatist war in Ukraine’s southeast. This led Savchenko, together with like-minded activists, to start a non-governmental organisation called Army SOS.
The group raised money to procure flak jackets and other military gear for former protesters who volunteered to fight the separatists despite being under-equipped and barely trained.
And as the group delivered the gear to the front line, the volunteers and service members asked for something they needed badly.
“Guys, give us maps, we need maps, we only have Soviet ones from the 1980s. Where there used to be a field is now a village or an apartment building,” Savchenko recalled them saying.
But instead of printing thousands of pages, Army SOS went for a tech solution.
They asked a group of software developers in Kyiv to install satellite maps and Ukrainian military data on tablets and smartphones.
According to a Ukrainian service member who responded to the novelty in 2014, troops started seeing their surroundings better, and the tools allowed them to correct artillery more clearly and precisely.
More suggestions were passed on.
“Can you add an option to measure distance? Can we enter coordinates? Can we guide and calculate artillery fire?” were the most important ones, Savchenko told Al Jazeera.
The Soviet-era way of guiding fire requires manual data entry and the use of artillery tables for calculations that take up to 15 minutes.
But what Army SOS and the developers came up with changed the entire system.
Named Kropiva (nettle), the software is part of a series of hi-tech equipment and weaponry that has helped to transform the Ukrainian military from a demoralised underdog to a serious force of resistance.
The software turns any Android-based tablet that costs $150 or more into a basic unit of an automated precision guidance system.
The tablet can acquire and transmit coordinates for correcting artillery fire from its user, a drone or a radar.
It can calculate the distance to targets and direct shots of each type of artillery used in the Ukrainian military.
The tablet also gets meteorological data that can affect each shot – the speed and direction of wind, temperature and humidity.
If there is no web access to get in touch with command centres, the tablet can use portable radio stations.
The calculations are made and transmitted within seconds – time that can save lives and destroy the enemy.
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Post by mhbruin on Aug 26, 2022 9:16:07 GMT -8
1-877-Guns For Kids
A federal judge has ruled that a Texas law that bans people ages 18 to 20 from carrying handguns in public is unconstitutional, saying the restriction is inconsistent with the Second Amendment and US history.
The decision follows a transformational Supreme Court ruling in June which significantly expanded gun owners’ rights to carry firearms outside the home and raised the threshold that authorities must meet when defending gun restrictions.
District Court Judge Mark Pittman stated that the Texas restriction on “law-abiding 18-to-20-year-olds” is inconsistent with the Constitution because the Second Amendment itself does not state an age restriction, and minors were part of state militias that existed in the formative years of American history.
The same reasoning has been used recently by other Trump-appointed judges to rule against gun purchase limits for older teens.
The case was brought by the gun rights nonprofit Firearms Policy Coalition, which has brought a handful of similar challenges against other states, including Pennsylvania and California.
If It's OK for 18 Year Old Kids, Why Not 16? 12? 10?
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Post by mhbruin on Aug 26, 2022 9:18:05 GMT -8
I Don't Think This Affects Free Drinks for Gamblers
Water cuts proposed for southern Nevada to cope with drought could change the face of the world-famous Las Vegas Strip, where thousands of visitors amble by gentle rivers fronting hotel-casinos and watch colorful water shows at night.
A series of measures envisioned for metro Las Vegas to reduce water consumption would bar new resort hotels from including water features in their designs, like the popular Fountains of Bellagio at the Italian-themed Bellagio hotel.
One of the three proposals outlined by the Las Vegas Valley Water District would slap owners of single-family homes, starting next year, with a $9 fee for every 1,000 gallons they use over the seasonal water limit. Under another proposal, water budgets for golf courses would shrink by a third in 2024.
The proposals will be voted on by the water district board when the public comment period is over.
One rule already set to take effect Sept. 1 will limit residential swimming pools to a maximum size of 600 square feet. And down the road, water officials could further restrict outdoor water use as part of an ongoing preemptive effort.
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Post by mhbruin on Aug 26, 2022 9:24:30 GMT -8
You Would Think That People Would Be Good at Taking Medicines That Can Save Their Life.
A single pill that combines three heart medications significantly drove down cardiac-related deaths and other heart problems in people who previously had heart attacks, according to new research published Friday in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The outcomes of the "polypill" were so compelling — a 24% reduction in heart disease-related deaths or further heart problems — that researchers plan to submit the data to the Food and Drug Administration for approval, said the study's lead author, Dr. Valentin Fuster, the director of Mount Sinai Heart and physician-in-chief of Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City.
"The results were, frankly, very exciting," said Fuster, who presented the findings Friday at a meeting of the European Society of Cardiology in Barcelona, Spain.
The idea of a polypill to treat heart disease is not new; researchers have been toying with the idea for two decades. A separate study published in 2020 found that a polypill combining four medications cut the risk of first heart attacks and strokes in people who were at risk for such problems.
Dr. Salim Yusuf, the lead author of the 2020 study and a cardiologist and a professor of medicine at McMaster University in Ontario, said the new research confirms a polypill would provide "substantial" benefits.
"The evidence now is overwhelming," he said.
Combining the drugs into a single pill reduces the likelihood that a person will miss out on potentially lifesaving medications. In fact, that was the main driver of the new study's results: People prescribed the polypill were more likely to take it.
Fuster's study included 2,499 patients over age 65 who had previously had heart attacks.
All of the patients were given the same three medications, but half were given them in a single pill, while the others were prescribed the medications as usual, as separate pills.
Over the following three years, 12.7% of those in the usual care group experienced heart attacks or strokes or needed procedures like bypasses to restore blood flow in blocked veins and arteries, or they died because of their heart disease, compared with 9.5% of those given the polypill.
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Post by mhbruin on Aug 26, 2022 9:29:42 GMT -8
They Must Have Georgia on Their Mind.
The special grand jury convened by Willis has asked for testimony from ex-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and notorious conspiracy theorist, disgraced attorney, and Trump campaign advisor Sidney Powell, POLITICO reports.
“0n December 21, 2020, [Meadows] attended a meeting at the White House with former President Trump, members of Congress, and others to discuss allegations of voter fraud and the certification of electoral college votes from Georgia and other states,” the filing reads.
Additionally, “[Meadows] confirmed this meeting in a Tweet on December 21, 2020, when he stated, ‘Several members of Congress just finished meeting in the Oval Office with President Donald Trump, preparing to fight back against mounting evidence of voter fraud. Stay tuned.’’’
According to the motion, Meadows unexpectedly appeared in Marietta, Georgia, on Dec. 22, 2020, where the Georgia Secretary of State and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation were “conducting an absentee ballot signature match audit.” Meadows asked to watch the audit process, but was refused.
Meadows then sent emails to Department of Justice officials, “including Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen, making various allegations of voter fraud in Georgia and elsewhere and requesting that the Department of Justice conduct investigations into these allegations,” the petition reads.
In June 2022, Powell gave testimony to the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol. In her testimony, Powell stated that “In the weeks after the November 2020 election, former President Trump asked her ‘to be special counsel to address the election issues and to collect evidence, and he was extremely frustrated with the lack of law enforcement by any of the government agencies that are supposed to act to protect the rule of law in our republic.’”
On Aug. 16, 2022—two months after Powell’s testimony to the Jan. 6 committee—the motion notes that:
“Georgia Bureau of Investigation confirmed that it is currently assisting the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office with an investigation into an alleged breach of elections data in Coffee County, Georgia. Publicly reported e- mails indicate that [Powell] coordinated with Sullivan Strickler, data solutions company, to obtain elections data from Coffee County, Georgia, in early January 2021. There is further evidence in the public record that indicates that [Powell] was involved in similar efforts in Michigan and Nevada during the same time period.”
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Post by mhbruin on Aug 26, 2022 9:30:49 GMT -8
Let's See How Long SCOTUS Leaves It Up to the States
A new poll from UC Berkeley shows a ballot measure to amend California's constitution to explicitly enshrine the right to abortion and contraceptives passing by a landslide margin, with 71% of voters saying they support it and just 18% opposed. The numbers are similar to those from other recent surveys, reinforcing just how popular abortion rights are and pointing the way for other states to take similar action.
Two already are: Like their counterparts in the Golden State, Democratic lawmakers in Vermont voted to place an amendment on the November ballot to guarantee "personal reproductive autonomy," while activists in Michigan, who gathered a record number of signatures, are very close to qualifying a similar measure there. While we don't have polling from either state yet, there's every reason to think majorities are in favor of both of these amendments, particularly since conservative Kansas recently rejected an attempt to write abortion rights out of its constitution by an 18-point margin.
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Post by mhbruin on Aug 26, 2022 9:34:29 GMT -8
Popular. It's All About Popular
President Joe Biden’s approval rating rose to 44% in the latest Gallup poll, the highest in a year and a fresh sign he and his party are gaining political ground ahead of November midterm elections.
Biden’s approval rating in August jumped six percentage points from July, when it hit a low of 38% in Gallup’s survey. But even after a string of victories in Congress and abroad that have stoked enthusiasm in the White House and among Democratic voters, 53% of Americans still disapprove of Biden’s performance as commander-in-chief.
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Post by mhbruin on Aug 26, 2022 9:36:47 GMT -8
I Owe. I Owe. So Off to Work I Go
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Post by mhbruin on Aug 26, 2022 9:39:21 GMT -8
Is It Time to Talk About a Blue Wave?
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Post by mhbruin on Aug 26, 2022 9:41:49 GMT -8
I'd Say This Answer is More Than Fair
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Post by mhbruin on Aug 26, 2022 9:45:25 GMT -8
Oops They Did It Again
Schilling, however, may not be the best person to level this criticism. Back in 2012, his video game company, 38 Studios, defaulted on a $75 million loan from the state of Rhode Island.
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Post by mhbruin on Aug 26, 2022 9:47:47 GMT -8
This Behavior is Toxic
The former political director of Texas Right to Life is a man named Luke Bowen, but you might not realize that because Texas Right to Life has spent the last couple of weeks quietly getting rid of Bowen’s digital footprint in their organization.
Texas Right to Life is what passes for a standard anti-abortion, pro-forced-birth group. They support candidates who call LGBTQ+ people and teachers “groomers,” and stick to the general conservative Christian lines. Bowen is no longer employed there because, he’s been arrested and charged with soliciting sex from a minor online.
He was arrested on Aug. 3 in Conroe, Texas. According to reports, that is the same day that he became the “former” political director of Texas Right to Life. Houston-based Chron reports that Bowen’s charge is a second degree felony in the Lone Star State that carries up to 20 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
If He Had Gotten the Minor Pregnant, Would He Have Paid for an Abortion? Child Support?
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Post by mhbruin on Aug 26, 2022 9:57:01 GMT -8
Oops He Did It Again
Donald Trump’s social media operation appears to be facing significant money problems just as it lost a bid to obtain a trademark.
A major web-hosting operator claims Trump’s Truth Social owes some $1.6 million in contractually obligated payments, reports Fox Business — an allegation suggesting Truth Social’s finances are in “significant disarray.”
RightForge, a key Truth Social vendor and creditor, announced in October that it would host Truth Social and operate its web system. But now it claims Truth Social made only three monthly payments for the work and is threatening legal action, according to Fox Business.
In another setback this month, Truth Social’s application for a trademark was turned down.
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office found that Trump’s company name was “confusingly similar” to other entities, including Vero — True Social, an app-based social media platform, and the Truth Network, a Christian radio broadcast network.
And Again
Trump University founder Donald Trump railed in a post on his Truth Social platform Thursday about college administrators who “fleeced” students — part of his attack on President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness program.
Trump failed to mention that he paid $25 million in 2016 to settle three fraud lawsuits filed on behalf of customers who paid as much as $35,000 each to attend his own Trump University, which was never accredited as a university and didn’t provide any legitimate college degree.
Eric Schneiderman, New York’s attorney general at the time, said in a statement then concerning one of the suits, “My office sued Donald Trump for swindling thousands of innocent Americans out of millions of dollars through a scheme known at Trump University.” Another attorney said the settlement covered just 55% of the damages suffered by the students. The suits alleged that Trump University’s real estate seminar program used false advertising and deceptive business practices.
Trump claimed in his social media post that the student loan forgiveness program is somehow bailing out “college Administrators who fleeced students, and those who opted for degrees there was no way they could afford.”
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Post by mhbruin on Aug 26, 2022 10:01:46 GMT -8
Mine!
In an urgent conference call this week with major donors, Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel pleaded for more funds to prop up struggling GOP Senate candidates, Politico reported — even as Donald Trump sits on $120 million in contributions.
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Post by mhbruin on Aug 26, 2022 10:04:13 GMT -8
Which Guys Can't You Trust? Who Lies for a Living?
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