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Post by mhbruin on Nov 7, 2022 8:50:48 GMT -8
Eat alphabet soup. Have a vowel movement.
I Watch a Lot of Cable News. Here's What I Have Learned.
There is an election tomorrow. Many races are very close.
Candidates are saying stuff. Candidates are running ads. Voters have a variety of opinions.
It's amazing how many hours of coverage can say exactly the same stuff over and over.
What have I learned? Nothing.
They Haven't Mentioned the Big News
College basketball is back and Stojakovi announces sometime today.
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Post by mhbruin on Nov 7, 2022 9:18:23 GMT -8
A Spoonful of Blood May Not Help the Medicine Go Down, But It Might Save Lives
Blood that has been grown in a laboratory has been put into people in a world-first clinical trial, UK researchers say.
Tiny amounts - equivalent to a couple of spoonfuls - are being tested to see how it performs inside the body.
The bulk of blood transfusions will always rely on people regularly rolling up their sleeve to donate.
But the ultimate goal is to manufacture vital, but ultra-rare, blood groups that are hard to get hold of.
These are necessary for people who depend on regular blood transfusions for conditions such as sickle cell anaemia.
If the blood is not a precise match then the body starts to reject it and the treatment fails. This level of tissue-matching goes beyond the well-known A, B, AB and O blood groups.
Prof Ashley Toye, from the University of Bristol, said some groups were "really, really rare" and there "might only be 10 people in the country" able to donate.
At the moment, there are only three units of the "Bombay" blood group - first identified in India - in stock across the whole of the UK.
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Post by mhbruin on Nov 7, 2022 9:21:48 GMT -8
Will Rogers Never Meta Man He Didn't Like. He Never Met Mark Zuckerberg
Facebook's parent company Meta is reportedly planning to begin large-scale lay-offs this week that will affect thousands of employees.
US media reported at the weekend that the job cuts could be announced as early as Wednesday.
During Meta's disappointing third quarter results, chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said staffing might fall.
"In 2023, we're going to focus our investments on a small number of high-priority growth areas," he said.
Meta has about 87,000 employees worldwide across its different platforms, which include Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.
The plans for job cuts follow difficulties across the tech sector as the industry contends with slowing global economic growth.
After All Meta Only Made $40 Billion Last Year. They Can't Afford to Keep Paying People
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Post by mhbruin on Nov 7, 2022 9:23:24 GMT -8
When He's Not Paying People to Murder Civilians, He Keeps Busy
A day before the United States votes in midterm elections, the founder of Russia’s Wagner Group, a private mercenary force, has admitted to interfering in US elections and promised to continue.
“We have interfered, we are interfering and we will continue to interfere – carefully, accurately, surgically and in our own way, as we know how to do,” Yevgeny Prigozhin said on Monday in comments posted by the press service of his Concord catering firm on Russian social media.
“During our pinpoint operations, we will remove both kidneys and the liver at once,” the Russian businessman wrote on VK, the Russian equivalent of Facebook.
He did not elaborate.
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Post by mhbruin on Nov 7, 2022 9:45:40 GMT -8
Paylivka: The Killing Field
Pavlivka has a new distinction—it is the graveyard of the 155th Naval Infantry Brigade of the Russian Pacific Fleet. Furious members of that unit have written this letter widely circulating through Russian Telegram.
Full letter from the soldiers of the 155th Marine Brigade of the Russian Pacific Fleet addressed to the Governor of Primorsky Krai:
"Dear Oleg Nikolaevich. The Marines of the 155th Marine Brigade are appeal to you. Once again, General Muradov and his fellow countryman Akhmedov threw us into an incomprehensible offensive in order for Muradov to earn bonuses from Gerasimov, and Muradov promised to Akhmedov the Hero of Russia award.
As a result, us and Kamchatka marines are advancing on Pavlivka. As a result of the "carefully" planned offensive by the "great commanders", we lost about 300 people killed, wounded and missing in 4 days. 50 percent of vehicles. This is just our brigade. The command of the district, together with Akhmedov, hide this and replace the official figures of losses for fear of responsibility.
How are they planning to capture the settlement by slipping through the tree plantations in which the enemy remained, now destroying our guys on the wounded evacuation and ammunition supply routes? In addition, Pavlivka is lower than Uhledar, they're striking us from the latter.
Oleg Nikolaevich, Primorye people! For how long will such mediocrities like Muradov and Akhmedov be planning military operations for the sake of their reports and receiving awards at the cost of the lives of so many people? They don't care about anything but demonstrating themselves. They call people meat.
We ask you to turn to the Supreme Commander so that they would send a commission, not from the Ministry of Defense where Muradov is protected by Gerasimov, but an independent one. Let them be asked about the purpose of such actions, their supply, and the results, without any embellishment.
How long can we endure this?
........................
300 killed, wounded, and missing! For context, a full-strength naval infantry brigade has around 2,000 men and at least a couple of hundred vehicles. There is zero chance this unit was at full strength. So whatever was left of it was utterly decimated.
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Post by mhbruin on Nov 7, 2022 9:47:59 GMT -8
Maybe They Should Vote After the Steelers Game, Too.
Uh, the Steelers have a bye on Sunday. Which means they aren’t playing until next week. Any Steelers fan would know that.
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Post by mhbruin on Nov 7, 2022 9:51:21 GMT -8
Men Know So Much About Women's Bodies
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Post by mhbruin on Nov 7, 2022 9:54:24 GMT -8
Jon Ralston is the EF Hutton of Nevada Politics. When He Speaks, You Should Listen
Jon Ralston usually gets his predictions right. As he says in his intro to his 2022 predictions, “I think pundits should make predictions based on data, which is important; on experience, which can provide insight; and by gut, which is born of the first two.” He deeply studies and understands the data on early voting in a daily updated early voting blog. He is predicting wins for Democrats in the Senate race, along with 2 of the 3 close house races.
Again this is based on actual early voting patterns, not polls conducted by right wing interests. For inexplicable reasons, the media, including MSNBC, frequently publish the RCP polling averages. RCP and other polling aggregators include polls from fringe conspiracy driven right wing groups like “American Greatness.” Their website makes Fox News look like a place for the reasonable exchange of ideas. They live in their own alternate reality and want their own alternate polls. They use Republican polling firms to get this type of headline and the corresponding effect on the polling average and media narrative:
Republicans Laxalt and Lombardo Maintain Their Leads Over Democrat Opponents
Republican Adam Laxalt, who served as Nevada’s Attorney General from 2015 to 2019, has widened his lead against Democrat Senator Catherine Cortez-Masto, with 49.8 percent of likely voters saying they would vote for him, and 43.8 percent saying they would vote for the incumbent, Cortez-Masto, in the Nevada Senate race.
So real voting data leads Jon Ralston to say Senator Cortez Masto wins. If Senator Cortez Masto wins, I think we hold the senate.
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Post by mhbruin on Nov 7, 2022 9:59:45 GMT -8
It's Up to You, New York, New York
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Post by mhbruin on Nov 7, 2022 10:01:09 GMT -8
How Dry I Am. Nobody Knows. How Dry I Am
Colorado River conditions are worsening quicker than expected. Feds prepare to step in.
The megadrought plaguing the West is worsening and Lake Powell could sink below a critical level without enough snow this winter
The path forward for Reclamation, the states and dozens of Native American tribes is narrowing, Brad Udall, a water and climate scientist with Colorado State University, said, calling the implications “beyond serious.”
If the federal government comes in too strong, requiring massive cuts to water use, the entire scheme could devolve into a morass of expensive and time-consuming lawsuits, Udall said. Not strong enough and the river dwindles further, endangering the way of life for more than 40 million people and an estimated $1.4 trillion chunk of the national economy.
Reclamation officials announced Friday that they will consider whether to turn down the faucet for downstream states next year and in 2024. A draft plan should be ready by spring.
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Post by mhbruin on Nov 7, 2022 10:03:34 GMT -8
Yet Another Investigation of Previous Guy
Government and congressional investigators are now attempting to track down dozens of expensive gifts given to Donald Trump and his family members by foreign leaders during his time in the White House that were supposed to be turned over to the National Archives, The Washington Post reports.
Diamond earrings, expensive golf clubs, and a $6,400 ceremonial golden medal presented to Trump by Saudi King Salman in Riyadh in 2017 are just a few of the gifts congressional investigators are attempting to trace, sources told the Post.
The gifts being tracked are reportedly worth a total of about $50,000.
It wasn’t clear why the specific list of gifts was being traced. A spokesperson for the House Oversight Committee, which launched the investigation and has asked the National Archives for help, would only tell the Post that the probe is ongoing.
The 1966 Foreign Gifts and Decorations Act prohibits presidents and other government officials from keeping gifts from foreigners worth more than $415 unless they pay for them.
While the National Archives holds most of the gifts given to U.S. presidents by foreign leaders, some are also kept by the Department of the Interior’s National Park Service and by the General Services Administration.
The New York Times first reported a year ago that required tracking and reporting of such gifts by the Trump administration fell into “risible shambles,” particularly during his last year in office.
The probe into the gifts comes in the wake of an FBI search in August of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home and resort, where agents removed several boxes of documents, including classified and even top-secret information that was supposed to be turned over to the National Archives at the end of Trump’s term.
Several seized items were labeled as “gifts,” though few details were provided.
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Post by mhbruin on Nov 7, 2022 10:05:19 GMT -8
I Don't Expect This to Work, But the Court Filings Could be Fun
When Donald Trump announces he’s running for the presidency, as he’s expected to do, a watchdog group plans to file a challenge under the 14th Amendment, which bars reelection of officials who engaged in or supported an insurrection.
“The evidence that Trump engaged in insurrection is overwhelming,” Noah Bookbinder, president of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said in a statement last week. “We are ready, willing and able to take action to make sure the Constitution is upheld and Trump is prevented from holding office.”
Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, passed after the Civil War, bars any officials who have taken an oath of office to defend the government from reelection if they “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against the government — or have “given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.”
CREW sent a letter to Trump on Thursday alerting him to the planned challenge if he announces his candidacy for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination.
“CREW believes you are barred from holding office Under Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment because you engaged in insurrection against the government you swore to defend,” states the letter. “By summoning a violent mob to disrupt the transition of presidential power mandated by the Constitution after having sworn to defend the same, you made yourself ineligible to hold public office again.”
The “evidence that you engaged in insurrection as contemplated in the Fourteenth Amendment — including by mobilizing, inciting and aiding those attacking the Capitol — is overwhelming,” the letter adds.
“If you seek elected or appointed office despite being constitutionally disqualified ... we and others loyal to the Constitution will defend it,” the message warns.
Trump has not responded.
Though a similar action by a group of voters failed earlier this year to block Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (R-Ga.) run for reelection, a challenge by CREW and other organizations succeeded against an official in New Mexico in September.
Once He Declares His Candidacy, the RNC Is Supposed to Stop Paying His Legal Bills. But They Might Change the Rules
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Post by mhbruin on Nov 7, 2022 10:07:18 GMT -8
You're Fired. You're Un-Fired.
Just days after laying off about half of Twitter’s workforce following Elon Musk’s acquisition, the company is now asking dozens of those employees to come back.
On Friday, Musk began mass layoffs at the San Francisco-based company, letting go of roughly 3,700 workers via email. Many Twitter employees expressed learning of their layoff after they were already cut off from accessing company-wide systems.
But according to Platformer and Bloomberg, the company is already trying to reverse course and hire back dozens of employees it just laid off ― continuing the chaos Musk has brought since taking over Twitter.
“sorry to @- everybody on the weekend but I wanted to pass along that we have the opportunity to ask folks that were left off if they will come back. I need to put together names and rationales by 4PM PST Sunday,” still-employed workers read Saturday on Twitter Slack. “I’ll do some research but if any of you who have been in contact with folks who might come back and who we think will help us, please nominate tomorrow before 4.”
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