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Post by mhbruin on Nov 26, 2022 9:00:56 GMT -8
Why is it unwise to share your secrets with a clock? Well, time will tell.
The No-China Syndrome
The US has banned the sale and import of new communications equipment from five Chinese companies, including Huawei and ZTE, amid concerns over national security.
Other companies listed include Hikvision, Dahua and Hytera, which make video surveillance equipment and two-way radio systems.
It is the first time US regulators have taken such a move on security grounds.
Hikvision said that its products present no security threat to the US.
It said the decision "will do nothing to protect US national security, but will do a great deal to make it more harmful and more expensive for US small businesses, local authorities, school districts, and individual consumers to protect themselves, their homes, businesses and property."
Huawei and others have previously denied supplying data to the Chinese government.
The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) said its members had voted unanimously on Friday to adopt the new rules.
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Post by mhbruin on Nov 26, 2022 9:05:36 GMT -8
Something You Have Never Seen, Unless You Are Over 100 Years Old
Republican leader Kevin McCarthy is struggling to secure the 218 votes he needs to be elected speaker of the House in January.
Because voters this month handed the GOP a wafer-thin majority, just a small bloc of conservative rebels could deny the California Republican the speaker’s gavel at the start of the new Congress. Already, several McCarthy foes have declared they will not vote for him under any circumstance.
“He doesn’t have the votes,” said Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., a leader of the conservative Freedom Caucus. “Some of the stages of grief include denial, so there will be some denial and then there’ll be the stage of bargaining where people are trying to figure out … will there be some kind of consensus candidate that emerges.”
It’s put McCarthy in a precarious position: He’s won his party’s nomination for speaker while fighting for his political life.
In this game of chicken, if the conservatives don’t blink and McCarthy refuses to back down, it could result in a chaotic floor fight with House members taking multiple votes for speaker — something that has not happened in a century.
Here are other examples throughout history where the speaker's gavel didn't come easy.
1855-56: The longest speaker election ever
Dec. 3, 1855, started like any other opening day of a new Congress. The House was called to order at noon and the chamber moved to the first order of business: electing the speaker.
But there was no favorite for the job. Twenty-one candidates received votes for speaker on the first ballot, with none getting the majority needed. “There was no choice,” the Congressional Globe printed that day. The House held three more unsuccessful votes for speaker that day before adjourning just after 2 p.m.
In the weeks that followed, the House was in gridlock as no candidate could clinch the votes needed. It wasn’t until the 133rd ballot that Rep. Nathaniel Banks of Massachusetts was elected speaker of the House, defeating Rep. William Aiken of South Carolina by a vote of 103 to 100.
The date was Feb. 2, 1856, two months after the first speaker vote.
The House concluded business that day by unanimously adopting a resolution thanking the clerk for presiding “during the arduous and protracted contest for Speaker.”
1923: The last time the speaker vote went multiple ballots
When the House gathered on Dec. 4, 1923, Frederick Gillett sought re-election as speaker. The Republican from Massachusetts had served in the role since 1919 and his party had maintained control of the chamber.
But after the first ballot, Gillett did not have the votes needed. Three more votes were held and each time enough Progressive Republicans supported other candidates, blocking Gillett from regaining the gavel.
“Mr. Clerk, it seems entirely evident that no good purpose can be served by having another ballot tonight,” Republican leader Nicholas Longworth said on the floor before the chamber adjourned that night.
At issue were rule changes that Progressive Republicans wanted. For two days, the group refused to budge and on a few ballots, the Democrats’ nominee even led in the tally.
Longworth eventually struck a deal with the progressives and on the ninth ballot, Gillett was re-elected as speaker.
There have only been 14 instances in congressional history where it took more than two ballots for a nominee to get a majority. The first 13 happened before the Civil War.
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Post by mhbruin on Nov 26, 2022 9:08:03 GMT -8
WTF? It's Not Like He Was Rooting for USC
An official “is no longer employed at the U.S. Embassy in London,” after he declared his support for England ahead of Friday’s World Cup clash with America.
Ahead of the goal-less draw in Qatar, the embassy posted a video on its official Twitter account, joking that their spokesperson Aaron Snipe had been fired before the game.
Above the tweet the Embassy said it was “sad” to announce his departure, “but some things are more important than diplomacy.”
In the video, Snipe can be seen walking into the office wearing an England scarf, where he receives disgusted looks from a couple of colleagues.
As he reaches his office which has England flags hanging up, someone has printed out letters spelling “traitor,” and stuck them up on the glass pane, alongside the Stars and Stripes.
A colleague then comes in and tells him that “HR called,” and they want to see him “now.”
The video then cuts to Snipe being told off.
“Look man, I don’t know why I need to be the one reminding you, but, you’re an American. You work for the U.S. Embassy. You cannot be rooting for England,” an unnamed man tells him. “I’m gonna need you to take those decorations down. Take that shirt off. And I don’t want to have to call you up here again.”
Standing up, Snipe replies: “OK. Good chat.”
A Soccer Game is NOT More Important Than Diplomacy
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Post by mhbruin on Nov 26, 2022 9:12:04 GMT -8
It Wasn't a Very Happy Thanksgiving in Ukraine
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Post by mhbruin on Nov 26, 2022 9:16:38 GMT -8
Putin Shows His Softer Side (Actually He Pretends He Has One.)
Putin is Behind Our Border "Crisis"
Most of those seeking asylum are from Venezuela. Who is makeing Venezuela a living hell? Maduro. And Who is Maduro's biggest supporter? You guessed it. Putin.
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Post by mhbruin on Nov 26, 2022 9:18:35 GMT -8
Psst! Don't Tell the QOP They Need a New Message.
For evidence that GOP ‘angertainment’ isn’t working, take a look at Colorado
Heading into Election Day, Colorado’s problems looked like those of a lot of other states: Inflation is high, crime is increasing and President Biden’s approval rating in Colorado was just 40 percent, according to Civiqs polling. Yet voters reelected the state’s Democratic governor, Jared Polis, by 19 percentage points, reelected its U.S. Democratic senator, Michael Bennet, by 14 percentage points with easy victories for many down-ballot Democrats and Democratic majorities in the legislature now made lopsided…
Yes, the GOP underperformed in a lot of places this year, but the limits of “angertainment” were perhaps most vividly illustrated here, a rough lesson in the diminishing returns from an approach to governing that mistakes “owning the libs” for getting things done for constituents.
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Post by mhbruin on Nov 26, 2022 9:22:39 GMT -8
Oops!
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Post by mhbruin on Nov 26, 2022 9:24:59 GMT -8
Oops, He Did It Again!
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Post by mhbruin on Nov 26, 2022 9:27:28 GMT -8
Let's Talk Turkey
A flock of feathered hooligans has been intimidating residents of Woburn, Massachusetts, and their leader is one especially tough turkey: Kevin.
The five wild birds spend a lot of time in particular on the lawn of a woman named Meaghan Tolson, according to a new report from The Guardian, appropriately published on Thanksgiving.
Tolson, who gave Kevin his name, characterizes him as the bad egg among the otherwise all-female turkey crew. (The hens she calls Gladys, Ester, Monica and Patricia.)
“The women are more mellow and not so territorial. But I think he kind of amps them up to get them going to chase people,” she told The Guardian.
Tolson has posted multiple videos showing Kevin lurking near the door of her home or car.
“They don’t let you out of your house,” she said.
While The Guardian brought national attention to Kevin and his band of rogues, local media has also covered their antics in recent months.
“They’re up at 6 a.m. in my lawn and start chasing us, trying to pop the tires,” Woburn resident Devin Farren told NBC Boston in September. “It’s wild!”
David Scarpitti, a turkey expert with the state’s wildlife department, told CBS Boston that these kinds of problems arise when turkeys become too habituated to humans. Typically this happens due to people feeding them directly, or from the turkeys freeloading off of bird feeders intended for other kinds of birds.
“Turkeys are just kind of acting out what they do amongst themselves,” he said, adding that running away can fuel the problem because they’ll begin to see you as “subdominant” to them.
Instead, he recommends carrying an umbrella and opening it in front of you to frighten off the birds.
Meanwhile, Tolson is taking the situation in stride and has even developed some affection for Kevin and co.
“They kind of grow on you a little bit,” she told CBS Boston.
Does This Story Make You Want to Drink a Little Wild Turkey?
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Post by mhbruin on Nov 26, 2022 9:30:13 GMT -8
She's Not Gonna' Live Forever, But We Remember Her Name.
Irene Cara, the iconic voice behind hit movie soundtrack songs, "Fame" and "Flashdance... What a Feeling," has died at age 63, her publicist posted on Twitter and on the late singer's website Saturday.
The youngest daughter of a Latin musician, Cara began her career as a child singing and dancing on Spanish television, according to a bio on her website.
She shot to stardom in her breakout role as Coco Hernandez in the 1980 movie "Fame." She also sang the movie's titular song.
Her biggest hit, however, was in 1983 with her song, "Flashdance … What a feeling" for the movie, "Flashdance." The song garnered Cara an Academy Award.
Cara's other career accolades included a Golden Globe award as well as a nomination for best supporting actress, a People's Choice award, an Obie award as a child for her work in theater and an Image award, according to her website.
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Post by mhbruin on Nov 26, 2022 9:35:10 GMT -8
Russia Is Suffering a Lot Less Than Ukraine, But ...When Russian President Vladimir Putin launched last month a new council for coordinating supplies for the Russian army, he seemed to recognize the scale of the economic problems facing the country, and his sense of urgency was palpable. “We have to be faster in deciding questions connected to supplying the special military operation and countering restrictions on the economy which, without any exaggeration, are truly unprecedented,” he said. For months, Putin claimed that the “economic blitzkrieg” against Russia had failed, but Western sanctions imposed over the invasion of Ukraine are digging ever deeper into Russia’s economy, exacerbating equipment shortages for its army and hampering its ability to launch any new ground offensive or build new missiles, economists and Russian businessmen said. Recent figures show the situation has worsened considerably since the summer when, buoyed by a steady stream of oil and gas revenue, the Russian economy seemed to stabilize. Figures released by the Finance Ministry last week show a key economic indicator — tax revenue from the non-oil and gas sector — fell 20 percent year in October compared to a year earlier, while the Russian state statistics agency Rosstat reported that retail sales fell 10 percent year on year in September, and cargo turnover fell 7 percent. “All objective indicators show there is a very strong drop in economic activity,” said Vladimir Milov, a former Russian deputy energy minister who is now a leading opposition politician in exile. “The spiral is escalating, and there is no way out of this now.” ... The outlook appears likely to worsen when the E.U. embargo on Russian oil sales comes into force Dec. 5, economists said. Combined with a price cap expected to be imposed on all sales of Russian oil outside the E.U., the measure could cost the Russian budget at least $120 million in lost revenue per day, Milov said, and already the Russian budget is expected to rack up a deficit by the end of this year. Western sanctions catch up with Russia’s wartime economy
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Post by mhbruin on Nov 26, 2022 9:43:14 GMT -8
Russian Recycling
Russian forces are resorting to removing nuclear warheads from old cruise missiles to fire at targets in Ukraine, according to the latest Western assessment that points to Moscow's dwindling weapons stocks.
The defense officials said that the inert system would still cause damage but was not likely to achieve "reliable effects against intended targets" and could be used by Moscow as decoys to divert Ukrainian air defenses.
"Whatever Russia's intent, this improvisation highlights the level of depletion in Russia's stock of long-range missiles," the defense officials said on Saturday in an assessment that typically highlights Kyiv's gains and Moscow's losses.
Newsweek has contacted the Russian defense ministry for comment.
There have been numerous reports that Russia is facing dwindling missile stocks, although there is uncertainty surrounding the state of Moscow's arsenal.
On Tuesday, the Ukrainian defense minister Oleksii Reznikov said that Russia had used an estimated 80 percent of its modern missiles and had only 13 percent left of its pre-war stock of ground-launched Iskander missiles.
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Post by mhbruin on Nov 26, 2022 9:45:40 GMT -8
Anyone Want a MuskPhone?
Elon Musk has a simple plan if Apple decides to boot Twitter from the App Store. The billionaire will create his own smartphone.
Musk wrote in a Friday tweet he would "make an alternative phone" to compete with Apple's iPhone if the tech giant ends up blocking Twitter from its powerful App Store.
Since taking over Twitter at the end of October, Musk has made many changes to the platform, including extensive layoffs and firings of personnel, which have led to resignations executives in charge of data privacy and content moderation. Before he offered to buy Twitter for $44 billion, Musk criticized Twitter for undermining democracy by failing to uphold "free speech principles" and not long before called himself a "free speech absolutist."
Musk's stance on content moderation is essentially to allow speech that does not violate law. In addition, he is reportedly planning to try and make money for Twitter off of adult content or pornography, similar to the site Ony Fans. Under previous leadership like Jack Dorsey, content moderation was more deliberate and focused on "safety" for users, banning pornography, hate speech and violence. Musk has quickly moved to reinstate a number of users banned for such content, like former president Donald Trump.
Indeed, Twitter's future existence is under threat after Elon Musk officially bought the company for $44 billion last month, saddling the company with more than $1 billion per year in debt payments as some advertisers pause spending on the platform.
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