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Post by mhbruin on Jul 14, 2023 8:00:07 GMT -8
Why did the scientist install a knocker on his door? He wanted to win the No-bell prize!
Who Are the Idiots Donating Money to George Santos?
Embattled New York GOP Congressman George Santos was paid $85,000 by his campaign during the second quarter of this year, Politico reported.
But Santos, who has been indicted on fraud and money laundering charges but has said he intends to run again for election, spent "virtually nothing" on campaigning, according to Politico.
The payments involved hundreds of thousands of dollars he had previously loaned his campaign.
"Those loans had sparked questions about how Santos had so much money to lend his political efforts. Previous reports with the Federal Election Commission indicated Santos had loaned the campaign $715,000, although his latest report indicated he was now owed only $530,000."
The loan repayments took about 60 percent of the $133,000 that Santos' claimed he'd raised in the second quarter of 2023.
Santos was indicted in May on charges involving wire fraud and theft of public funds. Among allegations was that he received unemployment benefits despite having a job.
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Post by mhbruin on Jul 14, 2023 8:01:19 GMT -8
Does Anyone Want to Hear Melania Speak?
When Donald Trump was serving as president, then-First Lady Melania Trump didn't go out of her way to be in the spotlight. She kept a relatively low profile compared to many first ladies of the past — from Michelle Obama to Nancy Reagan to Betty Ford to Eleanor Roosevelt — and she was very selective about who she granted interviews to.
Nonetheless, Melania Trump, now 53, has made select speeches since leaving the White House. According to New York Times reporters Shane Goldmacher and Maggie Haberman, a Donald Trump-associated super-PAC called Make America Great Again, Again paid her $155,000 for one of those speeches in late 2021.
"The money was listed as pay for a 'speaking engagement' by Ms. Trump in the new filing, a personal financial disclosure by Mr. Trump," Goldmacher and Haberman explain in a report published on July 14. "The $155,000 payment was made in December 2021 by Make America Great Again, Again, which at the time, was Mr. Trump's leading super PAC. Ms. Trump's name, however, did not appear on the super-PAC's list of expenditures, which were made public last year. "
The reporters add, "Instead, the super PAC's report showed two payments, for $125,000 and $30,000, to 'Designer's Management Agency,' which lists Ms. Trump as a client on its website. The payments were made on December 2 and December 3, 2021; in the new disclosure, Mr. Trump reported that Ms. Trump was paid $155,000 on December 2, 2021."
Goldmacher and Haberman note that the $155,000 payment is "unusual" because it is "rare for the spouse of a potential presidential candidate to be paid directly by a campaign or an outside group affiliated with the candidate."
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Post by mhbruin on Jul 14, 2023 8:05:41 GMT -8
The Latest from QollywoodSummer at the movies is a time for big-budget blockbusters, but this year an independent drama with religious undertones is both competing with the likes of Indiana Jones and causing a political stir. Sound of Freedom tells the story of a government agent who busts a child sexual abuse ring operating in Colombia. The main character is based on Timothy Ballard, a former Department of Homeland Security agent who founded an anti-human trafficking organisation, Operation Underground Railroad (OUR). He goes undercover, and some of the gritty action scenes in the Colombian jungle wouldn't look out of place in a more conventional Hollywood flick. The review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes gives the movie a critic score of 77%. But this is not a typical summer blockbuster. A string of conspiratorial comments by the leading actor Jim Caviezel and the movie's themes have turned the film into another culture war flashpoint. ....... But those QAnon references are not entirely spurious. The film's star Caviezel has talked repeatedly about some of its more bizarre themes. Caviezel attended a QAnon-themed conference in 2021 and has appeared a number of times on Steve Bannon's podcast, recently calling QAnon "a good thing". Using the language of the movement, he warned that "a big storm is coming" and also referred to the "mystical qualities" of adrenochrome, a chemical that QAnon fans falsely believe is being harvested from the brains of child victims. Sound of Freedom: An unlikely - and controversial - summer movie hit
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Post by mhbruin on Jul 14, 2023 8:06:45 GMT -8
Actors Want to Live in the Nanny State
When we picture the fire-and-brimstone types that often lead unions into battle against corporate giants, they rarely have much in the way of Hollywood glamour.
But the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) has always been unique in that respect. The union was once led by former US President Ronald Reagan, then best known as a swashbuckling cowboy from cheesy movies.
And less than 24 hours into the guild's campaign against Hollywood's streaming giants, its current leader, Fran Drescher, has caught public attention with a fiery speech from her base in Los Angeles.
Branding corporations including Netflix, Disney and Paramount as "disgusting", she accused the streaming powerhouses of "losing money left and right", all the while "giving hundreds of millions of dollars to their CEOs".
The speech, which quickly went viral, is emblematic of the wider labour fissures playing out across the world. She accused executives of making "Wall Street and greed their priority" while ignoring the "essential contributors that make the machine run".
While the grievances aired by Drescher may be recognisable, the 65-year-old's rise to union leadership is anything but traditional.
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Post by mhbruin on Jul 14, 2023 8:10:46 GMT -8
Today's Volcanic NewsThe volcano exploded violently in January 2022, blasting 10 cubic km (2.4 cubic miles) of rock, ash and sediment straight up into the sky, producing a plume 36 miles (58km) high. It was the biggest atmospheric explosion to be recorded by modern instruments. The enormous volcanic cloud blanketed the region and was so big it could be seen by astronauts orbiting onboard the International Space Station. A megatsunami with waves up to 45m (147ft) high were hurled outwards by the eruption, devastating the islands of Tonga and causing damage as far away as Russia, Hawaii, Peru and Chile. At least six people lost their lives in the tsunami, according to reports, including two in Peru. (Learn more about the damage caused by the tsunami.) But the explosion and tsunami were not the only record-breaking events triggered by the volcano's eruption. It also sparked the most intense lighting storm ever witnessed. "This is an eruption of superlatives," says Alexa Van Eaton, a volcanologist at the United States Geological Survey who led a study of the extraordinary electrical activity inside the ash cloud produced by Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai. The supercharged thunderstorm was monitored from space by satellites, offering an unparalleled view of the high-altitude lightning strikes inside the volcanic plume. And the fury of the lightning – "the likes of which we've never seen", says Van Eaton – is also offering new and valuable insights into the volcano itself and what took place during the eruption. (Learn more about the power of the record-breaking eruption.) A record-breaking thunderstorm At its peak, the thunderstorm triggered by the volcanic plume above Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai produced 2,600 flashes of lightning every minute. Nearly 200,000 flashes of lightning lit up the inside of the dark ash cloud for 11 hours. Bright bursts of electrical discharge rose 12-19 miles (20-30km) above the ocean, which is almost three times as high as a cruising Boeing 747 passenger airliner – some of the highest-altitude lightning flashes ever recorded. How the Tonga Hunga volcano produced the most intense lightning ever seenMalacca Strait: How one volcano could trigger world chaosEvery year, approximately 90,000 ships pass through the narrow sea lane of the Malacca Strait, which links the Indian Ocean to the Pacific. Their cargo – grain, crude oil, and every other commodity under the Sun – comprises an estimated 40% of global trade. Above these ships is one of the busiest air routes in the world, and below them, running along the seabed, is a dense array of submarine internet cables that keep the world online. Together, these factors make the Malacca Strait one of the most vital arteries of the global economy. It has been classified as a trade choke point in reports by the World Trade Organization, the US Energy Information Administration and Chatham House, the London-based foreign affairs think-tank. All of which is to say: nice strait you've got there. Be a shame if something… happened to it. Researchers are warning that it's only a matter of time before a natural disaster like an earthquake or volcano strikes the region – and when it does, we can expect global consequences.
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Post by mhbruin on Jul 14, 2023 8:13:26 GMT -8
Where's Wagner?
Belarus said on Friday that fighters from the Wagner mercenary group were instructing its soldiers at a military range southeast of Minsk, the first indication that at least part of a deal to end a mutiny in Russia may be being implemented.
Some Wagner fighters have been in Belarus since at least Tuesday, two sources close to the fighters told Reuters on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the situation.
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Post by mhbruin on Jul 14, 2023 8:14:46 GMT -8
In Today's Giant Rabid Beaver News, ...
Giant rabid beaver attacks Georgia girl swimming in lake
A rabid beaver bit a young girl while she was swimming in a northeast Georgia lake, local news outlets reported.
Kevin Beucker, field supervisor for Hall County Animal Control, told WDUN-AM that the beaver bit the girl on Saturday while she was swimming off private property in the northern end of Lake Lanier near Gainesville.
The girl’s father beat the beaver to death, Beucker said.
Don McGowan, supervisor for the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Wildlife Resources Division, told WSB-TV that a game warden who responded described the animal as “the biggest beaver he’s ever seen.” The warden estimated it at 50 or 55 pounds (23 or 25 kilograms), McGowan said.
The beaver later tested positive for rabies at a state lab.
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Post by mhbruin on Jul 14, 2023 8:16:48 GMT -8
The Billion-Dollar Man Strikes Again
President Joe Biden’s reelection operation — his campaign, the DNC and a joint fundraising effort that includes state parties across the country — raised more than $72 million in his first quarter since announcing he’d seek a second term, his campaign manager said in a new video posted to Twitter.
Julie Chavez Rodriguez says in the video that the Biden political operation received 670,000 contributions from more than 394,000 individual donors, boasting a significant a significant cash advantage over Biden’s potential GOP rivals as the campaign begins. She did not say what percentage of the money came from small donors, only sharing that 97% of the donations were less than $200, with an average “grassroots” donation of $39.
The campaign did not say how much of the money flowed into Biden’s campaign committee itself — the most important fundraising figure, and one that will be closely scrutinized by allies and rivals in both parties as a measure of his strength and readiness for the 2024 campaign, at a time when his political standing is in perilous position for an incumbent. Biden’s campaign must file a report with the Federal Election Commission detailing its second-quarter fundraising by the end of Saturday.
Biden had historically struggled to raise money for his past campaigns, but he ultimately set a new record in 2020, becoming the first candidate for any federal office to raise $1 billion from donors as he rallied Democrats against then-President Donald Trump.
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Post by mhbruin on Jul 14, 2023 8:18:30 GMT -8
What is Urkaine Up To?
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Post by mhbruin on Jul 14, 2023 8:20:11 GMT -8
Gov DeathSentence Has a Plan For Florida's Insurance Crisis
Just Kidding!
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Post by mhbruin on Jul 14, 2023 8:25:56 GMT -8
The QOP Doesn't Care That Most Military Recruits Are Minorities and Women
House GOP approves Defense bill that restricts abortion access and halts diversity initiatives
The U.S. House on Friday approved a sweeping annual defense bill that provides an expected 5.2% pay raise for service members but strays from traditional military policy with political add-ons from Republicans to block abortion coverage, diversity initiatives at the Pentagon and transgender issues that deeply divided the chamber.
Democrats voted against the package, which had sailed out of the House Armed Services Committee on an almost unanimous vote just weeks ago, but was being loaded up with the Republican priorities during a heated late-night floor debate heading into Friday's session.
The final vote was 219-210, with four Democrats voting with the GOP, and four Republicans opposed. The bill is expected to go nowhere in the Democratic-majority Senate.
Republicans tacked on provisions to stem the Defense Department diversity initiatives and to restrict access to abortions. The abortion issue has been championed by Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., who is singularly stalling Senate confirmation of military officers, including the new Commandant of the Marine Corps.
Turning the must-pass Defense bill into a partisan battleground underscores how deeply the nation's military, a once hallowed institution, has been unexpectedly swept up in the political culture wars over race, equity and women's health care that are now driving the Republican Party priorities in a deepening national divide.
So the QOP Seems to Want a Military With No Officera and No Enlisted People. Do They Want to Privatize It and Give the Contract to the Proud Boys?
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Post by mhbruin on Jul 14, 2023 8:32:49 GMT -8
There Is No End to QOP Stupidity
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) offered head-scratching logic on Thursday when she argued that the U.S. shouldn’t provide humanitarian aid to women and children in Afghanistan because it’s not mentioned in the Constitution.
Luna delivered the baffling line of reasoning during House debate over an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act that would gut funding for Afghan aid.
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Post by mhbruin on Jul 14, 2023 8:35:19 GMT -8
We Are Being Given a Preview of HellAn already dangerous weekslong heat wave will only worsen this weekend as a heat dome intensifies and reaches peak strength over parts of the Western United States. The heat dome is so formidable the National Weather Service in Phoenix called it “one of the strongest high pressure systems this region has ever seen.” Around 100 heat records could fall today through the weekend as it intensifies, piling onto the more than 1,000 high temperature records broken in the US since June. More than 90 million people are under heat alerts after the heat dome expanded into places like California, which is now experiencing its first extreme heat wave of the year. It has already been dangerously hot for weeks in Texas, Florida and Arizona, where Phoenix is in the middle of a likely record-breaking streak of consecutive 110-degree days. The low temperature in Phoenix might not drop below 90 degrees for eight consecutive days, another record.  The heat will be so intense, forecasters suggested residents of Las Vegas avoid the outdoors between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m., with the city forecast to challenge its all-time high temperature of 117 degrees on Sunday. It won’t get much cooler at night, with low temperatures nearing 90 degrees – a particularly dangerous side effect of the climate crisis.
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Post by mhbruin on Jul 14, 2023 8:36:39 GMT -8
Is the Shine Off of Shein?
China's fast fashion retailer Shein is facing a lawsuit that claims the clothing maker's copyright infringement is so aggressive, it amounts to racketeering.
The filing this week claims that Shein is in violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, better known as RICO, a law originally crafted to prosecute organized crime.
“Shein has grown rich by committing individual infringements over and over again, as part of a long and continuous pattern of racketeering, which shows no sign of abating,” the filing says.
In an organized effort to create as many as 6,000 new items per day, Shein uses a “byzantine shell game of a corporate structure” to rip off designers, a coordinated illegal operation that can best be combated through the use of RICO statutes, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit is just the latest in a series of difficulties Shein has faced. In May a bipartisan group of two dozen lawmakers asked the Securities and Exchange Commission to put the brakes on an initial public offering by Shein until it verified that it does not use forced labor from the country’s predominantly Muslim Uyghur population.
The lawsuit, filed by three fashion designers in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, alleges “Shein produced, distributed, and sold exact copies of their creative work.”
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Post by mhbruin on Jul 14, 2023 8:38:39 GMT -8
The QOP's Worst Nightmare. Not Being Allowed to Cheat on Taxes
The IRS is showcasing its new capability to aggressively audit high-income tax dodgers as it makes the case for sustained funding and tries to avert budget cuts sought by Republicans who want to gut the agency.
IRS leaders said they collected $38 million in delinquent taxes from more than 175 high-income taxpayers in the past few months.
In one case, an individual had used money owed to the government to buy a Maserati and a Bentley, and roughly 100 high-income people tried to get favorable tax treatment through Puerto Rico without meeting certain tax requirements. Many of those cases are expected to face criminal investigation.
“It just shows you how much money is out there in delinquent taxes, and there are so many more cases for us to tackle," said new IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel, just four months into the job. “There’s just a significant opportunity there.”
No comparable figures exist for how those high-dollar tax collections compared with previous years, said Jodie Reynolds, speaking for the agency. Rather, the new data reflect an initiative that started after the agency received a new funding stream through the Inflation Reduction Act passed in August by Democrats.
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