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Post by mhbruin on Sept 12, 2023 8:15:01 GMT -8
Whoever stole my copy of Microsoft Office, I will hunt you down and I will make you pay... You have my Word!
We've Seen Fire and We've Seen Rain, and We've Seen Hurricanes and Heat Waves.
Between January and August, the United States was struck by a record-breaking 23 weather and climate disasters where losses exceeded $1 billion in each case, official data showed Monday.
The tally for 2023 has already exceeded the previous record of 22 such events in 2020, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said, and four months still remain in the year.
These disasters included fires in Hawaii in August, flooding in California in the spring, and Hurricane Idalia that made landfall in Florida on August 30.
Together, they "caused 253 direct and indirect fatalities and produced more than $57.6 billion in damages," NOAA said. Two more potential billion-dollar events -- Tropical Storm Hilary on the West Coast, and the drought affecting the South and Midwest -- remain under investigation.
We Are the Masters of Disasters
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Post by mhbruin on Sept 12, 2023 8:17:14 GMT -8
Worst 9/11 Tribute Ever?
Sports betting company DraftKings apologized Monday after using the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks to entice people to bet on baseball and football games on the anniversary of the tragedy that killed nearly 3,000 people.
The Boston-based company offered users a 9/11-themed promotion that required three New York-based teams — the Yankees, Mets and Jets — to win their games Monday, the 22nd anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon and the downing of a passenger jet in a field in Pennsylvania.
After an outcry on social media from people offended by the promotion titled “Never Forget,” DraftKings took it down and apologized.
“We sincerely apologize for the featured parlay that was shared briefly in commemoration of 9/11,” the company wrote. “We respect the significance of this day for our country and especially for the families of those who were directly affected.”
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Post by mhbruin on Sept 12, 2023 8:19:48 GMT -8
There is No Such Thing as a Formal Impreachment Inquirty Without a Vote (Corrected)
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is calling for a formal impeachment inquiry targeting President Joe Biden, despite the total lack of evidence of wrongdoing turned up by months of Republican investigations. The plan all along was to justify an impeachment inquiry, and when they failed to justify it, they decided to pretend they had, and to go ahead anyway. In a statement on Tuesday, McCarthy repeated allegations regarding Biden’s son’s business dealings, which Republicans have failed to connect to the president himself. He also alleged that Biden’s family has gotten “special treatment by Biden’s own administration.” This would be true only if McCarthy meant that Biden has bent over backward to enable investigations of his son to avoid any appearance of conflict of interest.
“These are allegations of abuse of power, obstruction, and corruption, and they warrant further investigation by the House of Representatives,” McCarthy said. “That’s why today I am directing our House committee to open a formal impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden.” Again, months of investigation by these very same House committees has not turned up any evidence.
Notably, McCarthy had previously pledged that an impeachment inquiry would happen only if the House voted for one, a pledge he’s abandoning now, under pressure from the far right of his conference.
The Constitution does not require a vote to start an impeachment inquiry, and neither do the rules governing the House. But authorizing resolutions have been passed in previous presidential impeachments.
If the House Votes for an Inquiry, It Has Special Powers. This is Just Another Investigation, but It Will Give the Media Another Chance to Hyperventilate
Meanwhile ...
While government funding technically expires on Sept. 30, the House has just 11 working days to pass a short-term funding extension – called a continuing resolution – to buy lawmakers more time to hash out the details of a spending package.
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Post by mhbruin on Sept 12, 2023 8:22:39 GMT -8
Is Musk a National Security Threat?
It is unacceptable that the world’s richest man can, at a whim, turn on and off such a vital communications network. I don’t know what Musk thinks about the possibility that Chinese President Xi Jinping will launch an invasion of Taiwan — though I do know that China is the world’s biggest market for electric vehicles and that Musk is trying awfully hard to sell Tesla automobiles there. I don’t know what he thinks about China’s border dispute with Pakistan or what he thinks about the Middle East. I really shouldn’t have to care.
The U.S. government should deploy its own low-Earth-orbit satellite array, whose use would be determined by the president and the military chain of command. We spend far more on defense than any other nation, on the premise that we’re buying the latest, most advanced, most effective gadgets on the planet. If our aid to Ukraine is so beholden to one man — three of whose 10 children are named Techno Mechanicus, Exa and X — we’re doing something seriously wrong.
Of course, to launch our government-owned satellites, we’ll probably need the reusable rockets developed by SpaceX or those made by Blue Origin (a private company owned by Jeff Bezos, who also owns The Post). Putting men on the moon was an epic national quest, in which we were all invested. Landing humans on Mars is being outsourced to the billionaires.
How to deal with the gravest threat to peace and security in Europe since the end of World War II should be a matter for our elected officials. No one elected Elon Musk.
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Post by mhbruin on Sept 12, 2023 8:28:09 GMT -8
They Can Recognize An Idiot From 1,600 Miles Way
SILVER SPRING, Md. – When COVID-19 swept through a Rosemary Hills Elementary School kindergarten last week, the principal sent home a note telling parents the rest of the class would have to wear masks for 10 days.
Sen. Ted Cruz, who has railed against mask mandates since early in the pandemic, did not approve.
“If you want to voluntarily wear a mask, fine, but leave our kids the hell alone,” the Texas Republican posted online.
At the school – 3 miles from the National Institutes of Health and 1,100 miles from the Texas state line – parents did not appreciate Cruz’s advice.
“He’s an idiot,” said James Smith, 59, a retired Navy man who’d just dropped off his daughter for first grade. “I don’t understand what’s going on with these politicians. Our kids need to be protected. Our parents need to protect them. And when we give them over to the school system, the school system needs to protect them.”
“It’s not taking away somebody’s constitutional rights,” he said.
The Rosemary Hills outbreak affected three children and one adult, all in one kindergarten classroom, according to Chris Cram, spokesman for Montgomery County Public Schools.
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Post by mhbruin on Sept 12, 2023 8:30:44 GMT -8
The Other Florida Office
Former President Donald Trump is currently facing 40 counts in the investigation involving classified documents kept at his Mar-a-Lago resort. But despite the indictment detailing how Trump allegedly transported some of those documents away and even reportedly showed them off to a writer at his New Jersey golf facility, it appears the FBI never searched this nearby office or other Trump locations.
Considering the number of properties Trump owns, searching them all would be a challenge. But it seems like an exception might be made for the office detailed in an NBC report. That office is just 10 minutes down the road from Mar-a-Lago, in a building that also houses offices of the Secret Service and IRS. Not only is it reported that there were “boxes everywhere” in the office, it is also known to have housed classified materials at one time.
And best of all, the office is paid for with taxpayer funds.
The office in question is on North Flagler Drive in West Palm Beach, Florida. According to NBC, this location is being rented out of funds intended for Trump’s post-presidential office. However, those who walk in expecting to find any kind of staff, or even Trump’s name on the door, are going to be disappointed.
The office nameplate is covered over with a blank piece of paper. There’s no sign on the door, or on the frosted glass window. For a guy who loves to stamp his name on everything he owns in giant gold letters, this location is conspicuously austere. The address is also not listed on the web page dedicated to Trump’s post-White House office. Even Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung claims he “never heard of” the North Flagler office.
However, according to NBC, it has “apparently housed classified material.” The FBI never conducted a search of the property, but it has been searched by a private firm selected by Trump’s attorneys.
Reportedly, the office still has boxes piled against the wall and in the main room. Kind of like Trump’s Mar-a-Lago shower, though probably without the tacky fixtures.
It’s reported that several of Trump’s aides working for his campaign or PAC have worked out of the post-presidential office, presumably meaning the North Flagler location. That would be a violation of federal law, which prohibits partisan activities in what is a government facility. Asked about this, Cheung reportedly failed to respond.
But the bigger question about this office is one that could be applied to many Trump properties: What’s in the boxes, and why hasn’t the FBI looked?
In an interview with Business Insider, Bush-era special prosecutor Peter Zeidenberg suggested that the FBI was unlikely to search other locations because they were not “gonna go just looking around.”
However, since there is already convincing evidence that this location held at least one box of classified documents, and some of the charges against Trump and co-defendants Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira concern attempts to conceal documents … shouldn’t that be sufficient cause to get a few search warrants? Besides, Trump regularly accuses the FBI of being engaged in a “witch hunt.” Compared with that, a fishing expedition seems pretty benign.
According to a February article in The Guardian, at least one box of documents with classified markings were transported to Mar-a-Lago from “another office in Florida” some time after the FBI completed its search of Trump’s resort. These documents appear to have come from the North Flagler office.
Private parties hired by Trump’s legal team searched the office, along with Trump Tower and the Bedminister golf site. The Department of Justice was reportedly unhappy with the Mar-a-Lago search and pressed for a repeat visit to that location. No additional private searches appear to have taken place at Bedminster or North Flagler.
Many of the documents from the box at North Flagler appear to have been related to Trump’s schedules in the White House. In January, the federal grand jury investigating the classified documents case issued a subpoena for one of those documents, a folder marked “Classified Evening Briefing.” That document was reportedly found in Trump’s bedroom.
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