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Post by mhbruin on Sept 22, 2023 8:39:33 GMT -8
How can you spot the blind guy at the nudist colony? It's not hard.
They Did It Without Jared
The United States is making progress toward a landmark agreement that would see Saudi Arabia normalize relations with Israel in exchange for a U.S. defense pact and help developing its own civilian nuclear program, two diplomatic sources told NBC News.
The complex talks are picking up steam and officials on all sides have voiced growing optimism in recent days that they could soon come together in a deal that would transform the political landscape of the Middle East and deliver a major foreign policy victory to President Joe Biden.
Formal recognition of the Jewish state by the Arab world’s most influential power would represent a tectonic shift in the region after more than half a century of conflict and animosity. It could also represent a diplomatic coup for the Biden administration, which has reversed its hard-line stance on Saudi Arabia in a bid to bring together two close U.S. allies as it seeks to ward off China’s growing ambitions.
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Post by mhbruin on Sept 22, 2023 8:49:25 GMT -8
You Won't Hear a Single Democrat Compaining About the Politicization of the Justice Department
A federal grand jury in New York has returned a sweeping indictment against United States Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., chairman of the powerful Foreign Relations Committee, in connection with improper foreign relations and business dealings.
The investigation focused on a luxury car, gold bars and an apartment allegedly received by Menendez and his wife, Nadine Arslanian. His wife was also indicted.
The indictment charges Menendez, 69, and his wife with having a corrupt relationship with three New Jersey businessmen -- Wael Hana, Jose Uribe and Fred Daides.
The indictment accuses Menendez and his wife of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars of bribes in exchange for using the senator's power and influence to seek to protect and enrich the businessman.
"Those bribes included cash, gold, payments toward a home mortgage, compensation for a low-or-no-show job, a luxury vehicle, and other things of value," the indictment said.
Except for Bob Menendez
Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ), who was indicted on Friday on bribery charges, hit back at prosecutors and claimed that shadowy forces want him jailed because he's "a first-generation Latino American from humble beginnings."
In a defiant statement released after the indictment, Menendez claimed that "forces behind the scenes have repeatedly attempt to silence my voice and dig my political grave."
He went on to accuse the prosecutors who indicted him of "excesses" in which they "have misrepresented the normal work of a Congressional office."
There Are So Many Legal Ways for a Senator To Get Rich. How Stupid, Arrogant, and Lazy Do You Have to Be to Accept Bribes?
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Post by mhbruin on Sept 22, 2023 8:51:15 GMT -8
If the Human Race Becomes Extinct, It Will Be Our Own Damned Fault
It was supposed to be a good-news story out of the damaged Amazon rainforest: a project that replanted hundreds of thousands of trees in an illegally deforested nature reserve in Brazil.
Then it went up in flames, allegedly torched by land-grabbers trying to reclaim the territory for cattle pasture.
Launched in 2019 by environmental research group Rioterra, the reforestation project took 270 hectares (665 acres) of forest that had been razed by cattle ranching on a protected nature reserve in the northern state of Rondonia and replanted it with 360,000 trees.
The idea was ambitious, says Rioterra's project coordinator, Alexis Bastos: save a corner of the world's biggest rainforest, fighting climate change and creating green jobs along the way.
Then, just as the scarred brown land started returning to emerald-green forest -- its growing young trees absorbing an estimated 8,000 tonnes of carbon from the atmosphere in three years -- the whole thing burned to the ground.
Bastos remembers the sinking feeling he got when he saw the area turned to ashes.
"It was horrible," he told AFP.
"People have no idea how much work went into restoring that forest. It was a really important, large-scale project."
Investigators concluded the fire, which started on September 3, was arson, according to a forensic report by federal environmental agency ICMBio obtained by AFP.
"The likely motive was to obstruct the process of ecological restoration in the area," it said.
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Post by mhbruin on Sept 22, 2023 8:52:08 GMT -8
In Today's Senseless Murder News
Two men have been jailed after beating a French bus driver to death after he asked them to get off for not correctly wearing face masks during the pandemic.
Wyssem Manai and Maxime Guyennon left Philippe Monguillot beside the bus with serious head injuries in the city of Bayonne in south-west France in 2020.
Manai and Guyennon, were jailed for 15 and 13 years respectively on Thursday.
The pair, both aged 25, were convicted of intentional violence resulting in death without intent to kill.
Prosecutors said Mr Monguillot was set upon after asking a small group of men on his bus to show their tickets and adjust face-masks they were wearing over their chins.
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Post by mhbruin on Sept 22, 2023 8:56:43 GMT -8
These Missiles Will be a HitPresident Joe Biden has told his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, that the United States will provide a small number of long-range missiles to aid the war with Russia, three U.S. officials and a congressional official familiar with the discussions told NBC News on Friday. The officials, who were not authorized to speak publicly, did not say when the missiles would be delivered or when a public announcement would be made. For months, Ukraine has asked for the Army Tactical Missile System, known as ATACMS, which would give Kyiv the ability to strike targets from as far away as about 180 miles, hitting supply lines, railways, and command and control locations behind the Russian front lines. Defense officials have said the U.S. does not have a large stockpile of excess ATACMS, which have a bigger payload than traditional artillery, to provide to Ukraine. Also, some in Washington have resisted supplying the weapon, known colloquially as “attack-ems,” out of fear that it would widen the war with Russia. Expect More of ThisUkraine struck the headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet in a missile attack Friday that left a serviceman missing and the main building smoldering, according to officials on both sides of the conflict and images from the scene in annexed Crimea. And More of ThisRussian Submarine Hit By Missile, Rostov-On-Don, GoneThe Russian Navy submarine Rostov-on-Don, which was hit by a missile in Sevastopol on September 13, is likely a total loss. Statements from the Russian Government that it will be returned to service appear wholly unrealistic. Images of the exterior hint at the extent of the internal damage.
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Post by mhbruin on Sept 22, 2023 8:58:49 GMT -8
This Sudy is WrongNew Study Claims that Most NFTs are Now Worthless NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens for the uninitiated) were once the new, hot thing being hyped to provide artists and content creators a way to profit from the digitization of everything. Inherently tied to cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology, this was supposed to be the way of the future for artists. But there were always skeptics, those who pointed out that NFTs were basically vapor art. The art itself was also depressingly easy to copy, steal, and counterfeit. Then, of course, they rely on the use of cryptocurrencies that are highly volatile. None of this inspired confidence in many of us. Then there was the over-hyped nature of the entire NFT market. Too many with a vested interest in profiting from the spread of this idea rather than by producing their own art or content (those involved in the Trump NFTs being a prime example) also gave some of us pause as we contemplated not a new way for artists to market their art but a new tulip bulb craze. Now, it seems, those fears and hesitations have been borne out. A new study by dappGambl has estimated that some 95% of all NFTs are now essentially worthless, leaving about 23 million NFT holders in the lurch. More troubling for content creators is the fact that only about 20% of NFT collections have 100% ownership, meaning that many NFTs are now going unbought and unwanted. This is all pretty grim news for those who thought investing in NFTs was a good bet. They Were Always Worthless
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Post by mhbruin on Sept 22, 2023 9:00:12 GMT -8
Yes Virginia, There Will Be a Government Shutdown
How a Government Shutdown Could Upend Virginia’s Key Legislative Elections
No state is more directly tied to the federal government than Virginia. Democrats see an opening
With Republicans in Congress unable to agree on a spending deal, Democrats in Virginia – home to one of the largest shares of federal government workers and contractors – are preparing to use the seemingly inevitable shutdown as a cautionary tale against handing Republicans total control of state government, according to conversations with multiple top Virginia Democrats. The goal, they said, is to tie Republicans in the commonwealth to “extremism” in Washington.
“It’s very troubling and we are hoping that MAGA Republicans choose to put the people over party,” said Travis Nembhard, a Democrat who is running against Republican Ian Lovejoy in the Washington, D.C. suburbs, where thousands of workers travel into Washington every day to work for the federal government.
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Post by mhbruin on Sept 22, 2023 9:03:35 GMT -8
Powerful Ad
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Post by mhbruin on Sept 22, 2023 9:04:34 GMT -8
How to Respond to the QOP
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Post by mhbruin on Sept 22, 2023 9:06:10 GMT -8
DeathSentence Said What?
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Post by mhbruin on Sept 22, 2023 9:07:41 GMT -8
Grifting Thomas Strikes Again
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas attended at least two events for the conservative Koch network of donors in recent years, ProPublica reported on Friday, citing former employees and donors with the alliance.
Thomas was brought in to the private events as a fundraising draw for the donor network, which has had multiple cases before the nation's top court, the sources told ProPublica.
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Post by mhbruin on Sept 22, 2023 9:11:44 GMT -8
Maybe He Should Try to Defund Hunter Biden
Trump urges government shutdown in unlikely bid to 'defund' his criminal prosecutions
Sept 21 (Reuters) - Former President Donald Trump has urged fellow Republicans in Congress to shut down the government to thwart the federal prosecutions against him, although any funding lapse was unlikely to stop the cases from being pursued.
Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives are at odds over how to proceed with spending legislation, which must be passed to avert an Oct. 1 shutdown. A small group of hardliners, including Trump's most fervent supporters, have complicated the agenda for House Speaker Kevin McCarthy as he pushes a short-term funding plan.
"Republicans in Congress can and must defund all aspects of Crooked Joe Biden’s weaponized Government," Trump wrote on his Truth Social media site late on Wednesday, calling it "the last chance to defund these political prosecutions against me and other Patriots."
The U.S. Justice Department has previously said activities funded by "permanent indefinite appropriations" would continue during any funding lapse.
The Special Counsel's Office prosecuting Trump and his allies had no formal comment, but it is covered by "the permanent, indefinite appropriation for independent counsels," according to its latest funding statement.
President Joe Biden's re-election campaign accused Trump, the leading candidate by far in the 2024 Republican presidential nominating contest, of putting his own interests ahead of those of the country.
"Donald Trump is rooting for a government shutdown and couldn't care less what it would mean for American families," the campaign said in a statement. Biden, a Democrat, defeated Trump in 2020 and is seeking re-election in 2024.
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