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Post by mhbruin on Jan 17, 2024 9:23:02 GMT -8
What's the definition of a will? (It's a dead give away.)
Act Like a Child, Get Treated Like a Child
Alina Habba, an attorney for Donald Trump, was scolded by U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan on Wednesday after she yet again asked to pause the former president's defamation trial so he could attend a funeral for his wife's mother.
Moments before plaintiff E. Jean Carroll took the stand, Habba made a request that the judge had already denied.
"VERY testy exchange between Habba and Judge Kaplan after Habba again asked for [an] adjournment so Trump can attend a funeral," Erica Orden reported for Politico.
"The application is denied," Kaplan said. "I will hear no further argument on it."
Habba continued to speak and was shut down.
"None. Do you understand that word?" Kaplan asked. "Sit down."
"I don't like to be spoken to that way, your honor," Habba complained.
Kaplan cut her off again.
"It's denied. Sit down," he said.
Trump previously referred to Kaplan as an "animal" for denying the request.
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Post by mhbruin on Jan 17, 2024 9:24:53 GMT -8
The Effects of Diet Coke and the DOJ
A legal expert told MSNBC Donald Trump's legal battles are visibly wearing him down.
Speaking to MSNBC, defense attorney and liberal activist Ron Filipkowski said that the myriad legal battles Donald Trump is fighting are clearly taking their toll.
"If you observe Trump closely, you'll see that this is a man who is physically and mentally unraveling before our eyes," he said. "He slurs his speech more, he sweats more, the court cases, the financial strain of the lawyers, the pace at which he is doing things is wearing him down."
"That is why he is so desperate to end this primary early," Filipkowski added.
Also read: 'Nobody asks for this': Trump's 'unusual' classified docs filing has legal expert bemused
The topic of discussion was 2024 GOP candidate Nikki Haley's declaration that she would not participate in another debate with Ron DeSantis unless Trump was there.
According to Filipkowski, Haley should stay in the race because that would cause Trump to start "hemorrhaging cash" and "running out of steam."
He then went onto talk about Trump's wider woes, including the many court battles he's fighting.
Filipkowski claims that one sign of Trump's deterioration is the fact that he was "dragging" his right leg around as he spoke to a firefighter crew in Waukee, Iowa, during a campaign stop.
And the Campaign and the Trials Will Continue
If one thing has noticeably changed since 2016, it’s how the audience reacts to Trump. During his first campaign, the improvised material was what everyone looked forward to, while the written sections felt largely like box-checking. But in Mason City, the off-script riffs—many of which revolved around the 2020 election being stolen from him, and his personal sense of martyrdom—often turned rambly, and the crowd seemed to lose interest. At one point, a woman in front of me rolled her eyes and muttered, “He’s just babbling now.” She left a few minutes later, joining a steady stream of early exiters, and I wondered then whether even the most loyal Trump supporters might be surprised if they were to see their leader speak in person.
There’s a reason Trump is no longer the cultural phenomenon he was in 2016. Yes, the novelty has worn off. But he also seems to have lost the instinct for entertainment that once made him so interesting to audiences. He relies on a shorthand legible only to his most dedicated followers, and his tendency to get lost in rhetorical cul-de-sacs of self-pity and anger wears thin. This doesn’t necessarily make him less dangerous. There is a rote quality now to his darkest rhetoric that I found more unnerving than when it used to command wall-to-wall news coverage.
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Post by mhbruin on Jan 17, 2024 9:26:19 GMT -8
Iran Drags Pakiston Into the Growing Mid-East War. Pakistan!
Iran has admitted carrying out a missile and drone attack on western Pakistan on Tuesday.
Officials in Islamabad said two children were killed and three others injured in the attack in Balochistan.
Iran's foreign minister said the operation targeted the militant group Jaish al-Adli, which he described as an "Iranian terrorist group" in Pakistan.
As a result the Pakistan's government recalled its ambassador to Iran and has blocked Tehran's envoy from returning.
The Balochistan attack comes after Iran attacked targets in Iraq and Syria earlier this week.
Islamabad said the attack was "illegal" and warned of "serious consequences".
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Post by mhbruin on Jan 17, 2024 9:30:55 GMT -8
Will the Human Race Roll a Seven? How Soon?
The Greenland ice sheet has lost about 1,965 square miles to glacial retreat since 1985, a new study says.
That’s an area roughly the size of Delaware.
The study analyzed satellite images to track retreat and found that the breakup of icebergs has accelerated in Greenland and that previous analyses might have underrated its influence.
“Current consensus estimates of ice-sheet mass balance have underestimated recent mass loss from Greenland by as much as 20%,” the study’s authors wrote. In recent decades, almost every Greenland glacier has thinned or retreated.
The study, which was published Wednesday in the journal Nature, is yet another sign that Greenland’s ice is melting at hastening and concerning rates. Scientists are growing increasingly concerned that the Earth’s warming could trigger tipping points for major ice sheets. Greenland contains about 8% of the world’s freshwater. Its total melt would raise sea levels by almost 7 feet and could change ocean circulation patterns.
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Post by mhbruin on Jan 17, 2024 9:33:50 GMT -8
Somebody Has Watched Too Many Episodes of Law and Order
A man accused of faking his death and fleeing the U.S. to avoid rape charges in Utah denied at a court appearance Tuesday that he is the suspect and, in an apparent British accent, called allegations that he wasn't giving his true name “complete hearsay."
Nicholas Rossi, whose legal name is Nicholas Alahverdian, is charged with the rape of a 21-year-old woman in Orem, Utah, in 2008, prosecutors said. He wasn't identified as a suspect until about a decade later due to a backlog of DNA test kits at the Utah State Crime Lab.
Rossi, 36, was extradited from Scotland earlier this month. He identified himself Tuesday as Arthur Knight Brown and gave a birthdate in British English — listing the day first, followed by the month and year — that is different from Rossi's, KSTU-TV reported.
He appeared from jail via video wearing an oxygen mask and did not enter a plea at the initial court appearance. He was difficult to understand at times and had to lift up the mask to be heard.
Deputy Salt Lake County attorney Tamara Basuez said Rossi has not admitted his name or birthdate since he returned to Utah.
“Objection, my lady, that is complete hearsay,” Rossi told the judge.
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Post by mhbruin on Jan 17, 2024 9:37:53 GMT -8
Did We Learn Anything in Iowa?
Noteworthy was voters’ response to an entrance-poll question about whether they would still consider Trump fit for the presidency if he was convicted of a crime. Nearly two-thirds said yes, which speaks to his strength within the Republican Party. But about three in 10 said no, which speaks to possible problems in a general election. That result was consistent with the findings in a wide array of polls that somewhere between one-fifth and one-third of GOP partisans believe that Trump’s actions after the 2020 election were a threat to democracy or illegal. How many of those Republican-leaning voters would ultimately support him will be crucial to his viability if he wins the nomination. On that front, it may be worth filing away that more than four in 10 college graduates who participated in the caucus said they would not view Trump as fit for the presidency if he’s convicted of a crime, the entrance poll found.
The caucusgoers are far more conservative than the general electorate. And if they think that a conviction makes Trump unfit, what’s the rest of America think?
14% of Republicans Showed Up In Iowa
Let’s Face It: Trump’s Iowa Result Was Pretty Weak
The final result shows Trump getting 51% of that vote.
That is not just a plurality win, the metric customarily used to judge this contest. It’s actually an absolute majority. Barely. (DeSantis has 21.2% and Haley 19.1%.) But everyone now recognizes that Trump is running as the de facto incumbent. Certainly he’s running as the universally recognized leader of the GOP. And yet he has only barely managed a majority in a state which, unlike say New Hampshire, is pretty tailor-made for his politics. To put that characterization into context, while Iowa is today is a fairly red state, it has long had a reputation as a state which has a very liberal Democratic Party and a very conservative GOP. The Iowa GOP caucus electorate especially is made up of a high percentage of conservative evangelical voters. It’s overwhelmingly rural. By any fair measure, 51% of those voters is underwhelming.
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Post by mhbruin on Jan 17, 2024 9:44:17 GMT -8
It Wasn't the Government ...
A Canadian man who had pushed a conspiracy theory that the government started the record-breaking wildfires in Quebec and not a result of a warming planet was arrested and charged with 13 counts of arson and one count of arson with disregard for human life.
Over 700 out-of-control wildfires in the province demanded the attention of Canadian firefighters—and international crews to mitigate the burn area. The arson took resources away from critical firefighting efforts.
Thirty-eight-year-old Brian Paré admitted to having started all fourteen fires. The 700 fires were ignited by lightning strikes in the boreal forests of Quebec, not deliberately created by the government as Paré alleged.
He Was Only Testing How Dry the Forest Was
Fire officials investigated a string of five blazes in June that had no possible natural cause and broke out days after the province had implemented a fire ban. The 38-year-old Paré quickly became a suspect when he was spotted in the location of the fires and “demonstrated a certain interest in fires” after an interview with police, said Charron.
In June police began watching his social media posts, which frequently focused on the province’s wildfires. He shared content suggesting the record-breaking fire season was the result of government intervention, not climate change. The prosecution said police specialists developed a suspect profile based on the fires – and increasingly, Paré’s seemed a match.
Police later obtained a warrant to install a tracking device on Paré’s vehicle and found he travelled to locations where other fires were started.
After he was arrested in September, he admitted to starting nine fires and “claimed he was doing tests to find out whether the forest was really dry or not”, Charron told the court.
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Post by mhbruin on Jan 17, 2024 9:46:39 GMT -8
Haley Is a Different Kind of Stupid from Prevous Guy
Brian Kilmeade, co-host of Fox News’ Fox and Friends, asked Nikki Haley whether she thinks the GOP is a “racist party.” The GOP presidential candidate decided to answer the question by expanding its scope.
“No. We’re not a racist country, Brian. We’ve never been a racist country.”
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Post by mhbruin on Jan 17, 2024 9:47:28 GMT -8
Biden Just Lost the Bankers' Vote
The Biden administration unveiled a new rule Wednesday aimed at slashing bank overdraft fees to as low as $3, a move the president said would help end abusive practices by financial institutions.
Under the proposal, banks could continue to charge fees when a customer’s account falls below zero, but either at a price in line with the bank’s actual costs to administer the overdraft or at an established benchmark created by the new rule.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) proposed potential fees of $3, $6, $7 or $14 and is seeking feedback from banks and the public on what would be appropriate. Current overdraft fees often push $30 or more, taking a significant bite out of low-income accounts.
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Post by mhbruin on Jan 17, 2024 9:48:19 GMT -8
What IS Wrong With These People?
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Post by mhbruin on Jan 17, 2024 9:49:07 GMT -8
Damn! I Was So Looking Forward to Not Watching It.
ABC News called off its Republican primary debate in New Hampshire on Thursday after former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley said she would no longer participate if former President Donald Trump failed to show up.
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Post by mhbruin on Jan 17, 2024 9:53:27 GMT -8
Maybe Folks in Alaska Should Not Buy EVs.
Tesla owners in the Chicago metropolitan area are reporting that they are struggling to charge their electric vehicles (EVs) in recent cold temperatures as waves of Arctic air sweep through America.
Several motorists told local news outlets that they had been stranded at charging stations in the cold with cars with dead batteries, while successful charging was taking far longer than usual. They also claimed that many of the charging stations were not functioning.
In its owner's manual, Tesla advises motorists that they should drive to a charging location 30-45 minutes away or precondition the battery before driving in order to adequately warm the battery so it can sustain charging.
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Post by mhbruin on Jan 17, 2024 10:01:04 GMT -8
God Made What??
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Post by mhbruin on Jan 17, 2024 10:03:27 GMT -8
Be Careful What You Wish For
China's population drops for a second year despite President Xi's push for more babies
China’s population declined last year for the second year in a row, officials said Wednesday, spurred by record-low births and a wave of Covid-19 deaths that have deepened demographic worries in the world’s second-largest economy.
The total population of mainland China was 1.409 billion at the end of last year, the National Statistics Bureau said, down more than 2 million from 2022. That compares with a decline of 850,000 from 2021 to 2022, China’s first population decline in six decades.
There were around 9 million newborns last year — a birthrate of 6.39 per thousand — more than half a million fewer than the previous year and the lowest since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949.
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Post by mhbruin on Jan 17, 2024 10:08:22 GMT -8
Ultraviolet light can kill almost all the viruses in a room. Why isn’t it everywhere?Can special lightbulbs end the next pandemic before it starts? The technology is called germicidal ultraviolet light (GUV), and in particular, a relatively novel kind of ultraviolet light often denoted as “far-UV.” “We have so much data suggesting that this is far and away the most impactful technology, when it comes to protecting people from infectious disease, that exists today,” says Kevin Esvelt, a professor and biologist at MIT who has championed the idea. These advocates imagine a world in which far-UV lamps are set up in most large indoor spaces where people gather, emitting rays that kill airborne viruses and bacteria while leaving humans unharmed. If all goes according to plan, day cares will stop spreading around noroviruses and flus; hospital infections will plummet; elderly and immunocompromised people can gather openly, unmasked, without fearing they’ll catch something. In a world where the flu alone imposes an average of $11 billion in economic costs per year to the US and Covid has cost the United States on the order of $14 trillion, it’s a nearly utopian vision.
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