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Post by mhbruin on Feb 2, 2024 8:32:53 GMT -8
Church Bulletin Bloopers
The peacemaking meeting scheduled for today has been canceled due to a conflict.
Follow the Lack of Money
The Republican National Committee’s finances and fundraising efforts are in a “horrifying” state, according to a Republican National Committeeman. Several Democratic National Committee officials and at least one analyst also point to data that says the RNC just had the worst fundraising year in three decades.
“This is horrifying,” declared Tyler Bowyer, an RNC National Committeeman and official at Charlie Kirk’s right-wing Turning Point USA. “Worst fundraising year for RNC in 30 years. They’re asking for a $10 million bailout. Anyone defending this is insane.”
According to the chart Bowyer posted to social media, under Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel the RNC ended 2023 with just over $8 million cash on hand and debt of $1.8 million.
Democratic National Committee Communications Director Rosemary Boeglin says the GOP “is struggling when they can least afford it (literally): -Worst fundraising year since ’93 -Lowest cash on hand headed into a presidential in decades -Worst month for contributions in a decade.”
“Meanwhile,” she adds, Democrats “outraised RNC by 3:1, with 2x+ as much cash on hand.”
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Post by mhbruin on Feb 2, 2024 8:34:53 GMT -8
They Say Time is Money. This is Sure Taking a Long Time
New York state Judge Arthur Engoron now expects to issue a verdict against Donald Trump some time from early to mid-February, delaying a long-anticipated outcome in the former president's civil fraud trial.
A spokesperson for the New York State Office of Court Administration said the new timeline still is a "rough estimate" and "subject to modification."
At the end of Trump's trial last month in Manhattan Supreme Court, Engoron said he expected to issue a ruling Wednesday, but there was "no guarantee."
The verdict will determine how much Trump and his co-defendants must pay in penalties and whether the former president and real estate mogul could continue doing business in New York.
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Post by mhbruin on Feb 2, 2024 8:37:50 GMT -8
It's Not Act. It's an Eyesore.
Police in Los Angeles have arrested two men suspected to be part of a group that has been plastering graffiti across 30 floors of an under-construction high-rise building. LAPD said early Friday that Victor Daniel Ramirez, 35, and Roberto Perez, 25, both from LA, were arrested on Tuesday on suspicion of trespassing and released from custody. There were no charges but the force said the matter is still being investigated and that detectives "will work to identify those responsible to make arrests." Police were called to a report of vandalism at the 1200 block of South Figueroa Street, opposite the Crypto.com Arena, in the early hours of Tuesday. Helicopter footage shot by NBC Los Angeles on Wednesday showed tags across several floors. "During the investigation, a Tactical Flight Officer with LAPD’s Air Support Division observed over a dozen suspects in the building, trespassing and possibly spray-painting on the building," police said in a statement. "Additional patrol units arrived, however, the suspects, except for two, had fled the location prior to the additional units’ arrival," it continued. LAPD added that officers were called to another possible vandalism incident in the early hours of Thursday near West 11th Street and South Flower Street, after receiving reports of suspects spray-painting on the 30th floor of another under-construction building.
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Post by mhbruin on Feb 2, 2024 8:40:25 GMT -8
Where Is It Cold? I'll Ask 'Er
Much of Alaska has plunged into a deep freeze, with temperatures well below zero. Anchorage has seen some of its coldest temperatures in years and the mayor opened warming facilities for people who are homeless or don't have reliable heating.
To the south in the state capital, Juneau, snow blanketed streets and rooftops as part of a two-day storm that helped set a new January snowfall record of 6.4 feet (2 meters) for the city, which is nestled in a relatively temperate rainforest. That's after back-to-back storms walloped Juneau earlier in the month.
Anchorage surpassed 100 inches (2.5 meters) of snow this week, the earliest date the state's largest city has ever hit that mark.
For much of the last week, temperatures were minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 40 Celsius) or colder in Fairbanks, an inland city of about 32,000 that's a popular destination for seeing the northern lights. In other far-flung towns, the thermometer hovered between minus 30 Fahrenheit (minus 34.4 Celsius) and minus 20 Fahrenheit (minus 28.9 Celsius) for days.
“That's a pretty solid streak,” National Weather Service meteorologist Dustin Saltzman said, adding that it was the coldest outbreak in at least several years.
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Post by mhbruin on Feb 2, 2024 8:41:44 GMT -8
And the Jobs Just Keep on Coming
The nation’s employers delivered a stunning burst of hiring to begin 2024, adding 353,000 jobs in January in the latest sign of the economy’s continuing ability to shrug off the highest interest rates in two decades.
Friday’s report from the Labor Department showed that last month’s job gain topped the 333,000 that were added in December, a figure that was itself revised sharply higher. The unemployment rate stayed at 3.7%, just above a half-century low.
The latest gains far exceeded expectations and showcased employers’ willingness to keep hiring to meet steady consumer spending.
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Post by mhbruin on Feb 2, 2024 8:42:44 GMT -8
Time to Take Back Wisconsin
GOP-supported maps before Wisconsin Supreme Court are gerrymandered, consultants say
The two conservative-supported legislative map proposals before the Wisconsin Supreme Court are partisan gerrymanders not worth further consideration, while the other four submissions, which could potentially give Democrats a legislative majority, are "nearly indistinguishable," redistricting consultants told the court on Thursday.
The report provides liberals with a big win, setting the court up to choose maps that would almost certainly increase Democrats' standing in the Legislature, with the potential of overturning Republicans' longstanding legislative majority in a critical election year.
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Post by mhbruin on Feb 2, 2024 8:44:23 GMT -8
Tell the Truth
You Wondered For a Moment Whether It Was Real News or Satire
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Post by mhbruin on Feb 2, 2024 8:47:13 GMT -8
A House Divided
House easily approves bipartisan tax bill
Speaker calls for executive actions on border security
LEGISLATIVE NERD NOTE. For most of you, this is just a bill passed by the House. Actually, this represents an absolutely unbelievable legislative situation in the House - where the GOP is in charge - but Republicans need the votes of Democrats to get things done. I’ve never seen anything like it.
SUSPENSION. Since the end of September, this is the fifth important bill to be approved under ‘suspension of the rules,’ which requires a two-thirds supermajority for approval. That means the bill must be bipartisan, and that the Speaker can only win with the help of Democrats.
PROGRESS. This process has been used to gain bipartisan approval for the tax cut, three different short-term funding plans and a major Pentagon policy bill. (The first CR led directly to the ouster of Speaker Kevin McCarthy.)
RULES. Normally, a bill like this tax cut would go through the powerful House Rules Committee first. But Speaker Johnson doesn't have a working majority on that committee - because of several Freedom Caucus lawmakers - so, Johnson has to go around that panel.
POWER. "Republicans aren't a functioning majority," said Josh Huder, a Congressional expert at Georgetown University, citing how the Speaker can't rely on the Rules Committee to set up bills he wants on the House floor. "It's turned the House into a supermajority body."
All the QOP Can Do Is Try to Stop Things and Have Dumb "Investigations".
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Post by mhbruin on Feb 2, 2024 8:48:40 GMT -8
The Russian Navy Gets a Fleet Enema
The Russian guided-missile corvette “Ivanovets” sank on Wednesday evening following a nighttime attack by Ukrainian aquatic drones. The 56-meter-long ship was one of three Project 1241.1 “Trantul”-class corvettes in service in Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, and though its standard armament includes anti-ship missiles, that didn’t prevent the drones from reaching the ship,
The Ivanovets sank rapidly after tilting to an almost vertical position, generating comments comparing the ship to the Titanic. There is no word on the ship’s 40-man crew, though search-and-rescue operations were reportedly underway. Video from the attack appears to show the involvement of multiple drones.
With this sinking, Russia has now lost 20% of its Black Sea Fleet. That includes the sinking of the flagship “Moskva” and the Kilo-class submarine “Rostov-on-Don.” Ukraine’s use of aquatic drones, aerial drones, and anti-ship missiles has reportedly pinned down Russia’s fleet and allowed Ukraine to maintain shipping of grain and other goods despite the collapse of the official grain deal.
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Post by mhbruin on Feb 2, 2024 8:50:45 GMT -8
He's Not a Victim of Previous Guy. He's a Predator in His Own RightHe Was Accused of Sexual Misconduct. Then Trump Hired Him. Then He Was Indicted in Mar-a-Lago Case.When Donald Trump invited his longtime White House valet, Walt Nauta, to join his post-presidential political operation in August 2021, he was hiring a body man with serious baggage. Weeks before Nauta—a Navy enlistee stationed with the White House Presidential Support Detail since 2012—traded Washington, D.C., for Palm Beach, Navy officials had escorted him off White House grounds, reassigned him to a new post, and docked his White House security clearance in response to accusations of fraternization, adultery, harassment, and other inappropriate sexual conduct, including “revenge porn,” two people with direct knowledge of the matter told The Daily Beast. The allegations came from three female servicemembers, these sources said. While Nauta’s behavior had been ongoing for years, according to these sources, the women first reported it to supervisors in spring 2021, shortly after Nauta was recalled from his first, temporary post-presidential assignment at Mar-a-Lago. Specifically, the initial complaints stemmed from a woman’s responses to a “command climate survey,” submitted sometime around April 2021. The woman reported an “inappropriate relationship between a senior person and a junior person,” according to one of the sources with direct knowledge. Nauta, this source said, was high enough in the White House detail’s leadership structure that he was actually among the group of Navy officials briefed on that first complaint. The survey responses hadn’t named Nauta, however, and he walked out of that meeting “cool as a cucumber, ready to find the culprit,” this source said.
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Post by mhbruin on Feb 2, 2024 8:51:42 GMT -8
Brandon Speaks Truth
The president has described Trump to longtime friends and close aides as a “sick fuck” who delights in others’ misfortunes, according to three people who have heard the president use the profane description. According to one of the people who has spoke with the president, Biden recently said of Trump: “What a fucking asshole the guy is.”
The White House declined to comment.
The epithets may cut against the image Biden often projects as someone eager to take down the level of incivility and acrimony in politics. But they also illustrate a core anger he has developed toward the man he ousted from office and may very well face again.
Biden has long been troubled by what he has perceived as Trump’s encouragement of political violence, which the incumbent believes is a direct threat to the nation’s democracy and deeply un-American, according to the three people familiar with his private conversations, who were all granted anonymity to describe them. His disgust toward Trump has never been a secret but has only grown in recent months as the former president tightens his grip on the GOP nomination.
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Post by mhbruin on Feb 2, 2024 8:53:03 GMT -8
Comer Begs
Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) called House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-KY) "pathetic" for fundraising off of the stalled impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden.
Swalwell, apparently on Comer's email list, received a fundraising email from Comer that said simply "We have a major problem...our January fundraising has hit brick wall," with a button labeled "Rush A Gift."
Swalwell posted the email on X with text that said, "How pathetic is this guy? His Biden investigation has collapsed and now he's coming to me for money. Sorry, Comer Pyle!"
I Think Habba Looks Cheap
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Post by mhbruin on Feb 2, 2024 8:54:44 GMT -8
Ab-butt Want to Shoot Them. Collins Wants to Drop Them From the Air. Who Is Going to Suggest Gas Chambers?
Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA) caused a blowup on the social media site X on Thursday following a post in which he suggested immigrants should be given rides on "Pinochet Air" — a reference to a Chilean dictator whose armed forces tossed kidnapped dissidents out of helicopters on "death flights" over the Pacific Ocean.
"I think sitting members of congress calling for murdering people using the Pinochet regime's preferred method of dropping them out of helicopters is really not great," wrote MSNBC anchor Chris Hayes Thursday.
"We wonder why the right wingers aren't freaking out about Trump's dictator talk but we shouldn't," wrote Pete Fuller, the chair of the Jackson County, Georgia Democrats. "The hard right would love Trump taking over dictatorial powers and to start disappearing the people that are inconvenient to them — as nepobaby Mike Collins demonstrates."
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Post by mhbruin on Feb 2, 2024 8:57:06 GMT -8
Economists Predicted 12 of the Last 4 Recessions
One of Donald Trump’s leading economic advisers now admits he was wrong about the predictions he made for the economy under President Joe Biden.
“Mea culpa,” Fox Business host Larry Kudlow said on the air Thursday. “I was wrong about the slowdown and the recession, so was the entire forecasting fraternity.”
Fox News host Sandra Smith, however, tried to get him to back out of it.
“I don’t think you were wrong,” she said.
But Kudlow, who was director of the National Economic Council under Trump for nearly three years, stuck with it.
“The Fed, everyone was wrong,” he said, referring to widespread predictions of a recession in 2022 and 2023 that never came to fruition.
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Post by mhbruin on Feb 2, 2024 9:05:51 GMT -8
This is Not Otter NonesenseHungry Sea Otters Help Prevent Erosion on California's CoastSea otters have been returning to California’s Monterey Bay after humans drove them out—and as they repopulate the surrounding marshes, the aquatic mammals are helping prevent erosion. Voracious eaters, the otters munch on crabs, which would otherwise chew through the roots of marsh grass and burrow into the soil, destabilizing the ground. Now, in places where the habitat hosts fewer crabs—thanks to the otters—erosion has declined, researchers report Wednesday in the journal Nature. “It’s remarkable when you think about it,” Jane Watson, a community ecologist at Vancouver Island University in Canada who did not contribute to the findings, tells Nature News’ Jude Coleman. “You can have a single animal, the sea otter, come in and through predation actually mitigate the effects of erosion.” The results suggest a lesson for conservation efforts—that restoring the top predator in an ecosystem can help with habitat recovery, the study authors write. Some Predators are Good. Then There is Previous Guy
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