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Post by Deleted on May 22, 2018 3:39:48 GMT -5
DISGUSTING. Trump Team Moves To Lift Ban On 'Extreme' Hunting Tactics In Alaska The proposal would allow hunters to kill bear cubs and wolf pups in their dens and shoot swimming caribou from motorboats.
The Trump administration on Monday proposed rolling back a 2015 rule that bans aggressive predator control tactics in national preserves in Alaska, including shooting bear cubs and wolf pups in their dens ― a move immediately blasted by environmental groups. www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/alaska-preserve-predator-hunting-interior-proposed-rule_us_5b032131e4b0a046186ecabe
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Post by Deleted on May 22, 2018 3:42:36 GMT -5
I posted about this few weeks ago.
That could be interesting, and why not?
The Supreme Court takes up a case that could turn half of Oklahoma back into tribal lands.
The justices announced on Monday that they will review Royal v. Murphy, an unusual death-penalty case out of Oklahoma. At issue is whether the state had the jurisdiction to prosecute Patrick Murphy, a member of the Muscogee Creek Nation, for the murder of another Creek man on what was once tribal land. (The federal government normally prosecutes serious crimes between Native Americans on tribal lands.)
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Post by Deleted on May 22, 2018 5:25:43 GMT -5
The amoung is absurd, but yes he should absolutely be held accountable.
Judge: Teen must repay $37M for starting Oregon wildfire
A teenager who started a major wildfire in the scenic Columbia River Gorge in Oregon has been ordered to pay restitution for at least the next decade, though it's unlikely the boy will ever cover his nearly $37 million bill.
The Oregonian reports that Hood River County Circuit Judge John A. Olson issued the opinion on Monday, awarding the restitution totaling $36,618,330.24 to cover the costs of firefighting, repair and restoration to the gorge and damage to homes. Victims include the U.S. Forest Service and Oregon Department of Transportation.
The 15-year-old from Vancouver, Washington, earlier this year acknowledged wrongdoing and said he threw two fireworks in Eagle Creek Canyon on Sept. 2 when flames spread quickly. The fire caused evacuations, an extended shutdown of a major interstate highway and devastation to a major outdoor tourist attraction.
The judge's order notes that the boy can set up a payment plan, though payments can be halted after 10 years as long as he complies, completes probation and doesn't commit other crimes.
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Post by Deleted on May 22, 2018 5:42:37 GMT -5
John O. Brennan was CIA Director under Obama from 2013. He was also, before that, personal advisor to Obama. He played a much bigger role and had more direct and indirect responsibility than Gina Haspel in the whole controversial secret prisons; interrogations; etc. during Bush son administration. We can add his support for drones’ strikes and which many would consider controversial as well (for civilian casualties, etc.). Honest question: Were there a lot of protests from the Dems about his nomination, at least as many as there are for Gina?
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Post by Outsider on May 22, 2018 5:59:38 GMT -5
Periodically over the last year and a half we've had cause to ask ourselves, "Is this it? Is this the moment we've been dreading and warning about? When Donald Trump truly becomes the kind of president he keeps telling us he wants to be?" Sometimes it's hard to tell. It's as if we're all standing in a river of corruption rushing around us with impossible speed and force, and every once in a while another wave smashes us in the face. Was that wave the real problem, or is it the whole river? The answer is: It's both. The "Deep State" may be a myth, but we've seen the installation of the Trump State, which is something far worse. Here's what Trump tweeted on Sunday: Yes, that's the president of the United States, "hereby demanding" an investigation into the investigation of him, and along with it an investigation into his political enemies. What led him to this latest bout of rage-tweeting was a series of reports about the investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 campaign and some related matters. First it emerged that after the FBI learned that people with connections to the Russian government had been in contact with Trump campaign officials, offering to help them in the election, the bureau sent a confidential source it had used before to reach out to those Trump officials to try to learn more. Trump falsely claimed that this meant that "there was indeed at least one FBI representative implanted, for political purposes, into my campaign for president," but the truth was far different. As former FBI agent Asha Rangappa noted, the bureau was conducting a counterintelligence investigation, not a criminal one. In other words, they were trying to find out what the Russians were up to and whom they had compromised—if anything, to protect Trump and his campaign from Russia. And the FBI was extraordinarily careful not to let the fact of their investigation leak to the press before the election, another way they acted to protect him. If they had been as accommodating to Hillary Clinton, she'd be president right now. Second, we learned that the Russians weren't the only foreigners the Trump campaign was yielding offers from. The New York Times reported that during the campaign, Donald Trump Jr. met with villainous mercenary Erik Prince, a representative of the Saudi and UAE governments, and an Israeli consultant to explore some opportunities for synergy: Erik Prince, the private security contractor and the former head of Blackwater, arranged the meeting, which took place on Aug. 3, 2016. The emissary, George Nader, told Donald Trump Jr. that the princes who led Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were eager to help his father win election as president. The social media specialist, Joel Zamel, extolled his company's ability to give an edge to a political campaign; by that time, the firm had already drawn up a multimillion-dollar proposal for a social media manipulation effort to help elect Mr. Trump. Where oh where did they ever get the idea that the Republican nominee for president might be open to something so clearly illegal and unethical? As far as we know, the Saudi/UAE assistance never materialized, much like the Russian dirt on Hillary Clinton that Don Jr. was so keen to get his hands on. But it seems that even before he became president, people around the world knew that Donald Trump was a man who could be bought. They knew that because Trump had made little secret of it. As a businessman he was spectacularly corrupt, lying about the height of his buildings, skipping out on creditors, refusing to pay vendors, creating scams like Trump University, using illegal labor, doing business with kleptocrats and mobsters, and gathering around him a collection of small-time crooks like Michael Cohen. This was plainly a man who didn't care too much about the rules. And in office, Trump has created a government that reflects himself, in which the most important question is what you can grab for yourself and the people who either paid you in the past or are going to pay you in the future. So when Michael Cohen went around to a bunch of corporations telling them to pay him hundreds of thousands of dollars for his precious "insights" into health care or telecom policy, a bunch of them went ahead and paid up. That's just how things work with Donald Trump in charge. Some might protest that as a liberal I merely object to Trump's conservative agenda, which I certainly do. But this isn't just about things like reducing the size of government. You can reduce the size of government to actually promote efficiency, but no one thinks that's what Trump is up to. For instance, when Education Secretary Betsy DeVos not only stops investigations of abuses by for-profit colleges but installs the former dean of DeVry University to oversee such investigations, it's not about efficiency. When you make a literal coal lobbyist the No. 2 person at the EPA, you aren't after sensible regulation. That isn't to say that the administration isn't pursuing ideological goals, because it is. But certain ideological goals, like the exploitation of students, the befouling of the environment, the diminution of reproductive rights, or the relentless enhancement of corporate power at the expense of workers and consumers, are perfectly compatible with the Trump State, so long as those in policy positions remember that there is no value higher than loyalty to the boss. You might have experience or qualifications, but you certainly don't need them, not if your devotion to Donald Trump is beyond question. And in the Trump State, the idea that there are rules or institutions that stand outside the president—and heaven forbid might even hold him accountable—is unconscionable. Trump's attempt to wage war on the Justice Department, which he plainly sees as properly existing only to protect him and carry out his vendettas, is only one vivid example. Trump has also personally urged the postmaster general to raise shipping rates on Amazon, according to reporting by The Washington Post, as part of his vendetta against Amazon CEO and Post owner Jeff Bezos. So far, the postmaster general has resisted, which shows that even in the Trump State there are people and institutions willing and able to resist the president's most authoritarian tendencies. But there may not be enough. Most Republicans have decided that there is almost no behavior or abuse on the part of Trump or his family that they wouldn't defend, whether it's monetizing the Oval Office for personal financial gain or cooperating with a hostile foreign power to distort an American election. Try to imagine Paul Ryan or Mitch McConnell saying, "There are a lot of things I put up with, but this time the president has gone too far!" You can't do it, can you? And late Sunday, we learned that the Justice Department has given in to Trump's demand and ordered its inspector general to investigate whether the FBI improperly investigated Trump's campaign. The Trump State corrupts all. And he's still got two and a half years to go. prospect.org/article/forget-deep-state-trump-state
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Post by Outsider on May 22, 2018 6:28:45 GMT -5
Stop waiting for the constitutional crisis that President Trump is sure to provoke. It’s here. On Sunday, via Twitter, Trump demanded that the Justice Department concoct a transparently political investigation, with the aim of smearing veteran professionals at Justice and the FBI and also throwing mud at the previous administration. Trump’s only rational goal is casting doubt on the probe by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, which appears to be closing in. Trump’s power play is a gross misuse of his presidential authority and a dangerous departure from long-standing norms. Strongmen such as Russia’s Vladimir Putin use their justice systems to punish enemies and deflect attention from their own crimes. Presidents of the United States do not — or did not, until Sunday’s tweet: “I hereby demand, and will do so officially tomorrow, that the Department of Justice look into whether or not the FBI/DOJ infiltrated or surveilled the Trump Campaign for Political Purposes — and if any such demands or requests were made by people within the Obama Administration!” Rather than push back and defend the rule of law, Justice tried to mollify the president by at least appearing to give him what he wants. The Republican leadership in Congress has been silent as a mouse. This is how uncrossable lines are crossed. The pretext Trump seized on is the revelation that a longtime FBI and CIA informant, described as a retiredcollege professor , made contact with three Trump campaign associates before the election as part of the FBI’s initial investigation into Russian meddling. With the full-throated backing of right-wing media, Trump has described this person as a “spy” who was “implanted, for political purposes, into my campaign for president.” This claim is completely unsupported by the facts as we know them. Trump wants you to believe a lie. The informant was not embedded or implanted or otherwise inserted into the campaign. He was asked to contact several campaign figures whose names had already surfaced in the FBI’s counterintelligence probe. It would have been an appalling dereliction of duty not to take a look at Trump advisers with Russia ties, such as Carter Page and George Papadopoulos, when the outlines of a Russian campaign to influence the election were emerging. Trump claims this is the nation’s “all time biggest political scandal” because, he alleges, Justice Department officials and the FBI used a “spy” to try to “frame” him and his campaign, in an effort to boost his opponent Hillary Clinton’s chance of winning the election. This conspiracy theory has so many holes in it that it’s hard to know where to begin. But let’s start with the glaringly obvious: If the aim was to make Trump lose, why wasn’t all the known information about the Trump campaign’s Russia connections leaked before the election, when it might have had some impact? The truth appears to be precisely the opposite of what Trump says, which is not uncommon. The record suggests that Justice and the FBI were so uncomfortable investigating a presidential campaign in the weeks and months before an election that they tiptoed around promising lines of inquiry rather than appear to be taking a side. The FBI director at the time was James B. Comey, and while we heard plenty about Clinton’s emails before the vote, we had no idea that such a mature investigation of the Trump campaign was underway. Now that the Mueller probe has bored into Trump’s inner circle — and federal authorities have raided the homes and office of his personal attorney, Michael Cohen — the president appears to be in a panic. The question is whether he sees this “spy” nonsense as a way to discredit Mueller’s eventual findings, or as a pretext for trying to end the investigation with a bloody purge akin to Richard Nixon’s “Saturday Night Massacre.” The Justice Department answered Trump’s tweeted demand by announcing that an existing investigation by its inspector general will now “include determining whether there was any impropriety or political motivation” by the FBI. Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein may hope that is enough to avoid a showdown. I fear he is wrong. None of this is normal or acceptable. One of the bedrock principles of our system of government is that no one is above the law, not even the president. But a gutless Congress has refused, so far, to protect this sacred inheritance. Trump is determined to use the Justice Department and the FBI to punish those he sees as political enemies. This is a crisis, and it will get worse. www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2018/05/22/the_constitutional_crisis_is_here_137090.html
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Post by Outsider on May 22, 2018 7:32:35 GMT -5
Donald Trump’s summit with Kim Jong-un is near collapse: Is that what his advisers wanted all along? Trump never thought he needed to prepare for Singapore summit. Maybe that’s because it was never going to happen Donald Trump is meeting with South Korean president Moon Jae-in Washington today, in anticipation of the big summit with North Korea's Kim Jong-un next month in Singapore. That summit looks more and more precarious, however, since it turns out that dealing with North Korea is more complicated than doing a licensing deal with a Chinese factory for Trump's cheap, ugly ties. Last week Time reported that Trump wasn't doing much preparation for the summit anyway because, according to a senior administration official, “he doesn’t think he needs to." Apparently, "aides plan to squeeze in time for Trump to learn more about Kim’s psychology and strategize on ways to respond to offers Kim may make in person," but no plans had been set as of last Thursday. National security adviser John Bolton appeared on ABC's "This Week" a week ago and seemed unconcerned about the fact that the president was going into the negotiations completely clueless: I think one advantage of having this meeting between President Trump and Kim Jong Un so soon, in effect, without months and months and months of preparation, is that President Trump will be able to size Kim Jong Un up and see whether the commitment [to denuclearization] is real. Let's just say that Bolton seemed frighteningly smug as he said it, suggesting that he knew very well that his statement was vacuous and he would be perfectly happy to have Trump come away disappointed and embarrassed. That would certainly make it easier to get Trump to embark on a serious regime-change strategy, such as Bolton has been pushing for years. An angry Trump is what he needs to make his dream come true. Trump wants the "win," of course. But according to this New York Times report by David Sanger, the president has awakened to the fact that it might not go his way. Mr. Trump was both surprised and angered by a statement issued on Wednesday by the North’s chief nuclear negotiator, who declared that the country would never trade away its nuclear weapons capability in exchange for economic aid, administration officials said. The statement, while a highly familiar tactic by the North, represented a jarring shift in tone after weeks of conciliatory gestures. Had Trump torn himself away from "Fox & Friends" long enough to listen to some actual briefings he might have known that. Now he's starting to get the feeling this whole thing might not be the slam dunk he's been counting on. Bolton is part of the problem. North Korea specifically lashed out at the administration over the national security adviser's insistence that the U.S. wanted to use the "Libya model," in which that country was persuaded to turn over its nuclear equipment in return for economic aid which wasn't forthcoming. In 2011 its leader, Moammar Gadhafi, was overthrown and killed. You can see why the North Koreans wouldn't be too enthusiastic about repeating that. But then, as the New York Times points out, Trump made it even more confusing because he's too busy tweeting to read a briefing paper: When reporters asked Mr. Trump about Libya, he managed, in one stroke, to contradict Mr. Bolton and misconstrue the importance of the trade of the nuclear program for economic rewards. “The Libyan model isn’t a model that we have at all, when we’re thinking of North Korea,” Mr. Trump said. “If you look at that model with Qaddafi, that was a total decimation. We went in there to beat him.” That referred to Western military intervention in 2011, not to the nuclear disarmament that came eight years before. Trump then said that if the parties don't make a satisfactory deal, "that model would take place." That clearly suggests a military intervention, which is exactly what the North Koreans had warned would blow up the talks. According to Robert E. Kelly, a political analyst and professor at Pusan National University in South Korea, it appears that Moon, eager to keep Trump talking instead of tweeting and threatening, may have oversold the North's new willingness to make a deal. Since Trump only listens to Fox News flatterers, he believed this was all due to his magnificent leadership and convinced himself he had the Nobel Peace Prize all locked up. Kelly pointed out on Twitter that the smart thing now would be to postpone the summit until the three parties can do some real preparation and find some basis for consensus. He believes that Moon, not Kim, is the one who has been frightened by Trump's bellicose tweets and that the South Korean president is afraid to let Bolton have any space to push Trump further and so will argue forcefully for the summit. According to CNN, Trump's aides are now increasingly skeptical that it will happen at all. Vice President Mike Pence tried out the rationale for abandoning the meeting Monday night on Fox News, saying that "it would be a great mistake for Kim Jong Un to think he could play Donald Trump," and stating unequivocally that the U.S. is willing to walk if the North Koreans refuse to give in to Trump's demands. He'd have to forego the Nobel for the time being, but there's always Jared Kushner's Middle East peace plan. In any case, Trump doesn't have the time or the inclination to deal with possible nuclear war right now. He's busy fighting an epic battle with his own FBI and the Justice Department over the investigation into his campaign's possible collusion with Russian agents back in 2016. He is, by all accounts, obsessed with it. Unlike previous presidents Clinton and Reagan, both of whom faced serious investigations during their presidency, he is unable to "compartmentalize" and do the job of president at the same time. Grace under pressure is not his strong suit. Trump probably would not be capable of handling a major summit of such monumental importance under any circumstances, since he won't do the homework required of a president. That's because he believes, as he told the Washington Post, that he reaches decisions “with very little knowledge other than the knowledge I already had, plus the words ‘common sense." Judging by his administration so far, he has very little of either. www.salon.com/2018/05/22/donald-trumps-summit-with-kim-jong-un-is-near-collapse-is-that-what-his-advisers-wanted-all-along/
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Post by foggyisback on May 22, 2018 7:37:08 GMT -5
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Post by doddeb on May 22, 2018 8:10:17 GMT -5
Trump doesn't bother with cellphone security. President Donald Trump uses a cellphone not equipped with top security features and has rejected repeated attempts by his staff to harden his devices against hackers, Politico reported on Monday. Trump regularly uses at least two government-issued iPhones — one a “burner” device capable only of making calls, and another that’s loaded with a Twitter app and “a handful of news sites,” according to Politico, which said former government security experts criticized the president’s phone practices. Trump’s call-only phone has a camera and microphone — features that can be exploited by hackers, Politico reported, citing two senior administration officials as sources. As for the phone Trump uses for Twitter, the president reportedly has rebuffed his staff’s advice to swap the device every month, saying it would be “too inconvenient.” Trump’s attitude toward his own communications security contrasts with Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server during her tenure as secretary of state ― something Trump and his allies have assailed for years. Politico said Trump has gone for as long as five months without getting his Twitter phone checked by security experts. The GPS trackers on both of Trump’s devices have reportedly been deactivated. www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-phone-security_us_5b03ca69e4b0463cdba5774c
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Post by doddeb on May 22, 2018 8:13:53 GMT -5
Hey, today I turn 59, having been born in 1959.
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Post by doddeb on May 22, 2018 8:20:43 GMT -5
Supremes upheld the use of arbitration clauses in employment contracts. The Notorious RBG was not pleased. WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday ruled that companies can use arbitration clauses in employment contracts to prohibit workers from banding together to take legal action over workplace issues. The vote was 5 to 4, with the court’s more conservative justices in the majority. The court’s decision could affect some 25 million employment contracts. Writing for the majority, Justice Neil M. Gorsuch said the court’s conclusion was dictated by a federal law favoring arbitration and the court’s precedents. If workers were allowed to band together to press their claims, he wrote, “the virtues Congress originally saw in arbitration, its speed and simplicity and inexpensiveness, would be shorn away and arbitration would wind up looking like the litigation it was meant to displace.” Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg read her dissent from the bench, a sign of profound disagreement. In her written dissent, she called the majority opinion “egregiously wrong.” In her oral statement, she said the upshot of the decision “will be huge under-enforcement of federal and state statutes designed to advance the well being of vulnerable workers. nyti.ms/2IX2621
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Post by doddeb on May 22, 2018 8:26:11 GMT -5
Because even "righteous" outrage provides new opportunities for grift. President Donald Trump’s longstanding frustrations with the ongoing Russia investigations hit a new level Sunday, when he announced over social media that he intended to order the Justice Department investigate claims that the FBI may have wrongly “infiltrated” his presidential campaign for political purposes. Despite criticism that Trump was inappropriately intervening in Justice Department affairs, the president’s reelection campaign saw the order as an opportunity for a new fundraising initiative. On Monday, they sent out an email quoting the Sunday evening tweet and inviting supporters to join in “demanding this abuse of power gets investigated.” The email was sent just as the White House confirmed that Trump was meeting with FBI director Christopher Wray, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats Monday afternoon. www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/05/trump-is-now-fundraising-off-conspiracy-theory-that-fbi-infiltrated-his-campaign/
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Post by doddeb on May 22, 2018 8:30:40 GMT -5
Georgia Repug Gubernatorial candidates vie for title of "biggest racist douchbag" The Republican gubernatorial primary in Georgia has devolved in recent weeks into a chest-thumping argument over which candidate hates undocumented immigrants the most. In their rush to prove themselves, two candidates—both currently elected officials—have engaged in an escalating competition over who can personally “round up” and remove more immigrants from the state. In a television ad released May 9, Brian Kemp—who serves as Georgia’s secretary of state and was formerly a state legislator—suggests he intends to personally detain and remove immigrants from the country. “I got a big truck,” he says, climbing into a pickup truck, “just in case I need to round up criminal illegals and take ’em home myself.” He then adds with a smirk: “Yep, I just said that.” But state Sen. Michael Williams, another GOP primary candidate, disagrees. So Williams saw Kemp’s pickup truck—and raised him a bus. On Wednesday, Williams launched a multicounty campaign tour in his “Deportation Bus.” Metal grating covers the windows of the gray bus, and the words “Fill this bus with illegals” run along its side. On the back it reads: “Danger! Murderers, rapists, kidnappers, child molesters, and others on board.” Then, “Follow me to Mexico.” Williams has taken the bus to areas with large immigrant populations, dubbing them “sanctuary cities”—even though Georgia outlawed sanctuary jurisdictions in 2009. (Sanctuary cities are jurisdictions that limit the ways in which local law enforcement can cooperate with federal immigration officials.) www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/05/the-republican-primary-in-georgia-is-taking-racism-to-a-whole-new-level/
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Post by doddeb on May 22, 2018 8:36:40 GMT -5
Harley Davidson taking the Trump tax cut and sending jobs to Thailand. If course they are. Despite President Donald Trump’s claim that massive tax cuts will boost U.S. employment numbers, motorcycle manufacturer Harley Davidson instead announced a plant closing, followed by a massive stock buy-back and is now shifting some jobs to Thailand. In a deep dive into happenings at the Milwaukee-based manufacturer of highly-coveted motorcycles, Vox discovered employees and union leaders who believe that they were betrayed by the company which prides itself on its reputation for American-built products. www.rawstory.com/2018/05/harley-davidson-shutting-us-factory-moving-jobs-bangkok-cashing-trumps-tax-cut/
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Post by foggyisback on May 22, 2018 8:47:53 GMT -5
Hey, today I turn 59, having been born in 1959. Gon'girl! 🎂
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newhivemaster
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Post by newhivemaster on May 22, 2018 9:02:37 GMT -5
SigDig for Tuesday, 5/22/2018 Good morning, Hive! $650 million
The NHL is asking $650 million of an ownership group from Seattle to expand to that city and add a 32nd franchise to the league. Why is that significant? It’s $150 million more than what the league asked less than two years ago of an ownership group in Las Vegas. Why is that significant? Well, the Vegas Golden Knights just made the Stanley Cup finals in their first year of existence, a remarkable feat for a team that is, by definition, comprised of cast-offs from other squads. Honestly, it’s one of the coolest stories in sports, and apparently it’s a cash cow for the league.
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Post by Outsider on May 22, 2018 9:03:33 GMT -5
Hey, today I turn 59, having been born in 1959. Happy birthday Deb!
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Post by doddeb on May 22, 2018 9:14:41 GMT -5
Senator Brown is working to shore up pensions for U.S. workers Pension checks are declining, leaving thousands of Ohioans grappling with how to make ends meet as their retirement funds no longer pay the bills. In a room full of retired laborers at the Teamsters Local 413 union hall on Monday, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, said the special joint Senate and House committee that he co-chairs is coming up with a plan to fix the dwindling pensions that many such retirees rely on. Brown reiterated that his proposal, under which the Treasury would sell bonds and make 30-year low-interest loans to the struggling multiemployer pension plans in an attempt to make them financially sound, is not a government bailout. “This is not a handout,” Brown said to a room of roughly 100 Teamsters. “Everybody in this room gave up wages 20, 30, 40 years ago ... You gave up money then to put money aside for the future.” Now, that money that so many put away is in jeopardy. The Wall Street and economic collapse in 2007-08 that bankrupted several companies severely diminished some pension funds, affecting more than 1.3 million Americans and roughly 60,000 Ohioans. “We know what happens if we don’t solve this. A whole lot of you lose a whole lot of pension money that you have earned, that you deserve, and that you were promised,” Brown said. The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. is the only thing keeping many pensions afloat. It is the arm of the federal government that insures pension plans. Brown said the government, and the retirees, can no longer merely rely on the guarantee. A collapse of the PBGC would jeopardize pensions everywhere and the economy, Brown said. www.dispatch.com/news/20180521/sherrod-brown-on-protecting-pensions-this-is-not-handout
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Post by doddeb on May 22, 2018 9:31:27 GMT -5
The reforms in Saudi Arabia are over, and conservative backlash has begun. Many women activists are jailed. I'm shocked, shocked. For months, Saudi Arabia had been enjoying a public-relations windfall. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, or MbS, the kingdom’s charismatic future leader, seduced the world with his vision for a new, modern nation. There have been live concerts, and cinemas are opening, with many more planned. Women can attend soccer games. Last September, MbS announced a bold promise to overturn the country’s ban on women driving, a change that is set to go into effect on June 24. Then, late on Friday, it all came crashing down: Reports emerged that the women activists who pressed for the policy change had been arrested and imprisoned. As of this morning, 13 are reported to have been arrested; most are women. Apart from the driving issue, they have campaigned against so-called guardianship rules which require Saudi women to receive permission from a male relative before making many life decisions, like traveling. One of those detained was Loujain al-Hathloul, who was photographed at the 2016 One Young World Summit with none other than Meghan Markle, who married Britain’s Prince Harry on Saturday. What is happening in the kingdom? MbS may want to discourage any popular protests seeking additional social or political changes. (Over the weekend, one American official told me that the arrests reflected the prince’s personal style, even if his name was not publicly linked to them.) His reforms were always likely to provoke opposition from within Saudi Arabia’s male-dominated, hierarchical society, which follows a strict interpretation of Islam. The apparent need to arrest women activists suggests that MbS is having to rethink his grand plans. www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/05/saudi-arabia-hits-the-brakes-on-reforms/560870/
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Post by LA_Randy on May 22, 2018 10:15:07 GMT -5
Hey, today I turn 59, having been born in 1959. Happy Birthday!
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Post by Outsider on May 22, 2018 10:20:14 GMT -5
Trump’s Latest FBI Attack Stuns Justice Dept. Officials: ‘We’re in Venezuela’ ‘You can’t overstate how critical it is that people who have information trust us to protect them,’ said a federal prosecutor, adding that Trump is working to break that trust. President Donald Trump’s latest round of attacks on the FBI has left morale at the Justice Department at a new low, with officials bemoaning what they view as a full-frontal assault on their institution. “It’s a deliberate campaign to delegitimize institutions where the people who are inside those institutions are professionals and giving up lots of money for the jobs that they’re doing and it’s extremely demoralizing,” said one current federal prosecutor. “As my father used to say, history goes forward and backward. And things go backward when the trust in bedrock institutions—which are trustworthy, by the way—is diminished for the benefit of a few. It accelerates, and you wake up one day and we’re in Venezuela.” Trump has been pushing a conspiracy theory that the FBI sicced a spy on his campaign during the election season. In reality, a longtime FBI informant—per numerous reports—spoke with several Trump campaign officials, including Carter Page and George Papadopoulos, and shared the information with FBI investigators. The Daily Caller reported the name of the person believed to be that informant. Using informants is typical for federal law enforcement, including in large and complex cases like the one involving Team Trump. But the president took to Twitter to assert that something more nefarious may have happened. “I hereby demand, and will do so officially tomorrow, that the Department of Justice look into whether or not the FBI/DOJ infiltrated or surveilled the Trump Campaign for Political Purposes - and if any such demands or requests were made by people within the Obama Administration!” he tweeted on Sunday. After the president’s tweet, a spokesperson for the Justice Department announced that the department’s inspector general would expand an existing probe to look into “whether there was any impropriety or political motivation in how the FBI conducted its counterintelligence investigation of persons suspected of involvement with the Russian agents who interfered in the 2016 presidential election.” On Monday afternoon, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein—who is overseeing the Russia probe—met with Trump, along with Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and FBI Director Chris Wray. The attacks have left many in the DOJ feeling beleaguered and demoralized. “Where I sit, people mostly suffer in silence,” one federal prosecutor told The Daily Beast. He pointed to a piece in the blog Lawfare by Ben Wittes and Quinta Jurecic as capturing “a feeling that’s broadly held” in the department. Wittes and Jurecic wrote that the revelation of the identity of the alleged informant “will have a long tail and big consequences—all of them terrible.” “You can’t overstate how critical it is for us—and in particular for the FBI—that people who have information to share will trust us to protect them,” the prosecutor continued. “My personal view is that Trump and [House Intel Chair Devin] Nunes must know that their actions will give pause to anyone considering cooperation with the special counsel, and that’s part of their plan—the consequences for law enforcement writ large be damned.” Another DOJ official told The Daily Beast that morale at the FBI has hit rock bottom. That official said he hears a constant refrain, over and over, among his colleagues: “This is such a dark time for the FBI.” www.thedailybeast.com/were-in-venezuelatrumps-latest-fbi-attack-stuns-saddens-justice-officials?ref=scroll
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Post by Outsider on May 22, 2018 10:21:56 GMT -5
Stephen Colbert Mocks Trump’s White House Leak Paranoia: ‘More Like Leaker-on-Sheets’ The ‘Late Show’ host made fun of President Trump over his obsession with ‘leaks’ out of his White House. On Monday night, Stephen Colbert devoted the majority of his Late Show monologue to President Trump’s paranoia over the leaks coming out of his administration. “Donald Trump is obsessed with his staff leaking information. You know how I know that? His staff leaked that information to The New York Times,” said Colbert. “And Trump is now determined to stop it at all costs. In fact, ‘West Wing aides are instructed to drop their phones into small storage lockers when they come to work,’” said Colbert, quoting from the Times. “Wait a second: They’re taking away the phones of everyone except Donald Trump? How does that work? How does that help? That’s like saying, no one can bring knives to work—except you, O.J.,” cracked Colbert. The comedian, referencing the same Times piece, said that Trump “thrives on a sense of dominance and control of his environment” including having “a longtime fear of having his food contaminated.” “Yes, and for good reason. Once he was eating what he thought was a safe meal and he found a vegetable in there,” Colbert joked. But in that same Times article, sources described how Trump was such a big leaker during the campaign that staffers took to calling him the “leaker-in-chief.” “More like leaker-on-sheets!” exclaimed Colbert. “Damn you, Satan! Get behind me!” Colbert then threw to a clip of Saturday Night Live’s Pete Davidson discussing how, when he hosted the sketch-comedy program during his campaign, Trump faked a phone call during a table read and subsequently told the room that his book, Crippled America, had gone to No. 1 (it never did). Cue Colbert: “It was like Moscow: Trump just sat there while someone else went number one.” www.thedailybeast.com/stephen-colbert-mocks-trumps-white-house-leak-paranoia-more-like-leaker-on-sheets?ref=home
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Post by LA_Randy on May 22, 2018 10:24:41 GMT -5
EPA Blocks AP, CNN From National Summit On Harmful Water Contaminants WASHINGTON (AP) — The Environmental Protection Agency is barring The Associated Press, CNN and the environmental-focused news organization E&E from a national summit on harmful water contaminants. The EPA blocked the news organizations from attending Tuesday’s Washington meeting, convened by EPA chief Scott Pruitt. EPA spokesman Jahan Wilcox told the barred organizations they were not invited and there was no space for them, but gave no indication of why they specifically were barred. Pruitt told about 200 people at the meeting that dealing with the contaminants is a “national priority.” Guards barred an AP reporter from passing through a security checkpoint inside the building. When the reporter asked to speak to an EPA public-affairs person, the security guards grabbed the reporter by the shoulders and shoved her forcibly out of the EPA building. talkingpointsmemo.com/news/epa-bars-associated-press-cnn-national-summit-water-contaminants
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Post by forgottenlord on May 22, 2018 10:27:12 GMT -5
The amoung is absurd, but yes he should absolutely be held accountable.
Judge: Teen must repay $37M for starting Oregon wildfire
A teenager who started a major wildfire in the scenic Columbia River Gorge in Oregon has been ordered to pay restitution for at least the next decade, though it's unlikely the boy will ever cover his nearly $37 million bill.
The Oregonian reports that Hood River County Circuit Judge John A. Olson issued the opinion on Monday, awarding the restitution totaling $36,618,330.24 to cover the costs of firefighting, repair and restoration to the gorge and damage to homes. Victims include the U.S. Forest Service and Oregon Department of Transportation.
The 15-year-old from Vancouver, Washington, earlier this year acknowledged wrongdoing and said he threw two fireworks in Eagle Creek Canyon on Sept. 2 when flames spread quickly. The fire caused evacuations, an extended shutdown of a major interstate highway and devastation to a major outdoor tourist attraction.
The judge's order notes that the boy can set up a payment plan, though payments can be halted after 10 years as long as he complies, completes probation and doesn't commit other crimes.
With the 10 year clause, I'm fine with it. Really, it's a 10-year restitution fine with a maximum total value. That seems reasonable so long as the restitution requirements aren't absurd.
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DocDrama
Hive Whisperer
A Musical Note or a Shark Fin
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Post by DocDrama on May 22, 2018 11:03:19 GMT -5
Donald Trump’s summit with Kim Jong-un is near collapse: Is that what his advisers wanted all along? Trump never thought he needed to prepare for Singapore summit. Maybe that’s because it was never going to happen Donald Trump is meeting with South Korean president Moon Jae-in Washington today, in anticipation of the big summit with North Korea's Kim Jong-un next month in Singapore. That summit looks more and more precarious, however, since it turns out that dealing with North Korea is more complicated than doing a licensing deal with a Chinese factory for Trump's cheap, ugly ties. Last week Time reported that Trump wasn't doing much preparation for the summit anyway because, according to a senior administration official, “he doesn’t think he needs to." Apparently, "aides plan to squeeze in time for Trump to learn more about Kim’s psychology and strategize on ways to respond to offers Kim may make in person," but no plans had been set as of last Thursday. National security adviser John Bolton appeared on ABC's "This Week" a week ago and seemed unconcerned about the fact that the president was going into the negotiations completely clueless: I think one advantage of having this meeting between President Trump and Kim Jong Un so soon, in effect, without months and months and months of preparation, is that President Trump will be able to size Kim Jong Un up and see whether the commitment [to denuclearization] is real. Let's just say that Bolton seemed frighteningly smug as he said it, suggesting that he knew very well that his statement was vacuous and he would be perfectly happy to have Trump come away disappointed and embarrassed. That would certainly make it easier to get Trump to embark on a serious regime-change strategy, such as Bolton has been pushing for years. An angry Trump is what he needs to make his dream come true. Trump wants the "win," of course. But according to this New York Times report by David Sanger, the president has awakened to the fact that it might not go his way. Mr. Trump was both surprised and angered by a statement issued on Wednesday by the North’s chief nuclear negotiator, who declared that the country would never trade away its nuclear weapons capability in exchange for economic aid, administration officials said. The statement, while a highly familiar tactic by the North, represented a jarring shift in tone after weeks of conciliatory gestures. Had Trump torn himself away from "Fox & Friends" long enough to listen to some actual briefings he might have known that. Now he's starting to get the feeling this whole thing might not be the slam dunk he's been counting on. Bolton is part of the problem. North Korea specifically lashed out at the administration over the national security adviser's insistence that the U.S. wanted to use the "Libya model," in which that country was persuaded to turn over its nuclear equipment in return for economic aid which wasn't forthcoming. In 2011 its leader, Moammar Gadhafi, was overthrown and killed. You can see why the North Koreans wouldn't be too enthusiastic about repeating that. But then, as the New York Times points out, Trump made it even more confusing because he's too busy tweeting to read a briefing paper: When reporters asked Mr. Trump about Libya, he managed, in one stroke, to contradict Mr. Bolton and misconstrue the importance of the trade of the nuclear program for economic rewards. “The Libyan model isn’t a model that we have at all, when we’re thinking of North Korea,” Mr. Trump said. “If you look at that model with Qaddafi, that was a total decimation. We went in there to beat him.” That referred to Western military intervention in 2011, not to the nuclear disarmament that came eight years before. Trump then said that if the parties don't make a satisfactory deal, "that model would take place." That clearly suggests a military intervention, which is exactly what the North Koreans had warned would blow up the talks. According to Robert E. Kelly, a political analyst and professor at Pusan National University in South Korea, it appears that Moon, eager to keep Trump talking instead of tweeting and threatening, may have oversold the North's new willingness to make a deal. Since Trump only listens to Fox News flatterers, he believed this was all due to his magnificent leadership and convinced himself he had the Nobel Peace Prize all locked up. Kelly pointed out on Twitter that the smart thing now would be to postpone the summit until the three parties can do some real preparation and find some basis for consensus. He believes that Moon, not Kim, is the one who has been frightened by Trump's bellicose tweets and that the South Korean president is afraid to let Bolton have any space to push Trump further and so will argue forcefully for the summit. According to CNN, Trump's aides are now increasingly skeptical that it will happen at all. Vice President Mike Pence tried out the rationale for abandoning the meeting Monday night on Fox News, saying that "it would be a great mistake for Kim Jong Un to think he could play Donald Trump," and stating unequivocally that the U.S. is willing to walk if the North Koreans refuse to give in to Trump's demands. He'd have to forego the Nobel for the time being, but there's always Jared Kushner's Middle East peace plan. In any case, Trump doesn't have the time or the inclination to deal with possible nuclear war right now. He's busy fighting an epic battle with his own FBI and the Justice Department over the investigation into his campaign's possible collusion with Russian agents back in 2016. He is, by all accounts, obsessed with it. Unlike previous presidents Clinton and Reagan, both of whom faced serious investigations during their presidency, he is unable to "compartmentalize" and do the job of president at the same time. Grace under pressure is not his strong suit. Trump probably would not be capable of handling a major summit of such monumental importance under any circumstances, since he won't do the homework required of a president. That's because he believes, as he told the Washington Post, that he reaches decisions “with very little knowledge other than the knowledge I already had, plus the words ‘common sense." Judging by his administration so far, he has very little of either. www.salon.com/2018/05/22/donald-trumps-summit-with-kim-jong-un-is-near-collapse-is-that-what-his-advisers-wanted-all-along/The Trump WH already had a commemorative coin struck even tho they haven't met yet and may never meet. Kim has huge double chin on the coin and is call Supreme Leader even tho that might not be true.
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Post by foggyisback on May 22, 2018 12:29:07 GMT -5
SigDig for Tuesday, 5/22/2018 Good morning, Hive! $650 million
The NHL is asking $650 million of an ownership group from Seattle to expand to that city and add a 32nd franchise to the league. Why is that significant? It’s $150 million more than what the league asked less than two years ago of an ownership group in Las Vegas. Why is that significant? Well, the Vegas Golden Knights just made the Stanley Cup finals in their first year of existence, a remarkable feat for a team that is, by definition, comprised of cast-offs from other squads. Honestly, it’s one of the coolest stories in sports, and apparently it’s a cash cow for the league. NBC might actually have to pay TV rights fees!
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Post by foggyisback on May 22, 2018 12:32:45 GMT -5
The reforms in Saudi Arabia are over, and conservative backlash has begun. Many women activists are jailed. I'm shocked, shocked. For months, Saudi Arabia had been enjoying a public-relations windfall. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, or MbS, the kingdom’s charismatic future leader, seduced the world with his vision for a new, modern nation. There have been live concerts, and cinemas are opening, with many more planned. Women can attend soccer games. Last September, MbS announced a bold promise to overturn the country’s ban on women driving, a change that is set to go into effect on June 24. Then, late on Friday, it all came crashing down: Reports emerged that the women activists who pressed for the policy change had been arrested and imprisoned. As of this morning, 13 are reported to have been arrested; most are women. Apart from the driving issue, they have campaigned against so-called guardianship rules which require Saudi women to receive permission from a male relative before making many life decisions, like traveling. One of those detained was Loujain al-Hathloul, who was photographed at the 2016 One Young World Summit with none other than Meghan Markle, who married Britain’s Prince Harry on Saturday. What is happening in the kingdom? MbS may want to discourage any popular protests seeking additional social or political changes. (Over the weekend, one American official told me that the arrests reflected the prince’s personal style, even if his name was not publicly linked to them.) His reforms were always likely to provoke opposition from within Saudi Arabia’s male-dominated, hierarchical society, which follows a strict interpretation of Islam. The apparent need to arrest women activists suggests that MbS is having to rethink his grand plans. www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/05/saudi-arabia-hits-the-brakes-on-reforms/560870/
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Post by foggyisback on May 22, 2018 12:35:14 GMT -5
The amoung is absurd, but yes he should absolutely be held accountable.
Judge: Teen must repay $37M for starting Oregon wildfire
A teenager who started a major wildfire in the scenic Columbia River Gorge in Oregon has been ordered to pay restitution for at least the next decade, though it's unlikely the boy will ever cover his nearly $37 million bill.
The Oregonian reports that Hood River County Circuit Judge John A. Olson issued the opinion on Monday, awarding the restitution totaling $36,618,330.24 to cover the costs of firefighting, repair and restoration to the gorge and damage to homes. Victims include the U.S. Forest Service and Oregon Department of Transportation.
The 15-year-old from Vancouver, Washington, earlier this year acknowledged wrongdoing and said he threw two fireworks in Eagle Creek Canyon on Sept. 2 when flames spread quickly. The fire caused evacuations, an extended shutdown of a major interstate highway and devastation to a major outdoor tourist attraction.
The judge's order notes that the boy can set up a payment plan, though payments can be halted after 10 years as long as he complies, completes probation and doesn't commit other crimes.
With the 10 year clause, I'm fine with it. Really, it's a 10-year restitution fine with a maximum total value. That seems reasonable so long as the restitution requirements aren't absurd. GoFundMe is available 😄
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Post by foggyisback on May 22, 2018 12:36:40 GMT -5
EPA Blocks AP, CNN From National Summit On Harmful Water Contaminants WASHINGTON (AP) — The Environmental Protection Agency is barring The Associated Press, CNN and the environmental-focused news organization E&E from a national summit on harmful water contaminants. The EPA blocked the news organizations from attending Tuesday’s Washington meeting, convened by EPA chief Scott Pruitt. EPA spokesman Jahan Wilcox told the barred organizations they were not invited and there was no space for them, but gave no indication of why they specifically were barred. Pruitt told about 200 people at the meeting that dealing with the contaminants is a “national priority.” Guards barred an AP reporter from passing through a security checkpoint inside the building. When the reporter asked to speak to an EPA public-affairs person, the security guards grabbed the reporter by the shoulders and shoved her forcibly out of the EPA building. talkingpointsmemo.com/news/epa-bars-associated-press-cnn-national-summit-water-contaminantsHe can get away with this?!?
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Post by forgottenlord on May 22, 2018 12:54:36 GMT -5
Ontario provincial election, NDP are moving up the polls fast, holding only a 4 point deficit in the average with some polls even giving them a lead. www.cbc.ca/news/politics/grenier-ontario-election-polltracker-1.4672850And this is why you have a third party: because when the lead two parties fuck up as badly as to have made-Christie-look-popular Kathleen Wynne and Rob Ford's less stable brother Doug Ford be their standard bearers, the third party swoops in and takes over.
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