Wednesday, December 25, 2019
The Post of Christmas Present: Fukushima This
"The lost decade: energy stocks seek relevancy as investors flee" by Michael Bellusci Bloomberg News, December 23, 2019
It’s been a tough run for energy stocks.
Oil at $100 a barrel is long gone. Investors have exited their losing positions, and now, as 2019 comes to a close, investor apathy in the sector is at a decade low, according to Tyler Hardt, founder of Pelican Bay Capital Management LLC, but the year ahead could be a turning point, he said.
With the American shale revolution contributing to an oversupply, the collapse of oil prices and stocks triggered the fall of several titans, including gas driller Chesapeake Energy Corp. and oil servicer Weatherford International PLC.
The crash was suspicious.
Struggling with profitability and volatile commodity prices, the sector has seen a flight of capital in what was once a hotbed of merger-and-acquisition activity. With the collapse of oil in late 2014, energy firms have been slowly adopting the mantra of “capital discipline,” or a focus on steady returns and profitability, after being pushed by investors.
“Without fresh capital to cover their widening cash burn, the E&Ps [exploration and production companies] were finally forced to live within their means and take a sharp axe to their capital budgets,” Hardt said in an interview.
Arguing things can’t get much worse, optimists are beginning to enter the picture. Citi is readying for a rotation into E&P stocks, while Goldman Sachs thinks energy is entering a “bottoming phase” in 2020.
So much for global warming and ¢limate ¢hange.
The days of relentless domestic production growth are ending, industry pioneers said in November. As such, a key focal point for investors will be calling on shale producers to shut down rigs and stop burning through cash.
“The dearth of new conventional projects beyond 2020, combined with slowing US shale growth, will likely catch the world by surprise and usher in a new era of oil scarcity and higher prices,” Hardt said. He thinks 2020 “will most likely be the turning point.”
You have been warned, American consumer.
Yet the industry’s challenges are far from over with the rise of environmental, social, and governance investing. Looking ahead, drillers will likely face increasing scrutiny regarding the environmental impact of their operations......
Like off the Galapagos Islands.
Fortunately, the New York Times tells me the spill is under control.
--more--"
The only plan is to buy back the stock like ConocoPhillips.
Either that or dump it:
"Japan wants to dump nuclear plant’s tainted water. Fishermen fear the worst" by Motoko Rich and Makiko Inoue New York Times, December 23, 2019
IWAKI, Japan — The overpowering earthquake and tsunami that ripped through northern Japan in March 2011 took so much from Tatsuo Niitsuma, a commercial fisherman in this coastal city in Fukushima prefecture.
The tsunami pulverized his fishing boat. It demolished his home. Most devastating of all, it took the life of his daughter.
Now, nearly nine years after the disaster, Niitsuma, 77, is at risk of losing his entire livelihood, too, as the government considers releasing tainted water from a nuclear power plant destroyed by the tsunami’s waves.
That sound you just heard was my jaw dropping to the floor.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Cabinet and Tokyo Electric Power Co. — operator of the Fukushima Daiichi plant, where a triple meltdown led to the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl — must decide what to do with more than 1 million tons of contaminated water stored in about 1,000 giant tanks on the plant site.
On Monday, Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry proposed gradually releasing the water into the ocean or allowing it to evaporate, saying a controlled discharge into the sea would “stably dilute and disperse” it. The ministry ruled out alternatives like continuing to store it in tanks or injecting it deep into the ground. Abe’s Cabinet will make the final decision.
Yeah, pollute the oceans even more with radioactive water or let it evaporate so that it will rain down on us.
I wouldn't be surprised if they sold it for fracking purposes.
Btw, whatever happened to the ice wall? It melt?
The water becomes contaminated as it is pumped through the reactors to cool melted fuel that is still too hot and radioactive to remove. For years, the power company, known as TEPCO, said that treatment of the water — which involves sending it through a powerful filtration system to remove most radioactive material — was making it safe to release, but it is actually more radioactive than authorities have previously publicized. Officials say that it will be treated again and that it will then be safe for release.
The lies just keep on coming. That's why the article was a Xmas eve dump.
Regardless of government assurances, if the water is discharged into the sea, it will most likely destroy the livelihoods of hundreds of fishermen like Niitsuma. Consumers are already worried about the safety of Fukushima seafood, and dumping the water would compound the fears.
Hey look, a real fear not some fake foboia.
With Fukushima preparing to host baseball games during the Summer Olympics next year, and the plant running out of land on which to build storage tanks, the debate has taken on a sense of urgency.
When the "debate" takes on a sense of "urgency" it is time to hit the brakes. That's how one is lied into wars.
As you can see, getting rid of the radioactive water isn't about your health or the environment; it's about making Japan look when the world visits next year.
Until last year, TEPCO indicated that with the vast majority of the water, all but one type of radioactive material — tritium, an isotope of hydrogen that experts say poses a relatively low risk to human health — had been removed to levels deemed safe for discharge under Japanese government standards, but last summer, the power company acknowledged that only about a fifth of the stored water had been effectively treated.
SIGH!
Last month, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry briefed reporters and diplomats about the water stored in Fukushima. More than three-quarters of it, the ministry said, still contains radioactive material other than tritium — and at higher levels than the government considers safe for human health.
Authorities say that in the early years of processing the deluge of water flowing through the reactors, TEPCO did not change filters in the decontamination system frequently enough. The company said it would re-treat the water to filter out the bulk of the nuclear particles, making it safe to release into the ocean.
Are we supposed to believe them after constantly lying and minimization for eight years?
Some experts and local residents say it is difficult to trust such assurances. “The government and TEPCO were hiding the fact that the water was still contaminated,” said Kazuyoshi Satoh, a member of the city assembly in Iwaki. “Because next year is the Tokyo Olympics, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wants to present the image that everything is ‘under control,’ ” said Satoh, referring to a speech by the Japanese leader to the International Olympic Committee when Tokyo was bidding to host the 2020 Games.
I see I'm not alone in my concern.
The power company acknowledged that it had not made it easy for the public to get information. The water treatment data “has not been presented in a manner that is easy to understand,” said Ryounosuke Takanori, a TEPCO spokesman. “As long as the water was stored in the tanks, we thought it didn’t matter whether the water” exceeded safety standards for discharge, said Junichi Matsumoto, a general manager in the Fukushima Daiichi decontamination and decommissioning office.
Niitsuma, for whom fishing is not just a livelihood but also a balm against grief over the loss of his daughter, said he thought both TEPCO and the government needed to come clean. “I want them to see the reality squarely and disclose information fully,” said Niitsuma, who goes out alone on his 2-ton boat at dawn three times a week.
The question of whether the water could be decontaminated to safe levels is a matter of degree, scientists say. If the water is processed so that the only radioactive materials that remain are low levels of tritium, said Kazuya Idemitsu, a professor of nuclear engineering at Kyushu University, releasing it into the ocean would be “the best solution in terms of cost and safety.” Idemitsu added that functioning nuclear plants around the world release diluted water containing tritium into the ocean.
Some scientists said they would need proof before believing that the Fukushima water was treated to safe levels. “I want to see the numbers after they’ve removed these additional radionuclides,” said Ken Buesseler, a senior scientist in marine chemistry and geochemistry at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts. “Then, and only then, can I make a judgment on the quality of the rationale for releasing it or the consequences of releasing it.”
What are they, some sort of kook conspiracy theorists?
More than 20 countries still have import restrictions on Japanese seafood and other agricultural products that were imposed after the 2011 disaster. Earlier this year, the European Union lifted its ban on some products.
--more--"
Most people don't know that the reactor was designed by GE.
At least you can easily hail a ride at Logan (at last, a state plan that works -- well, quasi works. It's a public-private partner$hip).
Related:
"A peculiar sight greeted motorists on a busy freeway outside Detroit on Friday: a bright green liquid oozing from a retaining wall on Interstate 696. Its appearance snarled traffic and prompted lane closings to allow for a hazardous materials cleanup that started Friday and could last for several more days, Michigan environmental officials said. The mystery substance is believed to be hexavalent chromium, said Jill A. Greenberg, a spokeswoman for the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy. She emphasized that there was “no imminent risk to the public,” and that hazardous materials crews determined that the air and public drinking water had not been contaminated. Hexavalent chromium is a cancer-causing manufacturing component that was featured in the 2000 movie “Erin Brockovich.” In Michigan, the green liquid was traced to a nearby plant, Electro-Plating Services Inc., in Madison Heights, Michigan, Ms. Greenberg said."
I would take a grain of salt with that "water" if I were you.
Related: The Child of Gaza
Also see: Spring Hill Runs Dry
Just ignore the radiation and ‘forever chemicals’ in the water supply, 'kay?
"For decades, those who have participated in snowball fights in one Wisconsin city have risked getting in trouble with the law, but that may be about to change. A 1962 ban on throwing projectiles in Wausau lumps snowballs into the same category as rocks and other items that can cause serious harm. City Council president Lisa Rasmussen said that recent negative national attention over the rarely used ordinance has raised questions about whether it could be time to take snowballs off the naughty list. “Maybe it’s worth giving a look to see if that list could be amended, to mitigate that odd news story that keeps coming up like a bad penny,” Rasmussen said. Wausau police and the mayor even made a video showing officers having a snowball fight....."
Can you make a snowball out of coal ash?
"Congress saves coal miner pensions, but what about others?" by Mary Williams Walsh New York Times, December 24, 2019
NEW YORK — The $1.4 trillion spending bill passed by Congress last week quietly achieves what a parade of select committees and coordinating councils could not: rescue a dying pension fund that is the lifeblood of nearly 100,000 retired coal miners.
See: House sends a $1.4 trillion spending deal to Senate ahead of Friday shutdown deadline
For the first time in 45 years of federal pension law, taxpayer dollars will be used to bail out a fund for workers in the private sector, and now that there’s a precedent, it might not be the last.
It's being called a “blueprint.”
The coal miners belong to one of about 1,400 pension plans that cover a large group of workers in a single industry or trade. These so-called multiemployer plans cover more than 10 million workers in unions including the Teamsters, the American Federation of Musicians, the Screen Actors Guild and, in Pettit’s case, the United Mine Workers of America. Even President Trump has a multiemployer pension, worth about $70,000 a year, earned in his reality-TV days, but nearly three-quarters of the people with this type of pension are in plans that have less than half the money they need to pay promised benefits, according to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., the federal agency that insures pension plans. Chronic underfunding, lax government oversight, and serial bankruptcies have left them in dire straits, and the guaranty corporation’s program backing up these plans — which operated under the assumption that they were inherently strong — would be wiped out by the failure of just one of the major pension pools.
Looks like corporate pension funds are next in line for a bailout, as a bonus by any other name is.....
The solution approved by Congress uses the Abandoned Mine Lands Reclamation Fund, which is partly supported by a per-ton fee that all coal companies pay. In 1992, Congress allowed the fund to help pay for retired miners’ health care, and the new legislation — the Bipartisan American Miners Act — uses the fund as a vehicle to support the pensions, too. The bill, among other changes, allows the Treasury to send up to $750 million a year into the fund as it covers the unfunded pension obligations.
A failure to act would have had dire consequences: Tens of thousands of miners, many in already economically distressed areas, would have lost their benefits, and coal pensions support not just families but sometimes whole towns.
The collapse of the miners’ plan was hastened by the parade of bankruptcies that have hit the industry in recent years. By this fall, just one major employer, Murray Energy, was still paying into the fund. On Oct. 29, Murray declared bankruptcy — the eighth coal producer to do so this year.
Wasn't Trump going to put them all back to work?
Usually, leaving a multiemployer pension plan is an expensive proposition for a company. It must pay off its share of any shortfall to leave, but bankruptcy provides a cheap exit ramp, because the pension plan is treated as an unsecured creditor — the kind that goes to the back when everyone lines up to be paid, but when companies get out of the pension pool, their employees stay in — and become the responsibility of the companies still kicking in money. As more companies failed, it only increased the pressure on the others to get out.....
Who is in front of line when the pyramid collapses?
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Also see: Newspaper publishes secret report on former W.Va. bishop
May God help them all.
Anybody feel a breeze?
"Trump attacks on wind turbines, low-flow toilets, and LED lightbulbs set up campaign clash with Democrats" by Toluse Olorunnipa and Juliet Eilperin Washington Post, December 23, 2019
PALM BEACH, Fla. — While Democratic presidential candidates have called for sweeping measures to eliminate the US carbon footprint, President Trump is promising voters a world free of the everyday inconveniences associated with combating climate change — rolling back lightbulb regulations, ordering a study on low-flow toilets, and turning bans on plastic straws into a campaign rallying cry.
Never mind the poisoned water in the toilets and sinks or the million tons of radioactive water to be dumped in the Pacific, the campaign debate will swirl around lightbulbs, low-flow toilets, and straws. I can see the entire campaign needed a plunger.
Democrats respond by arguing that the president’s comments on climate — which are often false and frequently veer into the bizarre — are out of step with science and modern-day voters who want to protect the planet.
Have they read a newspaper lately?
Trump’s antienvironmentalism message was encapsulated in a weekend speech to a conservative group in South Florida that included a diatribe against wind-powered turbines — arguing that building them produces ‘‘a tremendous amount of fumes’’ and that the ‘‘windmills,’’ as he calls them, are noisy, unattractive, and kill too many birds.
‘‘I've seen the most beautiful fields, farms, fields — most gorgeous things you've ever seen, and then you have these ugly things going up,’’ he said of the wind turbines. ‘‘And you know what they don’t tell you about windmills? After 10 years, they look like hell.’’
He's right about the look. California's scenic vistas have been destroyed by them.
The broad nostalgia encapsulated in Trump’s ‘‘Make America Great Again’’ slogan has become increasingly specific as he has zeroed in on consumer-facing issues like environmentally-conscious appliances, carbon-reducing fuel standards, and plastic straw bans. Often operating on his own feelings rather than scientific evidence, the president has castigated Democrats’ environmental agenda as unworkable and counterproductive.
Trump has made the same nostalgic appeal on other issues — ranging from his mocking of the #MeToo movement to his unfounded claim that his election allowed people to say ‘‘Merry Christmas’’ again, but when it comes to energy-related issues, the regulatory moves of Trump’s administration have easily merged with his campaign messaging.....
Same as this article, and did you know Massachusetts is a battlefield in the war on Christmas.
Btw, the Grinch gets a bad rap. His neighbors down in Whoville are disturbing the peace with their songs and the cops won't do anything about it. Not only that, they stripped him of his Second Amendment rights and discriminate against him because of the color of his skin (ask the Wicked Witch of the West about that).
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Related:
A Trump policy ‘clarification’ all but ends punishment for bird deaths
The New York Times says that "across the country birds have been killed and nests destroyed by oil spills, construction crews, and chemical contamination, all with no response from the federal government, according to e-mails, memos, and other documents while the president has asserted that the oil industry has been subject to “totalitarian tactics” under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 as habitat loss and pesticide exposure already have brought on widespread bird-species declines.
Candidate Steyer on climate change:
He will declare a ‘state of emergency’ on day one, and the billionaire's number-two priority is getting big money out of politics.
Related:
Julio Borges empties his boot of water as he tries get his truck to start after it was inundated with flood waters on Dec. 23, 2019 in Hallandale, Fla. The area received up to 12 inches of rain during an overnight storm that hit the area causing flooding that even forced Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport to shut down flight operations early Monday morning (Joe Raedle, Getty Images).
Must have dried up overnight:
George Trosset Jr. and George Trosset, the two that started it all, high five each other. Thousands turned out to watch hundreds of Surfing Santas catch some waves in Cocoa Beach for the 10th annual Surfing Santas event Tuesday morning. 10 years ago George Trosset, his son George Jr. and his daughter-in-law went surfing in Santa and Christmas costumes behind their house on Christmas Eve. The event has grown and now raises money for two local non profits - Grind for Life, which helps with financial assistance for cancer patients, and the Florida Surf Museum (Malcolm Denemark/Florida Today).
Baker pushes workforce development plan
Related:
Mid-December revenue down 4.4 percent
The tax collections in Massachusetts have posted consecutive years of big gains, leaving budget surpluses and enabling the state to bolster its savings.
Why are they sitting on money when the schools, MBTA, roads, and bridges are falling apart and health care costs are soaring?
"Pharmaceutical industry mounts opposition to state’s effort to curb drug costs" by Priyanka Dayal McCluskey Globe Staff, December 23, 2019
As they finalize rules to control the cost of prescription drugs, state officials are meeting new resistance from the pharmaceutical industry.
Administration officials and the Health Policy Commission have been drafting detailed regulations to implement the law, but the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council, which represents biopharmaceutical companies, said the proposed regulations go too far.
The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, or PhRMA, raised similar issues, telling state officials it is “deeply concerned” about several aspects of the proposed regulations.
Governor Charlie Baker first proposed a plan to tackle drug costs in MassHealth in January and drew immediate fire from pharmaceutical lobbyists, but a coalition including Health Care For All, AARP Massachusetts, the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization, the Massachusetts Medical Society, and other groups told state officials this month that the proposed MassHealth regulations “will save money for the state and taxpayers, while also protecting the 1.8 million residents who rely on the MassHealth program for their health care.”
Some of the new MassHealth drug pricing provisions are already in effect. Since the law was enacted this summer, MassHealth officials said they already have negotiated discounts with five drug companies for 11 drugs, saving about $10 million. Before discounts, the cost of drugs in MassHealth has grown to about $1.9 billion per year.
Related: Overprescribed: High cost isn’t America’s only drug problem
The definition the definition of “high” blood pressure has been lowered so that doctors will prescribed more medications, and is based on a large, taxpayer-funded study run by the pharmaceuticals.
Also see: Statins Are Overprescribed For Heart Disease Prevention
Yeah, be sure to take your pre$criptions -- especially after the opioid sales have fallen off after that crisis was foisted upon us.
At a recent public hearing, Dr. John Christian Kryder, a board member of the Health Policy Commission, noted the difficult task for state officials.
“The tradeoffs here are enormous if we don’t get it right and create an environment where drug development does not occur,” he said.....
That's what they said about weed (or more correctly, the oil from the vapes) and they still got it wrong as Massachusetts’ marijuana law is now seen as an example of what not to do.
Related: Mass. to open monitoring centers for drug users who overdose
Why not make it legal then?
This from the people who are all bunged up over weed.
Maybe you will have better luck in New Hampshire or Maine.
It’s been a tough run for energy stocks.
Oil at $100 a barrel is long gone. Investors have exited their losing positions, and now, as 2019 comes to a close, investor apathy in the sector is at a decade low, according to Tyler Hardt, founder of Pelican Bay Capital Management LLC, but the year ahead could be a turning point, he said.
With the American shale revolution contributing to an oversupply, the collapse of oil prices and stocks triggered the fall of several titans, including gas driller Chesapeake Energy Corp. and oil servicer Weatherford International PLC.
The crash was suspicious.
Struggling with profitability and volatile commodity prices, the sector has seen a flight of capital in what was once a hotbed of merger-and-acquisition activity. With the collapse of oil in late 2014, energy firms have been slowly adopting the mantra of “capital discipline,” or a focus on steady returns and profitability, after being pushed by investors.
“Without fresh capital to cover their widening cash burn, the E&Ps [exploration and production companies] were finally forced to live within their means and take a sharp axe to their capital budgets,” Hardt said in an interview.
Arguing things can’t get much worse, optimists are beginning to enter the picture. Citi is readying for a rotation into E&P stocks, while Goldman Sachs thinks energy is entering a “bottoming phase” in 2020.
So much for global warming and ¢limate ¢hange.
The days of relentless domestic production growth are ending, industry pioneers said in November. As such, a key focal point for investors will be calling on shale producers to shut down rigs and stop burning through cash.
“The dearth of new conventional projects beyond 2020, combined with slowing US shale growth, will likely catch the world by surprise and usher in a new era of oil scarcity and higher prices,” Hardt said. He thinks 2020 “will most likely be the turning point.”
You have been warned, American consumer.
Yet the industry’s challenges are far from over with the rise of environmental, social, and governance investing. Looking ahead, drillers will likely face increasing scrutiny regarding the environmental impact of their operations......
Like off the Galapagos Islands.
Fortunately, the New York Times tells me the spill is under control.
--more--"
The only plan is to buy back the stock like ConocoPhillips.
Either that or dump it:
"Japan wants to dump nuclear plant’s tainted water. Fishermen fear the worst" by Motoko Rich and Makiko Inoue New York Times, December 23, 2019
IWAKI, Japan — The overpowering earthquake and tsunami that ripped through northern Japan in March 2011 took so much from Tatsuo Niitsuma, a commercial fisherman in this coastal city in Fukushima prefecture.
The tsunami pulverized his fishing boat. It demolished his home. Most devastating of all, it took the life of his daughter.
Now, nearly nine years after the disaster, Niitsuma, 77, is at risk of losing his entire livelihood, too, as the government considers releasing tainted water from a nuclear power plant destroyed by the tsunami’s waves.
That sound you just heard was my jaw dropping to the floor.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Cabinet and Tokyo Electric Power Co. — operator of the Fukushima Daiichi plant, where a triple meltdown led to the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl — must decide what to do with more than 1 million tons of contaminated water stored in about 1,000 giant tanks on the plant site.
On Monday, Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry proposed gradually releasing the water into the ocean or allowing it to evaporate, saying a controlled discharge into the sea would “stably dilute and disperse” it. The ministry ruled out alternatives like continuing to store it in tanks or injecting it deep into the ground. Abe’s Cabinet will make the final decision.
Yeah, pollute the oceans even more with radioactive water or let it evaporate so that it will rain down on us.
I wouldn't be surprised if they sold it for fracking purposes.
Btw, whatever happened to the ice wall? It melt?
The water becomes contaminated as it is pumped through the reactors to cool melted fuel that is still too hot and radioactive to remove. For years, the power company, known as TEPCO, said that treatment of the water — which involves sending it through a powerful filtration system to remove most radioactive material — was making it safe to release, but it is actually more radioactive than authorities have previously publicized. Officials say that it will be treated again and that it will then be safe for release.
The lies just keep on coming. That's why the article was a Xmas eve dump.
Regardless of government assurances, if the water is discharged into the sea, it will most likely destroy the livelihoods of hundreds of fishermen like Niitsuma. Consumers are already worried about the safety of Fukushima seafood, and dumping the water would compound the fears.
Hey look, a real fear not some fake foboia.
With Fukushima preparing to host baseball games during the Summer Olympics next year, and the plant running out of land on which to build storage tanks, the debate has taken on a sense of urgency.
When the "debate" takes on a sense of "urgency" it is time to hit the brakes. That's how one is lied into wars.
As you can see, getting rid of the radioactive water isn't about your health or the environment; it's about making Japan look when the world visits next year.
Until last year, TEPCO indicated that with the vast majority of the water, all but one type of radioactive material — tritium, an isotope of hydrogen that experts say poses a relatively low risk to human health — had been removed to levels deemed safe for discharge under Japanese government standards, but last summer, the power company acknowledged that only about a fifth of the stored water had been effectively treated.
SIGH!
Last month, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry briefed reporters and diplomats about the water stored in Fukushima. More than three-quarters of it, the ministry said, still contains radioactive material other than tritium — and at higher levels than the government considers safe for human health.
Authorities say that in the early years of processing the deluge of water flowing through the reactors, TEPCO did not change filters in the decontamination system frequently enough. The company said it would re-treat the water to filter out the bulk of the nuclear particles, making it safe to release into the ocean.
Are we supposed to believe them after constantly lying and minimization for eight years?
Some experts and local residents say it is difficult to trust such assurances. “The government and TEPCO were hiding the fact that the water was still contaminated,” said Kazuyoshi Satoh, a member of the city assembly in Iwaki. “Because next year is the Tokyo Olympics, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wants to present the image that everything is ‘under control,’ ” said Satoh, referring to a speech by the Japanese leader to the International Olympic Committee when Tokyo was bidding to host the 2020 Games.
I see I'm not alone in my concern.
The power company acknowledged that it had not made it easy for the public to get information. The water treatment data “has not been presented in a manner that is easy to understand,” said Ryounosuke Takanori, a TEPCO spokesman. “As long as the water was stored in the tanks, we thought it didn’t matter whether the water” exceeded safety standards for discharge, said Junichi Matsumoto, a general manager in the Fukushima Daiichi decontamination and decommissioning office.
Niitsuma, for whom fishing is not just a livelihood but also a balm against grief over the loss of his daughter, said he thought both TEPCO and the government needed to come clean. “I want them to see the reality squarely and disclose information fully,” said Niitsuma, who goes out alone on his 2-ton boat at dawn three times a week.
The question of whether the water could be decontaminated to safe levels is a matter of degree, scientists say. If the water is processed so that the only radioactive materials that remain are low levels of tritium, said Kazuya Idemitsu, a professor of nuclear engineering at Kyushu University, releasing it into the ocean would be “the best solution in terms of cost and safety.” Idemitsu added that functioning nuclear plants around the world release diluted water containing tritium into the ocean.
Some scientists said they would need proof before believing that the Fukushima water was treated to safe levels. “I want to see the numbers after they’ve removed these additional radionuclides,” said Ken Buesseler, a senior scientist in marine chemistry and geochemistry at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts. “Then, and only then, can I make a judgment on the quality of the rationale for releasing it or the consequences of releasing it.”
What are they, some sort of kook conspiracy theorists?
More than 20 countries still have import restrictions on Japanese seafood and other agricultural products that were imposed after the 2011 disaster. Earlier this year, the European Union lifted its ban on some products.
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Most people don't know that the reactor was designed by GE.
At least you can easily hail a ride at Logan (at last, a state plan that works -- well, quasi works. It's a public-private partner$hip).
Related:
"A peculiar sight greeted motorists on a busy freeway outside Detroit on Friday: a bright green liquid oozing from a retaining wall on Interstate 696. Its appearance snarled traffic and prompted lane closings to allow for a hazardous materials cleanup that started Friday and could last for several more days, Michigan environmental officials said. The mystery substance is believed to be hexavalent chromium, said Jill A. Greenberg, a spokeswoman for the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy. She emphasized that there was “no imminent risk to the public,” and that hazardous materials crews determined that the air and public drinking water had not been contaminated. Hexavalent chromium is a cancer-causing manufacturing component that was featured in the 2000 movie “Erin Brockovich.” In Michigan, the green liquid was traced to a nearby plant, Electro-Plating Services Inc., in Madison Heights, Michigan, Ms. Greenberg said."
I would take a grain of salt with that "water" if I were you.
Related: The Child of Gaza
Also see: Spring Hill Runs Dry
Just ignore the radiation and ‘forever chemicals’ in the water supply, 'kay?
"For decades, those who have participated in snowball fights in one Wisconsin city have risked getting in trouble with the law, but that may be about to change. A 1962 ban on throwing projectiles in Wausau lumps snowballs into the same category as rocks and other items that can cause serious harm. City Council president Lisa Rasmussen said that recent negative national attention over the rarely used ordinance has raised questions about whether it could be time to take snowballs off the naughty list. “Maybe it’s worth giving a look to see if that list could be amended, to mitigate that odd news story that keeps coming up like a bad penny,” Rasmussen said. Wausau police and the mayor even made a video showing officers having a snowball fight....."
Can you make a snowball out of coal ash?
"Congress saves coal miner pensions, but what about others?" by Mary Williams Walsh New York Times, December 24, 2019
NEW YORK — The $1.4 trillion spending bill passed by Congress last week quietly achieves what a parade of select committees and coordinating councils could not: rescue a dying pension fund that is the lifeblood of nearly 100,000 retired coal miners.
See: House sends a $1.4 trillion spending deal to Senate ahead of Friday shutdown deadline
For the first time in 45 years of federal pension law, taxpayer dollars will be used to bail out a fund for workers in the private sector, and now that there’s a precedent, it might not be the last.
It's being called a “blueprint.”
The coal miners belong to one of about 1,400 pension plans that cover a large group of workers in a single industry or trade. These so-called multiemployer plans cover more than 10 million workers in unions including the Teamsters, the American Federation of Musicians, the Screen Actors Guild and, in Pettit’s case, the United Mine Workers of America. Even President Trump has a multiemployer pension, worth about $70,000 a year, earned in his reality-TV days, but nearly three-quarters of the people with this type of pension are in plans that have less than half the money they need to pay promised benefits, according to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., the federal agency that insures pension plans. Chronic underfunding, lax government oversight, and serial bankruptcies have left them in dire straits, and the guaranty corporation’s program backing up these plans — which operated under the assumption that they were inherently strong — would be wiped out by the failure of just one of the major pension pools.
Looks like corporate pension funds are next in line for a bailout, as a bonus by any other name is.....
The solution approved by Congress uses the Abandoned Mine Lands Reclamation Fund, which is partly supported by a per-ton fee that all coal companies pay. In 1992, Congress allowed the fund to help pay for retired miners’ health care, and the new legislation — the Bipartisan American Miners Act — uses the fund as a vehicle to support the pensions, too. The bill, among other changes, allows the Treasury to send up to $750 million a year into the fund as it covers the unfunded pension obligations.
A failure to act would have had dire consequences: Tens of thousands of miners, many in already economically distressed areas, would have lost their benefits, and coal pensions support not just families but sometimes whole towns.
The collapse of the miners’ plan was hastened by the parade of bankruptcies that have hit the industry in recent years. By this fall, just one major employer, Murray Energy, was still paying into the fund. On Oct. 29, Murray declared bankruptcy — the eighth coal producer to do so this year.
Wasn't Trump going to put them all back to work?
Usually, leaving a multiemployer pension plan is an expensive proposition for a company. It must pay off its share of any shortfall to leave, but bankruptcy provides a cheap exit ramp, because the pension plan is treated as an unsecured creditor — the kind that goes to the back when everyone lines up to be paid, but when companies get out of the pension pool, their employees stay in — and become the responsibility of the companies still kicking in money. As more companies failed, it only increased the pressure on the others to get out.....
Who is in front of line when the pyramid collapses?
--more--"
Also see: Newspaper publishes secret report on former W.Va. bishop
May God help them all.
Anybody feel a breeze?
"Trump attacks on wind turbines, low-flow toilets, and LED lightbulbs set up campaign clash with Democrats" by Toluse Olorunnipa and Juliet Eilperin Washington Post, December 23, 2019
PALM BEACH, Fla. — While Democratic presidential candidates have called for sweeping measures to eliminate the US carbon footprint, President Trump is promising voters a world free of the everyday inconveniences associated with combating climate change — rolling back lightbulb regulations, ordering a study on low-flow toilets, and turning bans on plastic straws into a campaign rallying cry.
Never mind the poisoned water in the toilets and sinks or the million tons of radioactive water to be dumped in the Pacific, the campaign debate will swirl around lightbulbs, low-flow toilets, and straws. I can see the entire campaign needed a plunger.
Democrats respond by arguing that the president’s comments on climate — which are often false and frequently veer into the bizarre — are out of step with science and modern-day voters who want to protect the planet.
Have they read a newspaper lately?
Trump’s antienvironmentalism message was encapsulated in a weekend speech to a conservative group in South Florida that included a diatribe against wind-powered turbines — arguing that building them produces ‘‘a tremendous amount of fumes’’ and that the ‘‘windmills,’’ as he calls them, are noisy, unattractive, and kill too many birds.
‘‘I've seen the most beautiful fields, farms, fields — most gorgeous things you've ever seen, and then you have these ugly things going up,’’ he said of the wind turbines. ‘‘And you know what they don’t tell you about windmills? After 10 years, they look like hell.’’
He's right about the look. California's scenic vistas have been destroyed by them.
The broad nostalgia encapsulated in Trump’s ‘‘Make America Great Again’’ slogan has become increasingly specific as he has zeroed in on consumer-facing issues like environmentally-conscious appliances, carbon-reducing fuel standards, and plastic straw bans. Often operating on his own feelings rather than scientific evidence, the president has castigated Democrats’ environmental agenda as unworkable and counterproductive.
Trump has made the same nostalgic appeal on other issues — ranging from his mocking of the #MeToo movement to his unfounded claim that his election allowed people to say ‘‘Merry Christmas’’ again, but when it comes to energy-related issues, the regulatory moves of Trump’s administration have easily merged with his campaign messaging.....
Same as this article, and did you know Massachusetts is a battlefield in the war on Christmas.
Btw, the Grinch gets a bad rap. His neighbors down in Whoville are disturbing the peace with their songs and the cops won't do anything about it. Not only that, they stripped him of his Second Amendment rights and discriminate against him because of the color of his skin (ask the Wicked Witch of the West about that).
--more--"
Related:
A Trump policy ‘clarification’ all but ends punishment for bird deaths
The New York Times says that "across the country birds have been killed and nests destroyed by oil spills, construction crews, and chemical contamination, all with no response from the federal government, according to e-mails, memos, and other documents while the president has asserted that the oil industry has been subject to “totalitarian tactics” under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 as habitat loss and pesticide exposure already have brought on widespread bird-species declines.
Candidate Steyer on climate change:
He will declare a ‘state of emergency’ on day one, and the billionaire's number-two priority is getting big money out of politics.
Related:
Julio Borges empties his boot of water as he tries get his truck to start after it was inundated with flood waters on Dec. 23, 2019 in Hallandale, Fla. The area received up to 12 inches of rain during an overnight storm that hit the area causing flooding that even forced Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport to shut down flight operations early Monday morning (Joe Raedle, Getty Images).
Must have dried up overnight:
George Trosset Jr. and George Trosset, the two that started it all, high five each other. Thousands turned out to watch hundreds of Surfing Santas catch some waves in Cocoa Beach for the 10th annual Surfing Santas event Tuesday morning. 10 years ago George Trosset, his son George Jr. and his daughter-in-law went surfing in Santa and Christmas costumes behind their house on Christmas Eve. The event has grown and now raises money for two local non profits - Grind for Life, which helps with financial assistance for cancer patients, and the Florida Surf Museum (Malcolm Denemark/Florida Today).
Baker pushes workforce development plan
Related:
Mid-December revenue down 4.4 percent
The tax collections in Massachusetts have posted consecutive years of big gains, leaving budget surpluses and enabling the state to bolster its savings.
Why are they sitting on money when the schools, MBTA, roads, and bridges are falling apart and health care costs are soaring?
"Pharmaceutical industry mounts opposition to state’s effort to curb drug costs" by Priyanka Dayal McCluskey Globe Staff, December 23, 2019
As they finalize rules to control the cost of prescription drugs, state officials are meeting new resistance from the pharmaceutical industry.
Administration officials and the Health Policy Commission have been drafting detailed regulations to implement the law, but the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council, which represents biopharmaceutical companies, said the proposed regulations go too far.
The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, or PhRMA, raised similar issues, telling state officials it is “deeply concerned” about several aspects of the proposed regulations.
Governor Charlie Baker first proposed a plan to tackle drug costs in MassHealth in January and drew immediate fire from pharmaceutical lobbyists, but a coalition including Health Care For All, AARP Massachusetts, the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization, the Massachusetts Medical Society, and other groups told state officials this month that the proposed MassHealth regulations “will save money for the state and taxpayers, while also protecting the 1.8 million residents who rely on the MassHealth program for their health care.”
Some of the new MassHealth drug pricing provisions are already in effect. Since the law was enacted this summer, MassHealth officials said they already have negotiated discounts with five drug companies for 11 drugs, saving about $10 million. Before discounts, the cost of drugs in MassHealth has grown to about $1.9 billion per year.
Related: Overprescribed: High cost isn’t America’s only drug problem
The definition the definition of “high” blood pressure has been lowered so that doctors will prescribed more medications, and is based on a large, taxpayer-funded study run by the pharmaceuticals.
Also see: Statins Are Overprescribed For Heart Disease Prevention
Yeah, be sure to take your pre$criptions -- especially after the opioid sales have fallen off after that crisis was foisted upon us.
At a recent public hearing, Dr. John Christian Kryder, a board member of the Health Policy Commission, noted the difficult task for state officials.
“The tradeoffs here are enormous if we don’t get it right and create an environment where drug development does not occur,” he said.....
That's what they said about weed (or more correctly, the oil from the vapes) and they still got it wrong as Massachusetts’ marijuana law is now seen as an example of what not to do.
--more--"
Related: Mass. to open monitoring centers for drug users who overdose
Why not make it legal then?
This from the people who are all bunged up over weed.
Maybe you will have better luck in New Hampshire or Maine.
The Post of Christmas Past
Here is what he has to show you:
Biotech's Inside Man in Massachusetts
Mass. Doesn't Need a Gas Tax
Corporations No Match For Workers
Fort Dix Frame-Up Works
Occupation Iraq: Meet the al-Zaidis
They Died in Each Others Arms
A Tale of Two Photos
Three Sentences That Tell All About the U.S. Economy
Mass. Pension Fund Loses $16 Billion
The GMAC-Madoff Connection
The New York Times Getting Out of the Sports Business
State Officials Stoned Over Pot Law
Presidential Christmas Gifts
Bush Pulls Back Pardon
A Heavy Metal Christmas
AmeriKa's War on the Homeless
AmeriKan School Systems to Teach Children Lies
Papal and Paper Hypocrisy
Christmas Greetings From Iran
Pakistan Battlefield Has Been Prepared
No Peace in Palestine Today
A Tale of Two Photos (Updated)
9/11 Truthers Need Only Wait 400 More Years
There was no holiday cheer that year.
'Twas the Paper Before Christmas
XMas Morning
MSM Stocking Stuffers
MSM Xmas Gifts: MSM Reporters
MSM Xmas Gifts: Putnam Employees
MSM Xmas Gifts: American Homeowners
MSM Xmas Gifts: American Job-Seekers
MSM Xmas Gifts: New Car
MSM Xmas Gifts: Bush E-Mails
MSM Xmas Gifts: Moon Rock
MSM Xmas Gifts: To Rudy Giuliani
MSM Xmas Gifts: To the American Public
MSM Xmas Gifts: To Wall Street
MSM Xmas Gifts: To Special Interests
MSM Xmas Gifts: To OneUnited Bank
MSM Xmas Gifts: To Fannie and Freddie
MSM Xmas Gifts: To AIG and GMAC
MSM Xmas Gifts: War Profiteers
MSM Xmas Gifts: To Congress
MSM Xmas Gifts: To Junior
MSM Xmas Gifts: To American Convicts
MSM Xmas Gifts: To Veterans
MSM Xmas Gifts: Boston's Hospitals
MSM Xmas Gifts: To the Health Insurance Industry
MSM Xmas Cards
The Xmas Gift I Did Not Receive
Cleaning Up After Christmas
The Day After Christmas
Occupation Iraq: Xmas in Iraq
Christmas in the Holy Land
Israel's Christmas Gifts to Palestine
Black Xmas: "Al-CIA-Duh" Expands Drug Operations
Black Xmas: Dry Drunk
Black Xmas: A Gift Under the Eritrea
Black Xmas: A Gay Holiday in Uganda
Black Xmas: A Gift to Guniea
Black Xmas: Somali Pirates Play Santa
Black Xmas: Western Zig-Zag on Zimbabwe
Silent Night at the Old One-Two
The Gift of Gladio
Boston Globe Candy Canes
Globe Xmas Gifts: Goldman Sachs Golden Sacks
Globe XMas Gifts: Government to Corporations
Globe Xmas Gifts: Democrats to Republicans
Globe Xmas Gifts: Iranian Exemption
Globe Xmas Gifts: Korean Kickoff to World War III
Globe Xmas Gifts: New Hampshire's State Bird
Insulting Inside Job in Afghanistan
Taliban Sleeping Soundly
Karzai's Chatter
Afghans Learned From AmeriKa
Toasting Afghan's Health
One Day Wonder: Afghan Meal
Willie Pete War Crime in Afghanistan
Faded Hopes For Americans in Afghanistan
Afghanistan After 2014
Happy Holiday From Afghanistan
The card is in the mail.
Globe Gift: Pakistan Present to India
Globe Gift: US Staying Out of Iraq
Globe Gift: Syrian Insult
Globe Gift: Little Town of Bethlehem
Globe Gift: Prayer For Prince Philip
Globe Gift: A Fine Christmas in France
Globe Gift: Cutting Off Agenda 21
Globe Gift: Occupy is History
Globe Stocking-Stuffers
Globe's Christmas Meal
Globe's Website Ruined Christmas
Globe Xmas Gift: Senegalese Celebration
Globe Xmas Gift: AmeriKa to Occupy Africa
Globe Xmas Gift: It's a Wonderful Museum
Globe Xmas Gift: Happy Holidays From Hasbro
Globe Xmas Gift: Secret Millionaire’s Club
Globe Xmas Gift: Singing Christmas Carols
You will never guess who wrote them.
Globe Xmas Gift: Gaming the NSA
Globe Xmas Gift: DeBlasio Daughter's Drunken Dump
Globe Xmas Gift: To Your Health
Globe Xmas Gift: Xmas Day Shopping
Globe Xmas Gift: Roxbury Rip-Off
Globe Xmas Gift: Lender's Lawsuit
Globe Xmas Gift: Ice Christmas
Globe Xmas Gift: Cursed Corner
Globe Xmas Gift: Baugh Sentences Man to Blackboard
Globe Xmas Gift: New Hampshire Heartbreak
Globe Xmas Gift: Tonsillectomy Proves Fatal in California
Globe Xmas Gift: Vegas Vacation
Had a hangover after.
Globe Xmas Gift: Egyptian Exceptions
Globe Xmas Gift: Indonesian Suitcase
Globe Xmas Gift: Pakistan's Public Schools
Globe Xmas Gift: Blessed Bethlehem
Globe Xmas Gift: Timely Christmas Card
Globe Xmas Gift: Getting Friendly With Jefferson
Globe Xmas Gift: Indian Curfew
Globe Xmas Gift: Spanish Hypocri$y
Globe Xmas Gift: Cuban Asylum
Globe Xmas Gift: The Children of Honduras
Globe Xmas Gift: Hong Kong Cash
Globe Xmas Gift: Here's Some Heroin
Globe Xmas Gift: Rotten Apples For Boston Teachers
Globe Xmas Gift: The Grinch Won the War This Year
Globe Xmas Gift: A Real Downey
Globe Xmas Gift: Model Drone
Globe Xmas Gift: Sympathy For the Cops
Globe Xmas Gift: Sweet Lemon
Made me choke on my meal.
Globe Stocking Stuffers
Skipping Christmas This Year
A Christmas Miracle
Globe Xmas Gift: Breaking the Silence
Globe Xmas Gift: Pair of Socks
Globe Xmas Gift: Underwear and Gloves
Globe Xmas Gift: T-Shirt
Globe Xmas Gift: From George
Globe Xmas Gift: Grinch on Trial
Globe Xmas Gift: Repossessing Christmas
Globe Xmas Gift: Charlotte Mall Shooting
Globe Xmas Gift: SeaWorld Shamu
Globe Xmas Gift: Detroit Death
Globe Xmas Gift: Delivered by Drone
Slow Saturday Special: Belated Christmas Gifts
In 2016 I went the wrong way, but did post in 2017 and 2018:
Silent Night
Christmas in Colorado
Bo$ton Globe Christmas Gift
Amazon Delivers
President Trump's Christmas Gift to the American People
He took it back soon after.
Biotech's Inside Man in Massachusetts
Mass. Doesn't Need a Gas Tax
Corporations No Match For Workers
Fort Dix Frame-Up Works
Occupation Iraq: Meet the al-Zaidis
They Died in Each Others Arms
A Tale of Two Photos
Three Sentences That Tell All About the U.S. Economy
Mass. Pension Fund Loses $16 Billion
The GMAC-Madoff Connection
The New York Times Getting Out of the Sports Business
State Officials Stoned Over Pot Law
Presidential Christmas Gifts
Bush Pulls Back Pardon
A Heavy Metal Christmas
AmeriKa's War on the Homeless
AmeriKan School Systems to Teach Children Lies
Papal and Paper Hypocrisy
Christmas Greetings From Iran
Pakistan Battlefield Has Been Prepared
No Peace in Palestine Today
A Tale of Two Photos (Updated)
9/11 Truthers Need Only Wait 400 More Years
There was no holiday cheer that year.
'Twas the Paper Before Christmas
XMas Morning
MSM Stocking Stuffers
MSM Xmas Gifts: MSM Reporters
MSM Xmas Gifts: Putnam Employees
MSM Xmas Gifts: American Homeowners
MSM Xmas Gifts: American Job-Seekers
MSM Xmas Gifts: New Car
MSM Xmas Gifts: Bush E-Mails
MSM Xmas Gifts: Moon Rock
MSM Xmas Gifts: To Rudy Giuliani
MSM Xmas Gifts: To the American Public
MSM Xmas Gifts: To Wall Street
MSM Xmas Gifts: To Special Interests
MSM Xmas Gifts: To OneUnited Bank
MSM Xmas Gifts: To Fannie and Freddie
MSM Xmas Gifts: To AIG and GMAC
MSM Xmas Gifts: War Profiteers
MSM Xmas Gifts: To Congress
MSM Xmas Gifts: To Junior
MSM Xmas Gifts: To American Convicts
MSM Xmas Gifts: To Veterans
MSM Xmas Gifts: Boston's Hospitals
MSM Xmas Gifts: To the Health Insurance Industry
MSM Xmas Cards
The Xmas Gift I Did Not Receive
Cleaning Up After Christmas
The Day After Christmas
Occupation Iraq: Xmas in Iraq
Christmas in the Holy Land
Israel's Christmas Gifts to Palestine
Black Xmas: "Al-CIA-Duh" Expands Drug Operations
Black Xmas: Dry Drunk
Black Xmas: A Gift Under the Eritrea
Black Xmas: A Gay Holiday in Uganda
Black Xmas: A Gift to Guniea
Black Xmas: Somali Pirates Play Santa
Black Xmas: Western Zig-Zag on Zimbabwe
Silent Night at the Old One-Two
The Gift of Gladio
Boston Globe Candy Canes
Globe Xmas Gifts: Goldman Sachs Golden Sacks
Globe XMas Gifts: Government to Corporations
Globe Xmas Gifts: Democrats to Republicans
Globe Xmas Gifts: Iranian Exemption
Globe Xmas Gifts: Korean Kickoff to World War III
Globe Xmas Gifts: New Hampshire's State Bird
Insulting Inside Job in Afghanistan
Taliban Sleeping Soundly
Karzai's Chatter
Afghans Learned From AmeriKa
Toasting Afghan's Health
One Day Wonder: Afghan Meal
Willie Pete War Crime in Afghanistan
Faded Hopes For Americans in Afghanistan
Afghanistan After 2014
Happy Holiday From Afghanistan
The card is in the mail.
Globe Gift: Pakistan Present to India
Globe Gift: US Staying Out of Iraq
Globe Gift: Syrian Insult
Globe Gift: Little Town of Bethlehem
Globe Gift: Prayer For Prince Philip
Globe Gift: A Fine Christmas in France
Globe Gift: Cutting Off Agenda 21
Globe Gift: Occupy is History
Globe Stocking-Stuffers
Globe's Christmas Meal
Globe's Website Ruined Christmas
Globe Xmas Gift: Senegalese Celebration
Globe Xmas Gift: AmeriKa to Occupy Africa
Globe Xmas Gift: It's a Wonderful Museum
Globe Xmas Gift: Happy Holidays From Hasbro
Globe Xmas Gift: Secret Millionaire’s Club
Globe Xmas Gift: Singing Christmas Carols
You will never guess who wrote them.
Globe Xmas Gift: Gaming the NSA
Globe Xmas Gift: DeBlasio Daughter's Drunken Dump
Globe Xmas Gift: To Your Health
Globe Xmas Gift: Xmas Day Shopping
Globe Xmas Gift: Roxbury Rip-Off
Globe Xmas Gift: Lender's Lawsuit
Globe Xmas Gift: Ice Christmas
Globe Xmas Gift: Cursed Corner
Globe Xmas Gift: Baugh Sentences Man to Blackboard
Globe Xmas Gift: New Hampshire Heartbreak
Globe Xmas Gift: Tonsillectomy Proves Fatal in California
Globe Xmas Gift: Vegas Vacation
Had a hangover after.
Globe Xmas Gift: Egyptian Exceptions
Globe Xmas Gift: Indonesian Suitcase
Globe Xmas Gift: Pakistan's Public Schools
Globe Xmas Gift: Blessed Bethlehem
Globe Xmas Gift: Timely Christmas Card
Globe Xmas Gift: Getting Friendly With Jefferson
Globe Xmas Gift: Indian Curfew
Globe Xmas Gift: Spanish Hypocri$y
Globe Xmas Gift: Cuban Asylum
Globe Xmas Gift: The Children of Honduras
Globe Xmas Gift: Hong Kong Cash
Globe Xmas Gift: Here's Some Heroin
Globe Xmas Gift: Rotten Apples For Boston Teachers
Globe Xmas Gift: The Grinch Won the War This Year
Globe Xmas Gift: A Real Downey
Globe Xmas Gift: Model Drone
Globe Xmas Gift: Sympathy For the Cops
Globe Xmas Gift: Sweet Lemon
Made me choke on my meal.
Globe Stocking Stuffers
Skipping Christmas This Year
A Christmas Miracle
Globe Xmas Gift: Breaking the Silence
Globe Xmas Gift: Pair of Socks
Globe Xmas Gift: Underwear and Gloves
Globe Xmas Gift: T-Shirt
Globe Xmas Gift: From George
Globe Xmas Gift: Grinch on Trial
Globe Xmas Gift: Repossessing Christmas
Globe Xmas Gift: Charlotte Mall Shooting
Globe Xmas Gift: SeaWorld Shamu
Globe Xmas Gift: Detroit Death
Globe Xmas Gift: Delivered by Drone
Slow Saturday Special: Belated Christmas Gifts
In 2016 I went the wrong way, but did post in 2017 and 2018:
Silent Night
Christmas in Colorado
Bo$ton Globe Christmas Gift
Amazon Delivers
President Trump's Christmas Gift to the American People
He took it back soon after.
Tuesday, December 24, 2019
Truckin'
What a long strange trip it's been:
Truckin at the break of dawn
Keep truckin, plunk my three bucks down
Together, I will outline, just keep truckin on.
Stench of rot and corruption oozing out of Wall Street
Chicago, New York, Detroit and DC as well
This blogger will be in his bubble,
Buy a Globe and see what it will bring.
Dallas, got to JFK
Houston, that was the Bush's base
New York do I have to say
You just have to leave certain people be
Even as the pre$$ preaches peace and true love
The war lies and deceit continue to come from above
It's World War III so they know they better get goin
Rolled out of bay and dropped on the streets below
Truckin, at the break of dawn
Dirty black ink covering my hand
The piece o' shit ain't worth the price
So why not lay it down?
Sometimes the lights all shinin on me;
Other times I can barely see.
Lately it occurs to me what a long, strange trip its been.
What in the world ever became of Yagoda?
He's drenched in blood and you don't even know who he is
Reading the Globe, New York Times, and WaPo
All I can say is you haven't a clue.
Truckin, over to Cumby's
Thinkin only about a coffee
I pick up a Globe and put it back
and just keep truckin on.
Flipping and flipping through pages of BS
As it promotes the Police Surveillance State
It's true that you might sleep safer
but no warrants needed, they're just going to kick the door in
Busted, like in Palestine
But don't you dare call it a crime.
They'll burn you down like Trade Center Seven
And they just wont let you be, oh no.
Tired and sick of reading the bull$hit
Have decided to put it down
I'll keep my money in my pocket
Out through the door as the camera looks all around
Sometimes their shit sneaks up on me.
Other times I can barely see.
Lately it occurs to me what a long, strange trip its been.
Truckin, I'm a headed home
Braking back to where I belong
That's when I came up with this song
Hey now get back truckin home.
Merry Christmas, readers, and to all a Good Night!
Truckin at the break of dawn
Keep truckin, plunk my three bucks down
Together, I will outline, just keep truckin on.
Stench of rot and corruption oozing out of Wall Street
Chicago, New York, Detroit and DC as well
This blogger will be in his bubble,
Buy a Globe and see what it will bring.
Dallas, got to JFK
Houston, that was the Bush's base
New York do I have to say
You just have to leave certain people be
Even as the pre$$ preaches peace and true love
The war lies and deceit continue to come from above
It's World War III so they know they better get goin
Rolled out of bay and dropped on the streets below
Truckin, at the break of dawn
Dirty black ink covering my hand
The piece o' shit ain't worth the price
So why not lay it down?
Sometimes the lights all shinin on me;
Other times I can barely see.
Lately it occurs to me what a long, strange trip its been.
What in the world ever became of Yagoda?
He's drenched in blood and you don't even know who he is
Reading the Globe, New York Times, and WaPo
All I can say is you haven't a clue.
Truckin, over to Cumby's
Thinkin only about a coffee
I pick up a Globe and put it back
and just keep truckin on.
Flipping and flipping through pages of BS
As it promotes the Police Surveillance State
It's true that you might sleep safer
but no warrants needed, they're just going to kick the door in
Busted, like in Palestine
But don't you dare call it a crime.
They'll burn you down like Trade Center Seven
And they just wont let you be, oh no.
Tired and sick of reading the bull$hit
Have decided to put it down
I'll keep my money in my pocket
Out through the door as the camera looks all around
Sometimes their shit sneaks up on me.
Other times I can barely see.
Lately it occurs to me what a long, strange trip its been.
Truckin, I'm a headed home
Braking back to where I belong
That's when I came up with this song
Hey now get back truckin home.
Merry Christmas, readers, and to all a Good Night!
Sunday, December 22, 2019
Sunday Globe Special: The End of the Road
You have to start at the beginning:
For one Maine family, the long, hard road from ‘nowhere’ to home
The road leads to 5 full pages regarding their eviction, and they only got a place after a call to the mayor. Thank God the Globe is looking out for grandmas and single moms.
The smile has turned to a fraud, 'er, frown, with all teeth out of place.
US braces for major North Korean weapons test as Trump’s diplomacy fizzles
The New York Times tells me officials are playing down the threat.
Pope denounces ‘rigidity’ as he warns of Christian decline
The Pope is on board with the globalists as he argues for the Church to embrace change.
These guys would be comical were the they not so evil. One only wishes the pervert priests had been flaccid and not rigid all these centuries.
Related:
"An arbitrator has awarded a Massachusetts man $75,000 in a legal dispute with the Archdiocese of Boston, after the man alleged that the principal at a now-shuttered South Boston Catholic school sexually abused him as a child during the 1980s and 1990s. Five more men have also come forward with allegations of sexual abuse against the same administrator....."
Found on page B3.
The Globe has turned off the Spotlight (I saw the movie and Robby admitted he was guilty of burying stuff like this in the B-section)!
Hero who used narwhal tusk to stop UK attack praises victims
Watch the attacker come back to life on live television -- proving the whole event was a staged and scripted piece of conveniently timed propaganda a la Operation Gladio and the Strategy of Tension.
Guatemala bus crash kills at least 20 people
What else is going on in Guatemala?
In India tech city shocked by gang rape, vigilante justice gets praise
That's the brutality that comes with being a supremacist society, and it just so happens that Israel is a close ally! Gandhi would have been appalled.
This next article either unintentionally outs the false flags and Facebook interference in elections, or it's an in-your-face laugher:
"With no formal ties, Israel is using digital diplomacy to reach out to the Arab world" by Ruth Eglash Washington Post, December 21, 2019
JERUSALEM — As a moderator of the Arabic-language Facebook pages and social media platforms run by Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Linda Menuhin has become an ambassador of sorts — but one who operates from a digital outpost.
The emergence of social media accounts run by the Israeli government and individual initiatives are part of that trend, and in Israel’s Foreign Ministry, Menuhin is part of a team of 10 producing content for two Arabic-language Facebook pages, Twitter and Instagram accounts, and a YouTube channel. Collectively, the platforms draw about 10 million viewers and followers from across the region each week. Many of the uploaded videos have gone viral.
This article is putting a public relations spin on this Israeli "outreach" to Arabs; however, what is to stop another team from setting up terrorist web sites?
Helps when you have the ma$$ media and pre$$ pushing perception management along the agenda, but the truth is it is an open secret throughout the world. The only ones who have no conception are Americans under the spell.
One wonders why Facebook is not shutting them down as Twitter suspends the Saudi accounts.
Avoiding politics and the thorny issue of Israel’s ongoing occupation of Palestinian territory, the Arabic-language digital diplomacy department, the second-largest in the Foreign Ministry, showcases Israeli life and culture.
Among some of its most popular uploads is a jaunty video of two young Israelis, one Jewish and one Arab, comparing similar words in Hebrew and Arabic. Another asks Israelis about the Arab countries they would most like to visit — if the opportunity should ever arise.
‘‘Jews have become extinct in the Arab world, people no longer have Jewish neighbors or friends they can ask questions, so this relationship has to happen on social media,’’ said Rabbi Elhanan Miller, who manages a Facebook page and YouTube channel about Judaism in Arabic.
Well, we now that was handed over to Zuckerberg so he could make loot and the "social media platform" could be used for propaganda purposes. I believe the teams are called Hasbara.
Miller’s People of the Book initiative has a sizable following, with nearly 100,000 tracking him across social media platforms. Through live videos and animated shorts, he shares information on Jewish traditions such as Shabbat and kosher food. More recently he has started to include interviews with Jews from Arab lands living in Israel.
‘‘There’s a nostalgia, especially in Iraq, Egypt, and even Syria, for a time when they were multiethnic and pluralistic societies,’’ Miller said.
So says the rabbi from the apartheid state, and that is where the print version ended.
Hind Hazim lives in northern Iraq and is an avid follower of Miller’s posts. ‘‘For me, it’s an authentic source,’’ she said in a telephone interview. ‘‘People who live in the Arab world do not get clear information on social media, mainstream media, or in books about Jews or Israel.’’
Hazim said the situation used to be different. ‘‘At the beginning of the 20th century, it was normal to have Jewish friends and neighbors, but now we are separated from them. I don’t have the chance to talk to them face to face.’’
In Saudi Arabia, blogger Mohammed Saud has caused a stir by openly forging ties with Israelis on social media. Earlier this year he made headlines, and history, by documenting his visit to Israel and even meeting with Netanyahu.
‘‘For years I heard completely different things about Israel and the Jews,’’ he said in an online exchange with The Washington Post. ‘‘Since there are no Jews in Saudi Arabia, I had no one to ask, or anyone to find out what was really going on between Jews and Muslims.’
Saud said that after a visit to the United States, he realized that Jews were ‘‘not our enemies.’’
Turns out the House of Saud is Jewish in lineage, and knowing that explains a lot of why the world is the way it is today.
‘‘The conflict between Israel and the Palestinians is about fighting for territory, there is no religious matter, and Jews and Palestinians must reach an agreement between them,’’ he wrote.....
As are they all. The religion, WMDs, or whatever, are simply smokescreens to make the mass-murdering war exercises more palatable to the public. You can fool some of the people.....
--more--"
May God help us all, 'eh?
Fire in Las Vegas apartment complex kills 6, injures 13
They were using their stoves for heat because of the current cold snap where overnight temperatures have been dipping into the high 30s during this period of global warming, 'er, ¢limate ¢hange.
"Fear and loyalty: How Donald Trump took over the Republican Party" by Jonathan Martin and Maggie Haberman New York Times, December 21, 2019
BIRMINGHAM, Mich. — To defy President Trump is to invite the president’s wrath, ostracism within the party, and a premature end to a career in Republican politics as an anti-Trump Republican [is] untenable, and joining a wave of Republican departures from Congress that has left those who remain more devoted to the president than ever.
Just under four years after he began his takeover of a party to which he had little connection, Trump enters 2020 burdened with the ignominy of being the first sitting president to seek reelection after being impeached, but he does so wearing a political coat of armor built on total loyalty from GOP activists and their representatives in Congress. If he does not enjoy the broad admiration Republicans afforded Ronald Reagan, he is more feared by his party’s lawmakers than any occupant of the Oval Office since at least Lyndon Johnson.
His iron grip was never firmer than over the last two months, during the House inquiry that concluded Wednesday with Trump’s impeachment on charges of abuse of power and obstructing Congress. No House Republican supported either article, or even authorized the investigation in September, and in hearing after hearing into the president’s dealings with Ukraine, they defended him as a victim of partisan fervor. One Republican even said that Jesus had received fairer treatment before his crucifixion than Trump did during his impeachment.
You see where this NYT crapola is going.
Perhaps more revealing, some GOP lawmakers who initially said Trump’s phone call with the president of Ukraine was inappropriate later dropped their criticism. People close to Trump attributed the shift to private discussions he and his allies had with concerned lawmakers.
This fealty hardly guarantees Trump reelection: He has never garnered a 50 percent approval rating as president and over half of voters tell pollsters they will oppose him no matter who the Democrats nominate, but the shoulder-to-shoulder unity stands in contrast to Democrats at the moment, with their contentious moderate-versus-liberal primary that was on full display in Thursday night’s debate, and it is all the more striking given Trump’s deviations from long-standing party orthodoxy on issues like foreign policy and tariffs.
There was a debate?
“He has a complete connection with the average Republican voter and that’s given him political power here,” said Representative Patrick McHenry, a North Carolina Republican, adding: “Trump has touched the nerve of my conservative base like no person in my lifetime.”
He reminds one of, you know, except he's the exact opposite.
Interviews with current and former Republican lawmakers as well as party strategists, many of whom requested anonymity so as not to publicly cross the president, suggest that many elected officials are effectively faced with two choices. They can vote with their feet by retiring — and a remarkable 40 percent of Republican members of Congress have done so or have been defeated at the ballot box since Trump took office, or they can mute their criticism of him. All the incentives that shape political behavior — with voters, donors, and the news media — compel Republicans to bow to Trump if they want to survive.
I'm sorry to see one go, but it's the same for Democrats. They must bow to the far left (whatever that means) because "there is no market for independence."
Trump dangles rewards to those who show loyalty — a favorable tweet, or a presidential visit to their state — and his heavy hand has assured victory for a number of Republican primary candidates. That includes Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida, who did as many Fox News appearances as possible to draw the president’s attention.
Related: Florida Cabinet meets in Israel
Looks like Trump wins Florida again.
Representative. Elise Stefanik hails from an upstate New York district that the president carried by 14 points yet she had not previously hesitated to go her own way.
“I have one of the most independent records in the House,” Stefanik said. “And I have critiqued the president, have voted differently than the president.”
Yet after she vehemently criticized the impeachment hearings and found herself under attack by George Conway, the anti-Trump husband of White House adviser Kellyanne Conway, she welcomed the embrace of the president, his family, and news media allies such as Fox News host Sean Hannity — and the campaign donations that poured in.
Stefanik said she opposed impeachment because Democrats failed to make a convincing case. But she said that she would not have even voted to censure the president, and that she was chiefly driven by wanting to “stand up for my district,” and, Stefanik noted, since her “no” vote she had received “the most positive calls since I was sworn into office.”
Lawmakers not seeking reelection are often the most candid about the slavish devotion Trump engenders with voters — and the pressure it puts on them.
“Public officials need to be held accountable, and I don’t think any governmental system works well with blind loyalty without reason,” said Representative Francis Rooney of Florida, who announced his intention to retire earlier this year after criticizing Trump for his conduct with Ukraine and suffering an immediate backlash.
Rooney ultimately voted against impeachment but told colleagues he felt uneasy about it. Recalling an appearance on a Florida television station afterward, Rooney said: “They interviewed me after the vote and then they interviewed one of these Cape Coral Republican ladies and she said, ‘Well, it’s about time they came around to realize it’s a big media hoax.’ How do you argue with that? How do you reason with that?”
How can one continue to read this slop?
--more--"
I'm told Trump is a mad dictator (even as the Demorats extended his Patriot Act powers while funding the war machine as well as all the taxpayers goodies and trade deals) as the Globe worries about a "fair trial" in the Senate.
Can you imagine the if he had a news conference that was four hours long? It would be a carnival of flattery rather than a news event, right?
I'll bet Governor Fix-It is wishing he were Trump right about now.
That get's you back to the front page before moving on to the second half of the A-section (the first half contained 2 bank ads, 5 jewelry ads, a fur ad, 3 half-page Uber ads, 3 full-page liquor ads, a full-page health care ad, and the section ends with a car ad where the vehicle is set on icy plateau next to a lake with snow-covered mountains in the background).
How to remember the Alamo: Battle site or burial ground?
The what?
"Colleges agree to allow increased competition for applicants" by Erica L. Green New York Times, December 21, 2019
WASHINGTON — The financial aid stranglehold on students who commit to colleges may be broken.
In a proposed agreement announced this month to answer Justice Department antitrust accusations, the National Association for College Admission Counseling said it would allow its member college and university counselors to recruit students even after they have committed to another school and would permit members to encourage students to transfer after they have already enrolled.
Colleges and universities have been heavily criticized for encouraging potential students to enter into agreements, particularly for early admissions, with the understanding that an accepted applicant could not then turn to another school. That understanding, which was not legally binding but was widely followed, prevented universities from competing for applicants by offering more enticing financial aid packages.
Now colleges will be free to offer perks, like special scholarships or priority in course selection, to early-decision applicants — students who are less likely to need tuition assistance and use the process to secure a spot at their first-choice schools. For many selective colleges, more than half of an incoming freshman class will have been accepted through early admission.
Institutions will also be able to continue recruiting students beyond a widely applied May 1 deadline that is typically imposed for students who have applied through a regular decision process and are considering offers based, at least in part, on financial aid packages.
The changes stand to shake up the admissions process in the next year, affecting some colleges’ ability to predict the size of their freshman classes while allowing some students to benefit from competitive financial aid packages or even bargain for assistance right up until they walk onto a campus.....
It looks like free college is a pretty good idea, huh?
Maybe you can even get a fellowship.
--more--"
The scandal is separate from Varsity Blues, and just make your mark or whatever, will ya'?
Pages A21-A27 were the obituary pages.
The Metro lead:
Old allies come out to help Deval Patrick in N.H.
That's the Democratic campaign coverage for today. I'm told that Warren's embrace of Medicare for All may be her downfall; however, I think the issue is simply a cover for her noting of Palestinian deaths during Israel's most recent assault on Gaza. She was leading the polls at the time and fell rather fast after that. Some things are unforgivable, and that is one of them.
What difference does it make anyway?
"A ranked choice voting measure is a step closer to being on the state 2020 ballot. Voter Choice Massachusetts said in a Friday release that under its proposal, voters will still only cast one ballot, but if three or more candidates run for an office, voters would be given a choice to rank candidates in the order they prefer them. According to the group, if one candidate receives a majority of the first-choice votes, that candidate wins. If no candidate receives a majority of the first-choice votes, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated and voters who ranked the eliminated candidate as their first choice would have their vote count toward the next choice on their ballot. Voters would be able to rank as many or as few candidates as they want, or they could choose just one candidate. The measure would go into effect in state and federal elections beginning in 2022....."
Our (s)elections are already rigged anyway, and this measure would only enshrine the two-headed war party while marginalizing independent candidates. It will be even more a lesser of two evils system, and not voting is the only answer.
Australia right now offers a sense of how bad climate change can be
As far as the Globe is concerned, it is already spring.
Related:
Obamas reportedly buy Martha’s Vineyard waterfront estate for $11.75 million
So much for the rising seas threatening the coastlines, and where the hell is all the money coming from?
Lechmere Station closure looming as Green Line extension moves forward
Red light ahead.
Shaped by Vietnam War reporting, Ward Just, who died at 84, became a deft political novelist
Related: 21st-Century Pentagon Papers
The ma$$ media and politicians have decided to ignore the 18 years worth of lies this time, and the B1 obit reminds of how today's Sunday Globe is full of fluff (no sense troubling the elite reader) with no reports from Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, China, Russia, France, etc.
They are going down in flames, folks.
UMass Amherst professor on Hitler video parody controversy: ‘I was crushed’
I read that piece on-line before seeing the print(??). She is Jewish so the vast majority of commenters were defending her free speech rights over an anonymous complaint from a student despite Trump's EO elevating Jews above the rest of us. The whole things smells like a contrived event to promote the Hitler/gas chambers lie (that will be another issue you will be unable to question thanks to Trump's order and I'm waiting to be shut down any day now).
Right below that pos was this day in history:
"In 1941, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill arrived in Washington for a wartime conference with President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Ah, the war criminals plotting war crimes (Churchill was "strongly in favour of using poisoned gas against uncivilised tribes" and others).
In 1944, during the World War II Battle of the Bulge, US Brigadier General Anthony C. McAuliffe rejected a German demand for surrender, writing ‘‘Nuts!’’ in his official reply.
What a difference three years makes, huh?
Don't worry, Germany has been eliminated as a threat and is now in full thrall.
That's the end of business so enjoy the $ports Sunday.
This Next Day Update is my final destination:
"Democrats, citing White House e-mails, renew calls for impeachment witnesses" by Sheryl Gay Stolberg New York Times, December 22, 2019
Well, my printed front page was bylined Edward Wong so..... must be the anti-Asian bias over at the female-run Globe.
As for the Clinton e-mails or the Kushner e-mails, they are dutifully dispatched down the ma$$ media memory hole.
NEW YORK — Top Democrats on Sunday renewed their demands for witnesses to testify at President Trump’s impeachment trial, citing newly released e-mails showing that the White House asked officials to keep quiet over the suspension of military aid to Ukraine just 90 minutes after Trump leaned on that country’s president to investigate former vice president Joe Biden.
Shouldn't that have happened over in the House?
I mean, if they hadn't wrapped it for Christmas.....
The e-mails, released late Friday by the Trump administration to the Center for Public Integrity, shed new light on Trump’s effort to solicit Ukraine to help him win reelection in 2020, the matter at the heart of the House’s vote on Wednesday to impeach him for “high crimes and misdemeanors.”
With the Senate’s Democratic and Republican leaders at odds over the trial’s format, Democrats seized on the e-mails in an effort to pressure Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader. McConnell, who wants a bare-bones proceeding, has rejected a proposal by his Democratic counterpart, Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, to have four top White House officials testify.
Senator Schumer wants Office of Management and Budget appointee Michael Duffey to testify in a Senate trial.Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images
He's the real deal and knows the intelligence agencies have six ways from Sunday of getting back at you (or me or anybody else for that matter, right?). How many senators are being pressured by the NSA/CIA/FBI data gathering programs and being threatened with exposure for whatever corruption or proclivities are in their closets?
One of those officials is Michael Duffey, a senior budget official who told the Pentagon to keep quiet about the aid freeze because of the “sensitive nature of the request,” according to an e-mail sent on July 25. An hour and a half earlier that day, Trump asked President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine to “do us a favor, though” and investigate Biden and his son Hunter Biden.
“What is a trial with no witnesses and no documents?” Schumer said Sunday during a news conference in New York City. “It’s a sham trial.”
Like the House impeachment hearings.
With lawmakers home in their districts for a two-week holiday recess and McConnell and Schumer unable to come to terms, the proceedings are in limbo. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said she will not send the Senate the articles of impeachment, necessary to bring about a trial, until she receives assurances from McConnell that the proceedings will be fair. In withholding the articles, Pelosi is betting the president will lean on McConnell to give in to Democrats’ demands.
The absolute gall of her after what went on in the House, and besides, her branch doesn't get to dictate to the other branch how to proceed. She must be delusional or demented if she thinks Trump is going to help her.
Beyond that, if Trump were such a threat to our democracy and national security, why did they all leave town? Shouldn't somebody be minding the store?
Trump, at his Florida resort, Mar-a-Lago, for the Christmas holiday, was largely quiet on Twitter on Sunday until late afternoon, when he accused Democrats of precisely what they have accused him of: asking a foreign government to interfere in an election.
“The Democrats and Crooked Hillary paid for & provided a Fake Dossier, with phony information gotten from foreign sources, pushed it to the corrupt media & Dirty Cops, & have now been caught,” Trump wrote. “They spied on my campaign, then tried to cover it up — Just Like Watergate, but bigger!”
Well, he is right about that and my attitude is that I'm for truth, no matter who tells it.
In a letter last week to McConnell, Schumer proposed a trial beginning Jan. 7 that would give each side a fixed amount of time to present its case, and called for four top White House officials who have not previously testified to appear as witnesses. They are Duffey; Mick Mulvaney, Trump’s acting chief of staff; Robert Blair, Mulvaney’s senior adviser; and John R. Bolton, the president’s former national security adviser.....
Okay, that's enough.
Enjoy the wrestling match.
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I would just like to remind you that despite the sound and fury of Impeachmas, the Demorats extended his Patriot Act powers while funding the war machine as well as all the taxpayers goodies and trade deals.
Related: Trump lifts threat of tariffs on Brazilian metal
He backed off again!
Money doesn't only talk, it fucking $¢REAM$!
Right below the turn-in to the Wong version was this companion piece by the NYT:
"Trump largely ignores impeachment as he rallies young conservatives" by Michael D. Shear New York Times, December 22, 2019
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — President Trump on Saturday largely ignored that he had become the third impeached president in history as he rallied young conservative activists with campaign-style attacks on the “far-left ruling class” at the start of a two-week vacation.
Speaking for more than an hour to thousands of high school and college students at the Turning Point USA conference, Trump referred briefly to his impeachment, accusing Democrats of pursuing an “illegal, unconstitutional hyperpartisan impeachment” against him, but he did not dwell on the historic vote or spend much time attacking congressional Democrats who charged him with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress by pressuring a foreign government to assist him in smearing a political rival.
Instead, the president made it clear that he intended to seek reelection with the messages he has been delivering for years: a relentless attack on liberalism, promises of abortion restrictions and gun rights, denunciations of environmentalism, and a vow to secure the Southwestern border against what he calls “criminal aliens.”
Everything he promised to do but didn't, and his next term will bring an attack on Iran because Israel wants it. He will be unencumbered then.
I'm started to think that we American voters should kick the war mongers, 'er, presidents out after one-term, period. Reelection is only thing that seems to hold the monsters back.
Trump’s speech to the young supporters came just three days after the House impeachment votes, which set the stage for a trial in the Senate to determine whether he will be removed from office.
The timing of that trial remains uncertain. Lawmakers left Washington for the holidays without resolving a dispute over the procedures that will govern the trial and whether the Republican-led chamber will call witnesses that Democrats have demanded.
?????
Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the minority leader, has said senators should hear from senior administration officials who refused to testify during the House impeachment investigation. Those include Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff, and John R. Bolton, the former national security adviser who, according to his lawyer, knows about “many relevant meetings and conversations” on Ukraine.
Aaaaaah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
As I wrote around when he got fired, that's where all the impeachment leaks to the New York Times are coming from (see front-page lead above).
Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, said this past week that Democrats would not deliver the two approved articles of impeachment to the Senate until they agreed to fair procedures for the trial. As lawmakers left Washington in recent days, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, said the two sides “remain at an impasse.”
In his remarks Saturday, Trump appeared determined to dismiss the impeachment inquiry — which dominated much of the political debate over the last two months — as a failed political attack by his rivals.
“There’s no crime. There’s no nothing. How do you impeach when you have no crime?” the president asked the crowd, referring briefly to Pelosi as “crazy Nancy” insisting that she had no case against him. “It’s so unfair.”
Yeah, he is such a victim.
What did expect in Washington, especially after having been in New York real estate?
He briefly focused on Hunter Biden, the son of former vice president Joe Biden, after an audience member yelled out “Where’s Hunter?” That prompted the president to spend a few minutes denouncing — without evidence — the elder Biden, his rival for the White House, for the very corruption that the Democrats accused him of during the impeachment inquiry, but if Pelosi and others believed Wednesday’s vote would incite a long diatribe by the president about impeachment, they were wrong.
Well, there is evidence but the pre$$ refuses to see it as they shovel their narrative.
He pointed to the country’s economic success, noting that the stock market has hit record highs and unemployment among many groups is at long-term lows. He repeatedly took credit for appointing 187 judges, replacing what he said were “crazy partisans” on the federal bench.
You can flip below the fold and turn to the business section for how the economy will be assessed in the Globe next year, and now for a short commercial break.
The rest of Saturday’s speech was a return to his common attacks: criticizing the “fake news” media; warning of the dangers of immigration; complaining about unsubstantiated claims of spying on his presidential campaign; and mocking the use of windmills and the Democratic plan for a “green new deal” to protect the planet.
“They are noisy. They kill the birds,” Trump said of windmills. “You want to see a bird graveyard, go under a windmill someday. You will see more dead birds than you’ve ever seen in your life.”
You can also walk city streets, too, and the perception that wind turbine sites are littered with all sorts of dead carcasses isn’t totally accurate as we find a balance between habitat and energy.
The crowd of young supporters, many decked out in red “Make America Great Again” hats, welcomed the president’s messaging. They repeatedly jumped to their feet, at one point chanting, “Four more years.” Trump joked that they should change the chant to drive his liberal adversaries crazy.
“From now on, start yelling 16 more years,” he said.....
What does that mean?
Ivanka, then Jared?
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Also see:
"Senator Doug Jones of Alabama, who won a special election victory in 2017 and faces a difficult reelection campaign next year, said Sunday that he remains undecided on whether President Trump should be removed from office. Jones, a former prosecutor and moderate Democrat representing a deeply conservative state that overwhelming backed Trump’s presidential campaign in 2016, said he is keeping his mind open ahead of the pending Senate trial, following the House’s vote to impeach the president last week. Jones and other Democrats who represent states won by Trump, such as Senator Joe Manchin III, Democrat of West Virginia, and Senator Gary Peters, Democrat of Michigan, are seen by top Republican strategists as possible swing votes in a Senate trial, but Jones is considered by party leaders to be the most vulnerable Senate Democrat ahead of the 2020 campaign season, because Trump defeated Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton by 28 percentage points in Alabama. Republicans who are being monitored ahead of a Senate trial include Senators Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Mitt Romney of Utah, according to two GOP officials who were not authorized to speak publicly. The Republican primary race to challenge Jones is crowded. Former attorney general and former senator Jeff Sessions has launched a comeback bid, and Representative Bradley Byrne is also running, as are former Auburn University football coach Tommy Tuberville and Roy Moore, among others (Washington Post)."
How about that slate of Republican candidates in Alabama, huh?
Let's hope the Democrats don't hack it this time while blaming Russia.
Back to the upper-half of the front page with the lead feature:
Elizabeth Warren’s brothers are a silent fixture of her campaign
Only one is a Democrat, and at least the First Mann would not be, I repeat, NOT BE, that rapist and sexual predator Bill Clinton were it to be a Warren Administration.
Related:
"Progressive policy ideas have dominated the early stages of the Democratic primary campaign, but Democratic voters may be seeking more moderate options. Only 1 in 4 Democratic voters said they would favor eliminating private health insurance and replacing it with a government-run plan — the centerpiece of the “Medicare for All” proposals put forward by Senators Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, and only 1 in 3 favors making public college tuition free for all Americans regardless of income, another idea shared by the two leading progressives in the race. Those results, from a survey conducted this month for The New York Times by the online research firm SurveyMonkey, are striking because past polls, including those from the Times, have shown broad-based support for progressive ideas among Democrats. Last month, 81 percent of Democrats said they approved of Medicare for All; in July, 82 percent said they supported making public colleges free for all, but those earlier surveys asked simple yes-or-no questions. The most recent survey offered respondents more options to choose from, and it found that Democratic voters consistently preferred policies that were well to the left of current law but were more moderate than those proposed by Sanders and Warren. Most Democrats, for example — 58 percent — said they would like to make government-run insurance universally available while allowing people to keep their private insurance if they prefer it, a policy similar to the “Medicare for all who want it” plan proposed by Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind., and a related proposal from former vice president Joe Biden. The preference for more moderate policies cuts across age groups, races, education levels, and even ideology: Among Democrats who said they were “liberal” or “very liberal,” only 30 percent chose the most progressive option for health care reform. The Times survey showed similar results when it came to “free college” proposals......"
One hardly knows where to begin with that steaming swirly of perception management and narrative creation.
So within a month, the 80% of the people that make up the Democratic voting block abandoned incredibly popular programs because of a poll the New York Times commissioned?
Looks like the Times say the result of all the polls and decided to conduct a push poll and they didn't stop asking questions until they got the answers they wanted from only God knows who -- thus setting up the narrative to deny Sanders or Warren the nomination.
Looks like the Democratic ticket will Biden-Buttigieg. Pete's youth will counteract Joe's senility, and if Joe's health fails America will have its first openly gay vice president AND president.
Beyond that, one can't help but notice that the Times didn't ask about war machine or foreign policy. The only issues we debate are shit issues that advance the elite agenda. Putting an end to empire and its war machine would pay for all the programs we apparently no longer want.
As for Mayor Pete, Biden could be his stalking horse:
"The financial sector, blamed by progressives for spawning the 2008 economic collapse, is lining up behind Pete Buttigieg’s presidential campaign. The mayor of South Bend, Ind., has collected more campaign cash from donors and political action committees tied to the financial, insurance, and real estate sector than any other White House hopeful, according to data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics. The $3.06 million in contributions compares with $2.8 million directed toward former vice president Joe Biden and $2.03 million for Senator Cory Booker, whose home state of New Jersey has strong ties to Wall Street. While Buttigieg is hardly alone in turning to the finance industry for support, the data could leave him exposed to further attacks from his progressive rivals, especially Senator Elizabeth Warren. The Massachusetts Democrat repeatedly hit Buttigieg during Thursday’s presidential debate for his ties to large donors. Buttigieg’s campaign said Friday it has returned a $5,000 donation from one of Wall Street’s most prominent lawyers, H. Rodgin Cohen. Buttigieg’s team argues his campaign has broad support, noting his average donation was $32 for the third quarter if 2019 and that 98 percent of the donations are under $200. Buttigieg spokesman Sean Savett said the candidate is “proud to be running a campaign that’s powered by more than 700,000 grassroots donors from across the country.” (Associated Press)
Looks like Liz was on to something with the Wine Cave, and if I didn't know better I would say the AP is blatantly sexist. Warren "attacked" and "hit" poor Pete, huh? By pointing out the truth of who is behind his campaign? I suppose all is forgotten since he returned a drop of urine from his haul -- a whopping 0.163398693 percent!
To continue reading one must be demented:
"Like many others, Heather Mitus faces anxiety when shopping online because of the vast array of choices — “fear of better options,” the experts call it....."
Fear everything except that which is to be feared, and the juxtaposition with the drumming of dementia couldn't be starker. Losing ones mind is frightening, and when you consider the bad water, pharmaceutical vaccines, GMOs, pesticides, chemicals, and all the other benefits of modern society, one wonders where the causes of such things are coming from.
I'm afraid to read anymore of that article, sorry.
"GOP governors grapple with whether to accept refugees or not" by Grant Schulte and Julie Watson Associated Press, December 22, 2019
LINCOLN, Neb. — An executive order by President Trump giving states the right to refuse to take refugees is putting Republican governors in an uncomfortable position.
Another EO!
They’re caught between immigration hard-liners who want to shut the door and some Christian evangelicals who believe helping refugees is a moral obligation. Others say refugees are vital to fill jobs and keep rural communities afloat.
It's causing a schism within his deepest base as he fails to fulfill another campaign promise.
More than 30 governors have agreed to accept refugees, but about a dozen Republican governors have stayed silent as they face a decision that must be made by Jan. 21 so resettlement agencies can secure federal funding in time to plan where to place refugees.
They have reached the end of their rope.
Trump’s executive order requires governors to publicly say they will accept refugees. They cannot automatically come to their states, even if cities and counties welcome them. So far, no one has opted to shut out refugees. A North Dakota county voted this month to accept no more than 25 refugees next year, after initially signaling it would be the first to ban them.
Isn't that what he did with the phone call, pressure to go public?
With his order, Trump again thrust states and local governments into immigration policy, willingly or not. It has caused heated debates and raucous meetings in several states, including North Dakota and Wisconsin. Republican governors in Nebraska, West Virginia, Tennessee, Ohio, Indiana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Arizona, Iowa, and Oklahoma have consented to accepting refugees in 2020. Vermont’s Republican governor said he intends to accepts refugees. Others have not taken a public stance. They include the Republican governors of Georgia and Missouri, along with Governor Greg Abbott of Texas, the state that took in the largest number of refugees this year.
So Trump is going to be dumping and dispersing them throughout the country, the same as Obama did. This must be part of Kushner's back-room dealing, and why aren't the Democrats subpoenaing him after what Tillerson said? I think we all know the answer to that.
Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom of California, the nation’s most populous state that resettles many refugees, also has not consented yet, but his office said he plans to do so. In 2015, governors from 31 states — nearly all with Republican governors, including Abbott — tried to shut out Syrians, citing terrorism fears, but they didn’t have the legal authority at the time.
The hypocrisy of Democrats knows no bounds!
As for the terrorists.....
Now that they do, some governors have struggled with the decision.
Faith-based groups have led an aggressive campaign urging them to keep accepting refugees, while immigration hard-liners have criticized Republicans who have not used their new authority to put the brakes on refugees coming into their states......
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The country is going to look like Italy:
"Packing into piazzas, Italy’s ‘Sardines’ are demonstrating against a politician who isn’t in power" by Chico Harlan and Stefano Pitrelli Washington Post, December 22, 2019
So that's the stench coming from the Washington Post. There are fish wrapped in it.
ROME — A month ago, four friends put out a call on social media for a protest against far-right populism, but while the Sardines have harnessed a measure of the grass-roots frustration common in so many global political protests this year, they are alone in one respect: The target of their ire is not the people technically in power, but rather the opposition.
If it is promoted by the agenda-pushing paper, you can rest assured it is controlled opposition.
The emergence of such a group would be possible only in the off-kilter world of Italian politics, where the country’s most popular party — Matteo Salvini’s far-right League — remains the center of Italy’s political galaxy. Italians view the League as the government-in-waiting, with Salvini as the likeliest future prime minister, and while the success of Salvini’s anti-immigration and anti-Muslim ideas has alarmed many liberal Italians, the country’s left-leaning political establishment, like so many other mainstream parties across the world, has struggled to counter the emotion of populism as it plays out at rallies or on social media.
Imagine trying to counter the virulent war propaganda blared from front-page bullhorns.
The Sardines have broken through, in part, because they so clearly stand for one thing: opposing Salvini. They are not a political party — not yet, at least. They have become, instead, a gathering point for people who were turned off by politics, even as they worried about how a Trump-like politician might be remaking the country.....
Welcome MusSalvini, ‘Italy’s sole master!’’
--more--"
I would vote Calvini if I were you, and good luck.
Also see:
69-vehicle pileup in Virginia leaves dozens injured
Authorities do not yet know the cause of the crash, but fog and icy road conditions were contributing factors according to Ivan Levy.
Watch the Ursids meteor shower 2019 peak in night skies
Yeah, forget about what is right in front of your face and look to the heavens (ignore the chemtrails, though).
Semitrailer inflicts major damage on closed Florida landmark
The driver was hauling orange juice at about 3:15 a.m. when he didn’t realize he had left the road, and the indu$try can hardly afford the lo$$.
Investigators look for code violations in deadly Vegas fire
Residents were using their stoves to stay warm -- in Vegas!
A3:
Modi defends Indian citizenship law amid violent protests
As soon as I saw the NYT byline I said next. India's Hindu supremacy law gets days and days of coverage while Israel's citizenship law was a one-off.
For the record, I oppose supremacism of any kind over anybody ever.
Related (page B1, below fold):
Jewish community vows to make Hanukkah lights shine brighter in the face of anti-Semitism
Supremacist Chabad is illuminating hearts as Christmas in the City thrills homeless families!
"Afghan officials announced Sunday that President Ashraf Ghani had won reelection by a hair’s breadth in a nationwide September vote, netting 50.64 percent of the preliminary tally — the majority he needed to avoid a second round of voting. Abdullah Abdullah, Ghani’s estranged governing partner and main contender, denounced the preliminary results as ‘‘fraudulent’’ and vowed to challenge them....."
It's a Washington Post pos, but at least we have brought AmeriKan Democracy to the Afghans and due to the chaos we must stay despite having been lied to for 18 years (it's as if that report was never even reported!).
Related:
"Croatia’s conservative president will face a liberal former prime minister in a runoff election after no candidate won an outright majority in a first round of voting Sunday, near-complete results showed. Left-wing politician Zoran Milanovic led the field with nearly 30 percent of the vote in preliminary returns from Sunday’s election. President Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic had almost 27 percent support. Right-wing singer Miroslav Skoro was in third place with around 24 percent. The vote was held just days before Croatia takes over the European Union’s presidency for the first time. The ruling conservatives are hoping to keep their grip on power ahead of assuming the EU chairmanship. Milanovic and Grabar Kitarovic now will face each other in a second round of voting on Jan. 5. Although the incumbent finished second in the first round, analysts said Grabar Kitarovic could be considered a favorite in the runoff because other right-leaning challengers would no longer be in contention....."
The nation that sympathized with the Nazis should go to ranked voting and save time.
Also see:
Severe weather across Europe leaves at least 8 dead
The New York Times says a one-two punch of winter storms has socked Europe and also killed people.
Where is Greta and her friends when you really need them?
At this point, I hold the ¢limate ¢ultists responsible for those deaths!
Massachusetts using Volkswagen funds on clean air projects
At least the price of gas is down.
Australia’s leader apologizes for vacation amid wildfires
That has all of a sudden flared up in my pre$$.
Notre Dame fire wakes the world up to dangers of lead dust
WTF was in that dust anyway, and why aren't they wearing any yellow vests?
"Thousands of protesters demonstrated in central Beirut and elsewhere in Lebanon on Sunday against the country’s new prime minister, saying he should abandon the post because he is a member of the ruling elite. After sunset, protesters closed several roads and highways in Beirut and other parts of the country to rally against the nomination of Hassan Diab, who was backed by the militant Hezbollah group and its allies and failed to win the backing of the main Sunni Muslim groups. The protesters, many of whom came from northern Lebanon and the eastern Bekaa Valley, also gathered in Beirut’s central Martyrs Square, one of the key places of the protests which have been underway for more than two months. They later marched toward the parliament building guarded by scores of riot police. Unlike last week, when scuffles were reported between protesters and policemen outside the parliament, there was no violence on Sunday. Prime Minister-designate Diab, a university professor and former education minister, will have the task of steering Lebanon out of its worst economic and financial crisis in decades....."
It has all the hallmarks of a U.S. destabilization effort, the same as neighboring Iraq and Iran as well as Hong Kong (conspicuously absent today). If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck.
Which is good advice if you live in Chicago:
"Chicago house party shooting leaves 13 wounded, 4 critically, police say" by Mihir Zaveri New York Times, December 22, 2019
NEW YORK — A house party on Chicago’s South Side was meant to remember a man who was fatally shot during a carjacking in April, authorities said, but the memorial itself erupted into violence early Sunday after at least two gunmen opened fire, wounding 13 people, four of them critically.
The shooting took place just after 12:30 a.m. Chicago time in the Englewood neighborhood on what was the birthday of the man killed in April, said Tom Ahern, a Chicago Police Department spokesman.
The motive was not immediately clear. Fred Waller, chief of patrol for the Police Department, said at a news conference that he did not believe it was gang-related, but was probably an “isolated incident” stemming from a “personal dispute.”
Yeah, cover up the gang problem in the sanctuary city.
Waller said surveillance footage captured part of the shooting, which took place on the 5700 block of South May Street. “It’s a terrible tragedy and frankly an incredible act of cowardice,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot said at a later news conference on Sunday.
Better tread softly with her.
Stephanie D. Coleman, the alderman who represents the neighborhood, said at the news conference, “I saw disappointment, I saw frustration, I saw, oh gosh, fear. I saw lots of concerned neighbors getting to the bottom of it.”
Chicago has long struggled with gun violence. In one weekend in August, for example, seven people were killed and 52 wounded by gunfire. In October, a 7-year-old girl dressed as a bumblebee was shot while trick-or-treating with her family on Halloween.
Shootings overall, however, are down this year, compared with last year.....
Yeah, things are getting better and progress is being made in the Democratic shitholes, 'er, strongholds.
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If you want to take a gamble, the Globe provides you with a health policy and first aid kit.
Looks like the Metro section was history:
In 1913, the Federal Reserve System was created as President Wilson signed the Federal Reserve Act.
Wilson later said he was a "most unhappy man [who has] unwittingly ruined my country. A great industrial nation is now controlled by its system of credit."
That's was soon before the first of the World Wars began!
In 1941, during World War II, American forces on Wake Island surrendered to the Japanese.
In 1948, former Japanese premier Hideki Tojo and six other Japanese war leaders were executed in Tokyo.
What a difference seven years makes, huh?
The unofficial beginning of the Third World War in which we are currently embroiled:
In 2001, Time magazine named New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani its Person of the Year for his steadfast response to the 9/11 terrorist attack."
He is one of about 100 people who should be executed for treason for helping to carry out and cover-up that false flag atrocity.
Related:
"The 737 Max jet is Boeing’s bestseller, with tens of billions of dollars in future sales at stake. Boeing stock has fallen 22 percent in this crisis, costing the company more than $8 billion and spreading pain throughout a supply chain that extends to 8,000 companies. The global grounding of the 737 Max has entered its 10th month, after two crashes that killed 346 people, and the most significant crisis in Boeing’s history has no end in sight....."
That is the New York Times at its most sickening. The poor Boeing CEO is on the hot seat as the pain $preads! Forget the 346 souls sacrificed to faulty software of which they were aware but kept from the pilots.
Another thing to fear even worse than airplanes:
"Popular messaging app ToTok is unmasked as a UAE spy tool" by Mark Mazzetti, Nicole Perlroth and Ronen Bergman New York Times, December 22, 2019
So is Facebook, Google, Apple, and everything else!
WASHINGTON — It is billed as an easy and secure way to chat by video or text message with friends and family, even in a country that has restricted popular messaging services like WhatsApp and Skype, but the service, ToTok, is actually a spying tool, according to US officials familiar with a classified intelligence assessment and a New York Times investigation into the app and its developers. It is used by the government of the United Arab Emirates to try to track every conversation, movement, relationship, appointment, sound, and image of those who install it on their phones.
Why are they picking on the UAE when all governments now do this?
ToTok, introduced only months ago, was downloaded millions of times from the Apple and Google app stores by users throughout the Middle East, Europe, Asia, Africa, and North America. While the majority of its users are in the Emirates, ToTok surged to become one of the most downloaded social apps in the United States last week, according to app rankings and App Annie, a research firm.
ToTok amounts to the latest escalation in a digital arms race between wealthy authoritarian governments, interviews with current and former US foreign officials and a forensic investigation showed. The governments are pursuing more effective and convenient methods to spy on foreign adversaries, criminal and terrorist networks, journalists, and critics — efforts that have ensnared people all over the world.
And who benefit$?
Persian Gulf nations like Saudi Arabia, the Emirates and Qatar previously turned to private firms — including Israeli and US contractors — to hack rivals and, increasingly, their own citizens. ToTok, experts said, showed the governments can cut out the intermediary to spy directly on their targets.
Are they sure they are not working for the Israeli Foreign Ministry?
After all, they get all the raw data.
Please remember this article that was buried way in the back of the B-section the next time the government and pre$$ holler Russia, China, Ira, North Korea, or whatever enemy du jour is accused of hacking. Like with the "terror attacks," it's all self-serving false flags.
Cui bono?
A technical analysis and interviews with computer security experts showed that the firm behind ToTok, Breej Holding, is most likely a front company affiliated with DarkMatter, an Abu Dhabi-based cyberintelligence and hacking firm where Emirati intelligence officials, former National Security Agency employees, and former Israeli military intelligence operatives work. DarkMatter is under FBI investigation, according to former employees and law enforcement officials, for possible cybercrimes. The US intelligence assessment and the technical analysis also linked ToTok to Pax AI, an Abu Dhabi data mining firm that appears to be tied to DarkMatter.
Related(?): Cyber attack forces airline to cancel flights in Alaska
Pax AI’s headquarters operate from the same Abu Dhabi building as the Emirates’ signals intelligence agency, which until recently was where DarkMatter was based.
The UAE is one of America’s closest allies in the Middle East, seen by the Trump administration as a bulwark against Iran and a close counterterrorism partner. Its ruling family promotes the country as an example of a modern, moderate Arab nation, but it has also been at the forefront of using surveillance technology to crack down on internal dissent — including hacking Western journalists, emptying the banking accounts of critics, and holding human rights activists in prolonged solitary confinement over Facebook posts.
The government blocks specific functions of apps like WhatsApp and Skype, a reality that has made ToTok particularly appealing in the country. Huawei, the Chinese telecom giant, recently promoted ToTok in advertisements.
TikTok, TikTok.
Spokesmen for the CIA and the Emirati government declined to comment. Calls to a phone number for Breej Holding rang unanswered, and Pax employees did not respond to e-mails and messages. An FBI spokeswoman said that “while the FBI does not comment on specific apps, we always want to make sure to make users aware of the potential risks and vulnerabilities that these mechanisms can pose.”
That's the difference between the pre$$ and bloggers: they hold power accountable and get answers!
When The Times initially contacted Apple and Google with questions about ToTok’s connection to the Emirati government, they said they would investigate. On Thursday, Google removed the app from its Play store after determining ToTok violated unspecified policies. Apple removed ToTok from its App Store on Friday and was still researching the app, a spokesman said. ToTok users who already downloaded the app will still be able to use it until they remove it from their phones.
Ooooh, the damage done.
It was unclear when US intelligence services determined ToTok was a tool of Emirati intelligence, but one person familiar with the assessment said that US officials have warned some allies about its dangers. It is not clear whether US officials have confronted their counterparts in the Emirati government about the app. One digital security expert in the Middle East, speaking on condition of anonymity, said senior Emirati officials told him that ToTok was indeed an app developed to track its users in the Emirates and beyond.
They are working with them behind a front company! Why would they be confronting them?
ToTok appears to have been relatively easy to develop, according to a forensic analysis performed for The Times by Patrick Wardle, a former NSA hacker who works as a private security researcher. It appears to be a copy of a Chinese messaging app offering free video calls, YeeCall.
Looks rather $elf-$erving to me.
In reviews, Emiratis have expressed gratitude to ToTok’s developers for finally bringing them a free messaging app. “Blessings! Your app is the best App so far that has enable me and my family to stay connected!!!” one wrote.....
Yeah, who cares if you are being surveilled 24/7/365?
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Below that article is something to truly fear:
"Heather Mitus, pregnant with twins, is not only shopping for them: She’s involved in a home renovation and is doing her holiday shopping online. She often returns things because she rethinks her purchases. Sarah Winawer-Wetzel, 36, is suffering from an acute case. “Decision fatigue is a real thing. It makes what is a fun and thoughtful experience often feel very overwhelming. It’s an embarrassment of riches, we’re so lucky to be able to buy gifts, but it can feel like work,” she said. Thomas Saltsman, a graduate student at the University of Buffalo, believes that younger generations that have grown up with the Web may feel this paralysis more acutely, particularly since people usually feel more confident with their decisions as they age. Saltsman said his research was inspired by his own difficulty with decisions......"
Ok Boomer with the FOBOIA.
My decision is do I continue to waste time and money on this slop or go see a movie?
"The Force was a little less strong with “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.” J.J. Abrams’ Skywalker finale couldn’t match its recent predecessors on opening weekend, but it still amassed a $175.5 million debut, according to studio estimates Sunday. “Last of the Jedi”opened with $220 million and “The Force Awakens” had a $248 million debut in 2015. Meanwhile, the star-studded musical “Cats” scratched out just $6.5 million in ticket sales in its debut weekend....."
I guess people do read the Globe -- at least those who go see movies. That's who goes to see the filth that Hollywood now trowels out as the Rise of Skywalker is already falling (I heard it sucked but for different reasons).
My rankings are as follows, although the Phantom Menace has now climbed above Clones and Jedi in my eyes (it's the beginning of it all when the kid is innocent and uncorrupted) even as the whole series looks increasingly silly in hindsight (save for the hidden plot most do not notice). As for the final trilogy(?), it has put me to sleep so you need not worry anymore. Sorry for taking the time and not being perfect.
For one Maine family, the long, hard road from ‘nowhere’ to home
The road leads to 5 full pages regarding their eviction, and they only got a place after a call to the mayor. Thank God the Globe is looking out for grandmas and single moms.
The smile has turned to a fraud, 'er, frown, with all teeth out of place.
US braces for major North Korean weapons test as Trump’s diplomacy fizzles
The New York Times tells me officials are playing down the threat.
Pope denounces ‘rigidity’ as he warns of Christian decline
The Pope is on board with the globalists as he argues for the Church to embrace change.
These guys would be comical were the they not so evil. One only wishes the pervert priests had been flaccid and not rigid all these centuries.
Related:
"An arbitrator has awarded a Massachusetts man $75,000 in a legal dispute with the Archdiocese of Boston, after the man alleged that the principal at a now-shuttered South Boston Catholic school sexually abused him as a child during the 1980s and 1990s. Five more men have also come forward with allegations of sexual abuse against the same administrator....."
Found on page B3.
The Globe has turned off the Spotlight (I saw the movie and Robby admitted he was guilty of burying stuff like this in the B-section)!
Hero who used narwhal tusk to stop UK attack praises victims
Watch the attacker come back to life on live television -- proving the whole event was a staged and scripted piece of conveniently timed propaganda a la Operation Gladio and the Strategy of Tension.
Guatemala bus crash kills at least 20 people
What else is going on in Guatemala?
In India tech city shocked by gang rape, vigilante justice gets praise
That's the brutality that comes with being a supremacist society, and it just so happens that Israel is a close ally! Gandhi would have been appalled.
This next article either unintentionally outs the false flags and Facebook interference in elections, or it's an in-your-face laugher:
"With no formal ties, Israel is using digital diplomacy to reach out to the Arab world" by Ruth Eglash Washington Post, December 21, 2019
JERUSALEM — As a moderator of the Arabic-language Facebook pages and social media platforms run by Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Linda Menuhin has become an ambassador of sorts — but one who operates from a digital outpost.
The emergence of social media accounts run by the Israeli government and individual initiatives are part of that trend, and in Israel’s Foreign Ministry, Menuhin is part of a team of 10 producing content for two Arabic-language Facebook pages, Twitter and Instagram accounts, and a YouTube channel. Collectively, the platforms draw about 10 million viewers and followers from across the region each week. Many of the uploaded videos have gone viral.
This article is putting a public relations spin on this Israeli "outreach" to Arabs; however, what is to stop another team from setting up terrorist web sites?
Helps when you have the ma$$ media and pre$$ pushing perception management along the agenda, but the truth is it is an open secret throughout the world. The only ones who have no conception are Americans under the spell.
One wonders why Facebook is not shutting them down as Twitter suspends the Saudi accounts.
Avoiding politics and the thorny issue of Israel’s ongoing occupation of Palestinian territory, the Arabic-language digital diplomacy department, the second-largest in the Foreign Ministry, showcases Israeli life and culture.
Among some of its most popular uploads is a jaunty video of two young Israelis, one Jewish and one Arab, comparing similar words in Hebrew and Arabic. Another asks Israelis about the Arab countries they would most like to visit — if the opportunity should ever arise.
‘‘Jews have become extinct in the Arab world, people no longer have Jewish neighbors or friends they can ask questions, so this relationship has to happen on social media,’’ said Rabbi Elhanan Miller, who manages a Facebook page and YouTube channel about Judaism in Arabic.
Well, we now that was handed over to Zuckerberg so he could make loot and the "social media platform" could be used for propaganda purposes. I believe the teams are called Hasbara.
Miller’s People of the Book initiative has a sizable following, with nearly 100,000 tracking him across social media platforms. Through live videos and animated shorts, he shares information on Jewish traditions such as Shabbat and kosher food. More recently he has started to include interviews with Jews from Arab lands living in Israel.
‘‘There’s a nostalgia, especially in Iraq, Egypt, and even Syria, for a time when they were multiethnic and pluralistic societies,’’ Miller said.
So says the rabbi from the apartheid state, and that is where the print version ended.
Hind Hazim lives in northern Iraq and is an avid follower of Miller’s posts. ‘‘For me, it’s an authentic source,’’ she said in a telephone interview. ‘‘People who live in the Arab world do not get clear information on social media, mainstream media, or in books about Jews or Israel.’’
Hazim said the situation used to be different. ‘‘At the beginning of the 20th century, it was normal to have Jewish friends and neighbors, but now we are separated from them. I don’t have the chance to talk to them face to face.’’
In Saudi Arabia, blogger Mohammed Saud has caused a stir by openly forging ties with Israelis on social media. Earlier this year he made headlines, and history, by documenting his visit to Israel and even meeting with Netanyahu.
‘‘For years I heard completely different things about Israel and the Jews,’’ he said in an online exchange with The Washington Post. ‘‘Since there are no Jews in Saudi Arabia, I had no one to ask, or anyone to find out what was really going on between Jews and Muslims.’
Saud said that after a visit to the United States, he realized that Jews were ‘‘not our enemies.’’
Turns out the House of Saud is Jewish in lineage, and knowing that explains a lot of why the world is the way it is today.
‘‘The conflict between Israel and the Palestinians is about fighting for territory, there is no religious matter, and Jews and Palestinians must reach an agreement between them,’’ he wrote.....
As are they all. The religion, WMDs, or whatever, are simply smokescreens to make the mass-murdering war exercises more palatable to the public. You can fool some of the people.....
--more--"
May God help us all, 'eh?
Fire in Las Vegas apartment complex kills 6, injures 13
They were using their stoves for heat because of the current cold snap where overnight temperatures have been dipping into the high 30s during this period of global warming, 'er, ¢limate ¢hange.
"Fear and loyalty: How Donald Trump took over the Republican Party" by Jonathan Martin and Maggie Haberman New York Times, December 21, 2019
BIRMINGHAM, Mich. — To defy President Trump is to invite the president’s wrath, ostracism within the party, and a premature end to a career in Republican politics as an anti-Trump Republican [is] untenable, and joining a wave of Republican departures from Congress that has left those who remain more devoted to the president than ever.
Just under four years after he began his takeover of a party to which he had little connection, Trump enters 2020 burdened with the ignominy of being the first sitting president to seek reelection after being impeached, but he does so wearing a political coat of armor built on total loyalty from GOP activists and their representatives in Congress. If he does not enjoy the broad admiration Republicans afforded Ronald Reagan, he is more feared by his party’s lawmakers than any occupant of the Oval Office since at least Lyndon Johnson.
His iron grip was never firmer than over the last two months, during the House inquiry that concluded Wednesday with Trump’s impeachment on charges of abuse of power and obstructing Congress. No House Republican supported either article, or even authorized the investigation in September, and in hearing after hearing into the president’s dealings with Ukraine, they defended him as a victim of partisan fervor. One Republican even said that Jesus had received fairer treatment before his crucifixion than Trump did during his impeachment.
You see where this NYT crapola is going.
Perhaps more revealing, some GOP lawmakers who initially said Trump’s phone call with the president of Ukraine was inappropriate later dropped their criticism. People close to Trump attributed the shift to private discussions he and his allies had with concerned lawmakers.
This fealty hardly guarantees Trump reelection: He has never garnered a 50 percent approval rating as president and over half of voters tell pollsters they will oppose him no matter who the Democrats nominate, but the shoulder-to-shoulder unity stands in contrast to Democrats at the moment, with their contentious moderate-versus-liberal primary that was on full display in Thursday night’s debate, and it is all the more striking given Trump’s deviations from long-standing party orthodoxy on issues like foreign policy and tariffs.
There was a debate?
“He has a complete connection with the average Republican voter and that’s given him political power here,” said Representative Patrick McHenry, a North Carolina Republican, adding: “Trump has touched the nerve of my conservative base like no person in my lifetime.”
He reminds one of, you know, except he's the exact opposite.
Interviews with current and former Republican lawmakers as well as party strategists, many of whom requested anonymity so as not to publicly cross the president, suggest that many elected officials are effectively faced with two choices. They can vote with their feet by retiring — and a remarkable 40 percent of Republican members of Congress have done so or have been defeated at the ballot box since Trump took office, or they can mute their criticism of him. All the incentives that shape political behavior — with voters, donors, and the news media — compel Republicans to bow to Trump if they want to survive.
I'm sorry to see one go, but it's the same for Democrats. They must bow to the far left (whatever that means) because "there is no market for independence."
Trump dangles rewards to those who show loyalty — a favorable tweet, or a presidential visit to their state — and his heavy hand has assured victory for a number of Republican primary candidates. That includes Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida, who did as many Fox News appearances as possible to draw the president’s attention.
Related: Florida Cabinet meets in Israel
Looks like Trump wins Florida again.
Representative. Elise Stefanik hails from an upstate New York district that the president carried by 14 points yet she had not previously hesitated to go her own way.
“I have one of the most independent records in the House,” Stefanik said. “And I have critiqued the president, have voted differently than the president.”
Yet after she vehemently criticized the impeachment hearings and found herself under attack by George Conway, the anti-Trump husband of White House adviser Kellyanne Conway, she welcomed the embrace of the president, his family, and news media allies such as Fox News host Sean Hannity — and the campaign donations that poured in.
Stefanik said she opposed impeachment because Democrats failed to make a convincing case. But she said that she would not have even voted to censure the president, and that she was chiefly driven by wanting to “stand up for my district,” and, Stefanik noted, since her “no” vote she had received “the most positive calls since I was sworn into office.”
Lawmakers not seeking reelection are often the most candid about the slavish devotion Trump engenders with voters — and the pressure it puts on them.
“Public officials need to be held accountable, and I don’t think any governmental system works well with blind loyalty without reason,” said Representative Francis Rooney of Florida, who announced his intention to retire earlier this year after criticizing Trump for his conduct with Ukraine and suffering an immediate backlash.
Rooney ultimately voted against impeachment but told colleagues he felt uneasy about it. Recalling an appearance on a Florida television station afterward, Rooney said: “They interviewed me after the vote and then they interviewed one of these Cape Coral Republican ladies and she said, ‘Well, it’s about time they came around to realize it’s a big media hoax.’ How do you argue with that? How do you reason with that?”
How can one continue to read this slop?
--more--"
I'm told Trump is a mad dictator (even as the Demorats extended his Patriot Act powers while funding the war machine as well as all the taxpayers goodies and trade deals) as the Globe worries about a "fair trial" in the Senate.
Can you imagine the if he had a news conference that was four hours long? It would be a carnival of flattery rather than a news event, right?
I'll bet Governor Fix-It is wishing he were Trump right about now.
That get's you back to the front page before moving on to the second half of the A-section (the first half contained 2 bank ads, 5 jewelry ads, a fur ad, 3 half-page Uber ads, 3 full-page liquor ads, a full-page health care ad, and the section ends with a car ad where the vehicle is set on icy plateau next to a lake with snow-covered mountains in the background).
How to remember the Alamo: Battle site or burial ground?
The what?
"Colleges agree to allow increased competition for applicants" by Erica L. Green New York Times, December 21, 2019
WASHINGTON — The financial aid stranglehold on students who commit to colleges may be broken.
In a proposed agreement announced this month to answer Justice Department antitrust accusations, the National Association for College Admission Counseling said it would allow its member college and university counselors to recruit students even after they have committed to another school and would permit members to encourage students to transfer after they have already enrolled.
Colleges and universities have been heavily criticized for encouraging potential students to enter into agreements, particularly for early admissions, with the understanding that an accepted applicant could not then turn to another school. That understanding, which was not legally binding but was widely followed, prevented universities from competing for applicants by offering more enticing financial aid packages.
Now colleges will be free to offer perks, like special scholarships or priority in course selection, to early-decision applicants — students who are less likely to need tuition assistance and use the process to secure a spot at their first-choice schools. For many selective colleges, more than half of an incoming freshman class will have been accepted through early admission.
Institutions will also be able to continue recruiting students beyond a widely applied May 1 deadline that is typically imposed for students who have applied through a regular decision process and are considering offers based, at least in part, on financial aid packages.
The changes stand to shake up the admissions process in the next year, affecting some colleges’ ability to predict the size of their freshman classes while allowing some students to benefit from competitive financial aid packages or even bargain for assistance right up until they walk onto a campus.....
It looks like free college is a pretty good idea, huh?
Maybe you can even get a fellowship.
--more--"
The scandal is separate from Varsity Blues, and just make your mark or whatever, will ya'?
Pages A21-A27 were the obituary pages.
The Metro lead:
Old allies come out to help Deval Patrick in N.H.
That's the Democratic campaign coverage for today. I'm told that Warren's embrace of Medicare for All may be her downfall; however, I think the issue is simply a cover for her noting of Palestinian deaths during Israel's most recent assault on Gaza. She was leading the polls at the time and fell rather fast after that. Some things are unforgivable, and that is one of them.
What difference does it make anyway?
"A ranked choice voting measure is a step closer to being on the state 2020 ballot. Voter Choice Massachusetts said in a Friday release that under its proposal, voters will still only cast one ballot, but if three or more candidates run for an office, voters would be given a choice to rank candidates in the order they prefer them. According to the group, if one candidate receives a majority of the first-choice votes, that candidate wins. If no candidate receives a majority of the first-choice votes, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated and voters who ranked the eliminated candidate as their first choice would have their vote count toward the next choice on their ballot. Voters would be able to rank as many or as few candidates as they want, or they could choose just one candidate. The measure would go into effect in state and federal elections beginning in 2022....."
Our (s)elections are already rigged anyway, and this measure would only enshrine the two-headed war party while marginalizing independent candidates. It will be even more a lesser of two evils system, and not voting is the only answer.
Australia right now offers a sense of how bad climate change can be
As far as the Globe is concerned, it is already spring.
Related:
Obamas reportedly buy Martha’s Vineyard waterfront estate for $11.75 million
So much for the rising seas threatening the coastlines, and where the hell is all the money coming from?
Lechmere Station closure looming as Green Line extension moves forward
Red light ahead.
Shaped by Vietnam War reporting, Ward Just, who died at 84, became a deft political novelist
Related: 21st-Century Pentagon Papers
The ma$$ media and politicians have decided to ignore the 18 years worth of lies this time, and the B1 obit reminds of how today's Sunday Globe is full of fluff (no sense troubling the elite reader) with no reports from Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, China, Russia, France, etc.
They are going down in flames, folks.
UMass Amherst professor on Hitler video parody controversy: ‘I was crushed’
I read that piece on-line before seeing the print(??). She is Jewish so the vast majority of commenters were defending her free speech rights over an anonymous complaint from a student despite Trump's EO elevating Jews above the rest of us. The whole things smells like a contrived event to promote the Hitler/gas chambers lie (that will be another issue you will be unable to question thanks to Trump's order and I'm waiting to be shut down any day now).
Right below that pos was this day in history:
"In 1941, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill arrived in Washington for a wartime conference with President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Ah, the war criminals plotting war crimes (Churchill was "strongly in favour of using poisoned gas against uncivilised tribes" and others).
In 1944, during the World War II Battle of the Bulge, US Brigadier General Anthony C. McAuliffe rejected a German demand for surrender, writing ‘‘Nuts!’’ in his official reply.
What a difference three years makes, huh?
Don't worry, Germany has been eliminated as a threat and is now in full thrall.
That's the end of business so enjoy the $ports Sunday.
{@@##$$%%^^&&}
This Next Day Update is my final destination:
"Democrats, citing White House e-mails, renew calls for impeachment witnesses" by Sheryl Gay Stolberg New York Times, December 22, 2019
Well, my printed front page was bylined Edward Wong so..... must be the anti-Asian bias over at the female-run Globe.
As for the Clinton e-mails or the Kushner e-mails, they are dutifully dispatched down the ma$$ media memory hole.
NEW YORK — Top Democrats on Sunday renewed their demands for witnesses to testify at President Trump’s impeachment trial, citing newly released e-mails showing that the White House asked officials to keep quiet over the suspension of military aid to Ukraine just 90 minutes after Trump leaned on that country’s president to investigate former vice president Joe Biden.
Shouldn't that have happened over in the House?
I mean, if they hadn't wrapped it for Christmas.....
The e-mails, released late Friday by the Trump administration to the Center for Public Integrity, shed new light on Trump’s effort to solicit Ukraine to help him win reelection in 2020, the matter at the heart of the House’s vote on Wednesday to impeach him for “high crimes and misdemeanors.”
With the Senate’s Democratic and Republican leaders at odds over the trial’s format, Democrats seized on the e-mails in an effort to pressure Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader. McConnell, who wants a bare-bones proceeding, has rejected a proposal by his Democratic counterpart, Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, to have four top White House officials testify.
Senator Schumer wants Office of Management and Budget appointee Michael Duffey to testify in a Senate trial.Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images
He's the real deal and knows the intelligence agencies have six ways from Sunday of getting back at you (or me or anybody else for that matter, right?). How many senators are being pressured by the NSA/CIA/FBI data gathering programs and being threatened with exposure for whatever corruption or proclivities are in their closets?
One of those officials is Michael Duffey, a senior budget official who told the Pentagon to keep quiet about the aid freeze because of the “sensitive nature of the request,” according to an e-mail sent on July 25. An hour and a half earlier that day, Trump asked President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine to “do us a favor, though” and investigate Biden and his son Hunter Biden.
“What is a trial with no witnesses and no documents?” Schumer said Sunday during a news conference in New York City. “It’s a sham trial.”
Like the House impeachment hearings.
With lawmakers home in their districts for a two-week holiday recess and McConnell and Schumer unable to come to terms, the proceedings are in limbo. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said she will not send the Senate the articles of impeachment, necessary to bring about a trial, until she receives assurances from McConnell that the proceedings will be fair. In withholding the articles, Pelosi is betting the president will lean on McConnell to give in to Democrats’ demands.
The absolute gall of her after what went on in the House, and besides, her branch doesn't get to dictate to the other branch how to proceed. She must be delusional or demented if she thinks Trump is going to help her.
Beyond that, if Trump were such a threat to our democracy and national security, why did they all leave town? Shouldn't somebody be minding the store?
Trump, at his Florida resort, Mar-a-Lago, for the Christmas holiday, was largely quiet on Twitter on Sunday until late afternoon, when he accused Democrats of precisely what they have accused him of: asking a foreign government to interfere in an election.
“The Democrats and Crooked Hillary paid for & provided a Fake Dossier, with phony information gotten from foreign sources, pushed it to the corrupt media & Dirty Cops, & have now been caught,” Trump wrote. “They spied on my campaign, then tried to cover it up — Just Like Watergate, but bigger!”
Well, he is right about that and my attitude is that I'm for truth, no matter who tells it.
In a letter last week to McConnell, Schumer proposed a trial beginning Jan. 7 that would give each side a fixed amount of time to present its case, and called for four top White House officials who have not previously testified to appear as witnesses. They are Duffey; Mick Mulvaney, Trump’s acting chief of staff; Robert Blair, Mulvaney’s senior adviser; and John R. Bolton, the president’s former national security adviser.....
Okay, that's enough.
Enjoy the wrestling match.
--more--"
I would just like to remind you that despite the sound and fury of Impeachmas, the Demorats extended his Patriot Act powers while funding the war machine as well as all the taxpayers goodies and trade deals.
Related: Trump lifts threat of tariffs on Brazilian metal
He backed off again!
Money doesn't only talk, it fucking $¢REAM$!
Right below the turn-in to the Wong version was this companion piece by the NYT:
"Trump largely ignores impeachment as he rallies young conservatives" by Michael D. Shear New York Times, December 22, 2019
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — President Trump on Saturday largely ignored that he had become the third impeached president in history as he rallied young conservative activists with campaign-style attacks on the “far-left ruling class” at the start of a two-week vacation.
Speaking for more than an hour to thousands of high school and college students at the Turning Point USA conference, Trump referred briefly to his impeachment, accusing Democrats of pursuing an “illegal, unconstitutional hyperpartisan impeachment” against him, but he did not dwell on the historic vote or spend much time attacking congressional Democrats who charged him with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress by pressuring a foreign government to assist him in smearing a political rival.
Instead, the president made it clear that he intended to seek reelection with the messages he has been delivering for years: a relentless attack on liberalism, promises of abortion restrictions and gun rights, denunciations of environmentalism, and a vow to secure the Southwestern border against what he calls “criminal aliens.”
Everything he promised to do but didn't, and his next term will bring an attack on Iran because Israel wants it. He will be unencumbered then.
I'm started to think that we American voters should kick the war mongers, 'er, presidents out after one-term, period. Reelection is only thing that seems to hold the monsters back.
Trump’s speech to the young supporters came just three days after the House impeachment votes, which set the stage for a trial in the Senate to determine whether he will be removed from office.
The timing of that trial remains uncertain. Lawmakers left Washington for the holidays without resolving a dispute over the procedures that will govern the trial and whether the Republican-led chamber will call witnesses that Democrats have demanded.
?????
Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the minority leader, has said senators should hear from senior administration officials who refused to testify during the House impeachment investigation. Those include Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff, and John R. Bolton, the former national security adviser who, according to his lawyer, knows about “many relevant meetings and conversations” on Ukraine.
Aaaaaah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
As I wrote around when he got fired, that's where all the impeachment leaks to the New York Times are coming from (see front-page lead above).
Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, said this past week that Democrats would not deliver the two approved articles of impeachment to the Senate until they agreed to fair procedures for the trial. As lawmakers left Washington in recent days, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, said the two sides “remain at an impasse.”
In his remarks Saturday, Trump appeared determined to dismiss the impeachment inquiry — which dominated much of the political debate over the last two months — as a failed political attack by his rivals.
“There’s no crime. There’s no nothing. How do you impeach when you have no crime?” the president asked the crowd, referring briefly to Pelosi as “crazy Nancy” insisting that she had no case against him. “It’s so unfair.”
Yeah, he is such a victim.
What did expect in Washington, especially after having been in New York real estate?
He briefly focused on Hunter Biden, the son of former vice president Joe Biden, after an audience member yelled out “Where’s Hunter?” That prompted the president to spend a few minutes denouncing — without evidence — the elder Biden, his rival for the White House, for the very corruption that the Democrats accused him of during the impeachment inquiry, but if Pelosi and others believed Wednesday’s vote would incite a long diatribe by the president about impeachment, they were wrong.
Well, there is evidence but the pre$$ refuses to see it as they shovel their narrative.
He pointed to the country’s economic success, noting that the stock market has hit record highs and unemployment among many groups is at long-term lows. He repeatedly took credit for appointing 187 judges, replacing what he said were “crazy partisans” on the federal bench.
You can flip below the fold and turn to the business section for how the economy will be assessed in the Globe next year, and now for a short commercial break.
The rest of Saturday’s speech was a return to his common attacks: criticizing the “fake news” media; warning of the dangers of immigration; complaining about unsubstantiated claims of spying on his presidential campaign; and mocking the use of windmills and the Democratic plan for a “green new deal” to protect the planet.
“They are noisy. They kill the birds,” Trump said of windmills. “You want to see a bird graveyard, go under a windmill someday. You will see more dead birds than you’ve ever seen in your life.”
You can also walk city streets, too, and the perception that wind turbine sites are littered with all sorts of dead carcasses isn’t totally accurate as we find a balance between habitat and energy.
The crowd of young supporters, many decked out in red “Make America Great Again” hats, welcomed the president’s messaging. They repeatedly jumped to their feet, at one point chanting, “Four more years.” Trump joked that they should change the chant to drive his liberal adversaries crazy.
“From now on, start yelling 16 more years,” he said.....
What does that mean?
Ivanka, then Jared?
--more--"
Also see:
"Senator Doug Jones of Alabama, who won a special election victory in 2017 and faces a difficult reelection campaign next year, said Sunday that he remains undecided on whether President Trump should be removed from office. Jones, a former prosecutor and moderate Democrat representing a deeply conservative state that overwhelming backed Trump’s presidential campaign in 2016, said he is keeping his mind open ahead of the pending Senate trial, following the House’s vote to impeach the president last week. Jones and other Democrats who represent states won by Trump, such as Senator Joe Manchin III, Democrat of West Virginia, and Senator Gary Peters, Democrat of Michigan, are seen by top Republican strategists as possible swing votes in a Senate trial, but Jones is considered by party leaders to be the most vulnerable Senate Democrat ahead of the 2020 campaign season, because Trump defeated Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton by 28 percentage points in Alabama. Republicans who are being monitored ahead of a Senate trial include Senators Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Mitt Romney of Utah, according to two GOP officials who were not authorized to speak publicly. The Republican primary race to challenge Jones is crowded. Former attorney general and former senator Jeff Sessions has launched a comeback bid, and Representative Bradley Byrne is also running, as are former Auburn University football coach Tommy Tuberville and Roy Moore, among others (Washington Post)."
How about that slate of Republican candidates in Alabama, huh?
Let's hope the Democrats don't hack it this time while blaming Russia.
Back to the upper-half of the front page with the lead feature:
Elizabeth Warren’s brothers are a silent fixture of her campaign
Only one is a Democrat, and at least the First Mann would not be, I repeat, NOT BE, that rapist and sexual predator Bill Clinton were it to be a Warren Administration.
Related:
"Progressive policy ideas have dominated the early stages of the Democratic primary campaign, but Democratic voters may be seeking more moderate options. Only 1 in 4 Democratic voters said they would favor eliminating private health insurance and replacing it with a government-run plan — the centerpiece of the “Medicare for All” proposals put forward by Senators Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, and only 1 in 3 favors making public college tuition free for all Americans regardless of income, another idea shared by the two leading progressives in the race. Those results, from a survey conducted this month for The New York Times by the online research firm SurveyMonkey, are striking because past polls, including those from the Times, have shown broad-based support for progressive ideas among Democrats. Last month, 81 percent of Democrats said they approved of Medicare for All; in July, 82 percent said they supported making public colleges free for all, but those earlier surveys asked simple yes-or-no questions. The most recent survey offered respondents more options to choose from, and it found that Democratic voters consistently preferred policies that were well to the left of current law but were more moderate than those proposed by Sanders and Warren. Most Democrats, for example — 58 percent — said they would like to make government-run insurance universally available while allowing people to keep their private insurance if they prefer it, a policy similar to the “Medicare for all who want it” plan proposed by Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind., and a related proposal from former vice president Joe Biden. The preference for more moderate policies cuts across age groups, races, education levels, and even ideology: Among Democrats who said they were “liberal” or “very liberal,” only 30 percent chose the most progressive option for health care reform. The Times survey showed similar results when it came to “free college” proposals......"
One hardly knows where to begin with that steaming swirly of perception management and narrative creation.
So within a month, the 80% of the people that make up the Democratic voting block abandoned incredibly popular programs because of a poll the New York Times commissioned?
Looks like the Times say the result of all the polls and decided to conduct a push poll and they didn't stop asking questions until they got the answers they wanted from only God knows who -- thus setting up the narrative to deny Sanders or Warren the nomination.
Looks like the Democratic ticket will Biden-Buttigieg. Pete's youth will counteract Joe's senility, and if Joe's health fails America will have its first openly gay vice president AND president.
Beyond that, one can't help but notice that the Times didn't ask about war machine or foreign policy. The only issues we debate are shit issues that advance the elite agenda. Putting an end to empire and its war machine would pay for all the programs we apparently no longer want.
As for Mayor Pete, Biden could be his stalking horse:
"The financial sector, blamed by progressives for spawning the 2008 economic collapse, is lining up behind Pete Buttigieg’s presidential campaign. The mayor of South Bend, Ind., has collected more campaign cash from donors and political action committees tied to the financial, insurance, and real estate sector than any other White House hopeful, according to data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics. The $3.06 million in contributions compares with $2.8 million directed toward former vice president Joe Biden and $2.03 million for Senator Cory Booker, whose home state of New Jersey has strong ties to Wall Street. While Buttigieg is hardly alone in turning to the finance industry for support, the data could leave him exposed to further attacks from his progressive rivals, especially Senator Elizabeth Warren. The Massachusetts Democrat repeatedly hit Buttigieg during Thursday’s presidential debate for his ties to large donors. Buttigieg’s campaign said Friday it has returned a $5,000 donation from one of Wall Street’s most prominent lawyers, H. Rodgin Cohen. Buttigieg’s team argues his campaign has broad support, noting his average donation was $32 for the third quarter if 2019 and that 98 percent of the donations are under $200. Buttigieg spokesman Sean Savett said the candidate is “proud to be running a campaign that’s powered by more than 700,000 grassroots donors from across the country.” (Associated Press)
Looks like Liz was on to something with the Wine Cave, and if I didn't know better I would say the AP is blatantly sexist. Warren "attacked" and "hit" poor Pete, huh? By pointing out the truth of who is behind his campaign? I suppose all is forgotten since he returned a drop of urine from his haul -- a whopping 0.163398693 percent!
To continue reading one must be demented:
"Like many others, Heather Mitus faces anxiety when shopping online because of the vast array of choices — “fear of better options,” the experts call it....."
Fear everything except that which is to be feared, and the juxtaposition with the drumming of dementia couldn't be starker. Losing ones mind is frightening, and when you consider the bad water, pharmaceutical vaccines, GMOs, pesticides, chemicals, and all the other benefits of modern society, one wonders where the causes of such things are coming from.
I'm afraid to read anymore of that article, sorry.
"GOP governors grapple with whether to accept refugees or not" by Grant Schulte and Julie Watson Associated Press, December 22, 2019
LINCOLN, Neb. — An executive order by President Trump giving states the right to refuse to take refugees is putting Republican governors in an uncomfortable position.
Another EO!
They’re caught between immigration hard-liners who want to shut the door and some Christian evangelicals who believe helping refugees is a moral obligation. Others say refugees are vital to fill jobs and keep rural communities afloat.
It's causing a schism within his deepest base as he fails to fulfill another campaign promise.
More than 30 governors have agreed to accept refugees, but about a dozen Republican governors have stayed silent as they face a decision that must be made by Jan. 21 so resettlement agencies can secure federal funding in time to plan where to place refugees.
They have reached the end of their rope.
Trump’s executive order requires governors to publicly say they will accept refugees. They cannot automatically come to their states, even if cities and counties welcome them. So far, no one has opted to shut out refugees. A North Dakota county voted this month to accept no more than 25 refugees next year, after initially signaling it would be the first to ban them.
Isn't that what he did with the phone call, pressure to go public?
With his order, Trump again thrust states and local governments into immigration policy, willingly or not. It has caused heated debates and raucous meetings in several states, including North Dakota and Wisconsin. Republican governors in Nebraska, West Virginia, Tennessee, Ohio, Indiana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Arizona, Iowa, and Oklahoma have consented to accepting refugees in 2020. Vermont’s Republican governor said he intends to accepts refugees. Others have not taken a public stance. They include the Republican governors of Georgia and Missouri, along with Governor Greg Abbott of Texas, the state that took in the largest number of refugees this year.
So Trump is going to be dumping and dispersing them throughout the country, the same as Obama did. This must be part of Kushner's back-room dealing, and why aren't the Democrats subpoenaing him after what Tillerson said? I think we all know the answer to that.
Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom of California, the nation’s most populous state that resettles many refugees, also has not consented yet, but his office said he plans to do so. In 2015, governors from 31 states — nearly all with Republican governors, including Abbott — tried to shut out Syrians, citing terrorism fears, but they didn’t have the legal authority at the time.
The hypocrisy of Democrats knows no bounds!
As for the terrorists.....
Now that they do, some governors have struggled with the decision.
Faith-based groups have led an aggressive campaign urging them to keep accepting refugees, while immigration hard-liners have criticized Republicans who have not used their new authority to put the brakes on refugees coming into their states......
--more--"
The country is going to look like Italy:
"Packing into piazzas, Italy’s ‘Sardines’ are demonstrating against a politician who isn’t in power" by Chico Harlan and Stefano Pitrelli Washington Post, December 22, 2019
So that's the stench coming from the Washington Post. There are fish wrapped in it.
ROME — A month ago, four friends put out a call on social media for a protest against far-right populism, but while the Sardines have harnessed a measure of the grass-roots frustration common in so many global political protests this year, they are alone in one respect: The target of their ire is not the people technically in power, but rather the opposition.
If it is promoted by the agenda-pushing paper, you can rest assured it is controlled opposition.
The emergence of such a group would be possible only in the off-kilter world of Italian politics, where the country’s most popular party — Matteo Salvini’s far-right League — remains the center of Italy’s political galaxy. Italians view the League as the government-in-waiting, with Salvini as the likeliest future prime minister, and while the success of Salvini’s anti-immigration and anti-Muslim ideas has alarmed many liberal Italians, the country’s left-leaning political establishment, like so many other mainstream parties across the world, has struggled to counter the emotion of populism as it plays out at rallies or on social media.
Imagine trying to counter the virulent war propaganda blared from front-page bullhorns.
The Sardines have broken through, in part, because they so clearly stand for one thing: opposing Salvini. They are not a political party — not yet, at least. They have become, instead, a gathering point for people who were turned off by politics, even as they worried about how a Trump-like politician might be remaking the country.....
Welcome MusSalvini, ‘Italy’s sole master!’’
--more--"
I would vote Calvini if I were you, and good luck.
Also see:
69-vehicle pileup in Virginia leaves dozens injured
Authorities do not yet know the cause of the crash, but fog and icy road conditions were contributing factors according to Ivan Levy.
Watch the Ursids meteor shower 2019 peak in night skies
Yeah, forget about what is right in front of your face and look to the heavens (ignore the chemtrails, though).
Semitrailer inflicts major damage on closed Florida landmark
The driver was hauling orange juice at about 3:15 a.m. when he didn’t realize he had left the road, and the indu$try can hardly afford the lo$$.
Investigators look for code violations in deadly Vegas fire
Residents were using their stoves to stay warm -- in Vegas!
A3:
Modi defends Indian citizenship law amid violent protests
As soon as I saw the NYT byline I said next. India's Hindu supremacy law gets days and days of coverage while Israel's citizenship law was a one-off.
For the record, I oppose supremacism of any kind over anybody ever.
Related (page B1, below fold):
Jewish community vows to make Hanukkah lights shine brighter in the face of anti-Semitism
Supremacist Chabad is illuminating hearts as Christmas in the City thrills homeless families!
"Afghan officials announced Sunday that President Ashraf Ghani had won reelection by a hair’s breadth in a nationwide September vote, netting 50.64 percent of the preliminary tally — the majority he needed to avoid a second round of voting. Abdullah Abdullah, Ghani’s estranged governing partner and main contender, denounced the preliminary results as ‘‘fraudulent’’ and vowed to challenge them....."
It's a Washington Post pos, but at least we have brought AmeriKan Democracy to the Afghans and due to the chaos we must stay despite having been lied to for 18 years (it's as if that report was never even reported!).
Related:
"Croatia’s conservative president will face a liberal former prime minister in a runoff election after no candidate won an outright majority in a first round of voting Sunday, near-complete results showed. Left-wing politician Zoran Milanovic led the field with nearly 30 percent of the vote in preliminary returns from Sunday’s election. President Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic had almost 27 percent support. Right-wing singer Miroslav Skoro was in third place with around 24 percent. The vote was held just days before Croatia takes over the European Union’s presidency for the first time. The ruling conservatives are hoping to keep their grip on power ahead of assuming the EU chairmanship. Milanovic and Grabar Kitarovic now will face each other in a second round of voting on Jan. 5. Although the incumbent finished second in the first round, analysts said Grabar Kitarovic could be considered a favorite in the runoff because other right-leaning challengers would no longer be in contention....."
The nation that sympathized with the Nazis should go to ranked voting and save time.
Also see:
Severe weather across Europe leaves at least 8 dead
The New York Times says a one-two punch of winter storms has socked Europe and also killed people.
Where is Greta and her friends when you really need them?
At this point, I hold the ¢limate ¢ultists responsible for those deaths!
Massachusetts using Volkswagen funds on clean air projects
At least the price of gas is down.
Australia’s leader apologizes for vacation amid wildfires
That has all of a sudden flared up in my pre$$.
Notre Dame fire wakes the world up to dangers of lead dust
WTF was in that dust anyway, and why aren't they wearing any yellow vests?
"Thousands of protesters demonstrated in central Beirut and elsewhere in Lebanon on Sunday against the country’s new prime minister, saying he should abandon the post because he is a member of the ruling elite. After sunset, protesters closed several roads and highways in Beirut and other parts of the country to rally against the nomination of Hassan Diab, who was backed by the militant Hezbollah group and its allies and failed to win the backing of the main Sunni Muslim groups. The protesters, many of whom came from northern Lebanon and the eastern Bekaa Valley, also gathered in Beirut’s central Martyrs Square, one of the key places of the protests which have been underway for more than two months. They later marched toward the parliament building guarded by scores of riot police. Unlike last week, when scuffles were reported between protesters and policemen outside the parliament, there was no violence on Sunday. Prime Minister-designate Diab, a university professor and former education minister, will have the task of steering Lebanon out of its worst economic and financial crisis in decades....."
It has all the hallmarks of a U.S. destabilization effort, the same as neighboring Iraq and Iran as well as Hong Kong (conspicuously absent today). If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck.
Which is good advice if you live in Chicago:
"Chicago house party shooting leaves 13 wounded, 4 critically, police say" by Mihir Zaveri New York Times, December 22, 2019
NEW YORK — A house party on Chicago’s South Side was meant to remember a man who was fatally shot during a carjacking in April, authorities said, but the memorial itself erupted into violence early Sunday after at least two gunmen opened fire, wounding 13 people, four of them critically.
The shooting took place just after 12:30 a.m. Chicago time in the Englewood neighborhood on what was the birthday of the man killed in April, said Tom Ahern, a Chicago Police Department spokesman.
The motive was not immediately clear. Fred Waller, chief of patrol for the Police Department, said at a news conference that he did not believe it was gang-related, but was probably an “isolated incident” stemming from a “personal dispute.”
Yeah, cover up the gang problem in the sanctuary city.
Waller said surveillance footage captured part of the shooting, which took place on the 5700 block of South May Street. “It’s a terrible tragedy and frankly an incredible act of cowardice,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot said at a later news conference on Sunday.
Better tread softly with her.
Stephanie D. Coleman, the alderman who represents the neighborhood, said at the news conference, “I saw disappointment, I saw frustration, I saw, oh gosh, fear. I saw lots of concerned neighbors getting to the bottom of it.”
Chicago has long struggled with gun violence. In one weekend in August, for example, seven people were killed and 52 wounded by gunfire. In October, a 7-year-old girl dressed as a bumblebee was shot while trick-or-treating with her family on Halloween.
Shootings overall, however, are down this year, compared with last year.....
Yeah, things are getting better and progress is being made in the Democratic shitholes, 'er, strongholds.
--more--"
If you want to take a gamble, the Globe provides you with a health policy and first aid kit.
Looks like the Metro section was history:
In 1913, the Federal Reserve System was created as President Wilson signed the Federal Reserve Act.
Wilson later said he was a "most unhappy man [who has] unwittingly ruined my country. A great industrial nation is now controlled by its system of credit."
That's was soon before the first of the World Wars began!
In 1941, during World War II, American forces on Wake Island surrendered to the Japanese.
In 1948, former Japanese premier Hideki Tojo and six other Japanese war leaders were executed in Tokyo.
What a difference seven years makes, huh?
The unofficial beginning of the Third World War in which we are currently embroiled:
In 2001, Time magazine named New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani its Person of the Year for his steadfast response to the 9/11 terrorist attack."
He is one of about 100 people who should be executed for treason for helping to carry out and cover-up that false flag atrocity.
Related:
"The 737 Max jet is Boeing’s bestseller, with tens of billions of dollars in future sales at stake. Boeing stock has fallen 22 percent in this crisis, costing the company more than $8 billion and spreading pain throughout a supply chain that extends to 8,000 companies. The global grounding of the 737 Max has entered its 10th month, after two crashes that killed 346 people, and the most significant crisis in Boeing’s history has no end in sight....."
That is the New York Times at its most sickening. The poor Boeing CEO is on the hot seat as the pain $preads! Forget the 346 souls sacrificed to faulty software of which they were aware but kept from the pilots.
Another thing to fear even worse than airplanes:
"Popular messaging app ToTok is unmasked as a UAE spy tool" by Mark Mazzetti, Nicole Perlroth and Ronen Bergman New York Times, December 22, 2019
So is Facebook, Google, Apple, and everything else!
WASHINGTON — It is billed as an easy and secure way to chat by video or text message with friends and family, even in a country that has restricted popular messaging services like WhatsApp and Skype, but the service, ToTok, is actually a spying tool, according to US officials familiar with a classified intelligence assessment and a New York Times investigation into the app and its developers. It is used by the government of the United Arab Emirates to try to track every conversation, movement, relationship, appointment, sound, and image of those who install it on their phones.
Why are they picking on the UAE when all governments now do this?
ToTok, introduced only months ago, was downloaded millions of times from the Apple and Google app stores by users throughout the Middle East, Europe, Asia, Africa, and North America. While the majority of its users are in the Emirates, ToTok surged to become one of the most downloaded social apps in the United States last week, according to app rankings and App Annie, a research firm.
ToTok amounts to the latest escalation in a digital arms race between wealthy authoritarian governments, interviews with current and former US foreign officials and a forensic investigation showed. The governments are pursuing more effective and convenient methods to spy on foreign adversaries, criminal and terrorist networks, journalists, and critics — efforts that have ensnared people all over the world.
And who benefit$?
Persian Gulf nations like Saudi Arabia, the Emirates and Qatar previously turned to private firms — including Israeli and US contractors — to hack rivals and, increasingly, their own citizens. ToTok, experts said, showed the governments can cut out the intermediary to spy directly on their targets.
Are they sure they are not working for the Israeli Foreign Ministry?
After all, they get all the raw data.
Please remember this article that was buried way in the back of the B-section the next time the government and pre$$ holler Russia, China, Ira, North Korea, or whatever enemy du jour is accused of hacking. Like with the "terror attacks," it's all self-serving false flags.
Cui bono?
A technical analysis and interviews with computer security experts showed that the firm behind ToTok, Breej Holding, is most likely a front company affiliated with DarkMatter, an Abu Dhabi-based cyberintelligence and hacking firm where Emirati intelligence officials, former National Security Agency employees, and former Israeli military intelligence operatives work. DarkMatter is under FBI investigation, according to former employees and law enforcement officials, for possible cybercrimes. The US intelligence assessment and the technical analysis also linked ToTok to Pax AI, an Abu Dhabi data mining firm that appears to be tied to DarkMatter.
Related(?): Cyber attack forces airline to cancel flights in Alaska
Pax AI’s headquarters operate from the same Abu Dhabi building as the Emirates’ signals intelligence agency, which until recently was where DarkMatter was based.
The UAE is one of America’s closest allies in the Middle East, seen by the Trump administration as a bulwark against Iran and a close counterterrorism partner. Its ruling family promotes the country as an example of a modern, moderate Arab nation, but it has also been at the forefront of using surveillance technology to crack down on internal dissent — including hacking Western journalists, emptying the banking accounts of critics, and holding human rights activists in prolonged solitary confinement over Facebook posts.
The government blocks specific functions of apps like WhatsApp and Skype, a reality that has made ToTok particularly appealing in the country. Huawei, the Chinese telecom giant, recently promoted ToTok in advertisements.
TikTok, TikTok.
Spokesmen for the CIA and the Emirati government declined to comment. Calls to a phone number for Breej Holding rang unanswered, and Pax employees did not respond to e-mails and messages. An FBI spokeswoman said that “while the FBI does not comment on specific apps, we always want to make sure to make users aware of the potential risks and vulnerabilities that these mechanisms can pose.”
That's the difference between the pre$$ and bloggers: they hold power accountable and get answers!
When The Times initially contacted Apple and Google with questions about ToTok’s connection to the Emirati government, they said they would investigate. On Thursday, Google removed the app from its Play store after determining ToTok violated unspecified policies. Apple removed ToTok from its App Store on Friday and was still researching the app, a spokesman said. ToTok users who already downloaded the app will still be able to use it until they remove it from their phones.
Ooooh, the damage done.
It was unclear when US intelligence services determined ToTok was a tool of Emirati intelligence, but one person familiar with the assessment said that US officials have warned some allies about its dangers. It is not clear whether US officials have confronted their counterparts in the Emirati government about the app. One digital security expert in the Middle East, speaking on condition of anonymity, said senior Emirati officials told him that ToTok was indeed an app developed to track its users in the Emirates and beyond.
They are working with them behind a front company! Why would they be confronting them?
ToTok appears to have been relatively easy to develop, according to a forensic analysis performed for The Times by Patrick Wardle, a former NSA hacker who works as a private security researcher. It appears to be a copy of a Chinese messaging app offering free video calls, YeeCall.
Looks rather $elf-$erving to me.
In reviews, Emiratis have expressed gratitude to ToTok’s developers for finally bringing them a free messaging app. “Blessings! Your app is the best App so far that has enable me and my family to stay connected!!!” one wrote.....
Yeah, who cares if you are being surveilled 24/7/365?
--more--"
Below that article is something to truly fear:
"Heather Mitus, pregnant with twins, is not only shopping for them: She’s involved in a home renovation and is doing her holiday shopping online. She often returns things because she rethinks her purchases. Sarah Winawer-Wetzel, 36, is suffering from an acute case. “Decision fatigue is a real thing. It makes what is a fun and thoughtful experience often feel very overwhelming. It’s an embarrassment of riches, we’re so lucky to be able to buy gifts, but it can feel like work,” she said. Thomas Saltsman, a graduate student at the University of Buffalo, believes that younger generations that have grown up with the Web may feel this paralysis more acutely, particularly since people usually feel more confident with their decisions as they age. Saltsman said his research was inspired by his own difficulty with decisions......"
Ok Boomer with the FOBOIA.
My decision is do I continue to waste time and money on this slop or go see a movie?
"The Force was a little less strong with “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.” J.J. Abrams’ Skywalker finale couldn’t match its recent predecessors on opening weekend, but it still amassed a $175.5 million debut, according to studio estimates Sunday. “Last of the Jedi”opened with $220 million and “The Force Awakens” had a $248 million debut in 2015. Meanwhile, the star-studded musical “Cats” scratched out just $6.5 million in ticket sales in its debut weekend....."
I guess people do read the Globe -- at least those who go see movies. That's who goes to see the filth that Hollywood now trowels out as the Rise of Skywalker is already falling (I heard it sucked but for different reasons).
My rankings are as follows, although the Phantom Menace has now climbed above Clones and Jedi in my eyes (it's the beginning of it all when the kid is innocent and uncorrupted) even as the whole series looks increasingly silly in hindsight (save for the hidden plot most do not notice). As for the final trilogy(?), it has put me to sleep so you need not worry anymore. Sorry for taking the time and not being perfect.