Zorro
Zorro's JournalIndependent voters overtake Republicans in San Diego County
The number of independent voters in San Diego County has surpassed the number of registered Republicans.
As of the end of August, there were 509,359 voters who registered as “no party preference” compared to 487,259 registered Republicans, according to the latest numbers from the San Diego County Registrar of Voters. Both trail the Democratic Party, which has 618,088 registrants.
The surge in independent voters and the decline in registered Republicans brings San Diego County in line with a trend that has played out in the rest of the state. It represents a dramatic shift from several decades of Republican dominance here from the 1980s through 2008.
That dominance remains a feature of county politics.
http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/politics/sd-me-voter-registration-20180920-story.html
Dickey Betts in critical condition after accident at his Sarasota County home
Source: Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Dickey Betts has been hospitalized after a freak accident at his home.
Betts, the “Ramblin’ Man” singer-songwriter and founding Allman Brothers Band guitarist, went out to his backyard on Little Sarasota Bay and while playing with the family dog, slipped and cracked his head, causing bleeding in his brain.
Betts has been sedated at an undisclosed local hospital following the accident that occurred Monday evening at the Osprey home he shares with wife, Donna.
David Spero, Betts’ longtime friend and manager, said the beloved rock legend is listed “in critical but stable condition.”
Read more: http://www.heraldtribune.com/news/20180919/dickey-betts-in-critical-condition-after-accident-at-his-sarasota-county-home
He's reportedly scheduled to undergo brain surgery Friday.
Ted Cruz Attempts To Connect With Voters By Wearing More Handsome Man's Face As Mask
DALLAS—In an effort to make himself more appealing to voters, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) reportedly tried to connect with the audience at a candidate forum Tuesday by wearing the bloody, skinned face of a far more handsome man as a mask.
“People are really responding to this new, dapper Ted Cruz,” said campaign manager Jeff Roe, noting that recent internal polls show that since Cruz adopted the new look, voters are twice as likely to describe the expressionless, gore-covered incumbent as “trustworthy,” “affable,” or “charming.”
“That rough-cut mask of rotting skin is doing wonders for the senator on the campaign trail. He’s honestly never looked better, and the voters are really beginning to take notice. Even with the stench of decomposition, most people we talk to remark upon how Sen. Cruz doesn’t make them feel as nauseous as he used to. He’s looking a lot healthier, too.”
Roe later confirmed that while Cruz’s current mask was rapidly decaying, the candidate had a freezer filled with enough handsome and blood-encrusted masks of human skin to last him through the campaign’s final stretch.
https://politics.theonion.com/ted-cruz-attempts-to-connect-with-voters-by-wearing-mor-1829151503
Senate Republicans Seek To Delay Kavanaugh Vote Until Accuser Properly Smeared
WASHINGTON—In the wake of the release of a letter implicating the Supreme Court nominee in a sexual assault, Senate Republicans told reporters Monday that they would seek to delay a vote on Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation until his accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, was properly smeared.
“Given the significance of this vote and the accusations at hand, it’s of the utmost importance that we give ourselves the time to carefully drag Miss Ford’s name through the mud and make her regret ever coming forth with these accounts,” said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), stressing that he would urge his colleagues to push back any vote on the nomination until the Senate Judiciary Committee had taken every opportunity to tear apart Ford’s character on a national stage, question her mental stability, and repeatedly trivialize her experience of sexual trauma.
“We can’t in good conscience confirm Judge Kavanaugh—to the highest court in the land, mind you—without making a serious attempt to find evidence from the accuser’s life suggesting she’s nothing more than a serial liar and attention seeker. If not just to slander her name, than at least to invalidate the experiences of every sexual assault victim in the country.”
McConnell stressed that he understood the need for swiftness in the matter, as the Senate would absolutely confirm Kavanaugh regardless of any findings.
https://politics.theonion.com/senate-republicans-seek-to-delay-kavanaugh-vote-until-a-1829114212
VP at largest U.S. Porsche dealer accused of stealing $2.5 million
Champion Porsche, based in Pompano Beach, Fla., touts itself as an "Exclusive Manufaktur Partner" and "#1 Porsche Dealer in America" on its website. Now, it faces a scandal that has earned it the ire of at least two dozen customers who reportedly put down more than $2.5 million in combined deposits for exclusive 911 GT3 and GT3 RS models but are left with nothing after a salesman disappeared with their money.
The dealership filed a lawsuit Sept. 7 in a Broward County, Fla. Circuit Court. It names Shiraaz Sookralli, Champion Porsche's vice president of marketing; his wife Vimla Sookralli; and the fictitious Champion Autosport, a shell fund Sookralli is alleged to have created and used to siphon off deposits, as defendants.
The suit alleges that Sookralli, who had worked at the dealership for around 10 years, created a fraudulent scheme to present buyers with fake buyer deposit agreements that "failed to include any manufacturer or allocation information regarding the vehicles he was purportedly selling and contained false and fraudulent seller information." Sookralli allegedly used the bogus documents to get purchasers to believe they were purchasing Porsche vehicles that "did not exist, nor would Shiraaz place an order for the such vehicle." Instead, he created the Champion Autosport account and instructed purchasers to wire their deposit money or credit card payments directly into that account.
Sookralli is accused of collecting more than $2.5 million this way and transferring the funds from the Champion Autosport account with Bank of America to his personal accounts. The dealer claims it communicated via email with Sookralli, who "identified twenty-four transactions in his scheme to defraud the plaintiff and consumers. The amount of funds Shiraaz admitted to receiving is $2,560,198," the injunction to freeze the fraudulent bank account reads.
https://www.autoblog.com/2018/09/17/vp-porsche-dealer-accused-stealing-2-5-million/
Military service doesn't give politicians like Duncan Hunter license to break the law
Most Americans correctly believe that military service is deserving of respect and gratitude, especially in time of war. The “thank you for your service” acknowledgment heard when someone in uniform is encountered by fellow passengers on a plane or by a supermarket checkout clerk may seem small recognition, but it does suggest a public awareness that something more than a token greeting is called for.
At the same time, military service, however ennobling, does not confer lifetime immunity from obedience to the laws of the land. And when veterans — even those with distinguished combat records — run afoul of the law, their transgression is in a way worse: It is disillusioning because it causes us to ponder the sad possibility that behind the heroism, there might lurk knavery.
The latest sad example is Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., a former Marine who served in both Iraq and Afghanistan. He now stands accused of massive fraud that includes using campaign funds for personal expenses — everything from foreign travel to his wife’s cosmetics. Worse, much of this illegal use of campaign money was concealed as charitable donations, such as the purchase of golf balls fobbed off as a contribution to the Wounded Warriors Project. He also apparently attempted to conceal a pleasure trip to Italy as an official visit to inspect U.S. naval facilities.
The Hunter case is sadly reminiscent of the case a dozen years ago of congressman and former Navy Cmdr. Randy “Duke” Cunningham. A hero by any measure, he abused his position on the House Appropriations Committee by directing government projects to companies that supported his opulent lifestyle.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2018/09/17/duncan-hunter-military-veterans-politics-no-license-break-law-column/1288976002/
Half-a-billion-year-old fossil offers new clues to how life exploded on sea floor
Stephen Pates, a researcher from Oxford University’s Department of Zoology, has uncovered secrets from the ancient oceans.
With Dr Rudy Lerosey-Aubril from New England University (Australia), he meticulously re-examined fossil material collected over 25 years ago from the mountains of Utah, USA. The research, published in a new study in Nature Communications, reveals further evidence of the great complexity of the oldest animal ecosystems.
Twenty hours of work with a needle on the specimen while submerged underwater exposed numerous, delicate microscopic hair-like structures known as setae. This revelation of a frontal appendage with fine filtering setae has allowed researchers to confidently identify it as a radiodont – an extinct group of stem arthropods and distant relatives of modern crabs, insects and spiders.
‘Our new study describes Pahvantia hastasta, a long-extinct relative of modern arthropods, which fed on microscopic organisms near the ocean’s surface’ says Stephen Pates. ’We discovered that it used a fine mesh to capture much smaller plankton than any other known swimming animal of comparable size from the Cambrian period. This shows that large free-swimming animals helped to kick-start the diversification of life on the sea floor over half a billion years ago.’
http://www.ox.ac.uk/news/science-blog/half-billion-year-old-fossil-offers-new-clues-how-life-exploded-sea-floor
The main takeaway from the article is that Pahvantia turds and carcasses may have been instrumental in the explosion of life during the Cambrian Era.
Scientists say 'Neuroweapons' were behind Cuba attacks
Source: Yahoo News
Could a foreign country build a directed-energy weapon tailored to target a single diplomat walking through a house, leaving other occupants unaffected? What about drugs that target a person’s brain, or even a specific part of the brain? Yes, it’s possible, according to scientists who have been studying the possible causes of the mysterious health effects reported among U.S. diplomatic personnel in Havana, Cuba.
Four scientists, including the first doctor to examine the diplomats reporting symptoms in Cuba, took part in a Pentagon-sponsored teleconference on Friday, where they announced new research results, including what they determined to be the probable use of “neuroweapons” in what they called the Havana Effect.
At issue are the more than two dozen U.S. government officials stationed in Havana, who have described hearing strange sounds, followed by a combination of medical symptoms, including dizziness, hearing loss and cognitive problems. More recently, a similar case has been reported in a U.S. embassy worker in Guangzhou, China. For months, a mix of secrecy and speculation has surrounded those incidents, including an increasingly popular theory that the diplomats were the victims of microwave weapons.
Michael Hoffer, an otolaryngologist at the University of Miami, who was the first to conduct tests on the embassy workers, said on the Friday call that the diplomats are suffering from a “neurosensory dysfunction,” which is primarily affecting their sense of balance.
Read more: https://www.yahoo.com/news/scientists-say-neuroweapons-behind-cuba-attacks-170009735.html
A decade after the financial crisis, many Americans are still struggling to recover
Edmund F. Biro still remembers how good his life was before the financial crisis that nearly destroyed the economy 10 years ago.
The software engineer was earning about $85,000 a year doing consulting work. He, his fiancee and her teenage son lived in a three-bedroom Chatsworth condo that had jumped to about $500,000 in value. And, just in case of emergencies, his bank had set him up with a home equity line of credit.
“As far as I was concerned, things were going really well,” he said, “except I wasn’t aware of all the things that could go wrong.”
There were a lot of them.
http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/business/la-fi-financial-crisis-middle-class-20180909-htmlstory.html
Hunter defense involving prosecutors at Clinton fundraiser likely a non-starter, experts say
With midterm elections approaching and Republican Rep. Duncan Hunter staring down fraudulent campaign spending charges, he and his attorney are attacking the criminal prosecution as being politically motivated.
Their evidence: two federal prosecutors involved in some way or another in the case attended a Democratic fundraiser for then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in 2015.
It’s a defense that Hunter’s attorney raised before the Aug. 21 indictment, and will likely continue to play a role in the team’s legal strategy as the case moves forward.
But in the grand scheme of the case, is it a defense that will have any real impact?
http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/courts/sd-me-secret-service-20180907-story.html
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