https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/12/trump-frustrated-toilets-people-flushing-10-15-times.html

President Donald Trump has had enough of water efficiency standards and is taking a stand. At the White House on Friday, Trump said he ordered a federal review of those standards because they are making bathrooms unusable. “People are flushing toilets 10 times, 15 times, as opposed to once. They end up using more water,” Trump said.

It isn’t just the toilets that are an issue, though. “We have a situation where we’re looking very strongly at sinks and showers and other elements of bathrooms, where you turn the faucet on in areas where there’s tremendous amounts of water, where it rushes out to sea because you could never handle it. And you don’t get any water. You turn on the faucet and you don’t get any water,” Trump said. The result of this situation is “you can’t wash your hands practically, there’s so little water comes out of the faucet” and then you “end up using the same amount of water.”

https://twitter.com/washingtonpost/status/1203050997423255553

The president said that his administration is looking into “opening up the standard” of regulations to save water. He recognized that may not be possible in all areas of the country but that doesn’t mean everyone should suffer from a toilet that doesn’t flush well. “There may be some areas where we’ll go the other route—desert areas,” he said. “But for the most part, you have many states where they have so much water that it comes down—it’s called rain—that they don’t know, they don’t know what to do with it.”

https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1203047792622686210

He also complained about energy-efficient lightbulbs that “give you an orange look,” a statement he has made before. “The new bulb is many times more expensive, and, I hate to say it, it doesn’t make you look as good,” Trump said. “Of course, being a vain person, that’s very important to me. It gives you an orange look. I don’t want an orange look. Has anyone noticed that?”

https://twitter.com/chrislhayes/status/1203049998503612425

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/progressivesecularhumanist/2017/12/oklahoma-pastor-busted-running-white-supremacist-prostitution-ring/



“Aryan Pride” for Jesus: An Oklahoma pastor is under arrest after being caught running a prostitution ring with a white supremacist.

Pastor Walter Eugene Brazington Jr. is “being charged with procuring for prostitution and possession of a firearm while in the commission of a felony,” according to a report from Tulsa World.

The Oklahoma pastor was caught running a massage parlor that was being used as a front for a prostitution ring. His partner in crime was white supremacist Tiffany Roach, an HIV positive prostitute who calls herself “Aryan Woman” and professes to have “Whitegirl Pride.”

Brazington is listed as an apostle and prophet for the All Nations Evangelistic Team, a preaching group based in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma.

The felony charges are a result of a sting operation by Oklahoma police. Skeptic Review reports:

https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/05/business/dollar-general-stores-stock-earnings/index.html

New York (CNN Business)Dollar General remains one of the fastest-growing retailers in America, attracting customers with rock-bottom prices on snacks and household goods. It's so confident in that strategy that it plans to open 1,000 new stores in 2020, just as it has for the past several years.

The company tightened its grip on shoppers during the most recent quarter, increasing sales at stores open for at least a year by 4.6% compared with the same period a year ago. It marked Dollar General (DG)'s fastest quarter of sales growth in five years.
Its profit increased, too, up 11% during the quarter and the company raised its outlook, driving its shares up 5% in early trading. Dollar General stock has rallied more than 50% over the last two years.

By opening 1,000 new stores next year, Dollar General's growth is nearly unrivaled in the industry at a time in which many brick-and-mortar retailers are closing stores or folding. Walmart (WMT), which swept into new towns for decades with massive superstores, has essentially stopped opening new ones. By contrast, Dollar General is entering new cities and towns with small stores and opening up in areas where it has already gained hold.

Dollar General currently has more than 16,000 stores in the United States and caters mainly to low-and-middle-income customers in rural and suburban areas, while its rival, Dollar Tree (DLTR), targets suburban, middle-income shoppers. Family Dollar focuses on lower-income urban and rural customers. Dollar Tree bought Family Dollar in 2015, but has struggled to absorb the chain into the company.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/02/tech/french-tariffs-digital-services-tax/index.html

New York (CNN Business)US trade officials proposed a wave of tariffs on French goods Monday as they released a report finding that a new French tax on digital services — affecting large American tech companies such as Facebook (FB) and Google — represents a barrier to trade.

The list of proposed US tariffs covers dozens of products, including cheeses, beauty products, handbags and sparkling wines such as champagne. The move risks raising escalating transatlantic trade tensions after the United States already hit $7.5 billion worth of European goods — including French wine, Italian parmesan cheese and Scotch whisky — in October over subsidies to planemaker Airbus (EADSF).

Roughly $2.4 billion in French products could be subject to the new taxes of up to 100%, the office of the United States Trade Representative said Monday. The public will have until early January to weigh in on the proposal.

The report and proposed tariffs could drive a further wedge between members of the European Union and President Donald Trump, who in July threatened France with "substantial reciprocal action" if it moved forward with its digital services tax.
Trump told reporters in London on Tuesday that while he was "not in love" with Facebook and Google, (GOOGL) he would defend US businesses.

"I'm not going to let people take advantage of American companies," Trump said Tuesday. "If anyone is going to take advantage of the American companies, it's going to be us, it's not going to be France."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2019/12/02/anti-semitic-graffiti-reported-sixth-i-synagogue/

A D.C. Jewish landmark was a target of anti-Semitic graffiti on Friday, an act of vandalism that the organization’s rabbis said fit into a painful nationwide pattern of rising anti-Jewish crime.

“While the damage to the building is minimal and will be fixed quickly, events like this can throw even the toughest person into a tailspin. Given the current climate, we unfortunately are not surprised by this happening,” three rabbis from Sixth & I, the historic Washington synagogue named for its downtown street address, wrote in an email to community members on Monday afternoon. The email cited rising hate crimes against many groups, including Jews.

Staff at the synagogue building, which hosts a wide range of prayer services and communal events, showed photos of the vandalism to The Washington Post. The damage included the word “JEW” carved into a door and swastikas scrawled in red ink on a staircase.

In emails to the synagogue community, Rabbis Shira Stutman, Aaron Potek and Jesse Paikin anticipated some Jews would react emotionally to the damage. “In these moments, it’s important to remember that it is not a shame but an honor to be a Jew …,” the rabbis wrote. “We can and will respond to this hateful act with open doors, in resilience and spirit, living Jewish lives of joy, optimism, and pride.”

D.C. police spokesman Hugh Carew said officers are investigating the incident.

https://wtop.com/dc-transit/2019/11/pentagon-metro-flooded-blue-and-yellow-lines-bypassing-buses-requested/

https://twitter.com/cacaobunni/status/1199665701629374464

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

As if the weather isn’t crummy enough this pre-Turkey Day, the Pentagon Metro has closed due to flooding from a water main break. Blue and Yellow line trains are bypassing it.

The Arlington Department of Environmental Services tweeted that their crews “have determined that the break is in a private @wmata water line. The water flow is now reportedly stopped in the station. Arlington staff will be available to assist with any County feed lines.”

The station is expected to reopen for the evening rush hour. Delays will persist throughout the morning.

According to a Metro spokesperson, at its worst, there was about 5 inches of standing water in the station.

People shared footage and photos of commuters trying to walk through murky water near the faregates.

One commuter decided that walking barefoot through the water was the right choice.

WMATA says there are shuttle buses available to get passengers around the problem.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/26/business/california-cannabis-industry-layoffs/index.html

San Francisco (CNN Business)About 170 years after California's gold rush came the promise of the green rush.

California's legalization of cannabis for adult recreational use was expected to be massive. In 2016, industry investors claimed sales could top $6.5 billion by 2020.

And as 2019 comes to a close, California is indeed home to the world's largest cannabis market, totaling close to $12 billion in estimated sales. But here's the rub: $8.7 billion of that is changing hands in the illicit market.

Now, members of California's cannabis industry are sending an S.O.S. to the state capitol, saying they're struggling to compete against black market operators who don't have to meet stringent regulations or pay taxes and fees. They're urging leaders to make swift regulatory changes or risk the collapse of their emerging industry.

"The hard truth is that until legislative changes are made, our industry will continue to wither away," said Michael Steinmetz, CEO of cannabis distributor Flow Kana, which recently joined a growing list of California cannabis firms that have cut their workforces.

https://edition.cnn.com/2019/11/23/australia/pregnant-woman-attacked-australia-intl-scli/index.html

(CNN)A pregnant woman wearing a headscarf was viciously attacked in a café in a town near Sydney, New South Wales police said Thursday.

The incident happened on Wednesday night in Paramatta, about 15 miles west of Sydney, the police said in a statement.
The 31-year-old woman, who the police said was 38 weeks' pregnant, was sitting at a table, eating and chatting with friends.
CCTV footage of the incident shows a man slowly approaching the victim, leaning over the table before punching her in the head.

In the statement, the police said the man allegedly "punched the woman in the head multiple times before she fell to the ground where it's alleged the man stomped on her head."
The footage shows fellow customers eventually restraining the man, who was then arrested by the police at the scene.
The police said the 43-year-old man has been charged with assault causing bodily harm and affray.
The victim was admitted to hospital for observation after the attack, the police said.

The woman, Rana Haidar, gave CNN permission to publish comments she posted on Facebook after the assault.
"This man verbalised his hatred of Muslims prior to hitting me," Haidar wrote. "He decided that he was going to take it in his power to act upon his hatred and he neither knows me, nor my religion."
She added that she's experienced "verbal abuse and hate from other Australians in the past but I have never thought that physical abuse of this nature could happen to me."