turbinetree
turbinetree's JournalHolger Czukay, bassist with Can, dies aged 79
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/sep/06/holger-czukay-bassist-with-can-dies-aged-79
Hurricane Irma is most powerful ever in Atlantic as it hits Caribbean islands
Source: The Guardian
The most powerful Atlantic Ocean hurricane in recorded history bore down on the islands of the north-east Caribbean on Tuesday night local time, following a path predicted to then rake Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Cuba before possibly heading for Florida over the weekend.
At the far north-eastern edge of the Caribbean, authorities on the Leeward Islands of Antigua and Barbuda cut power and urged residents to shelter indoors as they braced for Hurricane Irma’s first contact with land early on Wednesday.
Officials warned people to seek protection from Irma’s “onslaught” in a statement that closed with: “May God protect us all.”
The category 5 storm had maximum sustained winds of 185 miles (295km) per hour by early Tuesday evening, according to the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Miami.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/sep/06/hurricane-irma-most-powerful-atlantic-caribbean-islands
To all of those twits that think that this isn't climate change---------------------
Plastic fibres found in tap water around the world, study reveals
Microplastic contamination has been found in tap water in countries around the world, leading to calls from scientists for urgent research on the implications for health.
Scores of tap water samples from more than a dozen nations were analysed by scientists for an investigation by Orb Media, who shared the findings with the Guardian. Overall, 83% of the samples were contaminated with plastic fibres.
The US had the highest contamination rate, at 94%, with plastic fibres found in tap water sampled at sites including Congress buildings, the US Environmental Protection Agency’s headquarters, and Trump Tower in New York. Lebanon and India had the next highest rates.
European nations including the UK, Germany and France had the lowest contamination rate, but this was still 72%. The average number of fibres found in each 500ml sample ranged from 4.8 in the US to 1.9 in Europe.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/sep/06/plastic-fibres-found-tap-water-around-world-study-reveals
Two right-wing judges reinstate Republican-backed voter suppression law
Source: Think Progress
In a stroke of horrible luck for voting rights advocates, a case involving Texas’ voter ID law, which was tossed out in its entirety by a federal trial court last month, was assigned to a three-judge appeals court panel that included two of the most conservative judges in the country. Those two judges, Jerry Smith and Jennifer Elrod, reinstated the Texas law Tuesday evening over the dissent of a third colleague.
In what is almost certainly a coincidence, but a very unfortunate one for liberals, Smith and Elrod have a pattern of being assigned politically charged cases and handing down opinions that largely align with Republican orthodoxy. Smith and Elrod were behind a 2014 decision reinstating a Texas anti-abortion law — that law was eventually struck down by the Supreme Court. And they twice sat on panels halting President Obama’s efforts to allow certain undocumented immigrants to remain in the country unmolested.
Smith and Elrod’s Tuesday order is brief and offers little reasoning on the merits. It is the latest chapter in a long, ongoing lawsuit that still has several more court hearings ahead of it before it is complete.
In 2016, the conservative United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit struck down Texas’ voter ID law, noting its discriminatory impact on voters of color. Although voter ID laws are commonly justified as a measure to combat voter fraud at the polls, such fraud barely exists. Yet, as the Fifth Circuit explained, the law’s impact on minority voters is quite real. As one expert witness testified, “Hispanic registered voters and Black registered voters were respectively 195% and 305% more likely than their Anglo peers to lack” voter ID.”
Read more: https://thinkprogress.org/two-right-wing-judges-reinstate-republican-backed-voter-suppression-law-c430aaf4d380/
I really do hate texas................ a lot...................they spend a lot of taxpayer money on this sh*t, a lot of it.............
Paul Ryan praises Trump for repealing DACA, four days after urging him not to repeal it
House Speaker Paul Ryan praised President Trump’s decision to “rescind” the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program Tuesday, just days after saying Trump should not roll back the program.
“However well-intentioned, President Obama’s DACA program was a clear abuse of executive authority, an attempt to create law out of thin air,” Ryan said in a statement following the DACA announcement made by Attorney General Jeff Sessions Tuesday. “Congress writes laws, not the president, and ending this program fulfills a promise that President Trump made to restore the proper role of the executive and legislative branches.”
But last Friday, in an interview with a hometown radio station, Ryan said he favored keeping DACA in place.
“I actually don’t think he should do that,” Ryan said when asked about Trump’s proposal to end the program. “I believe that this is something that Congress has to fix.”
https://thinkprogress.org/paul-ryan-praises-trump-for-repealing-daca-four-days-after-urging-him-not-to-repeal-it-8765bc447614/
How do a spell a racist ass***** Paul Ryan, also known as the look-a-like Eddie Munster, the flip floppier..............
Lawyers Group: Sketchy Election Panel Using Personal Email For Official Biz
Source: Talking Points Memo
By ESME CRIBB Published SEPTEMBER 5, 2017 5:45 PM
Members of President Donald Trump’s bogus “election integrity” commission vice chaired by Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach (R) used personal email to conduct official business, plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the commission claimed Tuesday.
The claims appeared in a joint status report filed by both sides Tuesday in the case in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
Members of the panel “have been using personal email accounts rather than federal government systems to conduct Commission work,” according to the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, which filed suit against the committee in July.
The lawyers’ group said in the filing that the use of personal accounts is a violation of the Presidential Records Act and claimed that lawyers for the commission said “they did not yet have any settled plan for how they would collect emails from these personal, non-federal government systems.”
The lawsuit is against the panel at large, a number of its members and a number of federal offices.
Read more: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/trump-election-commission-uses-personal-email-for-official-business
Maybe they will get a "pardon" prior to pleading if found that "they" broke the LAW..........................
NRA threatens legal action over Virgin Islands firearm confiscation order
Source: The Hill
The National Rifle Association (NRA) is threatening legal action to stop a seizure of guns and ammunition by U.S. Virgin Islands Gov. Kenneth Mapp (I) ahead of Hurricane Irma, the group said Tuesday.
"People need the ability to protect themselves during times of natural disaster," said Chris Cox, executive director of the NRA'S Institute for Legislative Action. "This dangerous order violates the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens and puts their lives at risk."
In an order on Monday, Mapp activated the National Guard to "restore public order, and to guarantee the safety of life and property" in anticipation of the hurricane, the Daily Caller first reported.
The order authorizes and instructs the islands' adjutant general to seize "arms, ammunition, explosives, incendiary material, and any other property that may be required by the military forces for the performance of this emergency mission," as approved by the territory's Department of Justice.
Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/349305-nra-condemns-us-virgin-island-firearm-confiscation-plan
FU............................ NRA your f*cking logic is that if the government collapses during this event, that its just fine to lock and load---------------FU because your paranoid logic, when people will be dying in mud slides, and flooding.....................
Deep Purple-Child in Time
?list=RDjJnhdBpoBKMWhat is your problem? MSNBCs Hallie Jackson spanks DACA opponent Kris Kobach
Kris Kobach for lying about Dreamers.....................
West failing to tackle Russian hacking and fake news, says Latvia
The west is failing to get to grips with Russian hacking and fake news, the Latvian foreign minister, Edgars Rinkēvičs, has said.
Speaking on a visit to London, Rinkēvičs said there was increasing evidence that Russia was automating disinformation on social media. Pointing to new Nato-sponsored research showing more than five times the number of Russian language tweets sent in Latvia concerning Nato came from bots, instead of from individuals. The figure in Estonia was nine times as many. He described the tactic as ”very systematic and a new way to spread propaganda amongst young people”.
He urged US Congress to press ahead with its inquiry into Russian interference in the 2016 US election, saying “it is essential for all US allies to understand the mechanics of how you combine cyber attack and then use it as [an] information weapon to influence people’s opinions”.
Rinkēvičs said: “If you have hacking, fake news with a purpose, it is very difficult to react. We can find out what happened, but it is very difficult to prove. The whole law in this area needs addressing.”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/sep/05/west-failing-to-tackle-russian-hacking-and-fake-news-says-latvia
Why hasn't the dubious republicans held any more open committee hearings on this issue-------------------they have held none
The last one 3/30/2017 had this:
And then we had this:
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