So Trump's corruption is just in-your-face now, not even trying to hide it ...

Trump has awarded next year’s G-7 summit of world leaders to his Miami-area resort, the White House said

The US has laws banning giving bribes. And before we turned into a 3rd-world dictatorship, they were actually enforced (at least when abuses were discovered).

My question: how many of the other G-7 countries would be prohibited by their own laws from attending the summit, given that they would be publicly giving money directly to Trump?

I know I know ... yet another hopeful article on cheap energy. But this seems pretty cool to me.

Scientists extract hydrogen gas from oil and bitumen, giving potential pollution-free energy
News article on phys.org



Of course the headline is awful (the production isn't pollution-free, you'll need a lot of oxygen), but it sounds like this might have potential. I just hope the oxygen they pump into the ground doesn't explode.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm really pleased to see this, I've been a fan of Romanoff for a long time!


Colorado Sun story: Democrat Andrew Romanoff announces run for Cory Gardner’s seat

His campaign site: Andrew Romanoff For Senate

Go Andrew!!

Bitcoin (et al) have been havens for speculators and criminals, and little else.

Given the massive risk, fraud, and unregulated nonsense that's going on, I'll assert it's time to seriously evaluate shutting them down.


More at Fire (and lots of it): Berkeley researcher on the only way to fix cryptocurrency

And this jaw-dropping story of $137 million basically disappearing because one person vanished (he died or absconded to India and faked his death):


More at Digital exchange loses $137 million as founder takes passwords to the grave

Certainly fraud and mismanagement is nothing new, but that begs the cost/benefit question. Are cryptocurrencies worth trying to save?

Enough is enough. I for one am getting tired of extortion requests showing up daily in my inbox demanding payment in Bitcoin. If there was a good use for it, I'd write it off as a cost-of-doing-business. But ... there's no good reason for them!

Btw, my background: 45 years of Arpanet/Internet use and a masters in Computer Science. I'm not a Luddite just pissed at the technology.

Every reporter in every interview, their first question should be if they are calling for the immediate impeachment and removal of our so-called President.

There is no need to wait for the Mueller report. The numerous instances of criminality in plain sight are overwhelming. Nor is there a need to wait for more GOP senators to break from his cult. The tide will turn with enough people demanding his removal.

This one tweet is classic witness tampering and obstruction of justice and should be enough to impeach.

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1086277705916502017

For the twitter blocked:



I've lost count of the number of impeachable acts he has obviously committed. There is no need to wait for Mueller when so much is in plain sight.

Congress needs to step up and do their job. And the press needs to point out that playing it safe and stalling (waiting for the Mueller report) is incredibly dangerous to us all.

I think the Dems should absolutely fund a wall. Or rather, a fence. Actually a Cristo fence.

Similar to the "Running Fence" he did in 1976:



But ... instead of white, we need him to use the rainbow colors of LGBT pride this time.

Think we could get a quote from him on how to do a few miles of the southern border?

And as long as nobody tells Trump it's an art project, he'd probably go along with it!

More images: https://christojeanneclaude.net/projects/running-fence?images=completed

These are all recent headlines (and links to the stories). I call 'em diet-headlines for obvious reasons.

Russia fires on Ukrainian vessels in Black Sea; 2 wounded

US makes preparations to sail warship into Black Sea amid Russia-Ukraine tensions

Mikhail Gorbachev: George H.W. Bush and I Ended a War Together. But Peace Is Now in Jeopardy

Trump names new Joint Chiefs chairman

John Kelly, Trump’s Chief of Staff, to Leave White House

Brutal week: Dow plunges 1,150 points

I'm sure someone could do a series just on global warming and turning the planet into Venus before our kids grow old, but this is what's keeping me up nights.

Now ... what was that about not wanting to impeach Trump right away? The GOP support of Trump in the Senate has already started to fracture, and they are not known for staying on a sinking ship. Once they start throwing him under the bus, it'll be amazing how quickly they turn on him.

Oh yes, here's the clip from Galaxy Quest that I think best describes the GOP:

So does anti-matter fall up or down? CERN is trying to find out ....



Also ...

New antimatter gravity experiments begin at CERN

If it falls up, I hope they call it Upsidaisium!

> And when was domestic violence decriminalized?

Feb 7, 2017 https://themoscowtimes.com/news/putin-signs-law-decriminalizing-domestic-abuse-57070

Also earlier ...



Btw, I'm finding this really interesting so far ... https://mothersanddaughters.themoscowtimes.com

There was lots of coverage of the existence of the Russian 456 rules, but I almost gave up on finding the actual list. I'd wanted to know too and was hoping someone else had found it

Btw, I found one story that was pretty cool,

https://themoscowtimes.com/articles/captain-svetlana-medvedeva-paved-way-for-russian-women-to-enter-mens-professions-58973

She sued to be able to captain a boat and got mixed results in the courts. The "court recognized her rejection of employment as discriminatory" but then refused to order any change in behavior by her employer. So she won a symbolic victory but didn't get the job.

One thing I thought was interesting is that all of these 456 jobs are basically "dangerous" and women can legally be hired into them if the job is made safer. But the culture there is that it's just fine for men to work stupidly dangerous jobs, but not women. Crazy!