Daily Archives: April 30, 2024

News to use

Judge fines Trump $9,000 for contempt in hush money trial, threatens jail | Reuters

The judge overseeing Donald Trump’s criminal hush money trial fined the former U.S. president $9,000 for contempt of court on Tuesday and said he would consider jailing him if he continued to violate a gag order.
In a written order, Justice Juan Merchan said the fine may not be enough to serve as a deterrent for the wealthy businessman-turned-politician and lamented he did not have the authority to impose a higher penalty.
“Defendant is hereby warned that the Court will not tolerate willful violations of its lawful orders and that if necessary and appropriate under the circumstances, it will impose an incarceratory punishment,” Merchan wrote.
Merchan had imposed the gag order to prevent Trump from criticizing witnesses and others involved in the case.
The fine — $1,000 for each of nine online statements that Merchan said violated the order — was just short of the $10,000 penalty that prosecutors had requested for posts that insulted likely witnesses and questioned the impartiality of the jury.

Source: Judge fines Trump $9,000 for contempt in hush money trial, threatens jail | Reuters

News to use

Revealed: Tyson Foods dumps millions of pounds of toxic pollutants into US rivers and lakes | Environment | The Guardian

A satellite map from Google Earth of a Tyson processing plant in Dakota City, Nebraska Illustration: Guardian Design

Tyson Foods dumped millions of pounds of toxic pollutants directly into American rivers and lakes over the last five years, threatening critical ecosystems, endangering wildlife and human health, a new investigation reveals.

Nitrogen, phosphorus, chloride, oil and cyanide were among the 371m lb of pollutants released into waterways by just 41 Tyson slaughterhouses and mega processing plants between 2018 and 2022.

According to research by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), the contaminants were dispersed in 87bn gallons of wastewater – which also contains blood, bacteria and animal feces – and released directly into streams, rivers, lakes and wetlands relied on for drinking water, fishing and recreation. The UCS analysis, shared exclusively with the Guardian, is based on the most recent publicly available water pollution data Tyson is required to report under current regulations.

Source: Revealed: Tyson Foods dumps millions of pounds of toxic pollutants into US rivers and lakes | Environment | The Guardian

News to use

‘My whole family has perished:’ 22 killed in Israeli airstrike on Rafah, hospital staff say – Egypt Independent

A scene from Rafah's Al-Najar Hospital on Monday.

A scene from Rafah’s Al-Najar Hospital on Monday. Abed Rahim Khatib/Anadolu/Getty Images

Another member of the Abu Taha family says in the video that 10 of his relatives were killed in the airstrike. Some of his relatives were originally displaced from Khan Younis, where several of them were killed in a previous Israeli airstrike. The remaining few who had fled Khan Younis for the safety of Rafah have now been killed overnight in Rafah, he says.

“They were sleeping in their homes when the airstrike hit at around 12:20 am…nowhere is safe.

Source: ‘My whole family has perished:’ 22 killed in Israeli airstrike on Rafah, hospital staff say – Egypt Independent

News to use

‘Incredible’ news for bears and wild horses as US shifts preservation plans | National parks | The Guardian

a wild horse in an open field

A wild horse in Theodore Roosevelt national park in North Dakota in 2014. Photograph: Prisma by Dukas/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

 

National Park Service will reintroduce bears to Washington’s North Cascades and won’t remove horses from South Dakota park

Source: ‘Incredible’ news for bears and wild horses as US shifts preservation plans | National parks | The Guardian

News to use

Don’t Rush Me to Kick the Bucket! | From Behind the Pen

Image Credit: Brett Jordan

OK, what are these folks trying to really say? When I turned 65, I began getting solicitations from retirement facilities, long-term care facilities, insurance companies to take out more funeral insurance so my family wouldn’t be burdened by my funeral expenses, and free dinner offers to listen to some “expert” who would tell me and other attendees how to better prepare to die! Really y’all? Are they for real?

First of all, are these folks trying to swindle every dime from us before leaving us penniless and thinking we are clueless about their motives? It’s all about the “Benjamins!” 💲💲💲 Now, I’m not sitting here twiddling my thumbs thinking I am immortal. Hogwash! I have and continue to adjust my preparatory celebration for when the time comes and I still may not have prepared as well as I thought.  I have been preparing for the inevitable, although it’s hard to prepare for the inevitable when you don’t know when that inevitable will be. I suppose that’s why it’s called “preparation.”

I understand these companies and individuals are trying to get you as their “eternal customer” but in light of the junk mail and emails I get, I don’t think these marketing strategies are working for me. So, for the rest of my days or years, for now, I will celebrate this gift of life I wake up to and not go crazy from the fear and anxiety these solicitations seem to evoke. Have any of you over the young age of 65 been getting any unsolicited notices from funeral homes, or long-term care facilities?

Kenny Loggins – Celebrate Me Home (released on April 13, 1977, by Columbia Records)

Source: Don’t Rush Me to Kick the Bucket! | From Behind the Pen