Category Archives: News to use

Useful news for all to advance knowledge of the world and how it works

Open Thread | Latest Political Happenings

Lots of political happenings. First, some truth from 44. “People like Putin, and Steve Bannon for that matter, understand it’s not necessary for …

Open Thread | Latest Political Happenings

Russian FSB Spies Hilariously Screw Up Vladimir Putin’s ‘Assassination Plot’ Claim

In the original video, three copies of a Sims video game were shown laid out on the bed, as well as a book containing a menacing inscription, stating in part: “Kill to live and live to kill,” signed with the name of “Signature unclear.”

Social media users were quick to point that the SIMS game and “Signature unclear” could be signs that the arrest was part of an FSB hoax gone wrong, pointing out the directives for setting up the scene of the crime might have included planting three SIM cards and signing the book with an indiscernible signature—and that these instructions might have been misunderstood or taken too literally by the agents. Perhaps realizing their agents have flubbed, official videos posted by the FSB on its YouTube channel excluded the book and blurred the images of the SIMS video games.

Despite obvious holes in the official narrative of the so-called assassination plot, the Kremlin appears to be sticking with its story. On Monday, director of the Russian Federal Security Service Alexander Bortnikov told Russia’s Rossiya-1 channel that a group of six Russian neo-Nazis were indeed planning to kill state TV host Vladimir Solovyov on the orders of Ukraine’s Security Services.

Source: Russian FSB Spies Hilariously Screw Up Vladimir Putin’s ‘Assassination Plot’ Claim

Vladimir #atozchallenge #ukraine #fiction

penned in moon dust

“Are you okay?” My husband shook my body. ‘Honey, are you okay?” He said louder. “Wake up!!!”

When I didn’t respond, he picked me up. For a moment he had no idea what to do. Sirens were going off and bombs were falling. “What do I do? He screamed.

He saw a dim light that was over the door of the church. He ran there praying that the bombs would fall somewhere else.

“Are there any medical people?” He said with a panic that none of our team had ever seen.

Olga grabbed his hand and without a word directed him to a quiet area where there was a cot.

“We need to set her down in quiet and not too much light.” Our friend who had medical training told me. “Her vitals are strong. I think she has a concussion and hopefully will revive.”

Unfortunately, hospitals were one of…

View original post 507 more words

Opinion | Will the End of the Mask Mandate Hobble Our Response to the Next Pandemic? – The New York Times

No matter how you feel now about masks, you should be alarmed by her decision. Judge Mizelle’s ruling could prevent the federal government from effectively and nimbly responding to future pandemics. And long after this pandemic has faded, her approach and rationale could undermine the federal government’s authority to confront other big problems, from occupational health and safety to climate change.

The Biden administration has appealed the decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, but that carries its own risks. Six of the 11 active judges on that court are Trump appointees. A loss there by the Justice Department could permanently weaken the government’s authority to respond to health emergencies.

Up until very recently, the statutory authority of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to try to curb the interstate or international transmission of an infectious, deadly disease was not in doubt. The Public Health Service Act authorizes the C.D.C. to “make and enforce such regulations” that in its “judgment are necessary to prevent the introduction, transmission or spread of communicable diseases.”

The law provides that the C.D.C. can enforce “sanitation” and “other measures” to achieve this goal. The transportation mask requirement is crucial to the agency’s ability to meet its congressional mandate because travelers in a pandemic can unknowingly carry a virus across the country, dispersing it along the way.

Since the New Deal, federal courts have generally declined to strike down reasonable agency regulations. And for good reason. In writing laws, Congress cannot envision or micromanage every possible scenario. Unexpected events — say, perhaps, a global public health crisis — create novel challenges. So, Congress delegates rule-making power to agencies, which develop and issue evidence-based regulations to combat complex problems.