Syria War: Trump Says Missiles ‘Will Be Coming’
April 11th, 2018Wow. This is very nuts:
Russia vows to shoot down any and all missiles fired at Syria. Get ready Russia, because they will be coming, nice and new and “smart!” You shouldn’t be partners with a Gas Killing Animal who kills his people and enjoys it!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 11, 2018
Via: BBC:
US President Donald Trump has tweeted that Russia should “get ready” for missiles to be fired at its ally Syria, in response to an alleged chemical attack near Damascus on Saturday.
“Get ready Russia, because they will be coming, nice and new and ‘smart!'” Mr Trump said in his tweet.
Senior Russian figures have threatened to meet any US strikes with a response.
President Bashar al-Assad’s government denies mounting a chemical attack on the rebel-held town of Douma.
In one his tweets on Wednesday, Mr Trump called the Syrian leader a “gas killing animal”.
Facebook Donated to 46 of 55 Members on Committee That Will Question Zuckerberg
April 10th, 2018Via: USA Today:
Members of the House and Senate committees that will question Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg about user privacy protection next week are also some of the biggest recipients of campaign contributions from Facebook employees directly and the political action committee funded by employees.
The congressional panel that got the most Facebook contributions is the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which announced Wednesday morning it would question Zuckerberg on April 11.
FBI Raids Offices, Home of Trump’s Personal Lawyer
April 9th, 2018Via: Reuters:
The Federal Bureau of Investigation on Monday raided the offices and home of U.S. President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen, law enforcement sources said, in a dramatic new development in a series of probes involving close Trump associates.
Cohen’s lawyer, Stephen M. Ryan, said that U.S. prosecutors conducted a search that was partly a referral by the Office of Special Counsel, Robert Mueller.
Mueller is investigating whether members of Trump’s 2016 campaign colluded with Russia during the U.S. presidential election. Trump has called the probe a “witch hunt” and denied any collusion.
…
Cohen has been at the center of a controversy over a $130,000 payment he has admitted making shortly before the 2016 election to porn star Stormy Daniels, who has said that she had sex once with Trump in 2006 and was paid to keep quiet about it.
California: SB-1424 Internet: Social Media: False Information: Strategic Plan
April 9th, 2018Via: Jon Rappoport:
This bill would require any person who operates a social media, as defined, Internet Web site with a physical presence in California to develop a strategic plan to verify news stories shared on its Web site. The bill would require the plan to include, among other things, a plan to mitigate the spread of false information through news stories, the utilization of fact-checkers to verify news stories, providing outreach to social media users, and placing a warning on a news story containing false information.
(a) Any person who operates a social media Internet Web site with physical presence in California shall develop a strategic plan to verify news stories shared on its Internet Web site.
(b) The strategic plan shall include, but is not limited to, all of the following:
(1) A plan to mitigate the spread of false information through news stories.
(2) The utilization of fact-checkers to verify news stories.
(3) Providing outreach to social media users regarding news stories containing false information.
(4) Placing a warning on a news story containing false information.
(c) As used in this section, “social media” means an electronic service or account, or electronic content, including, but not limited to, videos, still photographs, blogs, video blogs, podcasts, instant and text messages, email, online services or accounts, or Internet Web site profiles or locations.
CRISPR’d Food, Coming Soon to a Supermarket Near You
April 8th, 2018Via: Wired:
FOR YEARS NOW, the US Department of Agriculture has been flirting with the latest and greatest DNA manipulation technologies. Since 2016, it has given free passes to at least a dozen gene-edited crops, ruling that they fall outside its regulatory purview. But on Wednesday, March 28, the agency made its relationship status official; effective immediately, certain gene-edited plants can be designed, cultivated, and sold free from regulation. “With this approach, USDA seeks to allow innovation when there is no risk present,” US Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue said in a statement.
Gut Microbes Are Vulnerable to Wide Range of Drugs
April 8th, 2018Via: Nature:
Anti-inflammatories, antipsychotics and cancer drugs are among a host of medications that might inadvertently slow the growth of gut bacteria.
Many antibiotics can upset digestion, but it has not been clear to what extent other types of drug affect the gut’s bacterial balance.
Athanasios Typas at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg, Germany, and his colleagues tested the effect of 835 non-antibiotic drugs on 40 common gut bacteria. Roughly one-quarter of the drugs restrained the growth of at least one bacterium, and nearly 5% affected at least ten. The authors also found that patients taking these non-antibiotics often have side effects similar to those reported for antibiotics.
Do You Trust This Computer?
April 7th, 2018Via: doyoutrustthiscomputer.org:
Do You Trust This Computer? from Busy Child on Vimeo.
Japan Activates First Marines Since WW2 to Bolster Defenses Against China
April 7th, 2018Via: Reuters:
Japan on Saturday activated its first marine unit since World War Two trained to counter invaders occupying Japanese islands along the edge of the East China Sea that Tokyo fears are vulnerable to attack by China.
How China Can Win a Trade War in 1 Move
April 6th, 2018Via: The Week:
China will not be easily cowed in a trade dispute. Chinese President Xi Jinping is now exchanging threats of tit-for-tat tariffs with President Trump, who announced Thursday he’s considering raising the stakes another $100 billion. China vowed to defend itself “at any cost.”
Compared to the scale of the U.S. economy, the numbers are still relatively trivial and mostly theoretical. But if things do spiral into all-out trade war, it’s worth noting China has a nuclear option.
I’m referring to rare earth metals.
These are elements like dysprosium, neodymium, gadolinium, and ytterbium. They aren’t actually rare, but they do play crucial roles in everything from smart phones to electric car motors, hard drives, wind turbines, military radar, smart bombs, laser guidance, and more. They’re also quite difficult to mine and process.
It turns out the United States is almost entirely dependent on foreign suppliers for rare earth metals. More importantly, it’s almost entirely dependent on China specifically for rare earth metals that have been processed into a final and usable form.
Basically, if China really wanted to mess with America, it could just clamp down on these exports. That would throw a massive wrench into America’s supply chain for high-tech consumer products, not to mention much of our military’s advanced weapons systems.
In fact, China isn’t just America’s major supplier of rare earth metals; it’s the rest of the globe’s major supplier as well.
Body of CDC Worker Who Mysteriously Disappeared in February Found in a River
April 5th, 2018Via: Business Insider:
The mystery surrounding the February disappearance of a 35-year-old Centres for Disease Control and Prevention worker ended tragically this week, with the Atlanta Fire Rescue Department finding the CDC commander’s body in a river late Tuesday evening.
The Atlanta Police Department confirmed to Business Insider that Timothy Cunningham’s body was recovered in the Chattahoochee River in northwest Atlanta. Cunningham was wearing his favourite jogging shoes when he was found by a group of fishermen, police said.
Cunningham left work at the CDC feeling sick on February 12, then tried to call his mum on his drive home, but hadn’t been heard from since.
Maj. Michael O’Connor of the Atlanta Police Department said in February that Cunningham had recently been turned down for a promotion at work, and left feeling ill shortly after his supervisor explained why he’d been passed over.
Cunningham drove off that day and was never seen alive again, even as his car, credit and debit cards, dog, keys, and mobile phone were all recovered at his home, the police said.
“We found that to be an unusual circumstance in a missing persons case,” Major O’Connor told reporters at a press conference on Thursday afternoon. The only thing police said they found in Cunningham’s pockets when his body was recovered were three crystals.
Police said they “knew he was a collector of crystals.”
The muddy river spot where the officer was found wasn’t too far from his house, but there weren’t any roads or running trails nearby, so it’s not clear exactly how Cunningham got in there. Police say they’d conducted a “very thorough” search of the riverbanks in that area on February 23, but didn’t find any signs of the missing commander.
“We may never be able to tell you how he got into the river,” O’Connor said. Doctors who’ve examined his body say there’s no evidence of trauma or foul play, and they believe the cause of death is drowning.
