[American Conservative] On July 25, Pakistani-American IT specialist Imran Awan was arrested at Dulles Airport for bank fraud while he was allegedly fleeing to Pakistan. The reports predictably produced some press coverage before the story died. Yet the speed at which the news vanished has prompted some observers to suggest that there might actually be something more to the disappearance than the operation of the normal media-reporting cycle. A number of conservative websites, including Breitbart, have been sounding the alarm over a possible cover-up that just might even be linked to what we are now calling Russiagate.
To be sure, the tale is a strange one with plenty of unsavory links. Thirty-seven-year-old Awan, as well as his wife and two brothers Abid and Jamal, worked as IT administrators for nearly 30 congressmen, all Democrats, including former Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman-Schultz. They did not have security clearances and it is not even certain that they were in any way checked out before being hired. At one point, they brought into the House as a colleague one Rao Abbas, someone to whom they owed money and who might have had no qualifications at all to work IT. Abbas wound up working in the office of Rep. Patrick Murphy, who was at the time a member of the House Intelligence Committee, as well as for Rep. Theo Deutch. He was paid $250,000.
The process of granting security clearances to Congressional staff is not exactly transparent, but it is not unlike clearances for other government agencies.
Skipping down to the closing para and potential motives.
Finally, there are the lingering concerns about the unfortunately well-established Russiagate narrative. Did the Russians really hack into the DNC, or was it some kind of inside job carried out by someone actually working for Debbie Wasserman-Schultz for reasons that have yet to be determined, possibly to include espionage? There are many questions—and so far, few answers. Emphasis added.
#1
Dems waived Background Checks on Awan and Company, many of which had an extensive criminal history. Now you know why Wasserman Schultz didn't want FBI Forensic experts to examine her computers.
[FOX] A gang of thieves broke into a Ram truck factory parking lot early Thursday morning and stole around 10 pickups that were fresh off of the assembly line.
Police believe the crooks arrived at the Warren Truck Assembly plant at around 4 a.m. in another stolen truck found nearby, cut through a security fence and each jumped in a Ram 1500.
A guard said one of the trucks smashed through a security gate and was followed by a convoy as they all took off in the same direction.
Police say there is security footage of the crime and that they are looking for more along the roads leading away from the facility.
[Oregonian] A horse is suing his former Washington County owner for $100,000 in damages in a rare case in which an animal is listed as a plaintiff in legal action against its guardian.
The Animal Legal Defense Fund in Portland has filed suit against former owner Gwendolyn Vercher, 51, of Cornelius on behalf of the horse.
Justice, an 8-year-old American Quarter Horse, is seeking damages for negligence that left him 300 pounds underweight and afflicted with lice, a skin infection and damaged genitals from severe frostbite, according to the lawsuit filed Tuesday in Washington County Circuit Court. He will require special medical care for the rest of his life, the suit said.
Justice, formerly known as Shadow when he lived with Vercher, was removed from the Cornelius property in March 2017 and now lives at a horse rescue in Troutdale.
Sarah Hanneken, one of the attorneys representing the horse in the case, said state case law has shown animals have legally protected rights. She said Justice should be allowed to recover the costs of damages for pain and suffering, just as a human victim would.
"The Oregon legislature clearly established an anti-cruelty statute for the safety and protection of animals," she said. "Victims of crimes can sue their abusers and animals are sentient beings that are recognized as victims under Oregon law. So with that premise, we've come to the conclusion that animals can sue their abusers and we're confident of our stance in this case."
#1
Poor Loki delivered a horse
(a course which I cannot endorse)
That could run for nine nights
On eight legs, with no lights,
Down to Hel, and back (hey, he was Norse!).
About the predicted $300/barrel petroleum price...
[AlAhram] Italian multinational oil and gas company Eni announced in a statement on Thursday a new oil discovery at the A-2X exploration prospect, located in the South West Meleiha license in the Egyptian Western Desert.
The well is the first drilled by Eni to explore the deep geological sequences of the Faghur Basin, the company said.
"The exploratory well, named SWM A-2X, has been drilled to a total depth of 5,090 meters and encountered 18 meters of light oil in the Paleozoic sandstones of Dessouky Formation of Carboniferous age," Eni said in a statement.
"Based on Competent Authority’s approval, the production is expected to be linked to already existing nearby infrastructures and then shipped to El-Hamra Terminal through existing pipelines," the statement added.
Egypt's Minister of Oil Tarek El-Mullah said that the exploration using the latest technologies in the Western Desert area has shown very promising results, according to Ahram Arabic website.
El-Mullah added that there will continue to be intensified exploration in the area, especially with the already existing infrastructure that would allow the production of high quality crude oil.
Last week, Eni announced in a statement the start of production at the Zohr gas field's second production unit (T-1), which will increase the production capacity by 400 million standard cubic feet per day (MMSCFD).
The step comes four months after gas production started at Zohr, the largest offshore gas field in the Mediterranean.
Zohr now has a capacity of 800 MMSCFD, or 150,000 barrels of oil equivalent (BOE) per day, the company said.
Eni is Egypt's leading LNG producer, producing around 250,000 BOE per day.
[All Africa] King Mswati the absolute monarch of impoverished Swaziland wore a watch worth US$1.6 million and a suit beaded with diamonds to his 50th birthday party.
Days earlier he had received delivery of his second private jet. This one, an A340-300 Airbus, reportedly cost as much as US$30 million after VIP upgrades.
These are examples of the King's lavish lifestyle. He has fleets of top-of-the-range BMW and Mercedes cars and he and his family travel the world in luxury.
Meanwhile, ...back at the Hubba Hubba Club, Big Shirley was still trying to snatch Nunzio bald-headed. She was already halfway there... seven in ten of his 1.1 million subjects live in abject poverty with incomes less than the equivalent of US$2 per day.
Media in Swaziland, where political parties are banned, are heavily censored and do not report on the excesses of the King and his Royal family. Therefore, it is difficult to determine their full extent, but it has been possible to piece together some of the details.
In 2012 he acquired his first private jet, estimated to cost US$17 million. He refused to say who had paid for it, leading to speculation that the money came from public funds.
Often, the King abandons his private jet but still travels abroad in luxury. In May 2012 he went to London to attend a lunch to mark the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. The trip was estimated to cost US$794,500. He took with him his first wife Inkhosikati LaMbikiza. She wore to the lunch shoes trimmed with jewels that cost £995 (US$1,559). It would take seven-out-of-ten Swazis at least three years to earn the price of the shoes.
The previous year he was in London with a party of 50 people for the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middlelton, staying at a US$1,000 per night hotel on a trip that was estimated to cost US$700,000 for the hire of a private jet to take the King and his party from Swaziland to the UK.
The extravagant spending came just as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) criticised Swaziland for diverting money that should have been used on education and health to other spending. As a result of this spending the IMF withdrew its team that was advising the government on economic recovery from Swaziland.
In 2012 Inkhosikati LaMotsa, the second of the King's wives, stayed at a Johannesburg hotel on a personal trip at a cost of US$60,000 a month.
The King has at least 13 wives and they regularly travel the world on lavish shopping trips. Details are kept from the Swazi people, but it is estimated that the trips take place several times a year.
In 2016 at least three of his wives went shopping in Orlando, Florida, with an entourage of more than 100, reportedly spending about US$1 million. The cost of this holiday was equivalent to the drought relief that the United States was then providing to the drought-stricken Kingdom.
Reports of the trip prompted Lisa Peterson, the then US ambassador to Swaziland, to warn the Kingdom might not receive further food aid from her country because of the Swazi King's 'lavish spending' on holidays.
News24 in South Africa reported Peterson saying the US had limited funds for drought relief. She said, 'When we hear of the lavish spending by the Swazi royal family - especially while a third of their citizens need food aid - it becomes difficult to encourage our government to make more emergency aid available. You can't expect international donors to give more money to the citizens of Swaziland than their own leaders give them.'
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05/04/2018 00:00 ||
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Thus far this is the only source for the story also reported by the Daily Mail and Breitbart. And given the excitability of the Egyptian Press, at this point it seems to me it should be characterized as a hopeful rumour rather than fact, though according to the Breitbart article there have been discussions.
[EgyptIndependent] In wake of wide Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... n cultural and social global openness, for the first time in the country’s history it has signed a cooperative agreement with the Vatican to build churches for Christian citizens to advocate the important role of religions and cultures in renouncing violence, extremism, terrorism and achieving security and stability in the world.
The agreement was signed by the Secretary General of the Moslem World League Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdel Karim al-Issa and the President of the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue in the Vatican and the French cardinal of the Catholic Church Jean-Louis Tauran to achieve mutual goals between both sides.
The agreement also states that a coordinating joint committee will be established comprising two representatives for both sides to organize future meetings. The committee is expected to be held once every two years and its meetings will be alternated between Rome and a city chosen by the Islamic World League, according to the Saudi Arabian press.
The historic visit also included a meeting with the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed Bin Salman in the Saudi capital Riyadh.
Tauran said that he supports equal treatment to all citizens regardless their religion, including those who do not profess any religion; he also called on setting common basis in building worship places, according to "L’osservatore romano", the Italian newspaper published by the Vatican.
In an interview with the Vatican News newspaper after the visit, Tauran said he was pleased by what he described as ’the beginning of the rapprochement’. "It is a sign that the Saudi authorities are now ready to give a new image to the country," he added.
Earlier in March, Bin Salman met with Pope Tawadros II, Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of St. Mark during his visit to Egypt; Tawadros strongly praised Bin Salman, saying he represents an open and modern image of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
"The visit of the Saudi Crown Prince was a great pleasure, and I was very impressed by his personality and smile, and his knowledge and understanding of history and current events," the Pope said during an interview on MBC TV satellite channel.
Update from the Daily Mail at 8:45 pm EDT:
There was no immediate confirmation from the Vatican. MailOnline has approached Vatican and Saudi authorities for comment but they have not yet responded.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
05/04/2018 00:00 ||
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#1
if true this would be big
several haditha prohibit the caliph from building a church anywhere
and others prohibit any the 'people of the book' from the arabian peninsula
Posted by: lord garth ||
05/04/2018 12:49 Comments ||
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[AAWSAT] The Kuwaiti government easily passed Wednesday one of three obstacles during a marathon session to discuss three interrogation requests.
While Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber al-Mubarak survived the questioning, both the government and the speaker of the National Assembly seemed satisfied with the outcome of the vote of confidence for Oil and Electricity Minister Bakheet al-Rashidi and Minister of State for Economic Affairs Hind al-Sabeeh on May 10.
Following a 24-hour marathon session, which witnessed the discussion of three government-directed interrogations, 10 politicians filed a no-confidence motion against Rashidi and Sabeeh.
Speaker of the National Assembly Marzouq al-Ghanim said that the two ministers would not resign during next week’s session.
Ghanim told news hounds the first no-confidence request was submitted by MPs Abdul Wahab al-Babtain and Omar al-Tabtabaei against Rashidi.
A no-confidence motion has been filed against the minister and the voting on the motion will take place during Thursday’s session on May 10, Ghanim added.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/04/2018 00:00 ||
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[Time] Like many British septuagenarians, David Charles Graves lived alone. The 75-year-old, known by everyone as Charlie, had no close friends or family; it’s perhaps why he became such a fixture at his local pub, the Ivy House in Nunhead, south east London. Ivy House regulars became as familiar with the sight of Charlie sipping a pint of Becks lager at the bar as they did with the pub’s quirky stage and furniture restored from the 1930s.
Charlie’s attachment to his local pub will resonate with many Britons. As far back as Roman times, when roadside inns offered comfort to travelers, pubs have occupied a unique place at the heart of British society. In Shakespeare’s time, there was roughly one pub for every 200 people and they feature in several of his plays‐ in Henry IV, for instance, Prince Hal, Falstaff and others constantly wander in and out of the Boar’s Head Tavern in Eastcheap, east London. George Orwell’s famous 1946 ’Moon Under Water’ essay, describing the 10 key points of his ideal pub, notes that alongside draught stout, open fires, cheap meals, a garden and no radio, "the barmaids know most of their customers by name, and take a personal interest in everyone."
Today, pubs still play a part in alleviating social isolation, particularly among elderly Britons like Charlie. Research by the University of Oxford shows that these watering holes can improve people’s engagement with their community and social network size, ultimately affecting how satisfied they feel in life.
h/t Gates of Vienna
While violent crime in the UK continues to soar and grooming gangs roam the streets, a man in Scotland was imprisoned and charged for the crime of possessing a potato peeler in public.
No, this isn’t the Onion.
"A man ended up behind bars after being found in a Dunfermline street with an offensive weapon, a potato peeler," reports the Dunfermline Press.
The man, who has "significant learning difficulties," subsequently appeared in court and was charged with "possession of an object that which had a blade or was sharply pointed."
39-year-old Scott Walker will return to court on May 16th for sentencing. Of course, this has nothing to do with the USA campaign to bun "Assault Weapons", does it?
#2
If he was Irish, wouldn't a potato peeler be like Sikh's knife?
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
05/04/2018 7:19 Comments ||
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#3
It's not just the 2d Amendment, but also the 6th that the crown insured American rights and liberties by their capricious behaviors towards its former subjects. The right to jury trial would get any such application thrown out in court.
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/04/2018 9:45 Comments ||
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#6
"Is that a 'tater in yer pocket or you just happy to see me?"
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
05/04/2018 10:03 Comments ||
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#7
My wife left a wine corkscrew in the suitcase from an earlier trip. I used the suitcase and didn't think to check the suitcase. TSA was p!ssy about it and confiscated the corkscrew. I suppose I could have made a fuss but I probably would have ended up getting arrested and missed my flight.
[NY Times] President Trump has ordered the Pentagon to prepare options for drawing down American troops in South Korea, just weeks before he holds a landmark meeting with North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, according to several people briefed on the deliberations.
Reduced troop levels are not intended to be a bargaining chip in Mr. Trump’s talks with Mr. Kim about his weapons program, these officials said. But they acknowledged that a peace treaty between the two Koreas could diminish the need for the 23,500 soldiers currently stationed on the peninsula.
[Ynet] US President Donald Trump ...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States... has not asked the Pentagon for options to reduce US forces based in South Korea, US National Security Adviser John Bolton said in a statement on Friday.
His comment comes after the New York Times ...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... , citing several people briefed on the deliberations, reported on Thursday that the president was seeking options to curb the number of American troops stationed in South Korea.
#3
Yes, we all know there was no formal peace treaty. Nonetheless the Korean Conflict ended in 1953 and for the past 25 years there has been no credible threat of invasion from the North. The formal peace treaty will be signed soon and with it will go the entire reason for US troops to be in Korea in the first place. We'll need a big victory parade to welcome them when they get home.
Posted by: Herb McCoy ||
05/04/2018 9:44 Comments ||
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#4
[NY Times] ...according to several people briefed on the deliberations.
Given all the other plans the Pentagon has on file (invasion of Canada, anyone?), this is a reasonable preparation against a possible future need. Or someone could be gaslighting the New York Times, which richly deserves it.
#6
Mr. Bolton says the New York Times’ sources got it wrong. And how lovely to be able to use the Darth Bolton image again, left over as it is from his time as our ambassador to the UN.
[AAWSAT] Tourists in Australia's Lake Macquarie are ignoring warnings and feeding carrots to kangaroos who are aggressive at the sight of sugary snack, a tour operator said.
The issue has reached the point where national news is warning tourists of the dangers of feeding kangaroos.
Each week thousands of people come to see the kangaroos near a psychiatric hospital, enticed by travel blogs promising "adorable wild kangaroos" that are "tame enough to get close to and take photos with," Rooters reported.
Tourists approach kangaroos with carrots in their hands and while trying to take photos, they get attacked.
A photo posted by a tour operator on social media showed a kangaroo leaping up to kick a tourist with its powerful legs. Other photos showed a woman with a scratched face.
"Kangaroos can occasionally be aggressive no matter what the circumstances are, but 90 percent of the time it's the people who are trying to feed them who are attacked," Shane Lewis, who operates a tourist shuttle service to the park, told Rooters.
Lewis said he showed photos of injuries to tourists as a reminder of the damage a wild animal can do.
A kangaroo's natural diet is mostly grass, so the sugar in carrots can make it hard to effectively absorb nutrients and lead to a "slow and painful death", she added.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/04/2018 00:00 ||
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#1
Just remember kids, roos may be cute but they are white tailed deers with possum brains!
[Breitbart] The U.S. economy added 164,000 jobs in April and unemployment ticked down to 3.9 percent, the lowest since before the bursting of the tech bubble at the end of the last century.
Economists had forecast nonfarm payrolls to grow by 192,000 and unemployment to tick down from 4.1 percent to 4.0 percent, according to Thomson Reuters. The unemployment rate had been stuck at 4.1 percent for sixth months.
April’s employment report showed that hiring has snapped back from a particularly weak March when the economy added just 135,000 jobs, according to the revised figure released Friday. Initially, March was reported to have added just 103,000 jobs. March’s weakness was likely due to harsh weather and payback from a particularly strong hiring month in February, which added 324,000 jobs after Friday’s revisions.
The upward revision of March’s numbers may help explain why April’s numbers fell short of expectations. The 30,000 or so jobs that weren’t created in April were actually created earlier in the year.
[AAWSAT] Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said Thursday there would be "no room for impunity" for ETA's crimes even though the Basque separatist group has said it would fully disband.
"ETA can announce its disappearance but its crimes do not disappear nor do the efforts to pursue and punish them," Rajoy said in a televised speech in the northern city of Logrono.
"ETA has completely dissolved all its structures and ended its political initiative," said a letter dated April 16 and published by the Spanish online newspaper El Diario on Wednesday.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/04/2018 00:00 ||
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How she can say this without laughing is beyond my comprehension...
[Grabie News (?)] - CAMEROTA: "The breaking news that we just had moments ago were the new job numbers, the lowest in anybody’s memory, 3.9 percent unemployment rate. It’s been 15 months of Donald Trump’s presidency. Do you give him credit for that?"
JARRETT: "Look, I think we have to look at it over a longer horizon than that. If you think about what the economy was like when President Obama took office, we were losing 750,000 jobs a month. Under his watch the unemployment rate dropped in half and it’s encouraging to see that we’re continuing to make progress. We want to see wages go up and I think that’s an important focus and I was glad to see you talk about that too. So for the workers out there who are back to work today, I think it’s very encouraging."
#1
"This wouldn't look so great if President Obama hadn't set an economic pace that established the floor for growth"
Say what?
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/04/2018 13:11 Comments ||
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#2
So, by choking and encumbering the economy for 8 years, Obama made it possible for a businessman to revive the said economy by releasing it from the chains of bureaucratic enslavement.
[Daily Caller] The latest addition to special counsel Robert Mueller’s team of prosecutors contributed to Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign, according to federal campaign records.
Uzo Asonye, an assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, is joining Mueller’s stable of prosecutors to work as local counsel on the case against Paul Manafort, President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman who has been indicted on money laundering and bank fraud charges.
Asonye worked at the firm O’Melveny & Myers before joining the U.S. attorney’s office in 2010. Asonye donated $900 to Clinton’s presidential campaign from January to April 2008, according to Federal Election Commission records. He has not donated to any other national political campaigns since then.
I AM SON-IN LAW OF KENYAN ROYAL OIL MINISTER. IN CONFIDENCE I AM BE WILLING TO TRANSFER THE SUM OF US $5 MILLION TO THE HILLARY CLINTON CAMPAIGN YOUR PERSONAL ACCOUNT...
Posted by: Elminese Scourge of the Mongol Horde2583 ||
05/04/2018 9:54 Comments ||
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#2
Genius! Sheer Genius! A cunning marketing strategy worthy of Wile E. Coyote.
Offend a core customer base to flatter people that would never shop at your plebeian, lower class store -- but host the A-List Cocktail Parties your management wants to attend.
#3
Note: Dick's has also hired three Lib DC Gun Control lobbyists. They want to Virtue Signal while also pushing gun control laws stopping Cabela's and Bass Pro shops from picking up that customer demand. True cronyism
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/04/2018 13:02 Comments ||
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h/t Gates of Vienna
Thanks to a little-known change made in April by the Trump administration to the exemptions provision of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), millions of Americans will have the opportunity to escape having to pay the ObamaCare penalty imposed on those who are not enrolled in a "qualifying" health insurance plan.
In December 2017, the Republican-led Congress passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, and in the legislation, they included a provision effectively eliminating the ObamaCare penalty. However, the fine won’t be eliminated until 2019, which means those Americans who currently aren’t enrolled in a health insurance plan will be forced to pay the penalty when they file their 2018 taxes in 2019.
Under the ACA, Americans not enrolled in a qualifying health insurance plan, as defined by the federal government, must pay a penalty of $695 per adult or 2.5 percent of household income, whichever is higher.
IRS tax data show more than 6.6 million filers were required to pay the ObamaCare penalty in 2015, the most recent year for which data are available. Those penalized paid a total of more than $3 billion for not being enrolled in a health insurance plan. Lower-income and working-class Americans were hit particularly hard by the fine; the adjusted gross income of 36 percent of the 6.6 million people required to pay the penalty was only $10,000 to $25,000.
In April, and without much fanfare, the Trump administration’s Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a new guidance expanding the "hardship exemptions" already allowed by the Affordable Care Act to include several new circumstances not previously permitted under the Obama administration.
Perhaps the most important and far-reaching new exemption will permit those who live in a "country, borough, or parish" in which there is only a single health insurer to avoid having to pay the ObamaCare fine. Those living in counties without any health insurance options on an exchange will also be exempt. This is particularly important because CMS reports there is only one health insurer offering coverage in 51 percent of all counties in the United States. This exemption alone could save millions of filers from having to pay the fine.
CMS’ new exemptions will also allow people to escape the penalty if they live in regions in which there are no "affordable" ObamaCare health insurance plans that don’t cover abortions, but only if abortion is "contrary to one’s beliefs, and the absence of any affordable plan without such coverage causes a hardship in obtaining health insurance."
Other "personal circumstances" may also exempt a person from the ObamaCare fine, including "if a person needs specialty care by a specialist physician but the affordable plans offered through" the government insurance exchange "do not provide access to such specialty care."
Hardship exemptions aren’t automatically granted. To apply, people must fill out an application and mail it to their health insurance marketplace. Other exemptions already in existence include filing for bankruptcy, the death of a family member, homelessness, foreclosure, natural disasters, and other difficulties that make purchasing insurance difficult, if not impossible.
By expanding exemptions to the individual mandate penalty, the Trump administration is once again proving its commitment to finding ways to help people suffering under ObamaCare’s burdensome and costly policies. Health insurance offered through ObamaCare exchanges are in many cases no longer affordable, even when health insurance subsidies help to bring the cost of insurance premiums down.
This is especially true for lower-income and working-class families that can only afford to pay for Bronze Plans ‐ the cheapest ObamaCare insurance plans. Nationally, families enrolled in Bronze Plans must endure a maximum out-of-pocket cost of $13,905, far more than what most people can afford to pay. But, but, but what about Stormy Daniels, and collision, and all these rude twits?
#1
IRS tax data show more than 6.6 million filers were required to pay the ObamaCare penalty in 2015, the most recent year for which data are available.
I filed two returns in 2015 that should have been assessed with this penalty; I'm still waiting for the bill(s) from the IRS. Congress removed enforcement for this penalty for 2016, and I'm not sure if that legislation applies to later years.
[National Review] South Carolina’s Senate on Wednesday night voted to ban nearly all abortions.
In the midst of debate on a bill that would ban the rare "dismemberment" method of abortion, the Senate voted 28‐10 to pass an amendment allowing the procedure only in cases of rape, incest, or when the mother could die or be seriously harmed as a result of the pregnancy. It is estimated that the amendment would ban around 97 percent of South Carolina’s 5,700 abortions per year.
Though the amended bill is still one vote short of passage and expected to be filibustered by Democratic state senators, their Republican colleagues hope it will pass and spark a court challenge, leading to a possible reversal of the landmark 1973 abortion case Roe vs. Wade.
"It’s designed to give the court an opportunity to revisit Roe v. Wade," said Republican Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey.
Democratic state senator Brad Hutto called the ban on virtually all abortions "clearly unconstitutional from my point of view," but suggested Republicans passed the stricter amendment to get debate on the bill over with and let the courts deal with it.
"It’s an attempt to get it to the courts so we don’t have to keep debating it over and over and over," said Hutto, but added he is sure the courts will strike it down.
James Webb Space Telescope way over budget and delivery time is now "Shedding nuts, washers and bolts!"
“It’s not terrible news, but it’s not good news, either,” a NASA official said of a new issue found recently during testing of the James Webb Space Telescope. https://t.co/pcIvLTTfgT
The JWST has a history of major cost overruns and delays which have resulted from outside factors such as delays in deciding on a launch vehicle and adding extra funding for contingencies. By 2006, $1 billion had been spent on developing JWST, with the budget at about $4.5 billion at that time. A 2006 article in the journal Nature noted a study in 1984 by the Space Science Board, which estimated that a next generation infrared observatory would cost $4 billion (about $7 billion in 2006 dollars).[49] Because the runaway budget diverted funding from other research, the science journal Nature described the James Webb as "the telescope that ate astronomy" in 2010.[88] In June 2011, it was reported that the Webb telescope would cost at least four times more than originally proposed, and launch at least seven years late. Initial budget estimates were that the observatory would cost $1.6 billion and launch in 2011.[89]
The telescope was originally estimated to cost $1.6bn but the cost estimate grew throughout the early development reaching about $5bn by the time the mission was formally confirmed for construction start in 2008. In summer 2010, the mission passed its Critical Design Review with excellent grades on all technical matters, but schedule and cost slips at that time prompted Maryland US Senator Barbara Mikulski to call for an independent review of the project. The Independent Comprehensive Review Panel (ICRP) chaired by J. Casani (JPL) found that the earliest possible launch date was in late 2015 at an extra cost of $1.5bn (for a total of $6.5bn). They also pointed out that this would have required extra funding in FY2011 and FY2012 and that any later launch date would lead to a higher total cost.[90]
On 6 July 2011, the United States House of Representatives' appropriations committee on Commerce, Justice, and Science moved to cancel the James Webb project by proposing an FY2012 budget that removed $1.9bn from NASA's overall budget, of which roughly one quarter was for JWST.[91][92][93][94] $3 billion had been spent and 75% of its hardware was in production.[95] This budget proposal was approved by subcommittee vote the following day. The committee charged that the project was "billions of dollars over budget and plagued by poor management".[91] However, in November 2011, Congress reversed plans to cancel the JWST and instead capped additional funding to complete the project at $8 billion.[96] Termination of the JWST project as proposed by the House appropriation committee also would have imperiled funding to other missions, such as the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope.[97]
The American Astronomical Society issued a statement in support of JWST in 2011,[98] as did Maryland US Senator Barbara Mikulski.[99] A number of editorials supporting JWST appeared in the international press during 2011 as well.[91][100][101]
Some scientists have expressed concerns about growing costs and schedule delays for the Webb telescope, which competes for scant astronomy budgets and thus threatens funding for other space science programs.[102][85] A review of NASA budget records and status reports noted that the JWST is plagued by many of the same problems that have affected other major NASA projects. Repairs and additional testing included underestimates of the telescope's cost that failed to budget for expected technical glitches, missed budget projections, and evaluation of components to estimate extreme launch conditions, thus extending the schedule and increasing costs further.[85][89][103]
One of the reasons why the cost grew so much is that it is difficult to forecast the cost of development, and in general budget predictability improved when initial development milestones were achieved.[85] By the mid-2010s, the U.S. contribution was still expected to cost $8.8 billion.[85] With the U.S. and international funding combined, the overall cost not including extended operations is projected to be over $10 billion when completed.[104] On 27 March 2018, NASA officials announced that JWST's launch would be pushed back to May 2020 or later, and admitted that the project's costs might exceed the $8.8 billion price tag.[87] In the March 27 press release announcing the latest delay, NASA said that it will release a revised cost estimate after a new launch window is determined in cooperation with the ESA.[3] If this cost estimate exceeds the $8 billion cap Congress put in place in 2011, as is considered likely, NASA will have to have the mission re-authorized by the legislature.[105][106]
#4
NASA's Aging Workforce by HALEY BYRD More than half of NASA’s workforce is 50 years old and over, marking a seven percent increase over the past five years, GAO said in its tenth annual report. 56 percent of NASA employees fall into that category.
...hmmm? Too old and 'set in their ways' to take risks like Commercial Space?
The spacecraft element’s first test simulated the mechanical shock caused by the separation of the spacecraft’s payload adapter after launch. The second test subjected the spacecraft to the extreme sound and resultant vibration of the launch environment. These shock separation and acoustics tests are routine for all spacecraft.
Detailed inspections of the hardware after the acoustic test showed that fastening hardware that hold the sunshield membrane covers in place had come loose.
“NASA is reviewing options for repair and the next steps in spacecraft element launch environment testing,” said Greg Robinson, Webb’s program director. “The team is reviewing the test data and hardware configuration and is actively working towards corrective action in the near future. We expect to get back to the environmental test flow shortly and continue to move safely and methodically toward mission success.”
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[American Conservative] On July 25, Pakistani-American IT specialist Imran Awan was arrested at Dulles Airport for bank fraud while he was allegedly fleeing to Pakistan. The reports predictably produced some press coverage before the story died. Yet the speed at which the news vanished has prompted some observers to suggest that there might actually be something more to the disappearance than the operation of the normal media-reporting cycle. A number of conservative websites, including Breitbart, have been sounding the alarm over a possible cover-up that just might even be linked to what we are now calling Russiagate.
[Oregonian] A horse is suing his former Washington County owner for $100,000 in damages in a rare case in which an animal is listed as a plaintiff in legal action against its guardian.
The agreement was signed by the Secretary General of the 
[AAWSAT] Tourists in Australia's Lake Macquarie are ignoring warnings and feeding carrots to kangaroos who are aggressive at the sight of sugary snack, a tour operator said.
James Webb Space Telescope way over budget and delivery time is now "Shedding nuts, washers and bolts!"
